This is an item that’s been dusted out of the deepest corner of the storage areas and it was a nice find as the force awakens all around us. What can we say about the Corellian Model YT-1300 engineered vehicle that hasn’t been said before? Building the infamous smugglers ship that made the Kessel Run in less than 12 parsecs was a complete pleasure.
This is a 2009 release based on Episode IV screen version and priced at $39.99 USD. This midi-scale version and I find very appropriate size as a release that makes it very playable with a one hand grasp. Total Parts for this build is 356 according to brickset.
Box (Rating : N/A)
Having it being dug out of storage means that it doesn’t come with a box and with missing parts. Thankfully the parts that were missing could be scavenged from other parts with similar but not necessarily exact tones. One or two missing pieces that bricklink should be able to fix easily in the future. But from what I’ve seen whilst googling for the box - I wish I had the box to treasure for this set.
Parts (Rating : 3 out of 5)
As with most Star Wars kits, the plethora pf grey parts is almost a giveaway - however, I enjoyed that this set came with a few brightly coloured parts to break the dull themes. These bright bricks will eventually be covered up and not to be seen anymore as the overlaid and placed as strategically hidden parts.
There’s one part that I particularly liked as a finishing touch to the Falcon. The “afterburner” which is made up of an element called the 112mm corrugated pipe. This is a sort-of-unique piece as its a one of a kind. Yes, you may say that I’ve seen it in the 2011 (7695 release) or the 2015 (75105) release, but the two newer releases has it a little longer at 152mm. So, technically its the only set which has the 112mm transparent light-blue technic tube. In any case, I felt that this nice blue amongst the grey made the difference between a “swooshable” and presentable YT-1300 and one that sits on your desk as a showpiece.
The Build and the Instructions (Rating : 4 out of 5)
The build experience is absolutely different when you’re building something you have an emotional connection or something that you really like. This is also probably the secret sauce of Lego’s success in Star Wars, the beloved characters and vehicles and the franchise tugs on your heartstrings as you put the pieces of your favourite “insert SW lego set here” piece by piece.
This is no different from our favourite smugglers vehicle, it builds out pretty nicely and you start with the foundations - and I quite like how lego uses colourful parts are used as the insides. There was a hint of disappointment when I actually had to start layering items over these to the basic grey parts all over.
I always download the pdfs for as building instructions and this was no different, only thing is, I didn’t have a choice as the original instruction booklet is long gone and probably swallowed up by a sarlacc or somewhere disposed of in the trash compactor a long long time ago. 😉
We always take the creation of manuals for granted. I read somewhere that it takes the Lego designer
quite a long time to actually decide how to display the steps at the right angles so that you are able to follow the instructions with ease. With this built, i also learnt that they actually have to think about how it displays if you’re doing it from a PDF with scroll up / down as opposed to a left / right page turn. If you look at the screen-shot I made, imagine having the “orange” square as your monitor screen, and you actually have to scroll down to see step 2, and then back up for step 3. I did not really encounter this in my recent builds, so perhaps that Lego has learnt that this new digital world of referencing during builds also matters. I’ll continue to keep an eye out for this in future to validate my findings.
The Completed Model (Rating : 4 out of 5)
I took the time to look at the real actual photos of the models used in the Empire Strikes Back and other detailed replicas and compared with what Lego has done to emulate the key pieces that give the element of realism. I truly believe that this build with the limitations they had, the designers are true Star Wars fans. Take a look at some of the photo comparison shots that I have and you will notice that the cockpit and the side escape pods stickers really emulate the real models. I really have to give the guys a thumbs up for the details, even though they’re just stickers, they show the dedication. The overall shape and built takes the form of the original vehicle and I think for a 300 piece set, this does it justice.
Overall (Rating : 4 out of 5)
I would given this set full marks had it come with minifigs. Yes, you say, where are the minifigs? Same question I had, this was the only let down. One could say from a scale perspective, the minifigs wouldn’t make any sense as it can’t be placed anywhere logically. I still would have really like to see it come with minifigs nonetheless. As a fan of Star Wars and my one an only version of the Millennium Falcon in Lego form, I really think its is a gem on its own and to be treasured. An experienced MOCer could easily touch it up with modifications to give it an even better representation. A quick scan on e-bay shows that it’s not going for anything less than SGD150. Is it worth it? For a 300+ piece set, I would have to say no - what would be a nice side project for you to undertake is to actually build it yourself. I have attached some photos of an AFOL Ray Yeo who attempted to build his own 7778 with parts that he had - and I must say he did a very good job!
I do also want to share with regards to this set that has been in storage. Whilst taking apart the build, the 1x2 tile that’s in “New Dark Red” chipped and broke off. It seems that certain colors of Lego elements tend to break easier than others due to its chemical composition. Thankful that this color is still in production - this one tile will certainly go into my shopping cart in my next bricklink order batch.
The only question I have is, when will Lego issue a revised version of the 10179. Yes, a guy can dream on…can’t he? 😃