Building the Millennium Falcon in LEGO
This is a record of my effort building the Millennium Falcon Ultimate Collections Edition (75192). It has a total 7541 pieces and at build time is the second largest Lego set by pieces, and the heaviest by weight. Finished it is over 21cm (8”) high, 84cm (33”) long and 56cm (22”) wide.
Day 1, 8 April 2021
The first two bricks are joined. “Bag 1” was I think 6 bags in total and I had to dive back into the boxes to find the bag that I’d missed. The holder of the instruction book serves as a good sized tray for holding pieces until they are required. I’m not going to be someone who spends time sorting pieces beforehand.
Some difficulty with matching the colours of pieces to the instructions. Those which are blue have printed quite grey. Over time I’ll get used to the subtle differences.
Day 2, 9 April 2021
Friday evening and I was determined to finished “Bag 1”. I had a different setup this evening with a small table in front of me. A little too high, whereas last night my surface was a little too low. Still, I got it done. It’s very satisfying clipping large sections together and locking them all in place. The sub-structure is very strong.
Day 3, 10 April 2021
Sore left arm from last night’s build. That instruction book is very heavy and picking it up one handed time and again was not a good idea. Have moved to iPad version today which is much easier. “Bag 2” done and dusted. I think I’ll limit myself to a bag per day and if I have to roll it over to another day, I will.
6 x landing gear assemblies today allowed me to have a production line going.
Day 4, 11 April 2021
“Bag 3” has been the trickiest so far. Some fiddly bits and it took a bit longer to find some of the pieces I needed.
One of the most iconic parts of the ship built today - the training room with the holochess set. Also added a seventh and final piece of landing gear and what I think is the base of the main entry to the ship. There is also a bit of mechanical detail added. It’s fascinating to see how this is built up and what parts are included in each bag.
C-3PO and Chewbacca minifigs have come to life.
Day 5, 12 April 2021
I really needed the build tonight. Chilling out sticking blocks together with some podcasts on my headphones was good time. Meditative. Completed “Bag 4” which is the room back right and back left - though the latter isn’t much of a room. Looks like some of the external rear panels are going on next.
Day 6, 14 April 2021
“Bag 5” provided the rear exhaust ports (that’s what I’m calling them). Quite amazing. Built up a large panel that kind of just hangs there but is then braced by the next two large constructs to come along.
Was left wondering how LEGO is produced with such precision so found this video.
Day 7, 17 April 2021
If you didn’t know what I was building you sure would now. The full iconic profile is in place. That’s “Bag 6” and gives me the full size of this beast. It’s never going to fit where my family first thought it would which was atop the glass cabinet I have for my Warhammer Age of Sigmar painted miniatures. Not only would it be at risk of falling, it will look odd jammed up in the corner near the cieling. Instead the cabinet will move to the bedroom and I’ll be able to land this baby on the subwoofer. When I organise a stand it will look fantastic.
Day 8, 18 April 2021
Today was a quick, relatively simple build of the base panels in the front sections, though I did manage to get it wrong twice! “Bag 7” is complete. I liked the way the ports were created.
Day 9, 22 April 2021
Not much to see today with “Bag 8” done and I expect there will be a few bags like this. Filling in areas now. The larger parts this evening on the bottom of the model. Amazing to build two sets of pairs of pieces that just fit in areas you wouldn’t think they would fit.
Day 10, 23 April 2021
Some of the top paneling went on this evening with “Bag 9” and things are beginning to look like the final model will look.
Day 11, 24 April 2021
Today’s build occurred with I Am Mother running in the background. I had started the movie earlier and wasn’t particularly enjoying it but had enough interest to see how it ended. It was the most complex build of the day, including the landing ramp door and the lower gun installation. That was a lot of work for something that’s not going to be very visible.
Day 12, 25 April 2021
“Bag 11” was a quite easy build and provided the top of the two central cross sections.
Day 13, 26 April 2021
Things are starting to look less like a LEGO model and more like the Millennium Falcon now with the top of the back section filling in from “Bag 12”. Interestingly the lower panel (as seen in the photo) is split in two for easy access to the room below. Pretty sure I won’t be playing with my minifigs in that manner.
Day 14, 1 May 2021
Catastrophe avoided. I was having difficulty correctly placing one of the top panels at the back and to get better sight on the connection point I placed my hands under the model in the specified positions (there are instructions on how to lift this beast) and shifted the model towards me. Unfortunately as I was sitting on the ground, rather than a lift up, it was more of a tilt and one of the front landing gear assemblies caught on the carpet pulling some of the front section apart. It took me half an hour to make sure it was all right again, made more difficult by the damage being underneath and out of clear sight. “Bag 13” completed the back.
So distressing I didn’t even take a photo.
Day 15, 2 May 2021
I was sorely tempted to complete the last 4 bags today. Instead I did two, “Bag 14” and “Bag 15”. That will give me exactly two more bags, and two evenings so that the Falcon is ready for flight on Star Wars Day.
The front right top is now all complete, again with another split section for easy access, and the top middle front. Next up: the cockpit.
Day 16, 3 May 2021
Perhaps the most iconic part of the falcon was built today. The cockpit that gives the distinctive shape a little more. “Bag 16” done and I’ve installed Han Solo and Chewbacca minifigs in their rightful places.
In the shot on the right you can see the bracing for the cockpit so that it doesn’t fall off.
Day 17, 4 May 2021
Happy Star Wars Day! What an appropriate day to finish my LEGO buidling journey. The final thing to do is organise a stand.
I have really enjoyed this build. There is a joy in clicking bits of plastic together that transcends clicking bits of plastic together and as I’ve written above the engineering to turn those bits of plastic into such a large model was fascinating to behold.
Stand, 30 May 2021
The Millennium Falcon is now finally displayed on an IDisplayIt stand specifically made for the model called the \# 2in1 Display Stand MK2 for 75192 UCS Millennium Falcon.
Statistics
| Date | Bag Set # | Time | Cumulative Time | Completed Instructions |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021-04-08 | 1/17 | 1h 00m | 1h 00m | 26/1379 |
| 2021-04-09 | 1/17 | 2h 15m | 3h 15m | 130/1379 |
| 2021-04-10 | 2/17 | 1h 00m | 4h 45m | 151/1379 |
| 2021-04-11 | 3/17 | 1h 25m | 6h 00m | 248/1379 |
| 2021-04-12 | 4/17 | 1h 20m | 7h 20m | 316/1379 |
| 2021-04-14 | 5/17 | 1h 45m | 9h 05m | 395/1370 |
| 2021-04-17 | 6/17 | 1h 40m | 10h 45m | 470/1379 |
| 2021-04-18 | 7/17 | 0h 45m | 11h 30m | 530/1379 |
| 2021-04-22 | 8/17 | 1h 10m | 12h 40m | 646/1379 |
| 2021-04-23 | 9/17 | 1h 40m | 14h 20m | 727/1379 |
| 2021-04-24 | 10/17 | 1h 45m | 16h 05m | 824/1379 |
| 2021-04-25 | 11/17 | 1h 05m | 17h 10m | 905/1379 |
| 2021-04-26 | 12/17 | 1h 35m | 18h 45m | 908/1379 |
| 2021-05-01 | 13/17 | 1h 25m | 20h 10m | 1029/1379 |
| 2021-05-02 | 15/17 | 2h 00m | 22h 10m | 1135/1379 |
| 2021-05-03 | 16/17 | 1h 30m | 23h 40m | 1261/1379 |
| 2021-05-04 | 17/17 | 1h 25m | 25h 05m | 1379/1379 |
| 2021-05-30 | Stand | 0h 30m | 25h 35m |
Other LEGO Models
I’ve documented my other LEGO builds.