Thanks To My Benefactress - Hypno Cruiser 6492

Yours truly has been the humble beneficiary of yet more free Lego. Once more Lunarossa has proven herself to be a Lego friend of the highest order and has passed on an old Lego set to me rather than see it fall into the anonymous hands of a second hand shop salesperson. I can only gratefully accept with much hearty thanks and reiterate my promise to buy said beneficiary a coffee of magnificent proportions should our paths every cross in the real world.

This set came from Lego's 1996 range "Time Cruisers" which I don't think ran for very long. It's a very quirky series and I don't think it ever really caught on which is a great shame... but, of course, these were the days before Lego saw the advantages of the TV tie-in theme. Attempting to generate fanatical interest in your own made-up themes is always going to be a dicy marketing strategy and one that, in the case of Time Cruisers, didn't really pay off.

Hence I did not previously own any models from this series. I was in fact largely unaware of its existence - this despite my regular poring over the contents of the Ultimate Lego Collector book that contains details of every set Lego have any released. Naturally I have gravitated my investigations to eras and models that I loved as a kid and those new lines that attract my interest now.

Hence the 6492 Hyno Cruiser is an unexpected gift in every sense of the phrase. It's a really charming model that utilizes a very simple elastic band "motor" to spin the propellor blades and the swirly patterned discs on the side of the vehicle. It has bags of humour and character and makes for a very tongue in cheek counterpart to the Death Star 10188 beneath which it currently resides...!

The Force is strong in this one... be it only a lacky-band!

That's No Moon!

Lego Death Star 10188 is the biggest and most expensive Lego set that I own to date. Comprising 3803 pieces and costing £250 this was a Christmas present beyond my wildest dreams from my wife a couple of years ago (back when we had money to spend). It is the ultimate Star Wars Lego set and took me the best part of a month to build. Employment and life got in the way somewhat and I had to make do with a couple of hours after work each night once the kids were in bed. To be honest this allowed me to savour the experience.

It came in a huge box that was in turn comprised of 4 smaller boxes each containing more Lego that I had ever seen in one place before. As always with Lego I was amazed and impressed with their quality control. All the pieces were there - none were missing - and there was even the usual array of spare extra pieces.

I must say that in my many years of building / buying Lego I have only ever had one experience of pieces being missing from a box and Lego's famous customer service excellence made sure those pieces were with me, free of charge, within a matter of days.

But back to the Death Star... you will see from the photos (click for a larger version) that the set is divided into several quarter spheres on each level and each depicts a famous scene from each of the three films (original trilogy). You get Luke's duel with the emperor as well as Luke and Leia's rope swing across the chasm. You get Obi Wan deactivating the tractor beam and trash compactor scene. The model is full of them - I'm sure you can figure the rest out from the photographs.

Unbelievably this is not the biggest Star Wars set available. Lego are currently selling (though they are not making any more) a huge model of the Millennium Falcon. Totalling 5195 pieces and costing £342 it is the biggest set ever. Would I like it? Hell yeah. But where the hell would I put it? One has to be realistic and let the occasional set get away.

Maybe if I win the lottery...?

In the meantime, I can dream...