8029 Mini Snowspeeder (Unreleased Set) Review

[Big Pete]

Sorry, I couldn't see how to make this a poll!

Name: Mini Snowspeeder

Theme: Star Wars Minis

Year: 2008

Pieces: 66

Minifigs: None

Price: Unknown, as it was never officially released (to my knowledge!)

For some reason, I recently decided to try and make this set from the Instructions which you can get from Lego.com and after a couple of Bricklink orders, I was able to do so. Please find my review below ...

First up, given that there isn't a "packshot" for this set (as it's unreleased), is all the parts laid out (minus the spares, I didn't think it necessary to buy the spares!!) :

Not a bad selection, all in all. Nothing particularly rare either, making this set perfectly buildable for anyone with a few spare parts.

The first page of the instructions builds the main body of the snowspeeder :

With this scale, I think they achieved the shape of the cockpit pretty well. It may have looked better if they'd had the 2 x 1 cheese slopes at the time of production (I *think* they've only come along pretty recently?!).

Next up, you build the wings :

Yet more use of the ever brilliant cheese slopes to create the shape here. I'm not sure why we need the Orange round plates on the front ... maybe for a bit of colour? But I guess you can just take those off if you want to.

In order to create the angle of the wings, there are a couple of plates added underneath each one. These stop the wings from becoming too angled.

And here's the final model ... not a bad looking set all in all, although there's just something, that I can't put my finger on, that's not quite right, towards the back?! Maybe I've just got a distorted view based on the minifigure scale sets we've had in the past?!

The Ratings :

Playability/Swooshability : 10/10 (very swooshable indeed)

Design : 9/10 (as I said, there's just something that's not quite right ... and could use the 2 x 1 slopes nowadays)

Price : 8/10 (as you can't buy this officially and the re-sellers on Bricklink are charging too much for the parts, although you can, like me, just buy the parts yourself)

Overall : 9/10 (A few flaws, but pretty good overall)

If you have the parts or have the patience to go through the Bricklink inventory to get the bits you need then I would say go for it.

nb : this is quite possibly my first "proper" review for Star Wars, so I hope it's ok :)

Edited August 11, 2009 by KimT
poll added

[Capitan Jek]

i realy wish they had made this a set. i would have bought like 5.

[Go Cubs Go!]

I think they had a set like that about 5-6 years ago.

From, Go Cubs Go!

[Spyder]

I think they had a set like that about 5-6 years ago.

From, Go Cubs Go!

Right here. It was released in '03

Great review Big Pete. I can see what you mean, it's so small, it just lacks that certain charm that the snowspeeder has. Nonetheless, it is a nice little set, too bad it wasn't released.

[Big Pete]

I think they had a set like that about 5-6 years ago.

From, Go Cubs Go!

there is a slight difference is size & scale though? ;)

[Commander Flash]

Good mini-review. While it is a nice, accurate model, it seems to miss something.

[Artizan]

it looks more like the tydrium shuttle cockpit. maybe we can call this a midi-sized model?

[prateek]

maybe we can call this a midi-sized model?

Could be. Great review. I made this on LDD and it looks pretty good, much better than the real MINI set. I think this set was released in Japan or something as a promo or freebie.

[Big Cam]

Great review and great pics, looks like a sweet little set they should have released here.