[MOC] Carbon Freezing Chamber

[DarthMario]

So, after a year of on/off work, it is nearly complete. After Lego released their pitiful version of the Carbon Freezing Chamber from Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back, I began work on making a model more faithful to the source material. After scavenging the internet for ideas, I could not find anything that looked nearly good enough, so I had to start from the horrible official Lego set.

Before starting I came up with a set of guidelines to prevent complacency with mediocrity:

1) Sturdy enough that it could be lifted by any section without breaking
2) Faithful to Lego’s design motifs
3) As circular as Lego bricks would allow
4) No visible holes on the exterior where they should not be holes
5) The lift must be able to stay in the upright position, be able to have a Minifigure placed on it while in the upright position without depressing or breaking, go up and down smoothly, and be able to go down far enough so the Minifigure standing on it would be below the platform

After about twenty iterations, I finally landed on this design. I am missing Lando and Lobot Minifigures at the moment, and there are a few minor tweaks I am going to make, but for the most part, it is done.

Up next is the platform section Luke and Darth Vader fight on, but that’s a project for future me.

PS: I am working on instructions, but I am unsure what channels there are for distributing them.

[JekPorkchops]

Looks great! This is what the Lego model should've been like. I really don't like the function of the official one, this is so much better.

[DarthMario]

19 minutes ago, JekPorkchops said:

Looks great! This is what the Lego model should've been like. I really don't like the function of the official one, this is so much better.

Thanks.  My guess as to why the official set is so lacking is that there were about three or four other mini scene sets that came out around the same time, and the Carbon Freezing Chamber design was limited to the $25 price.  Which, is a shame, since the only other set that featured this part of the movie is the obscure Lego Cloud City set. 

[mrcngrck]

cool

[LOBOT-OMY]

That is a great MOC, very impressive !  

ps can you show or explain how the lift/lower mechanism works?  

[DarthMario]

43 minutes ago, LOBOT-OMY said:

That is a great MOC, very impressive !  

ps can you show or explain how the lift/lower mechanism works?  

Thank you.  I can do a break down that can hopefully convey how it works, but just not now.  Maybe this weekend or next week.

[LOBOT-OMY]

^^ Many thanks mate.

PS I hope you do build the platform that leads out to the weather vain.