Set Review - Microfighters Star Destroyer 75033

I guess I wasn't paying a lot of attention to the box art on this one.  I took a quick glance and figured this would be a drawn out version of the Jedi Starfighter.  Turns out I wasn't paying attention to the direction of the lips.  Instead of the 33° slopes I was expecting, this one is built with 65° slopes.  It's pretty striking actually.  Really outside the box.  I marveled over most of the build and the techniques that went into this one.  It's so full of SNOT that the set designer must have had a terrible cold while working on it.  Almost as much SNOT as the Planet Series Cloud Car.

Most of that SNOT is created with brackets.  As you may be aware, the vertical part of most brackets is a half plate of width instead of a full plate.  So anything laid on top doesn't quite sit flush and there isn't anything readily available to fill that gap.  As a result there are several half plate gaps all throughout the ship.  I'm gonna assume those are speed holes.  But some of the techniques are genius and it's fun to see some real variety in the builds.  At one point while testing the hull you might be concerned with how flimsy it is.  Rest assured, this was thought of.  The bottom is tied together with an assembly topped with some 2x2 tiles with half pin on top.  These click into some Technic brick holes that are worked into that hull and turn the thing into something that can withstand a small drop.

I was surprised to learn that sticking studs into a Technic Brick hole is considered a legal technique.  I had thought it was verboten.

There were some nice piece surprises in this set as well.  First is the dark bluish grey 3x3 plate.  I hadn't realized this existed yet.  Checking the "Comes In" portion of the BrickOwl or Bricklink catalog I see why.  I can't afford any of those other sets.  Of no surprise was the obligatory "i can haz flik-fierz".  Trending, I see.

With 93 parts + 4 extras and a minifig, $10 works well.  The set averages 2.3 parts per lot which if I recall is higher than normal.  If you need dark bley 1x2 - 2x2 brackets or light bley 65° slopes, this is the set to buy.  Overall it's certainly worthwhile as the build itself is fun and the accuracy is not TOO terribly off considering some of the other sets in this line.


All the Microfighters:

A not so micro fighter: