This is a very rough cut of an image that I’ve had in mind to make for awhile, but I thought I would show off this early draft. There’s a poster of the Falcon flying into the heart of the second Death Star in ROTJ, so I thought I could recreate it with Lego. I pulled this image of the LHC tunnel 1 and applied a motion blur. Then, I cut out  photos of my 4504 Millennium Falcon and 6212 Luke’s X-Wing Fighter. I added engine effects and lights to the front of the Falcon. With more time and effort, I believe that I can turn out a very nice composite reproduction of the ROTJ poster. Though, I will need to take a new picture of the Falcon with Billie Dee and Nien Numb at the controls. If you know of a better tunnel image with exposed pipes, please mention it in the comments.

And here it is–my custom rebuilt Lego Star Wars Millennium Falcon 7190 model. It took me several months of tinkering to get it in the shape that it is now–beat-up, derelict, and having it where she needs it.

In the following, I will show how the model began, how it evolved, and then a more thorough description of the changes that I made to the model.

Below, you can see how the 7190 Falcon looked after I initially built it. It gestures toward what the Falcon should look like, but it has too much non-battleship gray color and the design is aimed toward play more than appearance.

Below are two pictures of the interior with the upper hull removed. Again, the emphasis is on play instead of accuracy. The interior is segmented by straight walls and there is no visible engine, which I believe a big, fast ship like the Falcon should have.

Initially, I hadn’t planned on redesigning the interior. I thought that there was more to be done with the exterior, with the large quarter panel pieces that could make the 7190 rival the newer 4504 model.

Below you can see how I have selected a single color for the upper hull, reduced the profile for the gun turret, increased the size of the engine compartment at the rear, and changed the forward cargo loader from a single flat piece to a more accurate raised profile.

Also, I improved the cockpit so that it bends into the main hull and connects to it with a single flat round brick. Below are detailed photos of the cockpit redesign.

In the final version of the 7190 redesign, I opted to replace the cockpit with the same one found on the 4504 model, the parts of which I found on bricklink.com, an excellent resource for finding sets and bricks at reasonable prices. In the future, I may reincorporate the curve and passage way in the above pictures into the 7190 redesign. However, I do have some other ideas about how to make it look more accurate, following the ideas in the 4504 model, but I need additional pieces to make this work.

So, here are more detailed photos of the 7190 redesign as it now stands. I will include exterior shots first, and then I will show the extensive and exciting interior redesign that I made.

As you can see in the two photos above, I streamlined the front prongs into the main hull, extended the port and starboard hatch covers so that they are level, added surface color and detail to more accurately match the Falcon, and utilized the natural design of the quarter panel spacing for the rear engine compartment exhaust grills.

The cockpit is the same as the one in the 4504 model, but I used a different computer display brick in front of Han and Chewbacca. Also, I designed the cockpit-to-hull connector to indicate the connection while making it easy to remove the upper main hull. I believe that I will continue working on this in the next iteration of the model.

Below are images of the interior of the Falcon based on the films and my own ideas about the engine for such a large and fast ship. I departed from the designs in the 4504 model with my design of the engine with built-in hyperdrive.

Below, an all-inclusive shot of the interior of the Falcon. In the upper left, you can see everyone gathered around the Dejarik table. In the middle front you can see the cargo storage area followed by the passage way leading to the cockpit. The central column holds the gunner stations. In the rear, you can see the main engine with integrated hyperdrive.

Below, a detailed shot of the cargo area with a nod to the Lego Space series.

Below, a detailed shot of the crew area and Dejarik table and navigational computer.

Below, a detailed photograph of the main engine and its support structure, integrating it into the framework of the space craft.

Building my custom version of the 7190 Falcon model is something that I’ve wanted to do ever since I first owned the 7190 when it first came out at the end of the twentieth-century. The nice thing about Lego is that I can continue changing and altering the design as my imagination shifts and permutates.

Besides the awesomeness of building with Lego bricks, you may be wondering why I have devoted a good deal of space to my Lego work on dynamicsubspace.net. This is something that I am continuing to work on, but I see Lego as a transitional example of what Haraway calls the Informatics of Domination. Lego serves as a metaphor for the dilemma and its solution. Lego is a double edged sword, swinging both ways, but holding a promise greater than its representative ills. Expect to read more about these ideas in the near future.

Below, I have included a gallery of more images of my custom 7190 Millennium Falcon. Enjoy, and thanks for visiting.

I’ve posted before about the Lego Star Wars Millennium Falcon midi-size model 7778, but I wanted to post again with more pictures just because this set is so dang cool. Above, the Falcon is pictured with the mini TIE Fighter 8028, which I think scales very closely to the “midi-size” Falcon.

I am currently cannibalizing an extra 7778 set for my refit of the Falcon 7190 set. Unfortunately, I have had no time to build with my Legos for over a week due to reading and teaching beginning again. See below for more photos.

My favorite Millennium Falcon Lego kit is the 4504, which followed the 7190 A New Hope theme with an Empire Strikes Back theme. Included with the Falcon is a lone Imperial Snowtrooper and tripod cannon. Little does the bastard know that the Falcon’s anterior blaster is about to smoke him.

For the time being I am leaving the 4504 alone, because it is so much more polished than the 7190. However, I do have some ideas about how to add the tunnel-like feel to the interior without too severely mucking things up. But first, I want to complete the 7190 refit, which I suspect will take some time since I can only work on it during short breaks between reading.

My current LEGO project is a rebuilt of the Star Wars Millennium Falcon 7190. These pictures show what it looked like before I got my hands on it. Above is a side quarter view of the cockpit and the entry gangplank down. Below I have included a gallery of some more views of the original build.

We’ve been experiencing a lot of lake effect snow up here in NE Ohio, so I’ve had no good excuse to avoid reading by going outside. In the past week, I’ve knocked out Michel de Certeau’s The Practice of Everyday Life, a few Flannery O’Connor stories, and Vladimir Nabokov’s Lolita. Oh, and I read Philip K. Dick’s Puttering About in a Small Land and wrote a review of it for SFRA Review.

As a bit of fun and in the interest in my growing enthusiasm for what I call “Lego studies,” I am continuing to build and customize my Lego models. Right now, I’m working on a customized version of the Lego 7190 Millennium Falcon. I will post more pictures soon of before and after, but the one piece that I need will allow me to have a better looking cockpit from the 4504 set. Here is a picture of the 7190 after some customizations but with the offending cockpit.

And the more attractive cockpit from the 4504 set:

Expect more updates to follow soon between readings!

Above, you can see me assembling Lego’s new “midi-size” Millennium Falcon model, which I purchased the day before my root canal as a bit of distracting fun post-procedure. It was an enjoyable, quick build, but I regret not purchasing another, possibly larger piece count, kit to while awhile the time while I was sweating and wishing for the courage to rip my lower jaw out with a pair of Vice Grips.

Below are some photos of the completed Millennium Falcon Lego model enhanced with special effects that even George Lucas wishes he could employ in the ultimate redux of the Star Wars hexalogy.

I really like the midi-size Millennium Falcon Lego model, because it’s size allows you to easily fit it on your desk or fly it around the house (i.e., hold it in your hand and pretend to be flying it through asteroids while evading Imperial TIE Fighters). I believe that the time-to-build and the after-completion-fun of the midi-size model is more fulfilling than the much smaller mini-size model (4488) from years past. Additionally, the ease of carrying around the midi-size and its price make it a terrific alternative to the larger and more costly mini-fig scale models (4504, 7190, and 10179). Don’t get me wrong, I would love to own any of the mini-fig scale models including the uber-awesome Ultimate Collector Series Falcon (see below–me salivating at the Lego Store in Atlanta, Georgia).

A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away I used to own the first mini-fig scale Falcon (4504), but I sold it along with my entire first run Star Wars Lego collection (see below). I would like to rebuild my Star Wars Lego collection if the opportunity and capital come my way, but as it is now, I will indulge my Lego fun with the midi-size Millennium Falcon and the Twlight from The Clone Wars series.