Discussion: DIY - LEGO 10179: Ultimate Collector Series - Millennium Falcon

I have just started a new project and I thought it might be of interest to one or two around here - as well as being something a wee bit different…

I did see Star Wars in the cinema back in '77 so I am too old for toys.

Wrong! I was doing fine up to May 2011 when The Sun newspaper gave away a mini Lego X Wing. Santa brought me a bigger version later that year and they have been breeding exponentially ever since…

However, in my opinion, the Holy Grail is the out of production and out of my reach LEGO 10179: Ultimate Collector Series - Millennium Falcon.

Ebay prices in the UK are anything up to £2500 and people are paying those prices. I read a bit about this and found various people on Star Wars and Lego forums who were building these things from scratch, piece by piece. I researched further and have now decided to do one myself.

Mine will be a near perfect replica of the official version as I am not paying £250 just for two pieces unique to this set.

My theoretical changes are complete, the spreadsheet is up and running and the first orders are on the way.

My spare parts total prior to starting was 1 piece - the seat!! Only 5200ish to go.

In a few months time, I want this…

Interested?? Stay tuned.

Not interested?? Move along.

Very cool. I've always loved Legos (and have a huge Star Wars lego collection collecting dust at home).

Always wanted to get back into them...

Bricklink and the Lego Replacement Parts service.

Through Bricklink, you can "Part out a set" and get a full inventory of an official set.

This lists all the parts in a set which you can then Copy and Paste into Excel via Notepad. (Or, I could link to a basic version of my work.)

You can then add all the parts into a Wanted List and then go and Shop by Wanted List.

Prices vary wildly so I am having to balance availability vs new/used vs alternatives vs price vs shipping.

I reckon I can to it for around £600-700........

Here are the links to the lists of parts

List with images

List only

My "Creative Decisions" are.....

Part 47996 has been bought in Black and sprayed Grey

Part 50990pb03 has been replaced with a plain Grey 50990

Part 298co5 has been replaced with Black/Grey 298c02

Part 32555 has been bought in Black to save money

Part 3703 has been bought in Black to save money

There are one or two others as well but those are the main choices made......

EDIT: I did not bother with the stickers, cert, manual or figures, I went for the cheaper versions of the "alternate parts" and I removed the pieces needed to make the name-plate sticker stand. A pdf of the manual is available online from Lego

You_Too said:

So what would all those needed parts cost? £600-700 like you said? That's still a lot!

I agree, it is a lot and normally I would not do things like this.

However, a near fatal heart attack of a much younger friend got me thinking "Why not" and then the news of a double fatality of a two neighbours sealed the deal!!!

Besides, I have pretty much quit drinking and stopped having fatty take-away food (see "near fatal heart attack of a much younger friend" above) so I will save enough to pay for it in about 6 months!! Apparently, heating healthy food is much cheaper than the stuff that is bad for you!!

Here are a few metrics on the cost.

I went to the Bricklink page of all 266 items I needed. I logged the cheapest cost new and used and the average cost new - just to give me an idea what the cost was likely to be and what effect my "changes" would have.

As per the official Lego kit

Cheapest Price New £508

Cheapest Price Used £343

Average Price New £1100 (!!!!!!!!!!!!!) 

I am also avoiding Ebay!!

My version

Cheapest Price New £224

Cheapest Price Used £142

Average Price New £604

So, basically, I am aiming for Average New plus shipping as there is no way of getting enough items at the cheapest prices. I have all the links to all the items in a spreadsheet if anyone wants to check this out for themselves...

I promise to keep this thread going to completion - even just for my own record of progress.

Meanwhile, here is my original inspiration

Even more corners were cut there but you cannot tell!!

£342.49 / US$499.99

It brings a tear to my eye when I go to this page!!!

I have already built 4 much smaller models/figures to get used to the Bricklink/Lego buying process but The Falcon is by far my biggest and best challenge yet!!

I built the R2 D2 and C3P0 CubeDudes...

...I built the Comic Con Landspeeder...

...and best of all, I built the Psiaki X Wing which is awesome.

They were my apprenticeship and all working towards building - The Falcon!!

russs15 said:

...and best of all, I built the Psiaki X Wing which is awesome.

Are there directions available for that?

timdiggerm said:

russs15 said:

...and best of all, I built the Psiaki X Wing which is awesome.

Are there directions available for that?

It's really pretty incredible!

Much better than the supposed "professionally-designed" official version.

Tyrphanax said:

timdiggerm said:

russs15 said:

...and best of all, I built the Psiaki X Wing which is awesome.

Are there directions available for that?

It's really pretty incredible!

Much better than the supposed "professionally-designed" official version.

Never mind, found it!

http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?f=493509

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0Avt1Xx0rVI-cdFphZWhSVzBlc1czWHFfWG9KaU55X3c#gid=0

The Psiaki X Wing is incredible but comes with a warning...

It is not very strong!!!!!

If you want to swoosh it around and attack a local Death Star, you will end up doing a Porkins and the ship will be in a dozen pieces.

The guns are delicate and come off very easily and the engines are not too far behind them. The amazing tiles and panels down the side of the fuselage fall apart when I pick it up and the whole front end connection is not much stronger.

If you get it, it needs to be on display and never touched again.....

Aw, that's a shame to learn...

Something tells me with a little bit more ingenuity you could rig it up to be reinforced, though.

I think the problem is that he sacrificed sturdiness for accuracy. If you look around at some of his pics that aren't models, they're weird and clever techniques for very precise plate placement. They're delicate and finely tuned. If you want sturdy but fairly accurate, try Set 9493.

Brooks said:

timdiggerm said:

... If you want sturdy but fairly accurate, try Set 9493.

Or glue (if you don't ever plan to take it apart again)

Blasphemy!

.....but VERY tempting!!!

A quick update.

For the ship alone (no sticker stand or figures), I need 5139 pieces.

Three Bricklink/Lego orders later and I have 2748 of them on the way and have so far paid - inc shipping, 10p per piece.

As I have tried to go for some of the more expensive and difficult to get hold of items on purpose, I am happy with that.......

Yeah, I remember when the best Lego "sets" were just the big buckets of Legos. I don't think you can even buy those in stores anymore.

A big problem is that now, in just about every set, there are so many of the huge, specially-formed, only-good-for-one-thing pieces that it really discourages creative thinking/ability.

The sets are still cool and fun, don't get me wrong, but it's just not the same.