LEGO Star Wars Ultimate Millennium Falcon

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Q: What was your favourite part of the design process?

A: The ﬁrst phase of LEGO set development is always very exciting for a designer – this is when shaping

and detailing of a model happens. Later I spend most of my time ﬁxing issues and ﬁnding solutions for

various design aspects like model stability, functions, product safety or building ﬂow.

My favourite part, however, is when I ﬁnally receive a bag of bricks and a pile of loose building instructions

based on the steps that I developed – in this case, a very large pile! At this point my work is mostly done

and my colleagues take over creating the design and completing the ﬁnal elements of the set, like

creating the box art or generating lists of elements for the factory.

Q: Were there features or functions of the movie version of the

Millennium Falcon

which were, in

your opinion, essential to have in the ﬁnal design?

A: In my mind, this new

Millennium Falcon

would HAVE to be the Episode V version. The Empire Strikes

Back is where the

Falcon

really shines, develops character and becomes part of the cast with the

last-second escape from Hoth, the chase through the asteroid ﬁeld, meeting the space slug, hugging

a Star Destroyer, visiting Bespin, and ﬁnally even taking on a Super Star Destroyer! However, apart

from the necessary spaceship functions, the

Millennium Falcon

is not really heavy on out-of-the-ordinary

features – or so Han Solo certainly wants you to believe! One of the new gadgets is the “Ground Buzzer”

blaster cannon – a nasty surprise for Imperial troops, as seen in Episode V in the rebel base!

Since the

Millennium Falcon

also appears in Episode VII and VIII, adding the new rectangular sensor

dish was essential, so you can choose between making the classic or new trilogy version of the

Falcon

Q: What are the differences between the original trilogy

Millennium Falcon

, and the

Falcon

as seen

in Episode VII: The Force Awakens?

A: It takes a detailed study of reference material to realise that the new sensor dish is not the only

change to the Episode VII

Falcon

, just the most obvious one. While even more aged and beaten up, many

of the hull details of the ship have been cleaned up or altered. For practical reasons I went for a middle

ground while still keeping some of the removed details – such as the metal cage covers on the sides of

the mandibles (one is right next to the cockpit). They are not present on the Episode VII

Falcon

anymore,

but I kept them because they are great details to have on any version of the

Falcon

and blend in nicely.

Two other small gadgets sitting right on top of the ship’s front were a different matter though. They are a

bit more obvious so I made them removable.