Lego UCS TIE Advanced (Part 3)

I'm starting to think that maybe I took too many pictures of this thing... You can find part 1 here and part 2 over yonder.

Above is the last set of "in progress" image. The first two images show the outside and the inside of the center sections of the wing, respectively. The fully-assembled wings are actually pretty hefty, and they are only supported by four posts, which go into the four holes you see in the second image. You'd think this wouldn't be enough, but the kit holds them up quite well.

And here we have the final assembled kit. The assembled craft measures approximately 13 inches wide by 13 inches deep, and about 15 inches tall when placed on the stand, and comprises 1,212 pieces. I would estimate that it took at least eight hours to assemble, and quite possibly more.

Of the few UCS kits that are currently available, I actually thought this one was one of the least interesting (next to the Death Star II. That is, until I got well into the assembly process. It's actually a toss-up between the TIE and the AT-ST as to which one I like more. The completed TIE is pretty imposing (you can see how it compares in size to the AT-ST above), and I think it looks fantastic.

On a completely related note, my UCS Y-Wing arrived yesterday...

Lego UCS TIE Advanced (Part 2)

Here's the next set of pictures from the TIE Advanced assembly. If you missed it, part 1 can be found here.

The pictures above focus on what I affectionately refer to as "the shoulders" (they remind me of shoulder pads, for some reason). The first image, which is actually taken from the underside of the craft, shows the detailing that hides behind the shoulders and peeks through the holes in the front. You can also get a sense of how they are attached to the main body, partly because you can see the hooks on the left, and partly because the manual snuck into the picture in the background. The third image is the fully-assembled mid-section of the craft, seen from above and behind.

It's at this point that the instructions have you assemble the stand. I'm assuming that this is due to the immense size of the wings, but I personally found that it made attaching the wings more difficult than it needed to be. As the TIE is significantly wider than the stand, it tends to wobble a bit, and this is exaggerated when the while kit is lopsided with only one wing attached.

I'm not sure if it's by design or just a side effect, but as you can see above, the stand is capable of maintaining two positions. The second position offers an inclined view of the kit, but I found it to be a bit too dramatic.

What you don't see in these images is that I've made a small modification to the stand. As designed, the two posts on the top of the stand insert into two matching holes in the bottom of the midsection (you can see these in the very first picture in this post). One of these holes happens to be right under the seat of the cockpit. The problem is that the full weight of the TIE fighter places too much pressure on the front post, and any physical disturbance to the kit (and probably just enough time sitting around) will pop the seat out of place. You have to completely remove the face of the cockpit in order to replace the seat, and even then, it's a tight squeeze. Fortunately, the rear post is in a much more stable position on the craft and is more than strong enough to support the full weight of the kit.

The change that I made was to simply slide the front post down one notch. This is enough to relieve the pressure under the seat, but not so much that the post is no longer inserted into its hole, so it still adds to stability.

Unfortunately, I'm short on time and have a few too many images left to cram them all into this post, so I'm going to cut this one short.  The last part will show the wings and the final assembly.

Lego UCS TIE Advanced (Part 1)

A recent upsurge in the amount of Legos that I own has caused me to finally get off my ass and make this post. The following are some snaps of the Lego Star Wars Ultimate Collector Series Vader’s TIE Advanced. The TIE Advanced eclipses the size of the Imperial AT-ST by almost 200 pieces. I've been sitting on these for about three months, I think. Shots were taken at various stages of construction, as well as of the completed model (naturally). Click on the thumbnails for larger versions.

The first set of shots were from day one, which completed the base of the cockpit and began the wing supports.

Above are some pictures of the TIE's body section. The middle shot shows the detail on the center of the body, while the last image shows the body attached to the cockpit.

The above pictures show the detail inside the cockpit. One of the best parts of the UCS kits is the amount of details they add that you never get to see, much like in a traditional model kit. Even though the cockpit lid opens by design, it doesn't allow a very good view of the interior. I removed the cockpit facing in the first image in order to get a better look at the seat.

I'm going to cut this one off before it gets ridiculous with the images. Hopefully I'll be able to get the rest of them up without requiring a part 3.