Super Star Destroyer (10221) - Mega Greebling!

I think mom has found her calling - Master Greebler. Despite vociferous complaining about how hard it is to make out the differences in color (light bluish gray, dark bluish gray, and black), she has done a really good job on the nit-picking greebling that really makes the SSD look great.

A lot of the tail section is now done and we have started working our way towards the nose of the vessel.

She was also itching for a Darth Vader minifigure that she could parade through the ship. I didn't pick up any of the minifigures when I put this set together as I had intended it primarily as a display piece. I told her that when we build our Death Star, Darth Vader can come for a visit :)

We've also picked out a pretty good place where we can display this once it's finished. We're thinking it will look pretty sharp on top of the china cabinet in the formal dining room.

Super Star Destroyer (10221) - Gucci Plays Hide & Seek

Gucci loves joining mom and I for our Lego sessions. She's got her own amply padded chair that she curls up in and listens to us rustling around with the pieces. Occasionally, she takes a peek out just to make sure we are staying on track.

We did some more work on the internals yesterday - put in some of the command areas (they would look more like command and control centers if we applied the stickers but we feel that limits the re-building capability so we leave them off).

We also added some more greebling to the sides, covering up some of the exposed tiles and giving it a more detailed and finished look.

The main decking is starting to come together as well. I *think* this section may be visible on the outside. I am guessing that all the tiles with the single central attachment points are for future greebling. We'll see if I am right about that.

Super Star Destroyer (10221) - Upwards and Onwards - Chapter 2 Finished!

Either Chapter 2 was pretty short or we really picked up the pace. It didn't seem like that long ago that we finished Chapter 1.

Where Chapter 1 was all about laying down the foundation for the ship, Chapter 2 started building up to give it some height. It also fortified the structure a lot with interlocking layers of plate and technic bricks. And of course, it lengthened the overall vessel by adding the "backbone" that lies down the middle and extends out the back end.

The piece now is getting pretty heavy but is very solid. It's also almost at its final length ... I think ... At any rate, it's already longer than 2 of Gucci lying head to butt.

Mom got her first taste of "greebling". That is, the detailing of some of the exposed areas of the vessel. The SSD, of course, has a lot of turbo-cannons and other structures dotting the top of the vessel and the model does a great job of capturing these by using a lot of small pieces to re-create that landscape.

The last piece that we built in Chapter 2 is going to have the top exposed and thus required this detailed greebling. You can see this in the picture below. The piece includes the command tower for the SSD - that raised section with the distinctive dual deflector-shield domes.

Death Star UCS (75159) - Guess Who Got One? .....

Mmmhmmm YUP! I picked up one of these from the Lego Store this weekend. The box was huge and probably weighed about 15 lbs (it seemed to have grown to 100lbs by the time I had lugged it through the mall and back to the car). There were only 2 sets on display at the store (not sure if they have more in the back and just don't want to have so much sitting out as it is an expensive set). One had a pretty banged up box - there was a large crease that ran the length of the box and the corners were pretty scuffed up. Luckily, the second box (the one I picked) was pretty sharp. All the faces were smooth and the corners looked fairly crisp.

It was approximately $630 including tax. A lot of people were angry with this re-release (it replaces the Death Star 10188 set) as it seemed there were minimal changes between it and the 10188 set. The biggest difference was perhaps the price, which increased from $500 CAD to $600 CAD.However, having never owned the 10188 set, I can't really complain as this allows me to add an iconic element to my collection. I admit that the $600 price tag is steep though. It makes me feel a little better that it seems to be the most cost effective to buy it here in Canada. The listed USD list price is $500, which after conversion is about $650 CAD. In Australia, you would have to shell out a whopping $800 AU for the set. The AU and CAD dollars are pretty much on par, which means the Aussies are spending $800 CAD on this. Yay for being in Canada!

It looks pretty impressive from the outside - a lot of different famous scenes recreated inside the death star and with 25 mini-figures included in the set, there is bound to be a ton of play function. Not sure when I am going to get around to building it as there are a number of sets I have planned already.


So for the meantime, it's sitting in my closet where I go and ogle it once in a while :)

Front of the box - with official UCS stamp

Back of the box - also stamped with the UCS logo

Super Star Destroyer (10221) - It Keeps Getting Longer!

Got a decent amount done on the SSD this weekend. We finished chapter 1 on Saturday - all the base plates have been put down. I imagine that subsequent steps will start building upwards from here.

Here is a shot of one of the bow cannons that seems to mount inside the ship.

 As expected, all the building on Sunday started to add some height to the model. Starting with the two long side walls. It's not the easiest thing to see but if you look closely, you can see that the starboard side wall has been installed in the below picture.

Here is a follow-up with both side walls installed as well as some additional structural pieces down the "spine" of the ship.