Slave 1 (75060) - It's A Lobster Crab!

We were very productive last night, finishing both chapters 2 and 3. The ship is starting to take shape now and is recognizable as the back end of the vessel.

To me, it looks like a hybrid between a lobster tail and a horseshoe crab. The overall shape is like the crab but the way the armor plates are tiered is reminiscent of the shell on a lobster tail.

The set, so far, has been very sturdily designed. Already, the piece we have put together is quite heavy. And with the solidness of the build, you could give someone a good whallop on the head with it.

Of course, mom was ooohing and aaahing with all the dark red she was getting to build. Admittedly, this is definitely one of the more colorful star wars sets, as most of them seem to be comprised primarily of dark bluish gray, light bluish gray or black.

This build also seems to be easier so far. We are certainly moving through it at a pretty rapid clip. It's only taken us 2 hours to get to this stage. As mom says, we better slow things down a little as this is a hobby that is not cheap!!

Slave 1 (75060) - On To The Next Project!

With the quick completion of our AT-AT, we had to move on to a new project (of course!). I've had this set sitting in my closet for a few months now and we figured it was time for it to get some attention.

Mom picked this one up - she was drawn in by all the color and by the unique shape. I am, of course, referring to Slave 1. It's another Star Wars UCS set and will look very nice beside our Super Star Destroyer.

We cracked it open last night and dove in, managing to finish off the first chapter before calling it a night. We decided we would track our build time this go around, just to see how long it takes us.

The instruction manual is pretty hefty. Once more, we were annoyed with the fact that it is a glue spine and not a coiled spine. This makes it impossible to lay flat, particularly if you are trying not to crease the spine as we were. Secondly, the paper that they used has a gloss finish, which had the annoying tendency of catching the overhead light and casting a glare into our eyes. We had to move the book around to different angles to overcome this. Thirdly, they decided to use a dark gray tint on each page, which made the pieces harder to differentiate at times. I think the message is that simple is still best! Plain white, non-glossy paper would have been the best way to go. It might not look as fancy but it sure would be more user-friendly. The money saved could go into making all the manuals coil bound instead.

Anyway, with that little rant out of the way, below is a picture of the finished product from Chapter 1. It's not much to look at - in fact, I am not entire sure which portion of the ship it is.

AT-AT (10178) - Final Thoughts

This post is being written a lot sooner than I anticipated!! This was definitely the quickest built we have yet to date. I think this was mostly due to the fact that it is a much smaller and less detailed set than the last few that we have done.

That, however, is not to say that it was an easy build because it wasn't. As you can imagine, with it being able to walk, it was a very Technic heavy set, which always means challenges due to the number of small parts and the diligence to alignment that must be maintained. Of the entire build, the head was probably the most difficult to build. There were a lot of moving parts even within the head - all the armor plates can lift and swivel and the guns are not attached very sturdily. If mom wasn't very careful about where she held the assembled part in order to attach new pieces, she would knock things off and have to backtrack and put them back on.

We really liked the built-in carrying handle on the back. Given the relative fragility of the model, I think that moving it would have been extremely difficult without this feature. The handle is extremely sturdy as it is integrated into the frame of the AT-AT itself. Well done on this part of the design, Lego!

The overall model is pretty hefty. I didn't weigh it, but online resources report that the weight of the pieces is 3.81lbs. This puts a large strain on the batteries when the AT-AT walks, and the battery life drains very quickly as a result. While we didn't take note of the total walking time before we started noticing battery fatigue, I estimate it to be no more than 5 minutes. At this point, the walking slowed significantly and sometimes stalled altogether. I would need to lift the handle and relieve the weight before it would start walking again.

This completely dashed mom's hopes of having a fleet of these plodding through the house. :) So we will be sticking with just the 1 unit of this haha.

Removal of the battery pack is fairly simple. The side armor plates on both sides, as well as the back, swivel up very easily, allowing access to the pack for removal. Once out, it is easy to slide back in and lock back into place.

Overall, this was a fun build. Challenging at times (which I think adds to the enjoyment) but the end product is a very unique-looking machine. The walk function is cool, although better battery life is required. I have often wondered why Lego doesn't design a power pack that runs off a single 9V battery instead of the 6x1.5V. It would mean less weight, a smaller power pack, and general improvement in ease of use.

AT-AT (10178) We Are Done!

Well, it happened a lot sooner than I had anticipated. But we finished the AT-AT over the weekend. Admittedly, it was a pretty small build. Just a little over 1,000 pieces. Plus we didn't have any missing pieces that we needed to wait for.

The head proved to be pretty finnicky to build. Mom kept knocking pieces loose as she was trying to put other pieces on. I think this is partly due to the intricate design and the number of small pieces but also partly due to the fact that she wasn't holding on to the most structurally sound parts when trying to attach more pieces. Either way, she got through it, although there were a few pieces that had to be put on more than once.

It's a snug fit in the cockpit area. There is just enough room for the pilot to sit at the controls while General Veers stands behind and calls out targets. Here, we have raised the armor shielding a little so you can see into the cockpit. Mom likes how the blast shielding on the front look like rows of teeth.

The end product is a very nice looking model and surprisingly heavy. We were a little disappointed to find that with the weight, our batteries (which were brand new) didn't last very long. While I didn't time the amount of walking it did, I would say it was no more than 5 minutes. By that time, the AT-AT had visibly slowed down and would sometimes come to a complete halt altogether. If I lifted up slightly on the built-in handle and relieved some of the weight, it would start walking at a normal rate again.

As always, we had to pose our minifigures in an interesting fashion. While the set comes with a string that you are supposed to hang from the underbelly of the AT-AT, thus re-creating the scene in the movie where Luke rappels up the machine, cuts through the belly armor and throws a grenade in, we decided to deviate from this standard display.

We posed Luke and the snowtrooper up on the back of the AT-AT where they are facing off.

AT-AT (10178) - First Steps!

Surprisingly, mom has managed to scrounge up a few hours over the past few days to work on our set. In addition to getting the last 2 legs built and mounted, we also installed the power pack and had the chance to see the little guy walk.

The walk is highly reminiscent of the movie - it plods along ponderously (as something of its size should). It's actually pretty cute as it walks around. It does have a habit of pulling to the left though. I guess the bright side to that is that you can set it down and leave it to itself, knowing that it will just keep doing large circles.

AT-AT (10178) - The Adventure Begins

We got quite a bit done this past weekend, finishing off the engine compartment and one of the legs.

The engine compartment was pretty tricky. As expected, there were a lot of small moving parts that had to be aligned properly in order to work. To check our work periodically, we plugged in the power box and turned it on just to make sure that things were turning smoothly and working as intended (insofar as we can tell anyway with just the engine casing).

With the engine compartment finished, we moved onto the first leg. Mom was unbelievably excited to build it. She was literally bouncing up and down in her seat with anticipation. The foot and leg are well detailed - you can imagine some of the struts being muscles and tendons. And the articulation on the joints is very well done. There is clearly an ankle and a knee, both of which have a wide range of motion. The top has a 3rd joint, which I am sure will become a hip of sorts once it is attached to the body.

Mom had a great time moving the leg around even without it being attached to anything. She went so far as to proclaim that maybe we should get a whole bunch of the AT-AT's and have them all walking around the house.

We probably won't get much done for the next few days - mom has already reminded me that Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays are very busy TV days for her. This week in particular, with finales for a few of the shows that she follows. That's ok, I have more than a few video games that I need to play as well!!

AT-AT (10178) - Unveiling Our Next Build

Well, we've decided on our next build - actually, not just decided, we've got it in our hot little hands already.

Since our last build was the carousel, we decided to return to (my favorite) Star Wars theme. In keeping with the mantra of our builds, this is another retired set. And if the title of the post hasn't already given it away, we are going to be building the AT-AT (All Terrain Armored Transport).

It's going to be our smallest build thus far, with "only" 1137 pieces. Aside from its unique look, it also has a power function - something mom is particularly excited for. She has had visions of the completed AT-AT walking around our Lego table while we work on future sets. I have to admit I am pretty stoked to see it in action as well.

Hopefully we will get some time to start on it this weekend. Mom has a very busy TV schedule during the first half of the week (as she never neglects to inform me) so Lego is just an end of week and weekend activity for us.

I leave you with this tantalizing teaser of things to come.