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?

These Are Not The Droids You Are Looking For...

Few Lego models say Star Wars as much as this one - Luke's Landspeeder 8092 (click on image to enlarge). This is a cheap-to-mid price set and to be honest when I saw it in the catalogue I wasn't particularly bowled over by it, preferring the re-issued and updated Arc-170 Fighter from the Clone Wars series. However, 8092 is a classic set and when I had a spare bit of tin floating around and just happened to be taking the boys to Toys R Us anyway... I decided to buy it. More of a purchase to add value to the collection than because I liked the model.

Building it changed my opinion completely. I do find this with Lego - quite often the photography of a model let's it down. No, that's a bit harsh. It undersells it. I couldn't quite grasp the sheer aesthetic beauty of this model until I had built it and had it - 3D and real - in my hands.

Now it has become one of my favourites. The design is simple and clean and remarkably faithful for such a brick light set. And yet it's all there. The entire scene. The landspeeder has smooth plates on its underside so can skim across the terrain of your choice - carpet, tile or concrete - and the boosters at the back just help to make it "real". It's a fabulous set and if I was a kid I'd be absolutely made up to get one of these.

I know, I know, what do I mean "if" I was a kid?!

Geonosian Fighter 4478 And Cyber Saucer 6900

Sometimes you come across Lego in the most delightful ways. These two models came to me via my obsession with blogging. A kind hearted blogger out there by the name of Lunarossa found a couple of old Lego sets at the bottom of her son's wardrobe and wondered if I'd like to give them a good home.

Well, my doors are always open to Lego and though things are getting overcrowded I'm confident I can squeeze in another couple of year's worth of collecting before we either have to buy a bigger house and / or get a loft extension and / or my wife chucks me out.

The 4478 Geonosian Fighter is a real treat as it was issued in 2003, a good couple of years before the Lego bug re-bit me and I recommenced collecting in earnest. Thus anything pre-2005 is very unrepresented in my collection. I certainly didn't have any Geonosian minifigures before this set arrived through my letterbox. As you can see from the photo below, this set is the forerunner for the 7752 Count Dooku’s Solar Sailer set released last year in 2009. I'm obsessive enough to like to have timelines in my collection so to acquire the 4478 set was a real boon.

The second set that Lunarossa included in her Lego-aid package (which you can see in the top picture) was the 6900 Cyber Saucer set. This was originally released in 1997 and was a curious tangent in Lego's eclectic space range - a line was simply entitled UFO. I didn't previously own any of the models from this line so to have this one makes me very happy - mainly because it is the "classic" flying saucer that the whole range was based around.

All I've got to do now is find somewhere to display them properly! Once again, many thanks to Lunarossa... and if there are any other bloggers out there who bought a Lego set for Christmas and not for life and want them adopted or fostered out, well, I make a great Lego parent. Feel free to email me via the "Lego Wanted" link on the right sidebar! ;-)

The Only Way Is Up

It's official. I have run out of room. If I don't do something truly creative soon my Lego collecting may have to come to an end.

The shot below is my "office" (click to enlarge). A last baby bookshelf has been squeezed in to display the latest acquisitions (8087 Tie Defender and 8088 ARC-170 Starfighter) but now there is no more room to house anymore display furniture. You can see my knee at the bottom of the picture. To my back is my PC desk and another wall of (occupied) shelving units.

The collection has already spread piecemeal to other upstairs rooms but it would be unfair of me to commandeer more space. I confess I'm at a loss as to what to do. I'm selling off a few unwanted sets on eBay but these are only small and have never been displayed anyway (bought as part of a job lot last year).

A loft conversion is one solution I've come up with but there simply ain't enough moolah to accomplish that.

The only workable alternative is to order extra shelves for the existing cases and see if I can squeeze more layers in...

*Sigh*

Who'd be a Lego addict?