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Q: What are some of the techniques you used when designing
and building the set to ensure it would be sturdy?
A: Model stability is very important, and often brick clutch
power just isn't enough to ensure sturdiness. One important
technique is vertical locking: those long white LEGO
beams on the rear of the base entrance make sure the layers
of bricks don't come apart easily and also provide safe
docking points for the smaller base modules.
Q: The Battle of Hoth is a huge battle; with so much material
available, how did you determine which elements from the
battle would be included in the design of this set?
A: There are some essentials that just have to be there, like
the base entrance. Or a snowspeeder, the Rebel Alliance's
main fighter on Hoth. Since Luke's snowspeeder (with dark
grey marking) just came out again last year, we included the
regular rogue squadron version in this set – which got orange
markings.
We also wanted to bring back the Wampa ice monster with
its lair, and add interior to the base. Focusing on the Rebel
base, the Imperial presence in this set is quite light. A new
AT-AT just came out last year, so you can still replay the whole
battle in style – and the Imperial Snowtroopers got a
brand-new E-web blaster that actually shoots!
Q: Is there a specific feature of the Hoth Battle set that you
like best?
A: We took some liberty when creating the extendable
lookout. It's a detail taken from the Rebel base on Yavin 4
from the previous movie, so we just assumed every Rebel
base had to have lookouts and we just don't see them in
The Empire Strikes Back. The Rebels always need to watch
out for approaching Imperials, right? Even though it has to be
freezing cold up there!
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technic
Q: There are many details in this set, especially in the
back, like sliding blast doors, flick missile turrets, and an
exploding power generator. How do you work in functionality
when designing a set? Is it difficult to design a set with
moving parts?
A: Moving parts can definitely make my day ... interesting!
Building a set of sliding doors usually is very easy – but
not so with a LEGO set. We have to allow room for building
mistakes and rough handling of the model. Trying to
foresee everything that could go wrong and prevent it from
happening is not an easy task. After all, it won't do to have the
blast doors stuck half-closed just because some plates have
not been pressed together strongly enough during the build.
Darth Vader would laugh himself silly – WAY too easy!
© & ™ Lucasfilm Ltd.
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