TIE Defender (#8087)

Imagine how excited I was when this set came in the mail from Bricklink on the same day I received my Toys R Us gift cards (cashed in some hotel rewards points), which turned into the ARC-170.

Don't remember seeing this one in any of the movies? Don't worry, This is one of those "expanded universe" items (meaning still officially Lucas-sanctioned, but never had screen time). The TIE Defender first appeared in the 1994 PC game TIE Fighter.


Here's the front-view. If you like the flick-fire missiles (and I don't), these ones are a little harder to access. They still look good as guns, so I haven't swapped them out.


A view from the rear (insert oooh's and aaah's here).


A closer view of the cockpit module. The hinge is much better on this one than it has been on previous TIE models, which had a tendency to come off when opened. The one drawback with the swiveling cockpit is that it flips upside down when you open it.


They revised the helmet for the pilot (shown on the right) so it's not just a black version of the regular stormtrooper helmet (on the left).

This was a fairly straight-forward build, nothing complex really. This one is a must-have for your Imperial fleet. Faster and more maneuverable than the X-Wing, and better weaponry than the A-Wing.

TIE Crawler (#7664)

This was one of the first models from the Star Wars "Expanded Universe" (meaning anything that didn't show up in the movies).


It has free-rolling tracks on each pod and both pods can be rotated so they can be positioned as shown with the long end facing front, or facing the rear.

One building tip I would recommend is to take out one of the track links on each side, otherwise the tracks are too loose and don't really turn as the crawler moves along the ground. Removing one link makes it tight enough that it rolls as you'd expect a tank to roll, but not too tight as to interfere with any movement.


Each pod has a flip-out weapons turret that rotates.


It comes with two shadow troopers (the other one is on assignement and was not available for picture day).

The red cone on the bottom was supposed to be a flick-fire missile, but seeing as I am not a fan of the flick-fire missiles I fixed it in place so now it's just another laser. I thought about putting it on a mini turn-table, but although it would have a greater firing radius there would be nothing to prevent it from accidentally shooting out its own track pod. Considering how accurate the stormtroopers are in the movies, it should not be made easier for them to shoot their own vehicles.

Sith Starfighter

This one started out as a modified Anakin's starfighter (#7256) based on the Hasbro version. The one pictured here is probably my 4th or 5th variation in my attempt to get it perfect. Once the hyperdrive ring came out (#7661), I retro-fit Anakin's fighter and the Sith fighter to dock with the ring.


I got an extra sheet of stickers for the Imperial Dropship (ordered off Bricklink, I love that place!) for the flaps, which I had to spray-paint black. I also put the droid's head on a small turntable so he could look around (that's important for an astromech droid).


There's Vader...


There are the axels for docking with the hyperdrive ring.

TIE Interceptor (#6206) - Modified

I ended up with two TIE Interceptors (my philosophy with Star Wars Lego has always been that if having one is good, then having two is great). I got the idea to modify one from the Hasbro Titanium series. According to the Expanded Universe, the Emperor's Royal Guard had a red version of the interceptor.


Here they are together just to show the contrast.


The Lego version and the Titanium version. I came fairly close on the colors.


And the Royal Guard as pilot.

This one was pretty close to a scratch build. The only parts that survived the transition were the grey pieces, black wings, and the cockpit window.