After Hours

Building the LEGO TIE Defender

By // November 13, 2010, 7:16 AM PST

Image 1 of 24

  • LEGO TIE Defender - Box top

    The Star Wars line of models from LEGO is a massive collection of ships and vehicles, as well as myriad mini-figures. The TIE Defender model, featured in several games and comic books, fits in well with this series and has its own cool features.

    Read my Geek Gifts review of the LEGO TIE Defender.

    Photo of LEGO TIE Defender by Wally Bahny for TechRepublic

  • LEGO TIE Defender - Box bottom

    The back of the box shows the TIE Defender's features, as well as other models that go well with it.

    Photo of LEGO TIE Defender by Wally Bahny for TechRepublic

  • LEGO TIE Defender - Contents

    Unboxing the contents yielded an instruction manual, one bag marked "1", and two bags marked "2".

    Photo of LEGO TIE Defender by Wally Bahny for TechRepublic

  • LEGO TIE Defender - Manual's first page

    Two of the warnings on the first page of the manual are interesting to me: one says "do not use on carpet" (even though it looks more like grass) and the other is not to mix the bags (even though it doesn't matter a whole lot).

    Photo of LEGO TIE Defender by Wally Bahny for TechRepublic

  • LEGO TIE Defender - Construction start

    The first steps have you assemble the mini-figs and begin assembling the cockpit.

    Photo of LEGO TIE Defender by Wally Bahny for TechRepublic

  • LEGO TIE Defender - Construction 2

    Continued construction of the cockpit. At the end of this set of steps, we've added the drive shaft for the wings' rotation ability.

    Photo of LEGO TIE Defender by Wally Bahny for TechRepublic

  • LEGO TIE Defender - Construction 3

    Nearing the top of the cockpit now. If you look close, half of the hinge for the roof and faceplate is embedded in the back.

    Photo of LEGO TIE Defender by Wally Bahny for TechRepublic

  • LEGO TIE Defender - Construction 4

    Now, we've moved on to the wings' mount. Here you can see the beginnings of that portion. Also, the pile of remaining pieces from bag "1" is diminishing fast.

    Photo of LEGO TIE Defender by Wally Bahny for TechRepublic

  • LEGO TIE Defender - Construction 5

    We've added two wheel pieces to look like the TIE Defender's engine, as well as more support for the wings that will come later.

    Photo of LEGO TIE Defender by Wally Bahny for TechRepublic

  • LEGO TIE Defender - Construction 6

    The engine is finished, and we've started on the roof.

    Photo of LEGO TIE Defender by Wally Bahny for TechRepublic

  • LEGO TIE Defender - Construction 7

    The roof is finished, and the faceplate is attached. Now all we have to do is connect it (via the hinge) to the main body of the cockpit.

    Photo of LEGO TIE Defender by Wally Bahny for TechRepublic

  • LEGO TIE Defender - Construction 8

    All attached now. We begin assembling the final pieces of the wing supports. There will be three of these.

    Photo of LEGO TIE Defender by Wally Bahny for TechRepublic

  • LEGO TIE Defender - Construction 9

    Here are the three wing support pieces.

    Photo of LEGO TIE Defender by Wally Bahny for TechRepublic

  • LEGO TIE Defender - Construction 10

    The wing support pieces are now attached to the cockpit's spinning assembly. There are a couple of small pieces leftover that were put in as extras.

    Photo of LEGO TIE Defender by Wally Bahny for TechRepublic

  • LEGO TIE Defender - Construction 11

    Another view of the assembled contents of bag "1".

    Photo of LEGO TIE Defender by Wally Bahny for TechRepublic

  • LEGO TIE Defender - Construction 12

    Now we've dumped out the contents of both bags marked "2". We will be making three wings. This is the base of one of them.

    Photo of LEGO TIE Defender by Wally Bahny for TechRepublic

  • LEGO TIE Defender - Construction 13

    The beginnings of one half of one of the wings. You can see the smooth detail pieces that really add some nice decoration to the wings.

    Photo of LEGO TIE Defender by Wally Bahny for TechRepublic

  • LEGO TIE Defender - Construction 14

    Here is the underside of the wing. This is where LEGO put a lot of the support for the wing's thin construction.

    Photo of LEGO TIE Defender by Wally Bahny for TechRepublic

  • LEGO TIE Defender - Construction 15

    The completed wing. The other half was constructed in exactly the same way as the one in the previous two photos, only as a mirror image of that first half.

    Photo of LEGO TIE Defender by Wally Bahny for TechRepublic

  • LEGO TIE Defender - Construction 16

    All three wings fully assembled shown at different angles so you can see how they're constructed. Also, a couple more extra pieces out of these bags.

    Photo of LEGO TIE Defender by Wally Bahny for TechRepublic

  • LEGO TIE Defender - Construction 17

    I have attached two of the three wings to show assembly. The two outside center holes in the wing base attach to the wing supports on the axle.

    Photo of LEGO TIE Defender by Wally Bahny for TechRepublic

  • LEGO TIE Defender - Fully assembled

    The fully assembled TIE Defender from the side.

    Photo of LEGO TIE Defender by Wally Bahny for TechRepublic

  • LEGO TIE Defender - Pilot in the cockpit

    Here's a view of the pilot in the cockpit with the cockpit hatch open.

    Photo of LEGO TIE Defender by Wally Bahny for TechRepublic

  • LEGO TIE Defender - Completed model with Stormtrooper

    Another view of the fully assembled model with the Stormtrooper standing nearby doing nothing. Do those guys ever work?

    Photo of LEGO TIE Defender by Wally Bahny for TechRepublic

LEGO TIE Defender - Box top

The Star Wars line of models from LEGO is a massive collection of ships and vehicles, as well as myriad mini-figures. The TIE Defender model, featured in several games and comic books, fits in well with this series and has its own cool features.

Read my Geek Gifts review of the LEGO TIE Defender.

Photo of LEGO TIE Defender by Wally Bahny for TechRepublic

Related Topics:

After Hours Innovation Hardware Tech & Work