BrickieB

Beautiful moc! I'd buy this in a heartbeat if it became an official set. You've got my support, obviously!

I never part out UCS sets, so I always sticker them. I generally do not sticker other sets. I think these sets deserve the respect to build them as they were intended, so with stickers.

Final item on my current wishlist: the UCS Slave One. Bought and built it today!

I just picked up 66495 at a very reasonable price.

I was surprised that my local toy store had these, I actually went in to buy some bionicle with my son. The dictionary can be easily found online.

I picked up the A-wing and AT-DP polybags, and the Star Wars visual dictionary.

Thanks! I'm at 183 at the moment.

Such a good looking model... Just astonishing!

Almost a year after my last update, I picked up this project again. In the mean time, I have actually tested several construction methods to get the angle of the hull plates right, create a sufficiently sturdy center beam, try out several attachment methods for the hullplates, ... I've been forced to tear it all apart, as I wasn't happy with the results and didn't have time to continue it, or the space to keep it in one piece. So a few weeks ago I started the build again. I used slightly modified plans for the hull plates, but had the idea of not suspending them from the central construction. They should not be attached to the carrying structure, but rather be a part of that structure. So with that in mind I started with the bottom plates and used them as a base for my center beam. From there, I added technic bricks and built the beam towards the front. After attaching it I filled out the 'bottom' city first. Here is a global first view, Batman for scale. I can't get the perfect angles with the plates I have so I'm just keeping it at this. It's not too bad, considering the fact that the plates are at a much more flat angle than the standard 10221. The top hull plates rely on gravity to keep them on. I have a really simple system of a few bricks to keep them in place. This way I can reduce the weight to move it by removing the plates, it makes repairs easier, and I'm never going to display this any other way than horizontally on its stands, so it makes sense to keep it like this. The front attachment with some interesting bits: - The hinge system I use to keep the attachment low profile yet sturdy - The attachment of the front plates to the central beam This is the backbone that connects the center beam to the bottom plate. ... And here is the LDD for that construction. The bottom construction. The lower city needs to be slightly redesigned, and a few of the rear wedges are the wrong colour. And obviously, it needs the engine area, too. Something else that's probably in its final form: the stand. I have 2 of these, they're really simple: there are 2 1x1 holes in the central construction, these stands fit into those and that's it. I will be able to know for certain these are strong enough when the SSD is ready, now they only support about half the weight they should be able to support. I don't see why they wouldn't be able to support 2 or 3 times this weight though. So far I am still true to my goal, I have used nothing but the parts from my 2 SSDs. I only took 50 3L technic pins from my stash to be able to prototype some other ideas, I don't know if I will be needing these in the end. I will be able to finish a lot of the construction without adding too many pieces, but I am lacking technic beams at this time, so they will be added. I will also be using liftarms to reinforce the bottom hullplates. And a few parts are available in the wrong colour, so they will be replaced by (mostly) LBG ones. Problems? Sure, plenty. But I'm still working on them. If you have suggestions, don't hesitate to post them below. 1. at the very tip, the hull plates aren't tight enough. I'm hoping they will become better when the plates have their full support and rigidity, but if not I need to find some solution. A rubber band will do nicely but doesn't look too good. 2. The center beam probably isn't sturdy enough for the entire construction. I will only know this when everything is attached: the motor parts will provide some more support, but also a lot of weight. 3. The way I attached the lower hull plates isn't 100% straight, there's a bit of a twist in it. I probably won't be able to correct it, so I can only hope it's not too noticeable. If I can't live with it I will need to get back to the drawing board :) I welcome your thoughts, ideas, suggestions, so fire away!

Bought myself the death star (10188) - But I have to wait till tonight to get it :)

http://webshop.dreamland.be/ecom/nl/shops/Ecom/DreamLand__webshop/Speelgoed__DreamLand/Lego__assortiment/111378_42030__RC__VOLVO €250 comes out to about $335 - but I'm sure you lucky americans will get it cheap at $250 - as is the case with all Lego. I will probably get it, but not at this price. I'll wait for some promo and pick it up at no more than €200.

Oh wow, this thing is epic! Congratulations on it!

I bought this set after reading your review, and it is simply excellent! I also love the fact that it is exactly as in the movie (as far as I can tell), unlike so many other sets which are diffrent in details (metalbeard) or a big way (seacow). Thanks for the review!

I WOULD pay EUR 220 for this (about USD 300) But I WON'T pay EUR 330 for this (about USD 450) - what it costs here. It's been said a million times before but... C'mon LEGO, lower your prices!

Ah, nice mod with the 2 M motors. He probably moified the gearbox quit a bit. But I do like the way he managed to get everythig in there.

Sure, use my work as inspiration :) I usually find it much more interesting to come up with my own solutions, though. But use mine, if you like. I did not try with 2 smaller motors. I think the small ones will never generate enough power, but perhaps 2 L motors is possible. You won't save much space or gain much torque so I really don't see the point. But I'd be interested to see if you can get it to work. I don't recall the ratio as it was built and re-built 20 times until I had something that worked. I needed to increase torque, decrease rotating speed, and move the rotating bit from the motor down to the axle that goes between the original gearboxes. There was not nearly enough space left to get the battery mounted inside the model. So that stays outside. I still need to bring the power cable outside in a cleaner fashion. I have taken a few additional pictures for you - although you can't really see a lot without completely disassembling the model. This is where I mounted the battery box. I believe there was very little or no modding needed. This is a temporary spot. I have included a switch to change the direction of the motors. This is (now) not needed as I could also just switch the battery box's switch, but the idea is to move the box somewhere else... One chair was removed to accommodate the knob, and I modded a bit of the rear of the cockpit. Here is a bit of the reduction unit. You can just see the tan second gear. You can also just see a part of my switch. This also shows just how little space is left over in there, after the motor and reduction gear is included. There is maybe one stud of space between the rear of the motor and the vertical wing mounting structure. The black small gear drives a tan gear which is on the same shaft as another black gear, and it goes down from there.

Okay, I'm stunned by the lack of pics I took of this project. I basically only found one! You're looking at the rear gearbox. This is probably version 8 or so I made, this is the only one that kept together when moving the wings. The XL motor is mounted on top of the gearbox. It uses a compact reduction gearbox before going to the central shaft, which runs smack down through the middle of the gearbox. The reduction is done in the front as there is no room to reduce it in the rear, and no way to mount the motor straight onto the rear gearbox because the third wing mount is in the way. The display stand was very slightly modded to accommodate the shaft that passes in the middle. This shaft comes out in the centre at the rear of the gearbox, which is the pic you see here. Another transfer case distributes the movement to the 2 drivelines - but no further reduction is done here. Hope this helps - good luck with your project!

I motorised my shuttle's wings. I think I may have some pics somewhere, I'll have to look for them. I do remember that it was hard to create a structure that held together when lowering / raising the wings.There's tremendous strain on the gearbox and it's bricks come apart easily when moving. Also I had to opt for the XL motor, which was the only one that had enough power to lift the wings. Also, the empty, spacious interiour room is all but gone now, couldn't add an interiour anymore, or a landing gear/ramp... I did use the original system (which I like) and just motorised that. So apart from adding a drivetrain, motor, and gears I didn't actually mod anything. I'll see about those pics, and post them if I find them.

I will definitely be getting this set. I can't wait to get it, build it, and have my kids play with it. Usually I don't let them play with my UCS sets as they are too fragile, don't offer enough playability for them and are a pain to rebuild once they had their hands on them. But I think this one's going to be different... Yes it's overpriced - although looking at the evolution of price/part over the last models, it seems the x-wing was worse. And finally my thoughts on the lightsaber: obviously TLG understands that anyone who would buy this kit would be in desperate need of another lightsaber, as these are very hard to come by... :P

Got myself the X-wing microfighter and grievous monocycle.

The image is already online, so why would you need flickr? Also: great model!

I liked the UCS build quite a lot, and would recommend it to anyone. However, if your budget is limited, you might want to get something else...

Picked up another 75007 on sale and a 75034.

Spectacular MOC!

Okay, here's the pic I promised. Below are some mock-ups: Top one is the original one I designed Middle one uses 2x4 plates in the front Third one uses 3x6 plates