dunamis

Technic was the first thing I looked for when the new catalog was put up. Needless to say, I was disappointed at these first offerings. Let's hope the Summer sets blow our socks off.

My last entry from the road: Now we

Well, I

Thanks for all the positive feedback. I'm really enjoying this. I'm bummed that I have to head out on my business trip tomorrow as I'm really making progress on it. Anyway, short update tonight as I had to get ready for my trip. Now we

I guess now is a good time to talk about parts quality. For the most part, I have not had any issues. However, I do see a lot of the molding issues that I

I know exactly what you mean. I saw all the photos but until I saw the ship up close in person at the Star Wars LEGOLand weekend earlier this summer, I was shocked! You can't appreciate the size until you see it in person. It is very impressive and the detail is amazing.

Well, I meant to have another update tomorrow but work got in the way. So, we have a quick little build of a couple of sections that fit just forward of the center of the ship. You can see them here: And you can see it in place here: Next we build out four of these guys. Pictured is the front and back. These go into the holes in the mandibles at the front of the ship. They can be seen from the top and bottom of the ship. I believe these are maintenance areas and you see Han and Chewie working on them in the Hoth hanger in The Empire Strikes Back. They are in place here: We continue working on the bottom of the ship finishing out various plates that make up the skin of the Falcon. Here we have the left hand side of the docking ring. Next is the right hand side that has the boarding ramp: I found this section to be extremely well designed. See the following: Another update tomorrow (weather permitting).

Thanks for posting, some good stuff there. I am disappointed in the Technic sets though. Pretty ordinary and nothing to get excited about.

Wow, you just made my day! Thank you. This will free up a lot of space on my desk. *y* Yes, I did do those steps - just after the photo was taken. Thanks for the head up, it would be a pain to go back and fix them later. I'm actually a bit further ahead than what is posted here. I soon realized that this is going to take me a while and I'm going to be out of town next week. I've got enough building and photos queued up that I can still post updates while I'm out and probably finish it when I return next weekend. Thank you. I'm enjoying this as well. It is interesting to hear people's feedback along the way too. Not sure I want to do every review this way, but it seems to work for this big of a build.

I don't see a manual code (although I'm probably not looking in the right place either). I've also checked the LEGO website and there is no electronic version of the manual. It would make it so much easier for me since I build right next to my computer. This manual is really spread out when you have it open. It takes A LOT of space (see the 4th photo down for an example). Anyway, back to the build. The right angle corners are reinforced with Technic beams and liftarms as you can see below: Here is some detail on the front of the ship: Notice how big the manual is when it is open: That same part is now attached: These big panels go on the bottom of the ship: Here is a shot of the back side of it. Notice the 2x2 plates with Technic pins keep it connected to the framework of the ship. Another update will follow tomorrow.

Wow, that's nice. The detail is amazing. When I first saw it, it looked kind of old school, yet it has a modern feel to it.

For those of you still following along (I did say I was slow), I missed an entry because Brickshelf was having problems. So, let's get started. Next up we start adding in some detail to the hull. Got to love all the little details and effort put into making this as realistic as possible. The next steps include building out the seven landing gear. Note that the instructions show you to get pieces for one. At this point you might as well get 7X the pieces since you will need them all. Again, we have some amazing detail on the landing gear. One the landing gear is done, we build a quick panel that goes on the bottom of the ship between the mandibles. Here it is on the ship: Next up is the engine section. I found this step a little puzzling. Why use THREE 2x3 plates stacked on top of each other when you can use ONE 2x3 brick for exactly the same effect? Completed engine section with details: More updates to follow

OK, we

The box is 28" x 20" x 9"

According to the inventory, there are supposed to be three each of the left and right wedges. I know they verify the parts by weight which is how I got four left and two right and their system didn't catch it. That's a great system until the source pieces get contaminated with another piece of the same weight (like in this case.) As far as color issues in the manual, it seems to be fine so far. If there are color problems with a set, I'm usually one to be affected by it and it has been fine so far. I think part of the way TLC gets around this is they try not to have the same piece in two or more colors. For example, the 1x2 Technic brick will only be in black and the 1x4 will only be in dark gray, etc. Hope that answers your questions.

The Minifigs: As you can see, the minifigs are really nice. They even throw in an extra fleshie head! No doubt these will fetch quite a bit on the Bricklink and Ebay markets. I

I bought it a few weeks ago (and even did a review here) at my local LEGO store. It is also available on LEGO shop at home, so yes it is available.

The Build: The build is going quicker than I thought. I am sorting as I open the bags that I need. Some bags are in multiples so it is easy to pick them out. The build is a tad repetitive as the framework of the ship is somewhat symmetrical. Here are some progress shots: Note that two plates (1x4 and 1x8) are stacked in between Technic beams. Then the part below is assembled to hold the structure together. This took about an hour of sorting and building: I'll post another update tomorrow.

Nicely done! Love the room. It is always interesting seeing everyone's LEGO room.

The Manual: The gigantic manual measures 17

938. Southern California.

Hello everyone! By now many excited LEGO Star Wars fans have started receiving their UCS Falcon. Some of us here enjoy writing reviews and sharing our thoughts. I mentioned to Yoda that I was planning on doing a review of this set but it would likely take me a few weeks (of 1-2 hours per night) to finish building the set. Yoda suggested that I do the review as I go so everyone could see the progress of the set. What a great idea! So, here is the first entry. Feel free to comment along the way. I will try to post photos and updates every night on the build then wrap up the review when I complete the set. If you have any specific questions or photo requests, please be sure to ask. UCS Millennium Falcon Reviewed by Dunamis Set 10179 5195 Pieces $499.95 from LEGO Shop at home The Box: Obviously, this is a box like no other. First of all, it comes in its own shipping carton. Inside of that, there is a standard LEGO carton. Finally, inside the LEGO carton, we have the actual Millennium Falcon box and a nice little letter thanking you for buying the biggest LEGO set ever. Shipping box (Naboo set provided for scale) LEGO Carton and letter LEGO Carton The Millennium Falcon box is really quite nice. There are lots of photos and it does a good job of �selling� the set. There are 8 individual pieces of tape that keep the lid on the box. The limited first edition comes with a seal on the lower left corner. Millennium Falcon Box (Naboo set provided for scale) Lifting the lid straight up reveals one compartment of several bags on the right. On the left, we find a thin, square box (like a pizza box) that contains the official certificate of authenticity, two sticker sheets and one enormous manual! Under the pizza box, we find two more compartments each filled with several typical LEGO bags. The box weighs 24 pounds! Stickers Pizza Box Pieces in compartments Not quite sure what the little 30th anniversary sticker is for yet. The Certificate of Authenticity is on heavy paper and is suitable for framing. More to come tomorrow. It's late here.

I'm up for that! It will be kind of fun. I'll start as soon as I get it. Hopefully my first entry will be tonight!

I was planning on doing a review. However, as you all know I am a slow builder so be patient. Of course, it would sure help if they would actually deliver the thing first... >:-(