There was nothing on telly last night so I decided to get productive and tackled bag set 3. It was only a few bags but the contents finished off the lower level. Here are some updated pictures with a video tour below.

The trash compactor now has a cool lever to open and close the walls, along with lots of trash.

The tractor beam control is in place, complete with disappearing glowy thing. 

There’s some serious fire power available to the Empire.

There’s a lift and a cool yellow claw waiting to pick something up.

All of these new features only took an hour and twenty minutes to complete, although there’s some tricky buts with the claw and gun.

And here’s how they all work.

The Bag 2 lot had four bags and couple of bags within those for the smaller items. I have learned my lesson and as I opened the bags I sorted the blocks in to colour lots – this time we had the exciting addition of brown and white. Bag 2 is all about the lower levels, primarily the trash compactor. Lots of brown blocks for the compactor walls and the greys for others.

We left construction with the floor ready to go.

Then the bags were sorted in to colour groups. The tiny pieces in their holder to stop them rolling around.

I love the details. These little lights are repeated up the central shaft. The blue on the barrels is a great touch, could just as easily been black but the different colour makes it stand out.

Here’s a video close up of the trash compactor door in action.

And finally, two hours later we have a completed trash compactor and a fair bit of the lower level in place.

The ladder to where Luke and Leia will swing.

Back of the central shaft, the space where Luke and Leia will swing.

And the view from the top.

It’s made up of three separate quarters plates leaving a gap. Lots of flat pieces piled on top of each other this time to give strength. Highlight of this section is the armoury, a nice bit of detail there with the striped plates leading in to it.

I’m letting the kids build the minifigs so they won’t be included in the construction time. I’ve finished the 1 bags so now it’s on to the 2 bags.

Progress

Session Number : 2
Session time : 60
Total build time : 1:52
Instruction Manual Page : 21/259
Bag Set Number(s) : 1

First though came the unboxing.

The outer container opened at the sides to reveal four smaller boxes, numbered 1-4 and the spiral bound instruction manual. And what an instruction manual – it weighs 1.7kg all on its own.

I checked the boxes and there are seven sets of numbered bags with box one containing sets 1 to 3.

I started out by opening the three bag 1s and the contents of a normal kit spilled out. There were two bags of tiny bits and pieces, the sort that just love roll away and never be found. I repurposed a herb punnet from Coles, just the right size and with a sealing lid to stop pieces escaping.

It’s a slow start with all the pieces spread out but I got stuck in to it. As the parts are spread through the bags my plan is to build the base and then go back and let the boys build the minifigs with the pieces left over.

I built for just under the hour and the base of the base is now in place. It’s incredible the amount of details already. Parts that will no doubt be almost invisible in the finished product look fantastic. I won’t have time to continue for a couple more days but given demands on my time, the number of pieces and complexity of the build I can tell this is turning in to a long term project.

Progress

Session Number : 1
Session time : 52
Total build time : 52
Instruction numbers : 1 –13
Bag Set Number(s) : 1

Today we finally signed off on a lease.

We have access to The Table She Didn’t Know What To Do With. It’s small, round and not used for anything at the moment and will be perfect for our needs. It can be stored out of the way and should be just the right size,

We’re ready to go, Next step – unboxing.

TIE Fighter is done, we’re ready to move on to much bigger and better things now. Thanks for your help Bert.

Zita, The World’s Best Mother In Law, gave me set Lego Set 9492 – The TIE Fighter. This one is a lot simpler build so I’m off to complete it now as a pre-DS training run. Hopefully photos to follow.