LEGO 75003 A-wing Starfighter (TM) Pictorial Review

Facts:

Model 75003

Name A-wing Starfighter

Theme Star Wars

Subtheme Episode IV-VI

Year released 2013 ( Winter )

Pieces 177

Minifigs 3

RRP RM 129.90

Age Range 7 - 12

The A-wing ( official name RZ-1 A-wing interceptor ) was designed by the Rebel Alliance during the Galactic Civil War. It is one of the fastest mass produced interceptors known in the galaxy. The set 75003 sets out to recreate this craft. Not account the planet series and 75000, 75001, at 177 pieces it's the smallest set among the Star Wars Winter line up. However if you're an original trilogy fan and also love original trilogy star fighters, then you will love this !

Like the 75002, the set has 3 groups of numbered bags.

* Bags 1 builds the set's 3 minifigs, Admiral Ackbar, A-wing pilot and Han Solo, and also the A-wing's twin engine

* Bags 2 and 3 literally just builds the rest of the ship

Bags 1 ( minifigs )

Image 1.1 A-wing pilot with his Screwdriver / Spanner ( 5 Brick pieces )

Image 1.2 Han Solo with his Blaster Small or best representation in LDD ( 5 Brick pieces )

Image 1.3 Best Representation of Admiral Ackbar on LDD with his transparent MUG ( 4 Brick pieces )

The rest of the first bags build the A-wings twin engine. Again being twin, the build is again either repetitive or mirrored. The whole build technically finishes in 13 quick steps and takes up 43 Brick pieces.

Image 1.4 Completion of Bag 1

Again like 75002 there are new dark red pieces which are exclusively used only on this set. 

* 6028118 Corner Plate 3X6 New Dark Red

* 6028115 Plate 6X8 New Dark Red

Image 1.5 Rare Pieces of Bag 1

Bags 2

Bags 2 begins to build the front and back details of the A-wing. The back of the A-wing is 11 brick pieces and takes 1 steps ( 4 steps micro build ) to complete.

Image 2.1 A-wing Back Detail

The front details mostly utilizes large pieces but made good use of snot techniques creating a great slope effect of the A-wing. The build took 14 steps and 35 brick pieces

Image 2.2 A-wing Front Detail

Bags 3

Bags 3 Finishes the A-wing with a cockpit, the A-wing's engine compartment, the A-wing's fin detail and the A-wing's landing gear. The fin details are made up of 47 pieces. It's separated into front fin with landing gear, the back lower fin, the additional engine detail and finally the top fin.

Image 3.1 A-wing Fin Detail

The rest of the 72 Brick pieces are to build the engine compartment, the flick fire missiles and the A-wings cockpit. The engine compartment is 12 Brick pieces. It's designed to be easily detachable for playability. This explains why the A-wing pilot is actually carrying a Screwdriver / Spanner

Image 3.2 A-wing Engine Compartment

Add on 4 Flick Fire Missiles for coolness

Image 3.3 A-wing's 4 Flick Fire Missiles

Finally a cockpit to finish off the A-wing, 4650628 Cockpit 4X6X2 W Front Shaft Tr. Brown

Image 3.4 A-wing's cockpit

Put them all together and we have a nice little A-wing.

Image 3.5 Completed A-wing and minifigs

Conclusion

A nice little model of the iconic A-wing. Again for a fairly small set ( 177 pieces ), it's fairly detailed. Also like the 75002 a fairly quick build and straight forward. This set do however comes with 2 relatively hard to find minifigs, Admiral Ackbar and Han Solo. Although it's a lesser piece count set compared to the 75002 AT-RT, i find this set more fun to build. Perhaps i'm more biased towards the original trilogy perhaps.

Pros

* Nice mid sized model of the iconic A-wing

* 2 Good relatively hard to find minifigs, Admiral Ackbar and Han Solo

Cons

* Straight Forward Quick Builds

3.5 out of 5 stars

LEGO 75002 Pictorial Review

Finally i taken the steps to setup a proper blog and start LEGO reviews. Since i have restarted LEGO with Star Wars, i shall begin my first review with 75002, Lego's Star Wars first significant Winter set of 2013. This is going to be both an actual set review and also an LDD build review.

Facts:
Model 75002
Name AT-RT
Theme Star Wars
Subtheme The Clone Wars
Year released 2013 ( Winter )
Pieces 222
Minifigs 4
RRP RM 129.90 ( i got mine at RM 110.00 )
Age range 7 - 12

Before i begin, i know there are 2 other Star Wars Winter Set ( 75000 Clone Troopers (TM) vs Droidekas (TM) , 75001 Republic Troopers (TM) vs Sith (TM) Troopers ) but i shall not be reviewing them unless i have alot of extra time

Now on with the review

The Set comes with 3 sets of numbered bags
* Bags 1 builds the minifigs namely Clone Wars edition Yoda, 501st Clone Trooper, Commando Droid captain and Sniper Droid
* Bags 2 builds lower AT-RT
* Bags 3 builds upper AT-RT

Bags 1 ( minifigs )
a.Yoda

Image 1.1 : Yoda

Note that Yoda's short legs are not twistable.

2. 501st Clone Trooper

Image 1.2 : 501st Clone Trooper

3.Commando Droid captain 

Image 1.3 : Commando Droid captain

4. Sniper Droid

Image 1.4 : Sniper Droid

Out of the 4 minifigs, the sniper droid requires more assembly. The droid itself is made up of 42 brick pieces. The build is done in 8 seperated steps as shown in below's LDD blown out

Image 1.5 : Sniper Droid LDD blown out

This 8 steps in itself contributes to further micro builds especially on the turret, the head and the back of the droid.

Image 1.6 Sniper Droid Turret LDD Blown out

Image 1.7 Sniper Droid Head LDD Blown out

Image 1.8 Sniper Droid Back LDD Blown out

I have to admit, i hate minifigs as it ussually takes up roughly 30 piece count on a set. However the sniper droid being classified as a minifig, i had a pleasant time building it both in real life and in LDD. Also, note that the set is named "AT-RT" and not "AT-RT vs. Sniper Droid", so i would say that this droid build is some what came as a bonus to this set.

Bags 2 ( Lower AT-RT)

A little history on the AT-RT. The AT-RT is the acronym for All Terrain - Recon Transport. it's a bipedal walker in Star Wars Clone Wars era. It is also the predecessor of the AT-ST ( All Terrain - Scout Transport a.k.a Chicken Walker ) which is introduced during the Star Wars Imperial era.

Being bipedal, you would expect that the build will be repetitive twice. This is exactly the case. The build starts off with the torso followed by the legs. Fairly quick and easy build for the seasoned LEGO builders. It also made good use of bright blue colors in the build as shown below

Image 2.1 AT-RT's Torso and Legs

Once this is done, you are then required to build the foot, and if you guess "twice ?", yes you are right. The foot is majoritily Dark Stone Grey in color and like it or not you have to build it twice. Good news is that they are only 19 pieces each which makes both of them a total of 38 pieces

Image 2.2 AT-RT's Pair of Foots

Add on some final touches to the Lower AT-RT and you will get a build shown below

Image 2.3 Completed Bag 2 Lower AT-RT

And when you twist this build into position it should be able to stand on its own and should look like the image below.

Image 2.4 Lower AT-RT hinged into position

This completes bag 2's build with 16 steps on the instructions manual with a total of 80 bricks consumed.

Bags 3 ( Upper AT-RT )

Bags 3 obviously completes the AT-RT's construction. It builds the upper body of the AT-RT and although still has repetitions but it's much lesser now. The first part actually builds where the clone trooper shall sit.

Image 3.1 AT-RT's pilot's chair

If you are a rare piece colletor, well i found 2 rare pieces ( at least in this color variation ) while building this section they are 

* 4626361 Plate 2X4X1 1/3 W. Side Bow Bright Blue

* 4657998 Seat 2X3X2 Bright Blue

Image 3.2 AT-RT's Upper Seat rare pieces

The build then continues with the front armor plating of the AT-RT. The set now starts to look cooler from here onwards. The build takes 6 quick simple steps 

Image 3.3 AT-RT's front armor

Doesn't look much because it's not properly hinged into position on the AT-RT yet. Again, if you are a rare piece collector, this build has two piece produced exclusively only for this set.

* 6030195 Roof Tile 4X2/18 degrees W/Cor. Bright Blue

* 6030196 Banner 26 Deg W, 2 Holders Bright Blue

Image 3.4 Rare Pieces from the front armor

The left side armor and right side armor plating is next. Both the armor plating builds are similar just a mirror of each other

Image 3.5 AT-RT's Left and Right armor plating

Add on abit more plating on the torso

Image 3.6 Additional AT-RT armor plating

And we end up with an almost complete AT-RT. What's left now is the Gun Module.

Image 3.7 AT-RT without the gun module

The Gun Module of the AT-RT will take another 5 steps and 9 bricks. Simple yet detailed gun will be mounted to the front via the Bright Blue Connector Peg W. Friction 3M to finish off the AT-RT. 

Image 3.8 Gun Turret Module for the AT-RT

And the completed set shall look like below ( without minifigs ). The whole set without the minifigs counts up to 205 bricks. This meant that the left over17 bricks are minifig pieces

Image 3.8 AT-RT and the Sniper Droid completed.

Conclusion

The set is pretty nice and detailed for only a 222 piece count set. If you are a quick LEGO builder, you could complete this set within 30-45 mins. The build is also fairly straight forward ( except for the sniper droid which has some interesting build and a great bonus ) and not much surprises. So if you prefer complicated builds, i advice against getting this set.

However, i did took a long thought and bought it anyway for following reasons

* Want to get a set build do not want to spend alot

* Want a cool clone trooper minifig ( Don't get me wrong i hate minifigs but i don't hate collecting them )

* Want a cool yoda minifig

* AT-RT is the predecessor of the AT-AT ( Chicken Walker ) anything Republic or Imperial is definately in my collection list :D

Pros

* Nice mid sized model of AT-RT

* Good build on the sniper droid

Cons

* Bad Commando Droid captain which can barely stand without studs

* Mostly Straight Forward Quick Builds

As for my ratings, i will give this set 3 out of 5 stars