drdavewatford

This was another set that I was surprised not to find a review for, so thought I'd do one myself. Name: Wookiee Attack Theme: Star Wars Number: 7258 Year: 2005 Pieces: 366 Minifigs: 4 (although some consider the Spider Droid a minifigure also, in which case it would be 5....) Price: £24.99 when released I paid : £33.67 including postage on eBay for a boxed (but not MISB) set It was surprisingly tricky to get a boxed example at a decent price - many sets on eBay were unboxed, or selling at prices upwards of £50. Not sure if this set is fairly rare, but it commands a relatively high second-hand price compared with other similarly-sized sets. OK. Here's a picture of the front of the box : Not in perfect condition, but good enough for my collection. Here's the back : As well as illustrating some of the working features of the set, there's a sneak peek of some of the other 2005 sets including the Clone Turbo Tank, and also some alternative models. The front of the instructions is the same as the front of the box so it wasn't worth posting a picture. Here's a random couple of pages from inside, however : If you look incredibly closely and have good eyes, you can see something that caused me some problems. When I bought the set I checked off the pieces against the Peeron and Brinklink inventories and thought there were some pieces missing. In fact, these instructions are not consistent with either Peeron or Bricklink - the set uses 6 MdStone 1 x 1 bricks with studs on opposite sides (which you may be able to see on the pages above) but Peeron and Bricklink say that the set only contains 2. Peeron also says that the set contains 11 MdStone light sabers which it definitely does not..... so don't believe everything you read on Bricklink and Peeron ! The set contains 4 minifigs - 2 Wookiees and 2 Battle Droids as you can see below : Here's the set with all the vehicles built. The set might be called "Wookiee Attack" but it really should have been called "Droid Attack" - it's certainly not a fair fight ! There's just 1 Wookiee flyer against all that droid firepower ! Even the Battle Droid is dual-wielding - his friend is driving the Tank Droid and so he lent him his blaster ! So, now for a closer look at some of the vehicles. First the Spider Droid : Some nice, rare sand blue and dark blue pieces to be found here. Now for the Wookie Flyer - here's a shot from the front : And here's one from the back : Looks of moving parts on here - all 4 sets of antennae, the gun at the back, and the tan 'harness' which forms the roof of the cockpit. Here's a close-up of the Wookiee gunner : Looks pretty smug behind his big blue gun ! Here's the Tank Droid : Some sweet colours- trans neon orange, sand blue, dark blue - and a working caterpillar track. Nice ! Here it is from the back : The large dish on the side lifts up to give the driver access to the vehicle as you can see here : Probably my favourite mini is the 6968 mini Wookiee Attack set, and here you can see it beside its big daddy : So, in summary, an interesting set containing 3 different and quirky vehicles. Conclusions : Design: 8/10 (Love the Tank Droid and the Spider Droid. The Wookiee Flyer is a bit too fiddly for my liking) Price: 7/10 (Quite expensive to buy now, but the original retail price was pretty fair considering the piece count and the interesting and unique vehicles) Minifigures: 5/10 (nice to have a couple more Wookiees, but I'm drowning in Battle Droids....) Playability: 9/10 (A number of different vehicles, all with moving parts - great !) Overall: 7/10 (a nice variety of vehicles, parts and colours, although slightly let down by the minifigs) Thanks for reading, and I hope you enjoyed the review. Dr. D.

Green grocer - it's been sitting on my desk for about a year. Initially it was all alone, then it was joined by first Market Street, then Cafe Corner, then a modular MOC of a Lego College that I designed via LDD and most recently Fire Brigade. My desk is getting very crowded..... Dr. D.

Hard to believe that TLC would produce a UCS AT-AT - the large, motorised version has been available up until recently, so there's really no need for yet another large AT-AT. It would be the 3rd one in less than 10 years ! Dr. D.

Thanks for the kind comments, guys - much appreciated ! I'm with you, Roncanator - I'm definitely not a massive fan of minis, although as a Lego SW completist I just gotta collect them all ! I am however often impressed with some of the building techniques used (and I'm very grateful to legostein for sharing some of the techniques with us in his fabulous mini MOCs) and I do have a few favourites such as the unreleased 6968 Tank Droid (My 6968 Tank Droid Review Here) and also the mini Tantive IV Blockade runner that comes with the UCS Star Destroyer 10030. Kim, if you're reading this, could I ask you to please add a poll ? Thanks ! Dr. D.

Great review of a very nice set - thanks ! Given that I have 4 other X-Wings (7140, 7142, 7191 and 6212, not to mention a number of mini versions) it would have been hard to justify paying over the odds for this on eBay were it not for Yoda's hut which is great ! Some nice colours and interesting pieces. A good set, but if all you're interesting in is the X-Wing itself then go for 6212 which is still available, rather than paying double the original price for this version. Dr. D.

I was browsing through the Eurobricks review section recently and discovered with some surprise that nobody had reviewed this set yet. Since I bought the set off eBay a few weeks ago and built it recently, taking a few photos for my own collection along the way, I thought I'd therefore share the pics and my thoughts with you all. So here we go. Name: Mini AT-AT Theme: Star Wars Number: 4489 Year: 2003 Pieces: 98 Minifigs: None Price: £6.99 when released; I paid £12.40 + postage for a complete & boxed set (although not MISB) from eBay A word on the price; many of the mini sets can be bought extremely cheaply, even MISB. For example, I bought set 4491 Mini MTT (4491) MISB for £3.99 + postage last week on eBay. A couple of the mini sets do however command higher prices - the mini AT-AT and the Mini Millenium Falcon (4488). OK. Here's a picture of the front of the box plus the completed model : And here's the back of the box : The back of the box contains a nice shot of the other 3 minis which were released at the same time, including set 4491 (Mini MTT) which I mentioned above. Rather than photograph a page of the instructions, I've linked to a PDF of the official instructions on the Lego website below. Don't try to access unless you have a reasonably fast internet connection (or a lot of time....), but once downloaded you can try to build your own ! Instructions for 4489 Mini AT-AT (PDF) As you'd expect from a mini, it's a quick and simple build. I've attached some photos of the finished article below. Front oblique view : You can see that the head can be angled, and the guns (which consist of 4 control levers + bases) can also be moved. There is also an OldGray flap on either side which can be lifted, although there isn't anything very interesting underneath. The legs can also be adjusted via a total of 3 hinges on each leg. Rear oblique view : Front close up : Not a sight that any sensible rebel would relish......! It's a strange mini, this one. You can't deny that it's an AT-AT, but it reminds me of a baby animal ! Certainly not very fearsome, but cute I guess if you like that kind of thing..... Conclusions : Design: 7/10 (Not bad, but not great - the proportions aren't perfect, but it's a good effort by TLG) Price: 5/10 (Expensive to buy now, particularly MISB, considering the original retail price) Minifigures: N/A Playability: 8/10 (The legs move, the head moves, the guns move, the sides lift up - what more could you want ?!) Overall: 7/10 (an iconic vehicle brought to life in mini scale) Cheers from the UK and happy building ! Dr. D.

Thanks, guys - interesting discussion for me as I always struggle to keep track of my spare parts and sets. It sounds as if Brickstore might be best for this overall. Is it possible to import lists of sets and loose parts into Brickstore ? I have a setlist on both Brickset and Peeron, and a list of loose parts in Peeron, and couldn't bear to enter all this info again from scratch.... I would however love to have all the info (including the cost/value of parts and sets) in one place. Cheers, Dr. D.

Thanks for the review, Legoboy - nice to see the new ARC-170 in close-up detail for the first time. I agree with you that it's a nice set, and bigger than I expected. I was a bit surprised that they remade this one since the previous version was only released a few years back, but Lego isn't averse to remaking recent sets now and again (or even just re-releasing sets with a different set number, e.g. 7150, 7152 etc.). I'm hoping that someone will photograph the older and newer ARC-170 sets side by side soon. It's certainly the biggest set that I've seen for next year so far, but at less than 400 pieces I'm sure that there are a few nice big sets that they're going to wow us with over the next few months. Can't wait ! Cheers, Dr. D.

Thanks, Mariann. Nice review. Strange that the figures come ready assembled. Someone noted this about another of the Toy Story sets they'd bought. Is this a reflection of the anticipated younger audience for these sets or something else I wonder ? I'm still not convinced by this theme overall, although I confess that I'd love a Buzz minifig ! Cheers, Dr. D.

Yes, Roncanator - the instructions were just like Lego ones, very clear and easy to follow. They even look like genuine UCS instructions ! Oxycrest did a superb job on them, and I believe they took him ages to make.... If you click on the link in my posting above you can download the PDF, although beware - it's a large file ! Dr. D.

Utterly stunning - congratulations ! It's magnificent ! In fact it's so good that despite the size and the cost of all the parts I'd consider reproducing this if building instructions were available. I suspect however that producing building instructions for this would be a massive job, but we can dream.....! Well done, Dr. D.

Thanks, Kim, and you're right - it would be a fantastic resource if Eurobricks hosted a repository of MOC building instructions so that they're not 'lost' in future. Dr. D.

I've been extremely impressed with some of the superb Star Wars MOCs I've seen on Eurobricks and elsewhere and wished that I had the time (and probably the creative ability) to make my own. A couple of Anio's recent creations have recently really impressed me, and what further caught my attention was the fact that his friend oxycrest had produced detailed instructions and a parts inventory for a couple of the MOCs. I therefore made the decision that I would try and recreate the MOCs for myself. The first MOC I decided to build was his UCS TIE fighter. I started out by downloading the instructions and part inventory : Anio's UCS MOC - parts and inventory Then it was time to try and source the parts. The good news was that because I have almost all the Lego SW sets I had nearly all of the parts. The bad news was that many of the sets are sealed, and also I'm reluctant to mix up the sets. I therefore headed to Bricklink to source the parts instead. As any of you who have tried to do something like this before can probably confirm, trying to source a few hundred pieces via Bricklink can be pretty frustrating - it's basically a game of trying to source the parts from as few sellers as possible, while ensuring that you buy enough from each seller to reach their minimum order. It took ages, although a couple of sellers were particularly good (such as Sylvain's 1001Bricks store in France, Elly's BricksNBitz store in the UK and a couple of others in the U.S.). Eventually I had everything apart from some Bley 3mm rigid hoses which I couldn't find anywhere. I have to say that Anio was incredibly helpful and encouraging. He suggested that I might be able to get the hoses direct from Lego, and he was right - I called customer service and they were fantastic, shipping me the missing hoses pretty fast. I've not yet added up how much I spent on all the parts. I estimate perhaps 60 or 70 pounds sterling, but this could be (and probably is !) an under-estimate..... The trans black canopy alone cost about 20 bucks, and had to be bought from the U.S.. So on to the build. Oxycrest's instructions were fantastic, and the build was pretty quick and simple. The only fiddly jobs were cutting the hoses down to the correct length, which needed to be done carefully, and resizing the picture containing the technical spec of the TIE (beautifully designed by Oxycrest to look like a genuine UCS sticker) so I could print it on to sticky paper and attach it to the 12 1 x 8 black plates making up the display plaque. Here's the finished article : The shot below from a slightly oblique angle shows the bley hoses which were so painful to source : Here's a picture from the back : And check out the awesome name plate - looks totally UCS authentic ! I love this MOC, and can't wait to display it next to my other UCS TIES (the interceptor and Vader's TIE advanced) when I get a chance to build them...... You can find Anio's own pics of his creation by clicking on the link below : Anio's pics So in summary, it was an excellent experience trying to recreate someone else's MOC - Anio was really friendly, helpful and encouraging, and once I'd managed to source all the parts and put it together I had a great sense of achievement. I subsequently went on to reproduce another of Anio's MOCs, and I'll try to post pics of that one another time. Thanks for reading, and I hope this inspires you to venture beyond the official Lego SW sets. Cheers, drdavewatford

I'm personally against the release of SW sets via Brickmaster - there are a lot of Lego SW collectors out there, and since Brickmaster membership isn't available to folks in Europe and elsewhere we have to resort to being scalped by US Brickmaster members in order to keep our collections up to date. Anyone fancy a Brickmaster 84 piece mini Venator for 30 bucks, or a mini clone turbo tank for $50 ?! Thought not. I was therefore delighted when this nice little set went on sale at UK S@H and quickly snapped it up. Definitely sleeker than 4490 in my opinion and easily worth the cost. Nice clear review Inky - thanks. Dr. D.

Fantastic ! I particularly love Boush Leia, Grievous and the clone ! Are building instructions available for any of these (either on this thread or the Flickr stream) ? Cheers, Dr. D.

Magnificent ! Go on then - how many bricks ?! Dr. D.

Superb - well done ! Just the thing to get us in the Halloween mood. Dr. D.

I think UCS versions of the A-Wing and B-Wing would be great ! I also like the idea of a Yavin set similar to what's been discussed in another thread. Geonosis Arena, Jedi Temple, Kamino (including cloning facility, landing pad and Slave 1) and Naboo Palace are also decent suggestions, although I don't see any of these getting released, unfortunately. Given however that TLG only make a limited number of new sets per year, I think a few of the suggestions so far would be a waste of a set - you can already buy a large Cloud City set with loads of minifigs if you want one, for instance, so why release another ? Better to release something new that's not been seen before. Dr. D.

Another superb review, Cam - keep them coming ! I've had this set for a while but not built it yet. Looks like I'll have to hurry up and get building ! Cheers, Dr. D.

Nice - I would have voted for this one. Dr. D.

Thanks - really interesting interview. It's great to hear from the guy who designed some of my favourite sets (Cafe Corner, Emerald Night). He certainly helped me understand why we haven't seen extra wagons for Emerald Night. I previously thought that Lego were missing a trick - many of us would have bought a couple of extra wagons I think - but now I understand that they can only release a few sets a year, and that extra wagons would be competing with Medieval Market Village etc..... Looking forward to part 2. Dr. D.

Thanks for the tip, guys. A little more digging has uncovered a Brickmaster City Set ! Brickmaster City I also just picked up the Pirate and Castle sets for around £10 each plus free postage. While I don't really don't collect those themes, you really can't go far for a tenner each ! Cheers, Dr. D.

One thing that nobody seems to be factoring in is sales - how is the theme doing from a sales perspective ? Frankly, if the Indy line is selling well then Lego have an incentive to come up with more sets and keep the theme going. If it's not selling then they'll let the licence run out and move on to other things. Dr. D.

If you're looking for something a little bigger, I can recommend Anio's fantastic UCS TIE MOC - it even comes with instructions, and I can vouch for their accuracy because I built my own copy ! Anio's UCS TIE MOC Cheers, Dr. D.

I believe that the George Lucas torso isn't a custom part - I suspect it's part number 973pdd on Peeron (Minifig Torso with Blue Plaid Shirt Pattern). Given this, it's likely that all the minifig parts are 'off the shelf', in which case you too can have George Lucas in your home ! George's Plaid Shirt I fully agree that the book should have come with this minifig, as a tribute to the great man himself ! Cheers, Dr. D.