Incredible LEGO BB-8 MOC

With the excitement of Toy Fair images uncovering forthcoming Star Wars sets, as well as the recent unveiling of a Force Awakens LEGO video game, it seemed like the perfect time to introduce everyone’s new favourite droid in an incredible brick-built form.

We were contacted recently by a talented LEGO builder called Henrik Lorentzen who wanted to share a very special model he’s made, and we’re certain it’s going to be a hit with anyone reading this.

BB8big

BB-8, the spherical droid first seen racing through Jakku in the trailers, was an instant hit with audiences and it’s easy to see why. However, what we initially thought was obviously CGI due to the way it was rolling at such speed with it’s head remaining at the top, ended up being even more incredible than first realised. BB-8 literally rolled out to huge applause at Star Wars Celebration Anaheim in April last year, to show that he was not only not CGI, but a feat of masterful engineering.

lego

It was this very event that triggered something in Henrik who then felt compelled to build a LEGO version. Henrik decided that he wanted to build a massive replica to have displayed at his local cinema for a LEGO build event he was helping with in November, which was a month before the Episode VII première in December.

Through a lot of trial and error, experimenting in LEGO Digital Designer (LDD), and great use of the Lowell Sphere technique he managed to accomplish this incredible build which weighs in at around 10kg and 11,000 pieces!

Following the great reception and feedback on his lifesize BB-8, Henrik decided to try his hand at a slightly more achievable size for the every day LEGO fan. The aim was to create the smallest, yet still recognisable version of BB-8 possible. This was done using the same techniques as before as well as aiming to only use parts currently available in the LEGO elements palette.

BB-8 internal

Once again, Henrik achieved this and using considerably fewer pieces than before. Rolling in at 261 pieces (pardon the pun), you could have a go at making this yourself. After encouragement from friends and Facebook he decided to submit the design to LEGO Ideas. Whilst we all know that ideas based on previously existing IPs have yet to be produced, it’s such a good model that I’d encourage you to vote anyway as a show of support here https://ideas.lego.com/projects/124592. You never know, LEGO might then decide to produce their own version…

BB8small

Not only is Henrik creating models we’d love to own, but he’s been kind enough to reproduce instructions so you can in fact build one yourself. You can read more about his BB-8 story here, as well as finding the instructions for download. Let us know if you do make your own version, and how easy it was to source the parts if you don’t already own them in your collection. I don’t think those orange half round plates with cutout are particularly cheap to get hold of as currently they only appear in one set!

May the force be with you.

Author Profile

Sébastien
Hello, I'm Séb, your friendly neighbourhood AFOL.
As a child, Lego was always my favourite toy and now as an adult it appears nothing has changed. I emerged from my dark ages in 2011 after rediscovering my old sets in my parents' attic and haven't looked back since.
I'm a big fan of the licensed themes particularly DC/Marvel Superheroes & Lord Of The Rings, though Creator Expert provides the more challenging & technical build I'm rather fond of.

Sébastien

Hello, I'm Séb, your friendly neighbourhood AFOL. As a child, Lego was always my favourite toy and now as an adult it appears nothing has changed. I emerged from my dark ages in 2011 after rediscovering my old sets in my parents' attic and haven't looked back since. I'm a big fan of the licensed themes particularly DC/Marvel Superheroes & Lord Of The Rings, though Creator Expert provides the more challenging & technical build I'm rather fond of.

One thought on “Incredible LEGO BB-8 MOC

  • 23/02/2016 at 15:50
    Permalink

    I’d love to build this, but just Bricklinking the 12 Orange Half Circles (6119119) will cost at least £ 65.00 as I don’t have 6 sets of the 60097 City Square in my stash 🙂

    Reply

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *