Death Star (75159) Starting on the Second Floor

The second floor is the largest, as it makes up the "equator" of the Death Star. It's tough to tell just from the floor structure which scene each quadrant will be representing, although there are a couple clues ...

Based on the various computer consoles in the lower right quadrant (in this picture), I would hazard a guess that the detention cell escape will be featured there.

The lower left quadrant is fairly ambiguous at this point. It could be a storage room based on the two barrels OR it could be something far more high-tech based on the hosed contraption towards the center.

Now this I am thinking is going to be the throne room, based on the hand rails - both the circular one around the edge of the quadrant and the 2 small straight sections near the center of the room.

And this section looks like it will be a hangar bay (possibly for the TIE bomber that we built way back when?). That would make sense given the directional arrows on the floor as well as the elevator platform leading up from the floor below. 

Death Star (75159) - First Floor Complete!

We've had a very productive week, finishing off the remaining 3 scenes on the first of the two main floors.

First up is Obi Wan Kenobe shutting down the tractor beam. He is looking very pleased with himself, brandishing his light sabre around. I am happy to see that they got the color of his light sabre correct - BLUE!

The tractor beam control station is a fairly good representation of the movie, down to the blue cone of light at the top. There is even the elevated platform where the storm troopers walk by in search of the intruders.

From there, we move to a representation of one of the gunnery stations aboard the Death Star. I was very impressed with this gunnery station. Not only is it visually appealing - it looks high tech and absolutely lethal - but it actually launches the green pieces (meant to represent the green laser fire) across a significant distance!

The laser bolts are loaded in a spring-loaded piece and click into place before being fired by the two red release switches at the top of the gun.

The gun is capable of swiveling completely around and is limited only by the walls that separate this scene from those beside it. It can also traverse in a wide range of motion on the vertical axis. The gunnery station controls look authentic, as do the death star gunners.

Last of all is a storage room of some kind. I don't recall a specific scene from the movie that this is supposed to depict - perhaps it is a hangar? There are a number of weapons arranged in racks along the wall as well as an elevator capable of moving large objects from this floor to the upper floor. One of the ship's officers is currently operating the large mechanical claw, which presumably is used to transfer heavy objects to the elevator.

 The articulated claw has a wide range of motion in the vertical direction. The claw itself can also swivel. The elevator is controlled by a simple winch that is built into the wall.

Death Star (75159) - Walls Complete & Trash Compactor

Chapter 3 is now finished, which means all the partitioning walls on the first floor are complete. Nothing particularly interesting to write about with those - the new additions primarily serve to separate the various scenes being portrayed.

 
The first completed scene is the trash compactor scene. As you will recall, our heroes find themselves in the trash compactor after rescuing Princess Leia from her cell and dropping down the garbage chute.

Shortly after arrival, the walls of the compactor start to close, threatening to crush them all. The Lego model attempts to re-create this and is successful in capturing the sentiment behind it, but due to the shape of the model, it's not really a crushing motion so much as it is a pinching one. The walls do not come together fully as they do in the movie but rather just pincer together at one end. Theoretically, our heroes could just stand by the door and be perfectly safe.

The door to exit the trash compactor is a simple, yet clever contraption. You manually open and close the door using a long "handle" that is attached to the bottom of the door and slides along a track. The door itself is sandwiched between the 2 pillars making up the middle structure. The whole things moves very smoothly. Below you can see that the door is half open. The red stud that sticks up from the floor in the right-most room is the handle to control the door movement. You can see the flat tile that acts as a track.

Of course, one can not mention the trash compactor room without talking about the hideous dianoga that makes its home there. I like the fact that Lego has included it in this set. You can see its head poking up from the surface, as it looks for its next victim.

On the underside of the floor is a hatch that can be manually moved up and down in order to raise and lower the level of the eyeball. You can see in the picture below that the dianoga is actually sitting on this platform.

Death Star (75159) - Starting on the Walls

With the floor of the 1st level done, we next started on the walls. With these starting to go up, you can definitely begin to see the spherical shape of the death star as well as get an idea of the scale and size of the set.

We also started filling in some of the background details in some of the scenes - ladders, weapons racks, etc.

 Here we can see the beginnings of the "swinging across the shaft" scene with the platforms that Luke and Leia swing across in order to escape from the pursuing stormtroopers. The stickers on the long vertical pieces are a nice touch as they do a decent job of recreating the lighting panels as seen in the movie.

 The top down view gives a sense of just how small the base is compared to the upper levels.

Death Star (75159) - First Floor Structure Complete

This is definitely not mom's favorite build. She's never been a fan of builds that are primarily one color and certainly not when that color is gray or shades of gray.

The floor was constructed in quarters, with each quarter panel being affixed to the base as it was completed. It wasn't until we went to attach the last quarter that we realized we had offset the other 2 by 1 stud!!! So we had to rip them up and fix everything - mom was not a happy camper (though hopefully she will be a more careful camper in the future hee hee).

Attaching pieces to the base is not a simply prospect. Because the base is so much smaller than the upper floors (at least until we get past the mid point of the death star), it tends to tip quite easily. When attaching pieces, you need to push down on the opposite side of the structure to ensure you don't flip the entire piece over.

Death Star (75159) - Minifigs and a TIE Bomber!

The first thing that gets built from any set are mini-figs and this set is no different. Chapter 1 comes with 4 mini-figs - Darth Vader, an Imperial Officer, Death Star Droid, and an Imperial Astromech.

There is also a garbage droid but it's a small buildable component and not a minifigure.

A surprise build, however, was the TIE bomber. I did not realize that was part of this build. Given it's small scale, it is surprisingly detailed, from the printed cockpit piece to the curved wings to the laser turrets.

It is accessed via a hatch on the top of the vessel.

Death Star (75159) - Unboxing!

Mom decided she was ready to tackle the Death Star. This is a big step because she typically shies away from Star Wars sets due to the overwhelming "grayness" of the sets. I think she found this one more acceptable because of all the scenes that are built into the structure.

At over 4,000 pieces, this build will likely take us a while to work our way through. Certainly not the blitzkrieg of our previous builds (BB8 and Year of the Pig).

This is another UCS set, and in my opinion, one of the better looking ones. We've passed over a number of other UCS sets like Cloud City and Snowspeeder, which we really just didn't feel were anything too special.

 The first thing that came out of the box was the instruction manual. You know you are working with a big set when the manual weighs about 10 pounds and comes with a coil spine to support the weight. I'm a fan of the coil spine though as it makes it much easier to flip through the book without crunching pages and putting creases into the binding.