Imperial Light Cruiser, Part 11 - Bag 6

 Now for the coolest part of the ship - the 'business' end!

Here the three large cylindrical propulsion units are built up, along with a lot of the aft detail.

The hull plates covering the center engine are again well executed, with hinged parts being used to define the correct slope toward the port and starboard engines. It's looking a lot like a spaceship, now.

During the construction of this phase, I focused on studying the structure and planning how I would later go about routing wires and installing LEDs to light these bad boys up. It may take some creative chops.

Anyway, here's the pic:

All ready to jump into hyperspace !!

Imperial Light Cuiser, Part 10 - Bag #5

 Continuing on with the Light Cruiser, I now tear into the fifth parts bag of the set.

Here, the build starts becoming more interesting: the central structure and bridge section.

The assembly is built up using many SNOT pieces, slopes and tiles. Quite a bit of the final exterior detail is put into place at this point.

The only real challenging part is in getting the bridge window decals (stickers?) precisely aligned and applied.

After this build is completed, I plan on devoting a post here on the blog to the method I use for the fine art of attaching stickers to LEGO parts.

One cool feature I found with this new bridge section is that it serves as a very sturdy carrying 'handle' for the model, since it is built onto a strong Technic assembly embedded in the ship's structure.

Imperial Light Cruiser, Part 9 - Bag 4

 The fourth bag of the ILC contains the parts that flesh out the top and sides of the central part of the ship. A few sections of fine detail start showing up at this point in the build.

Marching on..

Light cruiser, Part 8 - Bag 3

 The next step of the ILC build focuses on the mid section of the ship.

Here, a number of plates are used to establish the main bottom platform.

Also, a very sturdy Technic structure is built in to support the future main tower and bridge section.

So far, there have been no extraordinarily difficult assembly steps in this build. One just needs to be careful about proper insertion of pins on the Technic pieces, and correct orientation and placement of the many plate elements.

I highly enjoy the method of only building through one set parts bag per evening. This ensures that I work at a more careful, leisurely pace, and not rush through the build.

Imperial Light Cruiser, Part 7 - Bag #2

The second bag of the ILC set consists of the parts to build out the 'skeletal' support structure for the prow of the ship.

A pair of Technic beams are constructed and attached with clever hinge assemblies to situate them at the correct angles.

This part of the build also introduces a few of the bridge vignette details in the form of slope elements adorned with control panel stickers.

I have left these last items off as I am still on the fence about including the whole minifig scene. These parts should be easy to add on later should I happen to change my mind.

Onward and upward....

Imperial Light Cruiser, Part 6 - Bag 1

 The construction of the Light Cruiser has now officially commenced. 

The first parts bag lays out the base of the ship including a long  Technic structural beam along the aft section.

The prow plate structure will constitute the floor of the hide-away minifig bridge scene.

I may remove the parts that make up the launcher mechanism at the front. I likely won't be shooting micro T.I.E fighters across the room.

Imperial Light Cruiser, Part 5 - The Dark Trooper

 The final minifig of the set that requires modification is the Dark Trooper.

Even though the minifig is very well rendered with the detailed print on the helmet and body parts, and the addition of shoulder armour, it is very lacking in one area - size and stature.

On-screen, the Dark Troopers loom large and menacing, towering over all the other characters.

This just can't be pulled off with the standard sized minifig components.

In my opinion, this Dark Trooper looks kind of wimpy when set alongside the other minifigs in the set. Heck, it turns out that Mando is even slightly taller than the  sinister- looking droid!

So, where do I go from here?

The parts stash, of course, to see if a more serviceable Dark Trooper can be brick-built.

Here is the collection of black elements on which I settled to build up the 'big guy'.

The droid's arms and legs are largely made from 1x2 plates modified with clips, bars, and hinges to make them posable.

I even managed to pull off a reasonable representatation of the figure's shoulder armor.

All in all, the only elements retained from the original minifig were the head piece and helmet!

Here's the final product:

And the scale is much better, as well:

In the near future, when I figure out how I want to light up minifigs, this bad boy's getting some glowing red eyes.

Lastly, my LEGO doppelganger is shown here relegating the remainder of the original  parts to the 'minifig spares' box: