I have built hundreds of Lego sets, and I think the mid-sized Star Wars ships are the perfect gift for adults (Image Credit: Space.com)
If you’re fairly new to buying Lego sets, where do you even start? There are hundreds to choose from, and even if you narrow down to a specific theme, you’re still spoilt for choice. Take Lego Star Wars: There are dozens of current sets, coming in at all price ranges and sizes. You’ll likely be drawn to the cheaper-priced sets, but if you’re buying for an adult, playsets might not always feel appropriate.
That’s where Lego’s mid-sized Star Wars sets come in: Sets like the Executor Super Star Destroyer and the Acclamator-Class Assault Ship. They’re all rated 18+, costing between $50 and $80, and offering seriously satisfying builds that don’t take too long to put together, nor too much space when they’re completed.
If you’re fairly new to Lego, too, these models offer the perfect blend of challenge and simplicity. A model can be completed in one sitting, usually taking a couple of hours. An Ultimate Collector’s Series set, in comparison, might take tens of hours – and with our busy lives, who has that much free time?
Size is important
In principle, a 7,500-piece Lego set sounds great. That’s how big the UCS Millennium Falcon is. But Lego takes a long time to build, and even the most seasoned builder will likely spend upwards of 25 hours putting that together. That’s a lot of time, especially if you only have a few spare hours a day. Say goodbye to the use of your dining room table for a couple of weeks, while a giant half-built Lego set takes over.
And even when it’s finished, do you have somewhere to put it? Unless you’ve got a huge house or a specially-commissioned table to accommodate your Millennium Falcon, you’re going to have a hard time finding space for it. But Lego’s mid-range Star Wars sets, typically measuring somewhere between 10 and 15 inches in length, are far easier to find room for.
The sets are typically between 400 and 600 pieces, with the only outlier being the Millennium Falcon, which is 921 pieces. Even that one only took roughly three hours to build — a fraction of the time it takes to build the UCS Millennium Falcon. The rest will take one or two hours; the perfect time for an evening activity once you’re ready to unwind after a day at work.
It all comes down to price
$50 sounds far more reasonable than $500, doesn’t it? If you’re a long-time Lego Star Wars fan and collector, you might consider forking out for an Ultimate Collector’s Series set. But if you’re fairly new to Lego, buying a mid-sized set is a great way to find out if it’s a pastime you enjoy without breaking the bank.
The Invisible Hand and Acclamator-Class Assault Ship, for example, both cost just $49.99, and the most expensive ship in the range, Millennium Falcon 25th Anniversary, is $84.99. The value for money here is excellent, and even though they’re so small in comparison, you’re still getting a similar brick-to-price ratio as you do in much larger sets.
The devil is in the details
All of the ships in this range are built on a similar scale, have matching stands, and look great whether they’re displayed on their own or as a set. Given their size, you’d be forgiven for thinking that they can’t have much detail – and of course, they don’t compare to larger sets. But when you consider their price, I think these sets are surprisingly and pleasantly detailed. Take the Executor Super Star Destroyer, for example: to give it a sense of scale, it has two regular Star Destroyers flying alongside it.
Then there’s the Home One Starcruiser, which not only has a Nebulon-B frigate flying alongside it, but its side can also be removed to reveal the interior. Larger sets might have more interactive features — these small sets are not minifig scale, which is really their only downside — but given their price, that’s to be expected. There’s also the fact that minifigures tend to push up the price of sets, so by not including any, it’s an easy way to keep the price down.
Ultimately, I think few other Lego sets offer such good value as these mid-sized Star Wars ships. Put it this way: for the price of one UCS Millennium Falcon, you can buy ten 25th Anniversary Millennium Falcons. And for the price of the UCS Death Star? Well, you can have twenty Acclamator-Class Assault Ships. Need I say more?
