In my first blog of 2013, I’m taking a step back and looking at my one of my last larger setup in 2012, the LEGO 7965 Star Wars Millennium Falcon .  This set was actually released in 2011 but has been a very popular, although expensive, set as it provides an alternative to AFOLs to own a more detailed Millennium Falcon without having to fork out a huffy sum for the EOL UCS version.

The LEGO 7965 Star Wars Millennium Falcon set features stunning details including hull plates that open to reveal a detailed interior, missiles, rotating quad laser cannons and a detachable cockpit cover.   The six MiniFigures included are Han Solo, Luke Skywalker, Chewbacca, Ben Kenobi, Princess Leia Organa and Darth Vader with their classical weapons such as light sabres for the Jedis, guns for Han Solo and Princess Leia and cross bow for Chewbacca.

Since the set consist of more than one thousand two hundred pieces (1254 to be exact), one can expect the box to be quite big.  The rear of the box also features details of the Millennium Falcon’s top hull plates opening up to show the different compartments of the interior.  On the right side would be the scenes showing off even more details of the Millennium Falcon including her weapon systems and facilities.

Inside the big box are 2 instruction booklets, a sheet of sticker and many many bags of parts.  The instruction booklets are the bigger sized ones like those included in modular sets.  Guess this is required for big sets to allow the details of the parts to be clearly shown.  For my set, I received a curled up sheet of stickers.  I had to press it under some boxes to let it regard the flat status.  Considering this big set, the number of stickers included aren’t that many.

After the “1” series of bags, the initial base of the LEGO 7965 Star Wars Millennium Falcon  is formed.  There are three lobangs (holes) at the base which form the 2 trap doors and the rotating quad laser cannon below the Millennium Falcon.

With “2” series of parts, the interior of the Millennium Falcon is starting to take shape as well.  The console at the centre of the Millennium Falcon, the resting area by the side, the training area for Luke Skywalker to become a Jedi and the rear engines are coming together.

Series “3” of parts forms the side contour of the LEGO 7965 Star Wars Millennium Falcon .  These are actually joined together by a series of blocks of bricks with movable joints.  Quite an ingenious method by the set designer.  Even the area where by the pilot cockpit is supposed to be, the same joints were used to ensure uniformity across the whole side contour.

At the rear of the Millennium Falcon, a blue tube is used to represent the propulsion of the space craft.  This is my favourite part as it is not everyday that we get to see a blue clear transparent tube being used in a LEGO set.

Also forming up is the cockpit joint area as well at the central support for the craft.  These are critical areas that are necessary before the movable triangular pieces of the top hull are put in place.

At the bottom of the Millennium Falcon, the quad rotating laser cannon and the landing gears are also completed.  This allows the Millennium Falcon to be able to “stand on her own feet”.  If you see carefully, there are also four missiles near the landing gears that the Millennium Falcon will be able to “fire” at enemy space crafts.

The next steps will complete the twelve triangular movable fixtures that will form the top hull of the Millennium Falcon.  These movable fixtures are hinged at their shortest edge and each has its own attachments and design pieces making each unique.  Together, they all opened up like the petals of a lotus flower to reveal the interior of the Millennium Falcon.

At the top of the hull is another quad rotating laser cannon, similar to that below the Millennium Falcon.  On one of the triangular pieces is also a satellite dish which I feel is a bit plain compared with the other satellite dishes found in the LEGO City series.  In this case, there are no other attachments to the centre of the dish.  I thought for such an expensive set, it would deserve more attentions to such details.

The three final pieces of the LEGO 7965 Star Wars Millennium Falcon puzzle are the two front sections and the pilot cockpit of the Millennium Falcon.  The two front sections are mirror images of each other with some small details on the top panels and also at the tips of the sections.   For the pilot cockpit, there is just enough space for one MiniFigure.  In the actual Millennium Falcon, I vaguely recalled that Han Solo and Chewbacca used to sit side by side in the cockpit to pilot the spacecraft.  But given the need to keep the portion of the LEGO model, a cockpit that can house two MiniFigures will not look good.

Beside the windows of the pilot cockpit, the rest of the stickers in this set are place on the circular pieces on the top of the hull of the Millennium Falcon to provide the necessary details of the craft without the printed LEGO pieces.

The six MiniFigures include in the LEGO 7965 Star Wars Millennium Falcon provided me with new designs of Han Solo, Princess Leia,  Ben Kenobi and Luke Skywalker in my MiniFigures collection.  For Darth Vader and Chewbacca, they looked pretty much the same as the previous ones.  Weirdly, I’m not too sure how Darth Vader come into the picture of the Millennium Falcon less the scene when she was capture by Darth Vader in search of the Death Star plans stored in R2-D2 (who seems to be missing from this set).

After completing  the LEGO 7965 Star Wars Millennium Falcon in around three hours, I was wondering where would be a good place to display this set to do its designer justice.  In the end, I chose to display the Millennium Falcon next to her smaller mini sized sister in my main display in my living room.  Next to the main spacecraft are also five of the MiniFigures with Han Solo in the cockpit piloting the Millennium Falcon.

Overall, I would rate this set a 8 out of 10 losing points to the stickers included and weird combination of MiniFigures in this set.  Otherwise, the LEGO 7965 Star Wars Millennium Falcon should be a well sought-after set for the years to come.