[MOC] [LXF] Minifig-scale Phantom from Star Wars Rebels

[ScottishDave]

This is a minifig-scale model of "The Phantom", the shuttle from the TV series "Star Wars Rebels". It's about a foot long and has a full interior, with working hatches at the rear and on the underside.

I re-used the cockpit and nose from goatman461's excellent design, along with elements of the sides, roof and underside hatch: and I'm grateful for his kind permission to post this model.

As usual, I've documented the build as an LXF file for my own reference, and I am linking the LXF file here in case anyone else feels like building this model. The LXF is nearly-but-not-quite correct. I can't place the roof (the angled pillars at the back prevent it from attaching) and the tyre with tread at the front of the engine should be an old smooth tyre (part no. 132) - something which does not appear to exist in LDD.

Update: Many, many thanks to @monkypaws for making the instrctions available for free on rebrickable - link here. This page contains both a step-by-step set of instructions and a parts list. The details section contains a list of rare parts to check before attempting a build.

Before someone asks: yes, I am pondering building the Ghost in scale with this shuttle. I estimate it would be quite large - 138 studs long, 1.1 metres, or the length of a stay in a local psychiatric hospital.

Here are a couple of pictures. More can be found on the flickr album:

Here are some photos of the Interior. First a shot from the front of the cockpit, showing Hera and Kanan, with the rest of the crew in the background (minus Chopper, who is in his droid socket on top of the ship).

The belly hatch works, i.e. it opens and closes:

There are eight seats in the back (realistically, seating for six, given the width of Lego figures):

Once again, more photos can be found on the flickr album

There is always room for improvement: If you have any suggestions, comments or criticisms, please feel free to leave them below.

Edited 16th May: added interior photos.

 

Edited September 30, 2023 by ScottishDave
Added link to monkeypaw's Rebrickable page

[Bricky Dee Williams]

That looks fantastic! I love the use of the turntable undersides for wall detail!

[Schneeds]

That is very sleek and very well done. I especially like the side flap above the wings and the rear hatch areas.

[Kristof]

Not the biggest fan of this particular shuttle (can't get along with these flappy wings - they look weird) but this is very nice model indeed.

[Lord Tyrus]

This is really nice! Looks very sleek!

[Meatcan]

Looks awesome!

[Columbus019]

Wow, that makes the original set look terrible, oh well, i'll just have to build one like that.

Columbus

[ScottishDave]

Many thanks for the nice comments, chaps.

I've just updated the first post with some pictures of the interior. There are also more pictures on the flickr album.

[atlas]

Really nicely done all around. I love the hatch. How many studs long exactly?

[ScottishDave]

Thanks atlas! It's 39 studs long.

[Captain Nemo]

Very impressive, for sure one of the, if not the, best Phantoms around. Granted it's not hard to but Lego to shame with this ship.

It's large too. It's hard to judge the true scale of the Phantom/Ghost since it seems different in every screenshot (and there's not many good ones). Regardless, a minifig scale Ghost would be great too.

[atlas]

Thanks atlas! It's 39 studs long.

Nice. Pretty much exactly in scale, somehow it looks much bigger.

[ScottishDave]

I should clarify: that's 39 studs without the forward guns (which are often retracted in the show). They add another 10 studs.

At the risk of opening the usual can of worms about scale and minifigures...

According to Wookiepedia, the Phantom is 11.63 metres long. I'm not sure, however, whether the Wookiepedia measurement includes the guns, or takes account of the lengthened engines of the Season 2 version which I built.

If you assume that the length given in Wookiepedia is based on the Season 1 Phantom with guns retracted, then the scale is probably 1:39, which is about right for minifig-scale. This is the figure upon which I based my guess of the length of scaled version of The Ghost.

[Jhoren]

Oh, wow, that's such an awesome model and you did an amazing job! :thumbup:

[Smitty500]

Stunning! so sleek and smooth, with perfect edges. And crammed all the details from the show, like the bottom hatch (that's my favorite). I hope you can make a Ghost to haul this puppy, so many have attempted, but not gotten far.

[DarthTwoShedsJackson]

I love it! And I need to build this!

[ScottishDave]

Thank you, Darth. I felt very much the same way about your AT-DP!

[ScottishDave]

BTW I've just updated the LXF. It now uses click hinges for the rear hatch. They are bulkier, but the hatch is now far more likely to stay open!

As a final touch, I found some of the original artwork for the Phantom on starwars.com, and used it to produce a graphic of the Phantom's markings

Print this out at a width of 72mm onto some sticker paper, cut and apply. Here is a quick picture of my model with the stickers applied, being menaced by DarthTwoShedJackson's AT-DP:

Edited May 19, 2016 by ScottishDave

[LiLmeFromDaFuture]

Such clean lines—is this even Lego anymore?

I especially like the plain DBG area that the wings fold over, as well how smooth they fold over, and your use of the modified 1 x 14 brick with a groove!

[ScottishDave]

Thank you, LiLmeFromDaFuture - I was aiming for the smooth and stylised look of the cartoon (as opposed to the grungy, stud-heavy look of the UCS Falcon).

Now, if I could just find a nice clean way to get rid of the last 8 studs on the wings, I'd be really happy... does anyone have any ideas about that? Please feel free to post here if you do.

[LiLmeFromDaFuture]

Now, if I could just find a nice clean way to get rid of the last 8 studs on the wings, I'd be really happy... does anyone have any ideas about that? Please feel free to post here if you do.

Well, you could replace the 4 x 2 wedge plates with a & , but then that area would be raised a half plate. Alternatively, you could construct the wings with a brick design, which would make the wings a half plate more thicker than what you already have, but maybe it will not look that bad. Otherwise, you could hope that Lego will finally make tiled wedge plates, though whenever that will be…

[Juke]

I like that the seats fold down in the back. That's a pretty neat feature

[Azrielsc]

What about adding inverted white tiles (11203) to the wings?

[fatum]

Love the design of this phantom, especially the folding wings. Well done.

I can see it parked on the ghost like that

[ToaDraco]

Very nice. It's so smooth and sleek looking while still having plenty of detail. You really make the Phantom appealing despite the lacking design of the source material.