LEGO addresses UCS Sail Barge compromises: 'They should be slightly wider'

The designer responsible for LEGO Star Wars 75397 Jabba’s Sail Barge says compromises were necessary in a fundamental part of the latest UCS set.

The biggest and most expensive Jabba’s Sail Barge to date clocks in at 77cm long, but for all its width its sails are actually a little on the small side when compared to the vehicle on screen, and – at least compared to certain shots – sit slightly lower than you might expect. According to designer César Soares, that was a consequence borne from both conflicts in the source material and the laws of physics.

“I played around with a few different heights and I decided on this design for a couple of reasons,” he told Brickset. “The first is that I knew the sails should be removable and adjustable, so there was not really a big focus on accessibility for play, but the main reason is simply that other designers and I agreed that they looked off when mounted any higher.

“Looking at the reference materials we received from Lucasfilm, the sails are lower on the studio model than they are on the 'real' one, so we had to decide between sources. The sleeker profile looks better to me and more accurate to the distant shots, which are usually what people have in mind when thinking of the sail barge.

“I will say that in reality, the sails should be slightly wider, but we had to limit their width to avoid them drooping too much and really making it hard to place minifigures on the deck.” The sails in question are a fabric material (versus the vinyl sails of the last version, 2013’s 75020 Sail Barge), supported by a combination of Technic axles, bars and pins.

And while they’re arguably the most fundamental part of 75397 Jabba’s Sail Barge to get right (it’s in the name), there was at least one other section that proved ‘difficult’ to perfect: the steering vanes. Situated on either side of the rear of the barge, these vanes are attached using a ball joint and can be repositioned at will. That includes pushing them back against the hull when folding down the side panels.

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“We have teams who come in and build the model with us, searching for areas that might be unstable or awkward to build,” César explained. “They were not completely happy with the supports for the steering vanes being so long, or they wanted them to be fixed in position.

“I really wanted to preserve their articulation and eventually they were satisfied with ball joints attaching the steering vanes, as they kind of move themselves out of the way when you open the side panels. Not having the panels open was obviously not an option either, as the brief from the beginning was very clear about the vehicle having a full interior.”

Check out the links below for more on 75397 Jabba’s Sail Barge. The latest LEGO Star Wars Ultimate Collector Series set is available now at LEGO.com and qualifies for double points until October 20. That’s equivalent to £43 / $50 / €50 back to spend on future purchases.

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