Sunday 2 January 2011

So Where Do I Put This One?

So after previously bewailing the lack of display space in my "office" you have to wonder at the wisdom of one of my recent acquisitions - the 10212, Imperial Shuttle.

It is the second largest Lego model I have built, only being beaten both on size and brick content by 10188 Death Star. The Imperial Shuttle contains 2053 pieces and took me approximately 6 hours to build. This is pretty good going considering the Death Star took approximately 17 nights / 26 hours to construct!


As you can see from the photo above the model has been rendered at full minifigure scale resulting in a model that is nearly 1.5ft tall - not including the landing / display gantry.


The second photo above hopefully does the size of it more justice. My wife thinks it is not the most beautiful model that I own but I must confess to liking the clean and austere lines of it. Plus, as any Star Wars fan will tell you, this model is a pretty accurate portrayal of the ship that transports Luke Skywalker from Endor to the half constructed Death Star II in Return of the Jedi, there to experience his final encounter with Darth Vadar and the Emperor.

Despite the number of pieces the build was relatively easy though not for younger enthusiasts. The wing sections and, indeed, mounting the wings was very fiddly. It is also essential that you get the internal gears lined up and assembled correctly: you really don't want to have to dismantled the model to correct it all later. Take your time and get it right first time is my advice.

At over £200 this is a very expensive model - something of an executive toy - and though surprisingly sturdy is not really designed for play. It's a display model. Something for grown men to go "ooh" at and for children to covet.

And something for me to scratch my head about and wonder just where the hell am I going to put it?



10 comments:

  1. Gosh, Steve, the only largest Lego "sculptures" I'd seen before this ones (Imperial Shuttle and Death Star) was in Legoland Windsor! I think you could soon open a Lego Gallery. In this tough economic times, wouldn't it be better than selling your body parts? I'd love to have a lifesize Darth Vader Lego Scupture to display at my front door.....Ciao. A.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Sadly my Lego gallery would be a little cramped; so full of Lego there'd only be room for one patron at a time!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Hi there, love your blog! Jody here, Kiwi living in Oakland, used to live in London. Came through Trish. Do you think you could possibly make these human size - would make a cool house. We went to legoland in San Diego, but your spaceship is just as cool!

    ReplyDelete
  4. About Last Weekend: hi Jody. A TV presenter here in the UK - by the name of James May - did in fact make a full sized house out of Lego for a TV show a while back. It can be done! The toilet however was not particularly waterproof...

    ReplyDelete
  5. I'll be honest and say that the last thing i expected when i saw your profile picture and thought "That's Mr Claypole" was a blog about Star Wars lego creations.

    Just goes to show how wrong you can be i guess

    Still - i admire anyone who has the patience to make models. All my airfix kits lasted about 20 seconds

    ReplyDelete
  6. Don't Feed The Pixies: you ought to check out my other blogs. They'll really mess with your mind.

    ReplyDelete
  7. that's pretty sick, and i'm not even a big star wars guy

    ReplyDelete
  8. j.littlejohn: is that sick as in cool or sick as in, er, sick?

    ReplyDelete
  9. Interweb Fails: it's still available from Legoshop.com!

    ReplyDelete