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Lego - Millennium Falcon
- Thread starter Mr. Anderson
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There is an online support site that you can use to get replacement parts. I've done this once before, and of course about 2 days after filling out the form I stepped on the missing piece... stoopid carpet.
The replacement was free of charge and ended up at my door within a week or so. If the piece that's missing isn't too hard to get to once the set is complete you might want to try to finish everything up just to see that there aren't any other missing pieces so you can cover them with one submission.
DAY THREE of the build
Probably spent another 3-4 hours on the build yesterday. Steps finished included plates for the underside of the front "pincers", detailed pieces to fill the holes in those plates, simple substructure blocks for the underside, and finally two of the coolest phases so far, the ramp for starboard side, midship (yes, it opens and closes quite nicely) and pieces to cover the top and bottom gun turrets. Okay, enough explaining. Here are the pictures:
LEGO Millennium Falcon Build: Day Three
So far today I have not worked on the build but a garage sale, jumping a buddy's Mustang and such have kept me distracted. Tonight, however, is the LEGO build "party" and I'm hoping that a large portion of the build will be complete (if not all) by the end of the evening.
Until next time, fellow LEGO-geeks...
P.S. Forgot to mention how heavy this thing is becoming! I'll make a point of weighing it when it's done.
Probably spent another 3-4 hours on the build yesterday. Steps finished included plates for the underside of the front "pincers", detailed pieces to fill the holes in those plates, simple substructure blocks for the underside, and finally two of the coolest phases so far, the ramp for starboard side, midship (yes, it opens and closes quite nicely) and pieces to cover the top and bottom gun turrets. Okay, enough explaining. Here are the pictures:
LEGO Millennium Falcon Build: Day Three
So far today I have not worked on the build but a garage sale, jumping a buddy's Mustang and such have kept me distracted. Tonight, however, is the LEGO build "party" and I'm hoping that a large portion of the build will be complete (if not all) by the end of the evening.
Thanks for the link, atszyman. I had found that site too. I went ahead and ordered a replacement part and hopefully I will not find any more missing pieces. LEGO QC is pretty darn good from what I've seen of all my previous sets so I don't expect to have this occur again. And hopefully I won't come across this missing pieces somewhere in the carpet or hidden away in one of the sorting containers.
Until next time, fellow LEGO-geeks...
P.S. Forgot to mention how heavy this thing is becoming! I'll make a point of weighing it when it's done.
Great pics, dejo thanks for sharing them. I've got to say, it's taking you a lot less time then I thought, what with all those 5,000+ bits and pieces.
DAY FOUR of the build
This was the day of the LEGO "build party" with friends bringing their eight-year-old, sorry, correction: six-year-old son to partake. Build progressed at a much slower pace during this phase, but that was to be expected when you have a child putting together most of the pieces from a set that is recommended for builders 16 years of age or more. Nevertheless, he is quite good for his age, knows his LEGO kits and Star Wars Episodes IV-VI pretty well also. With him enthralled with doing the building, with mom occasionally helping out, I took on the role of "parts-supplier" and "hand-tightener". We only completed one super-step during this visit but it was not the simplest of sections and was interrupted in the middle with dinner. I feel I left a six-year-old with some good stories to tell his friends.
With the guests on their way home and my fiancee preoccupied with other duties, I got back into my regular routine and cranked out a number of other pieces for the next 1 1/2 hours. All of Day Four's build were "plates" that would serve as sections of fuselage, mostly for the underside of the Falcon but the last piece for the top of the port "bow-sprit".
Pictures here: Millennium Falcon Build: Day Four
This was the day of the LEGO "build party" with friends bringing their eight-year-old, sorry, correction: six-year-old son to partake. Build progressed at a much slower pace during this phase, but that was to be expected when you have a child putting together most of the pieces from a set that is recommended for builders 16 years of age or more. Nevertheless, he is quite good for his age, knows his LEGO kits and Star Wars Episodes IV-VI pretty well also. With him enthralled with doing the building, with mom occasionally helping out, I took on the role of "parts-supplier" and "hand-tightener". We only completed one super-step during this visit but it was not the simplest of sections and was interrupted in the middle with dinner. I feel I left a six-year-old with some good stories to tell his friends.
With the guests on their way home and my fiancee preoccupied with other duties, I got back into my regular routine and cranked out a number of other pieces for the next 1 1/2 hours. All of Day Four's build were "plates" that would serve as sections of fuselage, mostly for the underside of the Falcon but the last piece for the top of the port "bow-sprit".
Pictures here: Millennium Falcon Build: Day Four
Thanks, Jaffa. If you, or anyone else, want to see specific kinds of pictures let me know. I'll see what I can do. And as for build time, it is going quickly, isn't it? I think I can attribute this to the efficiency that pre-sorting the pieces has offered me as well as a certain skill level, IMHO, and technique comfort in putting things together.
DAY FIVE of the build
I was able to get in a productive 4 hours (2 2-hour shifts) on the build this day. Sections continued to be plates for fuselage, starting with the top plate for the starboard "mandible", as well as some plates holding the heat exhaust fans (my terminology for parts of the ship will now improve since I'm referring to the Millennium Falcon pages in the "DK Star Wars Incredible Cross-Sections" book) in the rear. Also built were the two docking rings (port and starboard side) as well as the bottom section of the cockpit. It wasn't until the next day, when I thought I was missing four pieces of maroon one-knobbed 1x2 plates, that I realized the "seats" in the cockpit were supposed to be brown and not maroon.
Pictures here: LEGO Millennium Falcon Build: Day Five
I was able to get in a productive 4 hours (2 2-hour shifts) on the build this day. Sections continued to be plates for fuselage, starting with the top plate for the starboard "mandible", as well as some plates holding the heat exhaust fans (my terminology for parts of the ship will now improve since I'm referring to the Millennium Falcon pages in the "DK Star Wars Incredible Cross-Sections" book) in the rear. Also built were the two docking rings (port and starboard side) as well as the bottom section of the cockpit. It wasn't until the next day, when I thought I was missing four pieces of maroon one-knobbed 1x2 plates, that I realized the "seats" in the cockpit were supposed to be brown and not maroon.
Pictures here: LEGO Millennium Falcon Build: Day Five
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DAY SIX of the build
Only put in about an hour and a half on the build today (but got to go see Spamalot which was frickin' hilarious). Finished the heat exhaust fan fuselage plates for the stern of the Falcon, then worked on pieces to fit-out the cockpit and connecting passageway. Ended with a fuselage plate for the port side, just ahead of the docking ring.
Pictures here: LEGO Millennium Falcon Build: Day Six
Things are looking very close to done. I expect to be finished either today or tomorrow.
Only put in about an hour and a half on the build today (but got to go see Spamalot which was frickin' hilarious). Finished the heat exhaust fan fuselage plates for the stern of the Falcon, then worked on pieces to fit-out the cockpit and connecting passageway. Ended with a fuselage plate for the port side, just ahead of the docking ring.
Pictures here: LEGO Millennium Falcon Build: Day Six
Things are looking very close to done. I expect to be finished either today or tomorrow.
One thing to note is the rabidity of Star Wars fans. I'm not saying it's a good idea unless you are really a fan but as I've mentioned before I started a collection about 8 years ago and have many discontinued sets. I'm currently selling all but the biggest/most expensive ones and so far I've made $6 (cheap sets selling first) with another $10 on the way. This includes a $4 loss I took on a set where my dog ate one of the vehicles/stand/figure.
If all goes well I'll nearly double what I originally spent and using sites like BrickLink to evaluate my kits has me close to doubling what I spent and some of my kits aren't discontinued...yet.
Would I have done better throwing that money into investments? Yes, but most likely the money would have been spent on technology if not these kits and we all know how technology prices go over time.
If all goes well I'll be getting the Death Star II and Vader's TIE Advanced before the year is through and the Millenium Falcon early next year, without spending any new money (sales proceeds, which makes it easy to pass the wife test).
Did you invent a time machine? you got two days progress reports in the span of 24 minutes....
We'll expect to see the completed set in about 15 minutes....
It's a hidden upgrade that Han retro-fitted into the Falcon's hyperdrive system!
Truth be told, I didn't get around to posting daily updates over the weekend. So they came in a wave this morning...
I think it's worth noting that the LEGO Death Star set is consistently regarded as one of the most boring sets they ever made (due to the size of the set and the fact that 90% of it is near identical... a big LEGO ball can't be that much fun to make...)
Mostly I want it to keep my collection mostly intact. I've got every Ultimate Collector's Series (UCS) set that has the display sticker giving the information on the ship/vehicle being modeled. There are some others that are supposedly UCS but without that sticker I consider them non-UCS. The Death Star and Vader's TIE are going to be the next to get the discontinued treatment so I need to pick them up before the Falcon. Hopefully sales go well in the near future.
You could say that the Star Destroyer would be boring as well since everything is symmetric and grey... but it is always fun/interesting to see how they figure out the support structure and panels to make the model sturdy.
Yeah, I'll admit that all of them look cool when finished, regardless of how it may feel to actually make them!
Yeah, I'll admit that all of them look cool when finished, regardless of how it may feel to actually make them!
Probably why they went with Death Star II rather than the first, the "big Lego Ball" as you put it.
Of course if they really wanted to make $$ they could offer a supplemental kit to "complete" Death Star II into Death Star I and sell 2 DSII kits and one completion kit to the big-time collectors...
DAY SEVEN of the build
Shortest build day of the project: less than an hour spent on it. Why is that? Not enough time? Nope. I'M DONE! That's right, the build is now complete! This day's build consisted of a few final fuselage plates, the main sensor rectenna, and the display sign.
When all was said and done, I had a number of extra pieces, mostly smaller bits, which is typical of a set like this. But I also had 22 extra "2x4 plates w/ left angle" and 24 extra "2x4 plates w/ right angle", as seen in the pictures! I doubt that was on purpose and I also doubt I missed their usage during the build phase. I forgot to mention as well, that during Day Six's build I found myself missing 2 "2x3 light grey plates". At least I was able to replace these temporarily with plates from the rest of my LEGO collection. Strange. As I've said before, usually LEGO QC is really quite good.
I will be putting in another call to LEGO Customer Service to let them know of these missing pieces, the large amount of spare angled plates, as well as a few typos I found in the instruction book.
Pictures here: LEGO Millennium Falcon Build: Day Seven
P.S. I especially like that final, cockpit shot. Almost makes me want to try some stop-action video...
Oh, the weight! Yeah, this behemoth clocks in a massive 13 pounds of LEGO!
Questions? Comments? A show of hands?
Shortest build day of the project: less than an hour spent on it. Why is that? Not enough time? Nope. I'M DONE! That's right, the build is now complete! This day's build consisted of a few final fuselage plates, the main sensor rectenna, and the display sign.
When all was said and done, I had a number of extra pieces, mostly smaller bits, which is typical of a set like this. But I also had 22 extra "2x4 plates w/ left angle" and 24 extra "2x4 plates w/ right angle", as seen in the pictures! I doubt that was on purpose and I also doubt I missed their usage during the build phase. I forgot to mention as well, that during Day Six's build I found myself missing 2 "2x3 light grey plates". At least I was able to replace these temporarily with plates from the rest of my LEGO collection. Strange. As I've said before, usually LEGO QC is really quite good.
I will be putting in another call to LEGO Customer Service to let them know of these missing pieces, the large amount of spare angled plates, as well as a few typos I found in the instruction book.
Pictures here: LEGO Millennium Falcon Build: Day Seven
P.S. I especially like that final, cockpit shot. Almost makes me want to try some stop-action video...
Oh, the weight! Yeah, this behemoth clocks in a massive 13 pounds of LEGO!
Questions? Comments? A show of hands?
Building logos with your kids is quite rewarding. Maybe not the $500 kit but I build legos with my 4.5yo son and we love it. he recently finished his first complete model a few months back THIS ONE
With my direction of course. took him about a week. Legos are hard on little fingers.
BTW, speaking of toys, I just came across an old fav of mine thats been re released by Bandai in Japan-
The Spacewarp 5000
A mini roller coaster kit I had back in the late late 80's.
Had to grab one
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Amazing, dejo, that is truly impressive! Nice work on getting the kid to help too, would have been a good afternoon for him. I remember getting the Technics test car for Christmas one year but my older brother had to actually build the thing!
Great work on the Falcon.
Great work on the Falcon.
Timelapse of the Build
I finally got around to putting together a little video, a timelapse chronicling the build process. You can check it out here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rLiyIsSss10
I finally got around to putting together a little video, a timelapse chronicling the build process. You can check it out here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rLiyIsSss10
I know this thread is very old, but how did you display the Millennium Falcon when you were done? I purchased this set 9 months ago before they sold out and haven't built it yet. I bought a shadow box table but I don't think it's big enough. And I do want it inclosed because I have two cats that would love to nibble on it and fur it up.
Thanks, Tim
Hang it from the ceiling in the corner of a room with clear fishing line! SEXY!
My girlfriend just finished up her mobile AT-AT. She loved it and want's to undertake the Deathstar now. These things are not cheap!
How appropriate for me to see this thread revived. My sons (7 and 4) have really gotten into the LEGO Star Wars sets (mostly from playing the Wii game). We've done a few small ones, and some medium-sized ones (Palpatine's shuttle, Slave 1, a Starfighter, etc.), but nothing as ambitious as the Death Star or Millenium Falcon.
I see the note above that they're "sold out" - are they not planning on making the MF available any longer? Bummer.
I see the note above that they're "sold out" - are they not planning on making the MF available any longer? Bummer.
I get legos emails as I bought some stuff from them. I use my kids as the excuse for my purchases
Anyways I remember when that came out and you can still buy this kit for between 600 and 1200 bucks.
While I'd love to build this, its a monster model, absolutely HUGE. Plus spending 600-1200 bucks on a plastic blocks seems excessive to me, at least for my budget and yes, I'm a star wars and legos fan.
Anyways I remember when that came out and you can still buy this kit for between 600 and 1200 bucks.
While I'd love to build this, its a monster model, absolutely HUGE. Plus spending 600-1200 bucks on a plastic blocks seems excessive to me, at least for my budget and yes, I'm a star wars and legos fan.