Tag Archives: Starfighter

A Star Wars force to recon with

At a glance, one might mistake this exceptionally tidy creation by Thomas Jenkins for an official LEGO set, and you could be forgiven for that, as the Jedi craft’s distinctive lines are recreated spot-on. But there’s a lot more going on here than you will find in any set (including easily triple the parts count!) – a result of Thomas’ “totally SNOT approach” to the subject. To my knowledge, the “Eta-2 Actis-class Light Interceptor” or simply the “Jedi Interceptor” has been offered three times as an official set at this scale, all of them using some variation of the same Bubble Canopy element seen here. No doubt starting with that element, Thomas’ build easily blows them all away, having tried “so many combinations to get the angles to match just right” before striking “just the right balance of aesthetics and compactness”. I couldn’t agree more! Time well spent, sir.

Eta-2 Actis-class Light Interceptor | by Thomas_Jenkins_bricks

To borrow from another franchise for a moment, this is not the Jedi Interceptor we got, but it’s the one we deserve.

This LEGO starfighter with teal accents has got it all

The angles on this LEGO starfigther in the Star Wars style are out of this galaxy! But I expect nothing less from Inthert who is well-known for his black magic brickery, merging smooth sections with studs in all directions. With not a single stud in sight, there’s still plenty of greebly textures (as in, like the surface of the Death Star) and excellent part usage. One example of this is the tooth element and the roller skate on the front section. The way the angled wing accents attached to the side guns look like they fold right into the main wings is magical.

Teal 4 - Skylark

This picture of the underside reveals even more note-worthy details, like the hint of landing gear next to the gun attachments. There’s also some well-placed original dark gray elements to give the belly of the craft a weathered look.

Teal 4 - Skylark (4)

A ship called Soulless from that galaxy far, far away

General Grievous’s ship from Star Wars gets some love in this great LEGO build from Fuku Saku. Known as Soulless One, the ship is a customized starfighter that features some slick lines. This build makes plentiful use of curved LEGO pieces and tiles to keep the shaping true to the ship’s design. The clean appearance allows our eyes to pass over the ship’s lines with ease. The orange and yellow details draw us to them, breaking up the overall grey of the ship. I particularly love the construction of the orange and yellow sections that join the wings to the main body. These are typically more muted, but in this build they’re brighter, making the ship feel a little bit like a hotrod. Looking at this build, the ship looks sleek and fast–I’d love to see this thing with some racing upgrades for a galactic contest.

Soulless One

Take a quick peek inside the cockpit to gander at Grievous’s controls. It’s a truly spectacular culmination of angles creating that cabin-sized cavity.

Soulless One

A cool new ship for an old, icy theme

Back in the mid-90s, LEGO gave its Space theme a cool refresh with Ice Planet 2002. Now, EMazingbrix invites us back to the frozen planet of Krysto with this Frostbite Fighter. Full of clever curves and amazing angles, this sleek craft is a big upgrade to Commander Cold’s usual fleet of vehicles. The Ice Planet theme’s color scheme has been strictly adhered to, but there are plenty of parts and technique being used that weren’t available in the original line. The most incredible upgrade, from the explorer’s perspective, has got to be the fully sealed cockpit. That was a real rarity in the line back in the 90s. But I bet that inside of this pilot compartment is warm and toasty.

Frostbite Fighter - Ice Planet 2002

A boxy X-Wing precursor from a bygone age

If you’ve ever wondered what starfighters looked like in the days before “a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away,” Alex Simion imagines one possibility with the non-canonical X1 Freedom Rebel Fighter. I love the rugged texture of this ship, trading in the typical sleekness of Star Wars fighters for something a bit more utilitarian. All the sharp corners and exposed mechanical panels definitely add to the implied age of the craft, and it feels reminiscent of the Millennium Falcon as a result. And check out those massive blasters on the front! I’d hate to be in front of this thing while over Alderaan.

LBF_4338

And here’s a view of the back. I love all the mechanical texturing around the six engines. I can only imagine how fast this fella could go! This angle also highlights one of my favorite bits in the build: the pair of red friction cylinders on top of the craft. I love the pop of color amid so much gray and black, drawing the eye in to all the details surrounding them. And the technical connection to the two pairs of wings feels appropriate given all the other mechanisms on display. But where does the astromech droid go?

LBF_4329

This arrowhead-shaped spaceship gets to the point quickly

Modeled after the Trilobate arrowhead, builder Rubblemaker provides a speedy LEGO starfighter made for quick trips across the cosmos. It’s not everyday that you see Bionicle parts interspersed on a space creation, but the builder navigates it well, using the Rahkshi legs to great effect around the cockpit. And the shaping of the rear engine with toothed wheels and gears feels right at home here. But overall, while I understand the ancient inspiration for this build, my mind is instead taken back to 1998 and the Aquazone faction Stingrays. With a high concentration of dark gray, highlights in red, and wing curves reminiscent of a squid’s body, I feel like this fighter would be at home in the stars or the sea.

The Trilobate

Spacey-Racey Swoosh Champions

When you love spaceships, it’s impossible not to like racecars. And vice versa. They two go hand in hand like… Cheerios and milk. PaulvilleMOCs combined the best of both worlds in this colourful racer. The racecar influence, as well as the respective sponsor decals, stems from usage of odd car elements from an old promotional LEGO set released in Cheerios boxes.

Cheerios Spacecraft Space

PaulvilleMOCs originally built this racer as a parts experiment for our good friends at New Elementary. Check out his article where he explores these strange promotional sets which barely pass as LEGO, proving that even the weirdest of the weird can be used in LEGO creations!

T-70 X-Wing in LEGO

The marriage of Star Wars and LEGO has made them so intrinsically connected that making your own version of the iconic X-wing starfighter can be a crowning achievement for some builders. Or maybe more like a litmus test for your building skills? Either way, Builder Jerac clearly understood the assignment while working on his 1250+ piece version of the T-70, first revealed in Star Wars: The Force Awakens. It may have taken him 22 tries to get it exactly right, but I’m sure Poe would be proud to fly this beauty.

T-70 X-wing

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See you, Stratomaxx Cowboy

With the live-action adaptation of Cowboy Bebop just over the horizon, it’s nice to see builds inspired by the show. The unique ships of the Bebop universe are iconic and it’s easy to see echoes of the Swordfish in this design. Builder Nicolas van Grootveld used an aftermarket chromed windscreen to create this big-nosed fighter called the Stratomaxx Acer. Let’s take a look at the schematics.

Stratomaxx Acer

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An old bomber, a new paint job

There are few other fictional space ships that are as easily identifiable as the BTL-B Y-wing, seen here during the Clone Wars. LEGO builder simon-wild showcases his new take on one of the most classic starfighters to be seen on the screen.

Covered in armor and loaded with freedom, the mighty Y-wing was a staple of the Republic Navy during the Clone Wars era. It was retired during the Republic’s transition into the Galactic Empire but regained its status as a formidable bomber for the Rebellion, eventually earning the title, “The starfighter that broke the Empire’s back.”

In his build, Simon elaborates on the 8037 Anakin’s Y-wing Starfighter set released way back in 2009. He smoothed out the fuselage and engines, improved the paint pattern and traded the yellow for red. He also beefed up the size of the bomber to minifigure-scale, nearly reaching the size of the 75181 UCS Y-wing released in 2018. I admire all of the extra armor plating seen in Simon’s model. It helps separate the Y-wing from looking like a fighter and more like a bomber. Perhaps we’ll see an armor-less version of Simon’s Y-wing fighting for the Rebellion in the future?

Forget flying pigs, this one is interstellar.

This hulking beast of a starship is the T-37 Spayspigg by builder InterBrick. Inspired by the intense models created by Noblebun, Interbrick set out on an ambitious journey to create this greebly digital monster. Creative parts usage stands out at this scale with repetition being the name of the game. The nacelles to the side and bottom all share the same design with tubes, dishes, hoses, and minifigure legs creating the mechanical details of exposed engines sections. My eyes are drawn all over this model, noticing the various different techniques InterBrick used, but my favorite little detail of the nacelles has to be the white cowboy hats.

T-37 Spayspigg

Riddled with super detailed engines, this ship could be a formidable racer or a frightening bomber. Either way, you’re sure to be left in the dust. The power of having hundreds of minifigure accessories is exemplified in these engines. Three styles of nozzles adorn the nacelles and main body of the ship. They share some interesting parts such as flippers, telephones, and snowshoes while more tubes, bars, and scuba tanks are used as part of the propulsion systems. The large central engines are a bit bulkier with ice skates lining the interior of the nozzles.

T-37 Spayspigg

A truly monumental feat from InterBrick, the T-37 Spayspigg is an amazing build worthy of praise. It was great seeing that Noblebun even helped with the renders for this digital model. I love seeing the community work together!

Built for the fearless adventurer

Spaceship! I will always react that way to any swooshable model starcraft. Builders love to show off their knowledge of the LEGO system by the way they mold and craft the shapes of their starships. In addition, the eye-catching detail, or greeble, they add shows off some of their brick collection as well as their ingenuity in representing the elements of a spaceship. In this wonderful model, Starfighter Intrepid, builder seb71 shows off some of their skill.

Having a history of well-crafted spaceships, seb71 has brought us an eye-catching, sand-green design highlighted with white plates and tiles built cleverly into the wings and body. If you look at the structure of the Intrepid closely, you can see the various orientations the builder used to achieve their desired design. The stickers seb71 used add just the right amount of extra detail. I love the large white slopes in the wings, often used in the Imperial Shuttle sets. They work perfectly with the structure as well as the color-blocking.

Starfighter Intrepid

Read on to see more views of this fantastic spaceship