Bit-tech builds the LEGO Super Star Destroyer

LEGO Super Star Destroyer - Box Three

One of the best features of the Super Star Destroyer model is that it comes complete with its own display stand and specs plaque which gives it a nice centrepiece kind of feel - it wouldn’t look out of place on a large office desk or a showpiece on a dining room table for example. These are relatively simple to assemble, and we were helped at this point by a few friends dropping in for dinner and drinks.

It was lucky that we had some extra bodies to hand too as attaching the display stand requires you to flip the entire model over - a daunting task give its size, weight and the fact that it’s made out of LEGO. Thankfully though this final instruction in stage four went of without a hitch and after seven hours, spread over four days, we were able to dive into the final box which contained stages five, six and seven of the build.


There was initially some jostling over who got to be involved in stage five of the build. This was largely because this stage involved making the three large engine modules that would cleverly slide into place at the rear of the model and, frankly, they looked cool. Once we’d all beat our chests and established who was going to do what, it took relatively little time to get the three modules assembled.

What did take a little more time, however, was fitting them into place. They all attached via a number of the plastic connectors that we’d been adding to previous stages of the build, not really knowing why, and some just didn’t seem to quite line up. We went back and checked our placements but found our work to be flawless (as ever) so resolved to just try a little harder. It’s a heart pounding stage of the build: watching three grown men strain and heave at the model you’ve spent the last four nights building is a worrying thing to say the least.


Still, it got the job done and with the three engine modules attached, there were only two stages of the build left. We left it there for day four though as - as somebody reminded us - we’d promised our guests food and wine, not a LEGO Super Star Destroyer. Spoilsports.

It wasn't until the next day then that we could get to grips with the last two, shorter stages of the build. It was a strange afternoon though, as the atmosphere and the pace of the build was relatively subdued compared to the previous four evenings. It could of course have just been the collective hangover we were sharing from the night before, but on reflection, we'd say that it was more down to a realization that the model was nearly finished. We say this because the build had been fun - there had been a certain camaraderie to meeting every evening in the lounge and building LEGO until we were seeing knobs on every surface we looked at. It had been fun, and we knew once the model was built it’d be over.

This, we guess, is one of the funny things about LEGO. People always say you can break it down and rebuild it into something else, but who actually does with these larger models? Very few, we’d wager - once the model is built, that’s it, it stays built and is displayed somewhere. If it’s very lucky it may get cleaned or showed off from time to time, but little more than that.


That being said, it was still exciting to finish the build as the last two stages are making the large wing assemblies that make up the upper hull of the model. These cover up all the slightly untidy looking struts and random coloured blocks and instantly give the model more gravitas. They’re awkward to attach however, as they go on as one whole piece, so again we needed all six hands to make it work.

With these in place there was little more to do than attach the tiny Star Destroyer model that is there to provide scale and to pose the figures in some sort of ridiculous diorama in the cleverly hidden bridge section. Darth was up to his old tricks with Admiral Piett again.

So, model finished, what did we think? Well, we can’t deny that we enjoyed the build, as we said earlier, the sense of all doing something together was great - baking for boys was how one observer saw it. We’d be dubious of approaching the model in any other way, however. Doing it yourself for example would be a gargantuan task, and one that would probably leave you dreaming of LEGO for the next month.

There is also the cost to consider. £350 is a lot of cash to drop on something that will, if we're honest, probably only sit on a shelf somewhere for the rest of its days. If you've got this kind of money to spend though, or if you just fancy a build project rather than a holiday this year, you won’t be disappointed by the scale and spectacle of this epic, epic LEGO kit.