T-6 Jedi Shuttle (#7931)

Another great deal on Bricklink, less than half the shelf price because the minifigures weren't included. That's okay, I have extra Jedi just sitting around not doing anything. And while the Shaak Ti and Saesee Tiin minifigs are pretty cool and new to this set, Obiwan hasn't been in very many sets in the past, but another Anakin figure?? Good grief, he seems to be a standard filler in most of the sets.

Anyhow, this is another installment in the Clone Wars line. This one has a really good "swoosh factor" and was a fairly straight-forward build. It came in right before I was heading out of town for a few days so I actually put it together in my hotel room.

Here's the front view. I was very happy to see the canopy was printed as opposed to needing stickers. I also like how they used the white arch pieces for the engine housing on the back.

The profile view. There is a folding landing gear on the bottom which is surprisingly stable.

The cockpit is designed to serve as an escape pod and seats two Jedi (so long as they don't have their lightsabers in-hand). Mace Windu is riding shot-gun with Kit Fisto, but will most likely give up his seat to Aayla Secura once I open my Clone Turbo Tank.

Here are the wings in flight mode. The small gear wheel on the bottom does a great job of keeping the wings from flopping around while in flight. There are two flick-fire missiles which are fired when you pull back on the engine pods on the back. However, I thought this was annoying, so I secured the pods so they don't move and I don't have to go searching for the flick-fire missiles.

This one kept me entertained for the evenings I spent alone in the hotel room, although I'd recommend closing the curtains before you start flying around the room with your shuttle unless you want weird looks from people walking outside.

8037 - Y-Wing (modified)

Finally!! After weeks of delays that came after I'd get a Bricklink order in, only to realize I had missed a few critical pieces (ordered the wrong piece once too), it's finally done! I started working on the red Y-Wing variant back in November and got the final parts shipment today. I used some screen shots from Clone Wars as a basis for the coloring, but ran into a couple of glitches when Lego doesn't make the parts I needed in the right colors, so this is as close as I could get...

I didn't add any special features not found in the original, this one is the same as 8037, just with different colors. I wanted to go with dark red, but hardly any of the pieces were available in that color. I borrowed the Republic emblem stickers from the Clone Walker Battlepack set for the engine pods.

I used Commander Fox as the pilot (from #7681). He wasn't doing anything at the time, and he matches the color scheme.

Here's a crew photo... Commander Fox, a clone gunner, and a generic astromech droid (the body from the new V-Wing set, the head from the old V-Wing).

Weapon storage compartment... The white domes on the end of the engine pods are supposed to be red, but Lego doesn't make them in that color.

Rear-view... Feel free to oooh and aaaah.

Here are the two versions together... Missile launchers removed from both (well, technically the red one never had the launcher).

Now I just have to find a place to put it until I put up the new shelf. I'm quickly running out of parking spaces...

AT-AT (#4483, Modified)

The cockpit on the original AT-AT has always bugged me a bit. The sides never really stayed closed and there was only room for one minifig (as seen below).

So, I downloaded the building instructions for the motorized walking AT-AT (#10178) and modified the cockpit a little. Here's what the finished product looks like...

The one drawback of the new design is that it makes the "head" look disproportionally large for the rest of the body. But, I did tweak the head to allow it to move up and down (which makes it much easier to shoot down advancing snowspeeders).

I took out the white speederbike from the rear so I could fit six snowtroopers instead of four. It seemed like such a waste to have a large transport for only four people.

Here's a close-up of the "head". The front section is pretty much by-the-book, but I felt the "neck" was a little too exposed, so I added some plates on the back. I like how nicely the panels stay closed on this version, a lot tighter than the original. The strange thing is that the old head was pretty much the same size as this one, but it didn't look as big.

Here's a close-up of the interior. Plenty of room for the driver and commander. It has a nice hinge mechanism for opening the lid for access to the minifigs.



Unless I decide to swap out all the standard grey pieces for the newer blue-grey, I think this one is pretty much done as far was the modifications go.

Slave I (#8097)

I should not be allowed to go into Toys R Us unsupervised. The one in North Calgary has a clearance table where they have returns and opened packages at discount prices. It is conveniently located near the hotel where I usually stay, which makes it even more tempting to visit. Well, I gave into temptation on Monday night and they had the new Slave I on the table. The box had been resealed with packing tape and it was on for a huge discount because pieces were missing. I can deal with that, I know where I can find replacement pieces if I don't already have some. It turns out that someone had kindly removed the minifigures and returned the set... Oh well, I know where to get those too...

If you were wondering whether it is worth going from #6209 to the new version, let's compare side-by-side.

Here's a profile view with 8097 on the left and 6209 on the right. They are pretty much the same dimensions, the biggest difference between them is the subtle change in color scheme (dark red instead of red-brown, dark green instead of light green).

Front view... 8907 has a few stickers on the canopy and a few other pieces. Cool, yes. Essential, probably not. 8907 uses rounded bricks along the top instead of the angled bricks. The "wheel-wells" on the sides are also curved, which does look better.

I like the rear guns a bit better on this version. There's also a pull-out container where you can store the new mini-pistols which usually come with the clone troopers.

I also prefer the cargo hold on 8097. It is more movie-accurate than it was on 6209, and the "Han in carbonite" brick always seems to get itself wedged in 6209 which made it difficult to open the hatch and pull it out again.

These missiles work a lot better than the 6209 missiles did, and they even point in the right direction too. It is supposed to have a flick-fire system in the center, but I took it out. If you liked the missile launcher on the Republic Attack Shuttle, you'll like this one.

So, aside from the new figures (photo courtesy of Lego.com)...

... I'm not sure there's anything in this new release worth the normal hefty pricetag ($110 CDN). If you don't already have 6209, then yes by all means, I would whole-heartedly recommend this set. However, if you do have 6209, spend about $10-$15 on Bricklink to get the parts needed to upgrade if you want any of the new features. I'll probably troll Bricklink and eBay to see if I can pick up the figures at a reasonable price. The new Boba Fett looks very good (the blaster is a bit cheesy though), I've always liked Bossk, and the new Han in carbonite is just cool.

Imperial Shuttle (#7166)

Modifying the Imperial Shuttle has been on my to-do list ever since the Republic Attack Shuttle (#8019) came out. I was never really happy with the notched hinges for the wings, the little notches get worn off and the wings eventually don't stay up anymore. So when the Emporer's Shuttle (#8096) was released, I figured it was time to start working.

Here they are, the modified version on the left and the original on the right. I made the body a bit wider on the bottom. The cockpits are pretty much the same. My modified version is serving as the Tydirium from Return of the Jedi and I'll keep using the original for the Imperials. If you look close, you can see Luke piloting on the left.

I swapped out the notched hinges for the "Technic" style axles, wheel hubs, and lift-arms (inspired by #8019 and #8096). I made the wings a bit wider and put more reinforcement on the back so they're more solid. I took out a lot of the grey pieces and replaced them with white.

A view from the back, gave it some rounded edges on the sides. As soon as I can find a way to incorporate the retractable landing gear from #8096, I can get rid of the black stands underneath. I'm also thinking about having a removeable top like the other two shuttles, which would give me more room inside for minifigs.

Inside the shuttle... The same pull-out tray for the minifigs, I'll have room for Han and Leia as soon as I get extras (the ones I have now are both in the Millennium Falcon). I'll need to find a way to fit C-3P0 in here somehow too...

Closer view of the front. The little guns on the front of the original were a little annoying because they kept falling off.

So there it is, until I modify it again somehow. I think my next project will be a red version of the Clone Wars Y-Wing fighter...

General Grievous' Starfighter (#8095)

I wasn't sure about the new release of General Grievous' starfighter. Sure, the minifigure has been revamped and looks much better now, but would it be worth buying the new version when I had the old one already (#7656)? I was still on the fence... until Dawn picked it up for me while she was in Great Falls.

The original was cool at the time, but when you sit them side-by-side you wonder what you ever saw in the first version. This one has much-improved (and more accurate) styling and design.

The canopy slides out with a rather simple, yet ingenious, latch mechanism to keep it closed. The instructions say you have to take off Grievous' "extra" arms to get him in the cockpit, but if you do it right he'll fit with all four arms intact, which makes them easier to find later. A nice touch on this model is that a regular minifig will also fit in the cockpit, so Obiwan can "borrow" it just like he did in Episode III.

While normally not a fan of the flick-fire missiles, these ones tuck away rather nicely and don't get in the way.

The rear landing gear folds up as it did in the movie, instead of under the ship like it does on the 7656 model.

Also included with this kit is a chair for Grievous and his maintenance droid A4-D. It makes more sense if you've seen the Clone Wars episode...

And Nahdar Vebb, the Star Wars equivalent to the red shirt in Star Trek. Hmm, a new Jedi introduced mid-season, don't remember him from any of the movies... the future doesn't look good for you.

And here's the original Grievous compared to the new minifig version. Good move on Lego's part for revamping him.

I read several of the reviews on the Lego site for this model and so many people are complaining that this version doesn't have a place on the ship to store the lightsabers. I'm not sure why they're complianing, that drove me nuts on the original. Not having them clipped to the underside is a plus in my book.

So, even if you have the original version, I think you'll be impressed with the updates and improvements on this model.

Emperor Palpatine's Shuttle (#8096)

I picked up the Emperor's Theta-class shuttle off Bricklink (got a pretty good deal because there weren't any minifigs included). You may remember this one from the end of Episode III. Star Wars Battlefront II players have probably used this shuttle in space battles.


As far as accuracy goes, this one did fairly well. The cockpit is a bit large in proportion to the rest of the shuttle, but it's not the end of the world.


The canopy opens for access to the pilot. The updated pilot has a white face and the helmet is more open. I just swapped out the solid black head for a solid white head.


Here's what's supposed to go in, Darth Vader's little recovery room. The two levers on the end push in to move Vader's helmet into position. It almost looks like they're holding hands in this picture, maybe Palpatine wasn't always so mean after all...


I decided to give the Emperor a desk and a chair. After all, what's the point of being the supreme ruler of the Galactic Empire if you don't have a desk in your own personal shuttle? I have to admit, the new grey Emperor is a bit more menacing than the older yellow version...


I also put in a couple of clone guards as escorts, along with quick and easy weapon mounts. Behind them are the two lightsaber holders. I suppose I could take out one of them since Vader isn't riding along.


The rear cannon. If you're playing Battlefront II, it's worth waiting around in the hangar for someone to man the cannon. This one swivels up and down, as well as side to side.


The retractable landing gear was a nice touch too.

I'm going to experiment with the Episode VI Lambda-class shuttle to see if I can incorperate some of these improved design features (like the smoother wings, maybe even the landing gear). I'm also going to work on replacing the white pieces with grey ones.

This is a really good set and a great addition to your Imperial fleet. With or without the figures, I'd recommend this one.