Last October we built the Star Wars Ultimate Collectors Series (UCS) Millennium Falcon. It was quite the build as you’d expect from the biggest Lego set ever.

Now we’ve built its new sibling – the UCS Y-Wing Starfighter – released today, 4 May (of course).

Now, this is a 14+ recommended build and, while we had help from a super-keen four year-old, it isn’t for children as parts will fall off. And not least because many will struggle to hold it; it's 60cm long and 30cm wide and isn't light.

Main pics image 2
Pocket-lint

It is a LOT easier to build than the Falcon for two key reasons – it’s less repetitive and, while the underpinnings are based on Lego Technic elements (as is the stand), the process to create the fuselage of the craft is a lot more straightforward.

There are some very fiddly bits though and while we reckon it’s probably possible to get it done in a couple of evenings, it’s more likely to take you three or four.

With the Falcon there's at least 100 steps of framework required before you actually built anything you could consider as progress. Not so here – you’re straight into building the area behind the cockpit, before you add the side ‘wing’ parts, the cockpit itself and then, finally, the twin ion jet engines.

After all, this set is a lot more accessible than the other big recent UCS kits: 1,967 pieces compared to the Falcon’s whopping 7,541 and the Death Star's 4,016.

The final model

There’s a lot of inventive use of very traditional Lego elements here -in particular, the way the underside of the cockpit and the sides of the engines fit on are excellent. Clever use of elements includes the use of a whip as pipework on the fuselage. The stand is also very clever and can hold the craft flat or slightly tilted.

Main pics image 3
Pocket-lint

The set includes a Gold Leader minifigure and an R2-BHD droid. The cockpit opens with space for Gold Leader inside (of course) the droid behind it, while the ion cannons on top can be turned around using a wheel underneath them - in turn this turns a shaft inside the main fuselage. There are also retractable landing skids, too. 

As with the other UCS sets the designers are interviewed in the hefty instruction booklet. 

If you’re looking for a Y-Wing that will be used as a toy, the £50 version of this set (75172) represents good value with around a third of the number of pieces.

Lego has also revealed some new sets from Solo: A Star Wars Story including a Kessel Run version of the Millennium Falcon, Han Solo's Landspeeder and an Imperial Tie Fighter.

Liked this? Check out Star Wars Holochess with Apple AR Kit