Jedi Twin Starfighter

I was checking out a few Star Wars sites a couple of weeks ago and saw a concept art drawing of a Jedi Twin starfighter and thought it would be fun to make one. So here it is...

Front view. Due to a limited range of colors for some of the key parts (like the folding flaps), I stuck with the yellow color scheme. I may go with the dark blue later to get away from the "Anakin look", but this will do for now.

Rear view. I figured it would need more propulsion than the standard Jedi fighter, so I put in an engine pod in the center.

Master Kit Fisto and his padawan Nahdar Vebb.

Front view with the flaps up. I still have some tweaks in mind, so we'll see how those turn out. I'm not really fond of the 7256 design and lean more towards the 7661 build for the cockpit. The 7256 is a bit too "boxy" for me, so that'll be one of the first things to get overhauled.

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.

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...

TIE Bomber (#4479) - Modified

While I was looking around Bricklink for some parts for the Falcon, I found a few parts I could use to finish off my TIE Bomber. I never liked the spring-loaded missile that came with the original kit. Wasn't a big fan of the little transparent blue "bombs" either. No one likes stepping on those later.


I found a grey dome to use instead of the 6x6 dish I had on the front before.


Oooh, aahh, the back. There are some changes, but nothing that really jumps out...


TIE pilot. I want to improve the cockpit a little, but that'll wait.


The other side opens up now for the crew transport. If you check the databank on starwars.com, you'll see that the bomber was modified to transport crew. There's even a shot in Empire Strikes Back of a bomber being used to transport between star destroyers. That doesn't make me any less of a geek, however. It just means there is some basis for my modifications in the official Star Wars canon.


And here is the crew seating. I could fit one more trooper if I squished them up a bit, but on long flights, a little leg room is appreciated.

A-Wing, More Modifications (#6207)

While I'm waiting for a few more parts to come in for the Falcon (#4504), I had to tinker a bit with my Gold Squad A-Wing.


Here's the original version, nothing changed from the standard set other than the color scheme.


Here's the revised version. I took off the old guns and put in more movie-friendly guns. I think it makes the A-Wing look a bit more streamlined.


I also took out the grey post from the front and installed a retractable landing gear.


Here it is all folded up.

I have the parts ordered to modify the standard A-Wing as well. If only the yellow parts came in green, then I could do a variant to match the Return of the Jedi model, with light grey instead of white of course.

Republic Gunship, Modified (#7676)

Because I can't leave things alone, I modified my gunship to accommodate more troops.


I took out the speederbike and dock, then added a couple of white plates in the middle. Now, instead of only holding about 5 minifigs, I have room for 9. I also added a weapons rack at the rear of the crew compartment. Lightsabers for Kit Fisto and Plo Koon (can't really see him in the photo, but he's there) and weapons for the pilots and wing gunners.



Here's the original, unaltered version just so you can really appreciate the life-altering adjustment.

Modified A-Wing (#6207)

The original version is the red one on the left. Thanks to Bricklink.com, I pieced together a Gold-Squad A-Wing fighter (mostly because I couldn't find any other color variant that had all the necessary pieces).


I used the stickers from set #7668 to decorate the new A-Wing a little.


Profile view of the fighter, including the pilot and the storage container for the rear compartment. I also got custom heads for all my rebel pilots instead of the generic smileys.


A view from the side/rear. I'd like to do other variants, but the cylinders in the back don't come in very many different colors.

Republic Attack Shuttle (#8019)

I was very excited when I saw this set was coming out. It's one of my favorite Clone Wars vehicles. I would've liked to have seen a larger cargo area in the back, but I'm not complaining.


I modified it and removed the flick-fire missiles. If you like that sort of thing, it has an 8-missile clip with a pretty cool firing system. The clip falls out the bottom after you have fired all 8 missiles. I didn't really like the way it stuck out the top, among other things.


This is the second set to feature the clone pilot (still about $20 on eBay/ Bricklink). The cockpit opens on the front and back for easy access to the minifigs.


By removing the flick-fire missile system, I was able to fit two more clones in the back. It just didn't seem right to me that a shuttle could only carry one passenger. There is a gun holder in the back that also has a clip for Mace's lightsaber. The green & yellow things are bombs that drop out the (one at a time) bottom by pressing knobs on the back.


The view from the back with the wings folded up. I like that they used axels instead of the hinge bricks for the top. It's much more stable and has a smoother opening. There are locks on the front to prevent the top from flipping open when playing.

Imperial Landing Craft (#7659)

Thanks to the Episode IV special edition, the Imperial Landing Craft was introduced to the official canon of Star Wars. It had a few brief moment of screen time in the background as the stormtroopers were examining the escape pod's crash site on Tatooine.


I like this design more than the Imperial Shuttle (#7166). It comes out of the box with a TIE pilot and four stormtroopers (two with the orange shoulder palrons).

Turning the little black knob on the bottom will open or close the wings. That's always fun.

I added four white 1x6 plates to the hinged roof (two on each side) so that all three sections would open at the same time.

The crew compartment detaches from the rest of the body. I figure this is just to make it easier to access the stormtroopers inside, because the ship looks goofy without the crew section. It originally came with two spring-loaded missile launchers, but I took them out to make room for two more stormtroopers. I figured that if the Imperial Drop Ship carried four troopers, the landing craft should be able to carry more. I also sealed up the bomb compartments on the rear. Believe me, no one wants to step on the little bombs on your way to the bathroom late at night.

Modified Vulture Droids

It wasn't until the Naboo Starfighter that I realized I could take the vulture droid further than the original design. This is the grand vision they had for the vultures out of the box...



The head snaps on and off... not overly sophisticated.




The brown one in the middle is the one that came with the Naboo fighter. The head is mounted on a swivel and "arms" that allow it to raise and lower. If you're curious, here's how to do it:




Now you too can upgrade your 7256 vultures with swivel heads...

Clone Turbo Tank (#7261)

This one was a lot of fun to build. I got it off Bricklink at a discount because all the minifigs had been removed. That's okay because I have several clone troopers anyway. The suspension is cool and there isn't any 'wasted space' in the model.

Here's the tank, BARC (Biker Advanced Recon Commando) speeder, and the gun turret. The instructions only called for one jet pack, but I went for two. I'm just wild and crazy that way...

Two clones in the rear compartment...

The pilot at the front...

This is the engine compartment...

The turret is supposed to go inside, but I fixed up a sliding troop platform instead. Really, what's the point of rolling into battle with such a cool tank if you're only carrying four clones (assuming there's one in the 'crowsnest')

A close-up of the troop platform. Eight clones and a generic Jedi.