It’s so hard to pick a favourite LEGO spaceship designer, since there are so many awesome ones out there. If I had to though, you can be damn sure Nick Trotta would be on the shortlist. His spacecraft simply never miss. Appropriately, this latest ship’s namesake – Astraea – is the Greek Goddess of precision, among other things. There’s so much to love about this ship I don’t know where to start! Nick’s trademark mastery of angles is on display in the boosters, wings and scaffolding around the cockpit. Speaking of which, this is a unique design featuring opposed windscreens, whose smooth round lines are a great focal point among all the sharp angles elsewhere. And the colours! Sometimes less is more with colour, but the judicious use of it here makes this model detailed without being cluttered – a fine balance. And a fine creation it is too!

If you like this (and come on, who wouldn’t?) you’ll love everything else we’ve featured from Nick.

Space builder Nick Trotta is one of the undisputed masters of minifigure-scale LEGO spacecraft. A fastidious perfectionist, Nick builds and rebuilds each of his models, tweaking every detail before finally letting the world see the finished result. It’s always worth the wait, however, as this new spaceship evidences.

The simple geometric shapes belie the ridiculous amount of engineering needed to achieve them. The technique that always grabs my attention (Nick has used it before) is the use of panels to create the white leading edge on the wings, cleverly hiding any unsightly joints and gaps. Plus, there’s the awesomely retro color scheme, with my favorite detail being the “health” bar on the ship’s nose beneath the cockpit.