Jan 6 2013

Lego Death Star: A Saga part IV – A New Hope…

Here we are, the final stretch, box 4, bag set 7, and what a lot of bags there are…
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All laid out, this is what it contains, lots and lots of small pieces in here
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A small work area on the top floor, above the Hangar
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A lift for Tie Fighters
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Speaking of…
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The Control room for the Death Ray
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Rotate the desk left or right to aim the beam, turning the knob in the desk moves it up and down
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The Command Room
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A light for the Detention Block
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Turrets for the defense against X-Wings, here they are not connected to the aiming mechanism, a bar network under the floor links the two so they move together, the guns move up and down individually by the knob on the side of the turret
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Building the final walls, these are quite intricate using more flat bricks than standard to build it up
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The Central Lift being inserted into the shaft.
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The lift mechanism in the workroom
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The finished Product shots
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All up a very fun and challenging build that I would recommend to any one, it has a lot of techniques in the building that would help with developing ideas for kids to make more complex models themselves.
40 centimeter diameter makes it a rather big unit, but it packs a lot of play areas into the whole construction.
I’d happily recommend to anyone interested to get it, but do source it from a cheaper retailer than locally or direct from Lego.

Sidebar:
A set this size as with most Lego sets has a piece or two left over, this is what was left on the Death Star
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Jan 6 2013

Lego Death Star: A Saga part III

Box Three: time to populate this level

Two sets of Bags for Box three, Bags 5 and 6
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Bag 5 sorted and ready for build
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Starting the Walls
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I didn’t realise it at this point, but that stair case in the throne room was going to be demolished again right near the end of this bag set, Dark Grey and Black are way too close in the instructions, and I used a couple of black pieces in the stairs that should have been Grey, they are hidden from view, but where I needed the Black pieces in the Detention block was a major stand out.
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There is a functional door going in on the right. The little perspective trick that is used on the detention block to make it look like it goes back a heap is a really nice touch.
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This is a part when first things went astray, I thought a piece was missing, found a replacement in my spare stash and moved on, later I realised it was bigger then that.
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Starting to show the perspective build up
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Functioning door to cell, break away bars and the fall in panel into the trash compactor
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The sliding door in place
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Probably should have used the macro lens for this shot, but falls back into blur to the detention block
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The control room, but no cupboard for droids to hide in
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Door open
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Bag 6 sorted and ready for Build
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Details in the throne room are nice
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Building up before the next level
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The beginning of a death ray
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End of Box Three
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Final Box to come….


Jan 5 2013

Lego Death Star: A Saga part II

Build Stage 2: Box 2

Building this Death Star, and all the other Star Wars Lego I have in a display cabinet at the moment is for one purpose.

Building up a collection of Lego for Sean to get creative with, it’s not all going to be left as the current state and just kept for display, all these parts can be mashed in together and create something new when he plays with it further down the track as well.

I had a fairly large collection of Lego as a child, I gave that, and most of my toys away or threw them out, don’t actually have anything left from my childhood toys left to pass on.

Lego is timeless, and it harbours creativity in a mind.

Anyway, onto box 2, this box contains one bag set, set 4, plus two plain bags of large plates and will be the floor base of the second level.

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All the base plates follow a similar design, but with a few holes in three of them, this one makes the opening for the elevator

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This is a solid floor, no holes

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Here we have the third floor piece, with the hole from the detention level down to the compactor

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The communication station in the detention level

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Connection to the power core

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The line Leia and Luke swing across the gap on

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The completed floor level and box 2 finished

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Not a lot of detail, but a sold build again and a lot of parts to put it together. onto box 3…


Jan 4 2013

Lego Death Star: A Saga part I

With my current obsession, as Kate would call it, with Lego and all things Star Wars, I have looked long and hard at the Death Star.
Finally after long thoughts and calculations and research, a fluke look at Amazon.com and I had ordered one on Boxing Day.

Yesterday, my package arrived, now first things first, $80.00 delivery and arrived on the 4th January after ordering the 26th December is damn good. Projected Date was 14th January. Impressed, yes Sir!
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$440.00 Australian full delivery included, compared to buying retail in Australia $699.00, mmm, price fairness my ass.
Well packed and on time, happy with that, will shop again 🙂
The box may have been a trifle big for the contents though…
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The actual Box:
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The contents of the box, ring bound, bloody heavy manual and four boxes of parts, each box contains numbered sets of bags too
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So onto the build, starting with box 1:
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3 lots of bags, for order sake, this is the method you follow in the manual, the bag numbers which come from the boxes in order.
I separate the parts out from the bags all in one hit and order the parts into like pieces
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The minifigs collected from the first bag set
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Three Lukes, Two Hans, Leia, Obi Wan, 3PO, R2, Chewie, Darth, Emperor, and a host of Imperial Scum and droids

Stages of the build:
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Bag Set 2:
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After that lot, the base has taken a great shape, the level of construction is detailed and solid, the compactor alone is so good, but Bag 3 is coming up with all the little details for this part of the build
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A mechanism to allow the compactor doors to close in
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A working elevator with winch, a nice little fork lift type vehicle for the hangar and the detail on this gun was awesome to build
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Debris and Struts for the compactor, the power core for Obi Wan to shut down
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So that’s box one built, next post, box two…