Tantive IV

This was one of my fun Christmas presents, Lego Star Wars Tantive IV, certainly better than the socks I also got. This is a 1400 piece set of one of the most iconic star wars ships as the first one to appear on screen.


My little helper was also very excited by this set. The best thing for her was that out of the 5 minifigures one was Princess Leia.


Here are all the parts bags dumped out on the floor. The bags are not labeled so you have to open them all the start sorting before really starting the build.


This is the ship half built. You start with the main undercarriage then build up the rest of the ship around this center part. The main axis of the ship is pretty strong since it is made of long bricks with the holes thru them which have the snap fit linkers. The then get cover above and below with other pieces. The ship is not going to split into two with play.


Here my little helper shows of the completed ship. It is pretty heavy so she could not hold it up well enough to get a picture. It also is slightly tricky to hold since their are many parts on the underside which can be knocked off.

Here is the bottom side. You can see the turbo laser turrent and the concussion missile launcher but it is not detailed like the top.

The ship comes with an opening cockpit into which 2 minifigures, Captain Antilles and a Rebel Trooper pilot the ship. The cones seem to come loose fairly often with handling.

The middle section is removable with its turbo laser turret and other smaller cannons. The turbo laser turret is also part that I have found gets knocked off wih handling.

This is the interior section of the ship as a control room or communication center. Room for 3 minifigs. I had problems with the sides of this coming loose during handling since the lower pieces push up against them. I reinforced them with an extra bracket on each side and now they stay on significantly better.


Next interest point is a stowage section that holds a little hoverlift which is covered by a enclosure.

Here we see the rebel trooper moving some cargo under the direction of Princess Leia.

The Tantive IV also includes two detachable escape pods located aft of the stowage section. Here can go the 2 droids wanting for their escape. Since the droids naturally go here, I would have liked to get 2 more troopers to go in the communication room. Also which they had some blasters to repel imperial boarders.

Here is the classic rear view of the ship.

All told I think it took me about 6 hours to get this together while watching some football games with the "help" of my little one. This is a nice kit but definately more for display than play. Younger kids even when they strong enough to carry it will have a very hard time handling it without shedding parts.

This ship has started a little fascination with Lego Star Wars. I am now building up a proper fleet to defeat the Empire.