LEGO Unveils New 75059 UCS Sandcrawler [NEWS]

Apparently, while I was laid low by the flu this weekend, LEGO went ahead and unveiled the latest in the Star Wars UCS line. They also revealed that, starting with this set, UCS sets will have different and distinct packaging from other sets in the Star Wars line. It looks like they’ve done their best to cram this thing full of play features, which helps justify the hefty price of $300 USD. Read the full release from LEGO below, along with photos and the designer video.

75059_box5_in

75059 Sandcrawler™

Ages 14+ 3,296 Pieces

US $299.99 – CA $349.99 – DE 299.99€ – UK £249.99 – DK 2,799.00 DKK
*Euro pricing varies by country. Please visit shop.LEGO.com for regional pricing.

Collect a true icon of the classic Star Wars™ universe – the mighty Sandcrawler™!

Recreate unforgettable scenes from Star Wars: Episode IV A New Hope with this amazing LEGO® incarnation of the Jawas’ desert-going vehicle, the Sandcrawler™. Turn the knob at the rear and steer the Sandcrawler into position, lower the front ramp and offload the droids using the 2 working cranes. Luke Skywalker™ and his Uncle, Owen Lars, are sure to be impressed with the selection on offer: there’s R2-D2, an R1-series Droid, an R2 unit, R5-D4™, a Treadwell Droid™, Gonk Droid™ and even C-3PO™. When the sale is complete, lift the side panels and top to reveal more great features inside, like the engine, storage bay, cockpit and more. There’s even a speeder bike for when the Jawas need to venture outside. Includes 7 minifigures: Luke Skywalker™, Uncle Owen, C-3PO™ and 4 Jawas™, plus R2-D2™, R2 unit, an R1-series Droid™, Gonk Droid™, R5-D4™ and a Treadwell Droid™.

Travel the dunes with the LEGO® Star Wars™ Sandcrawler™ with working cranes, detailed interior, 7 minifigures, 5 droids and lots more!

• Includes 7 minifigures: Luke Skywalker™, Uncle Owen, C-3PO™ and 4 Jawas™, plus R2-D2™, R2 unit, an R1-series Droid™, Gonk Droid™, R5-D4™ and a Treadwell Droid™

• Features 8 tracks with steering function, lowering front ramp, opening side flaps, removable top, working cranes, speeder bike, opening hatch for easy access to the boxes, attachable handles for lifting boxes, and a detailed interior including engine bay, storage bay and cockpit

• Also includes stock for old droids and droid parts

• Weapons include a lightsaber for Luke Skywalker™

• Sell droids to Luke and his Uncle

• Keep your droids well maintained

• Pretend to suck R2-D2™ up into the Sandcrawler™ – just like in the movie!

• Own your own iconic vehicle from the classic Star Wars™ universe

• Relive classic moments from Star Wars: Episode IV A New Hope

• Measures over 9” (24cm) high, 18” (48cm) long and 6” (16cm) wide

Available for sale directly through LEGO® beginning
May 2014 via shop.LEGO.com, LEGO® Stores or via phone

A pirateship built for two

One of the really fun things I like to do is collaborate on builds – Eurobricks had the same idea with the Pirates Teamwork Contest. One of the entries was by Cara Lego and Legonardo Davidy. These two builds are just full of fun play features and brilliant detail – and I’d knock over my black seas barracuda to proudly display this ‘set’ instead:

And I just LOVE this play feature:

Don’t forget to check out Cara Lego‘s photostream for some behind the scenes and some break downs on some of the more interesting bits.

Friday Night Fights – Tiny Turbos

Welcome back fight fans, to Sin City Nevada for another round of Friday Night Fights! Tonight, two tiny turbo titans will battle it out for our smallest round ever! Let’s go to the tale of the tape.

In the red corner we have Adam Janusick (SHARPSPEED) and his Firepower FCGT:

In the blue corner we have František Hajdekr and his Classic American Car:
Classic American Car

Which builder packed more power into their tiny 4 wide chassis ?

As usual, constant reader, you are tasked with deciding the outcome of this bout by way of comment. On the last edition of Friday Night Fights, the Rover Round, Kosmas won 4-2. Tune in next week for another action packed edition of Friday Night Fights!

Lego Star Wars Battle on Saleucami 75037 [Review]

The Lego Star Wars Battle on Saleucami is one of the new Star Wars sets released in March 2014. This set retails for $14.99 and is available on Amazon. Below is a brief video review and my remarks regarding the set.


Pros:

  • Includes a unique BARC trooper, 3 olive green grass stems, and a spring-loaded launcher
  • The set is built like a target practice range, and it’s fun to shoot at the droids


Cons:

  • Comes with only one unique minifig

This set is essentially an upgraded battle pack with the added feature of a target practice playset. This is currently the cheapest set to get the spring-loaded shooter, which is one of the coolest bricks that Lego has released. The speeder is well-designed with the skis/fins contributing to the more dynamic look of the model. The olive green grass stems are exclusive to this set, and it’s useful in many creations that need foliage. If only the set had more than one unique minifig, then it would make this a true gem. Nevertheless I still highly recommend this set both for the great play feature and useful parts.

My howitzer is bigger than yours

In the fifties, the United States experimented with artillery that could launch nuclear weapons. Not to be outdone, the Soviet Union developed the 2A3 Kondensator 2P self-propelled howitzer. Andy Baumgart (D-Town Cracka) has built a highly detailed 1/30 scale model of this unusual piece of Cold War history.

Soviet 2A3 'Kondensator' 2P

Early nuclear weapons tended to be on the bulky side. Consequently, whilst many modern self-propelled artillery pieces have a caliber of 155 mm (6.10 inches), the caliber of the Kondensator was a whopping 406 mm (16 inches), which is more in line with a battleship main battery. It was one of the largest self-propelled artillery pieces ever built. It was unwieldy, had a low rate of fire and never entered service, but it makes for an impressive model.

Functioning Lego keyboard

Jason Allemann is known having both form and function in many of his Lego creations. His latest work is a fully functional Lego keyboard made with using official Lego pieces and a circuit board from a standard keyboard. The main picture warrants a closer look for all the witty substitutions that the builder has made for keys such as caps lock, windows, and print screen just to name a few. Check out the video explaining the construction of this cool project.

Working LEGO Computer Keyboard

Ellen’s Oscar “Selfie” That Crashed Twitter–in LEGO

As you may or may not have heard, Ellen Degeneres hosted the Academy Awards on Sunday, March 2. In true Oscars style, Ellen made this her entertaining with funny quips, freaking out the pizza boy, and posting a “selfie”.

Which later crashed twitter.

Our erstwhile pop-culture enthusiast Iain Heath has, of course, memorialized this moment in brick for each and every one of you to enjoy.

Ellen's Oscar selfie - LEGO edition!