LEGO Star Wars 75275 UCS A-Wing Starfighter: A few questions for the designers

04/05/2020 - 10:19 Interviews Lego news LEGO Star Wars

designer interview lego starwars 75275 1

Before giving you some personal impressions of the LEGO Star Wars set 75275 A-Wing Starfighter (1673 pieces - 199.99 €) on the occasion of a "Quickly Tested", I give the floor to the two designers Hans Burkhard Schlömer and Jens Kronvold Frederiksen, (Design Director) who worked on this product and who kindly agreed to answer a few questions by email.

Will: How did the idea of ​​offering a version Ultimate Collector Series of the A-Wing, a vessel which a priori is not the most detailed nor the most impressive of the many machines from the Star Wars universe?

Jens Kronvold Frederiksen:  Anything is possible with LEGO bricks, even creating an Ultimate Collector Series format reproduction of a ship like the A-Wing!

We had no particular concerns about fitting the reference model to this scale, even we quickly realized during the design process that the ideal UCS version would require a custom-made cockpit canopy.

We had the opportunity to create this new element and we decided that it was time to create this model based on an iconic ship from the Star Wars saga!

designer interview lego starwars 75275 4

Will: What sources and other documents (photos, models used in the film, other derivative products) were used to reproduce the many aesthetic details of the LEGO version? Did you know the 1/72 version marketed by Bandai in 2017 that many collectors consider to be a benchmark product?

Hans Burkhard Schlömer: We worked on the basis of photos from the Lucasfilm archives and captures made by us directly from the various scenes of the film.

I actually also sometimes use other products, here the version marketed by Bandai, as a source of inspiration, but the original models used on the screen are the reference versions that we used during the development of this product.

Will: What was the most difficult part of the ship to reproduce in order for this new LEGO model to be as faithful as possible to the version seen on screen?

Hans Burkhard Schlömer: The sections placed at the front of the cabin and which form the "A" structure of the vessel were the most complicated to imagine and to connect to the internal structure of the model.

These two sections incorporate assemblies of parts pointing in all directions and use Technic elements that allow them to come to attach securely to the rest of the ship.

The difficulty of the challenge was also to maintain a relative ease of assembly and to avoid creating confusion among those who will acquire this product. If everything falls into place gradually but also sometimes in a somewhat surprising way, then I consider that the designer has done his job correctly.

75275 lego starwars ultimate collector series awing 8

Will: Apart from the usual calculation formulas that we all know, such as the ratio of number of pieces / retail price, how did you define the final scale of the LEGO version?

Hans Burkhard Schlömer: The public price of the product is indeed the decisive factor in this area because it sets the budget I have and therefore the size of the model, the only real limitation then being the minimum quantity of bricks to put in the box to correspond to the expected price. .

Will: The product packaging adopts the new “18+” visual appearance also used for the three reproductions of recently released helmets. Putting aesthetic and cosmetic considerations aside, can you promise us that the techniques used on this new model will surprise and entertain even the most experienced of adult fans?

Jens Kronvold Frederiksen: The classification "18+" is not specific to the LEGO Star Wars range and is simply intended to explain that these products are more aimed at an audience of adult LEGO fans.

These are constructions which can therefore be considered as more complex than others and which offer a challenge of a certain level. This new set is however not more difficult to assemble than the other products stamped Ultimate Collector Series marketed in the past, the new classification "18+" does not change anything on this precise point.

designer interview lego starwars 75275 2

Will: The cockpit canopy is a new element specially manufactured for this set. Was this part imagined first and the final model assembled around or was it created after to fit perfectly into the model?

Hans Burkhard Schlömer: I had originally assembled two versions of the A-Wing: a first based on an 8 stud wide canopy and a second which used a 6 stud wide canopy.

Both canopies were built using existing elements which gave a fairly realistic rendering, but the model based on the 8-stud canopy turned out to be much too big and we finally decided to keep the version with the solution in 6 studs wide.

After analysis, we came to the conclusion that the solution based on existing parts was not completely aesthetically satisfactory and we therefore decided to create the new part that you will find in this box.

designer interview lego starwars 75275 3

Will: It is clear that the driver minifigure provided is supposed to be a generic character that serves as an additional exposure to the product. However, one cannot help but imagine that it is Arvel Crynyd (Green Leader), a character seen in command of an A-Wing in Episode VI. Why not have clearly identified this character in the set?

Jens Kronvold Frederiksen: We could have identified by name the minifigure delivered in this box, but the ship to be built here is rather a generic version inspired by those who participated in the Battle of Endor seen in the movie Return of the Jedi and we therefore decided that the pilot would also be a generic character.

Hans Burkhard Schlömer: This minifigure is also new, even if it is mainly an update of the 2013 version [75003 A-Wing Starfighter]. The overall design of the figure has been updated with an even higher level of detail than the previous version to give it a look more faithful to the reference outfit. The helmet here also benefits from a metallic pad printing on the sides, which corresponds exactly to the detail seen on the helmet used on the screen.

41 COMMENTS

Join the discussion!
Subscribe
Receive notifications for
guest
41 Comments
the most recent
the oldest Top rated
See all comments
41
0
Do not hesitate to intervene in the comments!x