LAAT/i

The LAAT is hands down my favorite ship design in all of Star Wars. It’s my white whale- a ship I’ve always wanted to build but never quite had the confidence to attempt it.

 

There’s a whole bunch of amazing MOCs out there. I think i was slightly intimidated by the sheer number of quality MOCs- how could I put my own spin on such a popular ship?

 

Furthermore, it’s a complicated design- with a good deal of angles, curves, and complicated details all around the ship: a whole bunch of distinctive design elements that were crucial to get right.

 

I started with Dave Bucholz's design and ended up with a rather colourful version using the bricks I had to hand. I was very impressed with the structural stability of the model. It was as solid as a rock. I slowly began replacing parts of his model with my own ideas which continued over a few months until it was almost entirely replaced- I think the only portion that remains is the technique used to mount the guns in the chin and a few errant lift arms that were integral in keeping the chin attached to the rest of the ship!

 

I was about satisfied with my version until I saw Luca_S_Project's Instagram story and subsequent conversations with other builders convinced me to try brick building the sides of the nose rather than using plates. I’m glad I persevered, despite being so deep into the project and convinced I was almost done, because the solution I found turned out to be quite neat.

Done