Discover the Ultimate Collector Series The Mandalorian N-1 Starfighter™

The LEGO® Ultimate Collector Series has taken some of the most iconic vehicles from the Star Wars™ galaxy, and turned them into large-scale sets with an incredible level of detail.

The latest ship to join the lineup is The Mandalorian’s N-1 Starfighter™, the modified Naboo starfighter, that Din Djarin and Grogu use for many of their adventures.

It’s an eye-catching display set that perfectly captures the iconic vehicle’s distinctive form, as seen in Star Wars: The Mandalorian™, season 3, and Star Wars: The Book of Boba Fett™.

So, to learn more about this epic UCS set, we spoke to César Soares, the Master Model Designer in the LEGO Star Wars Team, who was responsible for the creation of the new set.

Designing an iconic Starfighter

We started by asking César about his personal experience with Star Wars, and were delighted to find out that he’s a lifelong fan.

“I’m a big Star Wars fan,” he says. “Mainly the original trilogy because I grew up watching the movies repeatedly.  But I also enjoyed the prequels very much.”

His fandom has only grown and, like millions of others, he has a newfound love of a certain series.

“Of course, I have also become a big fan of The Mandalorian series,” he says!

So, he has been kind of preparing his whole life to design epic LEGO Star Wars sets, but every ship and vehicle is so different that each of them require their own design approach.

We asked César how he approached this one.

“The first thing we did was to collect reference material from Lucasfilm and also from the show itself (yes, we do watch TV shows during work time!),” he says. “Then we had to decide the scale of the ship. The best way to do that was to have the engines be six LEGO modules wide and then the rest will align accordingly. We believed that the chosen size would allow us to have the ideal size to include most of the details we wanted and at the same time provide fans with a faithful display piece.”

While this set is for absolutely everyone, César and the team tried to create something that would satisfy UCS collectors and those looking for a challenge.

“The build is for advanced builders and should provide a satisfying and interesting experience,” he says. “There is a high level of details throughout the whole ship, things like open panels, mechanical parts, and engine elements. There is also a good amount of silver Drum Lacquered elements on the model to represent the shininess in some parts of it.”

Meet the minifigures

While the N-1 Starfighter is now a crucial part of The Mandalorian, long before they got their hands on it, the taciturn bounty hunter and his fan-favourite friend had already captured the world’s attention.

And César knew that to really complete this set, they would have to include some of the characters.

“The set comes with two minifigures: Din Djarin and Grogu,” he says.

After all, anyone who loves the show, will love it for its two lead characters, so they’re the perfect accompaniment for a set based on the ship that they now use to speed around the galaxy.

After building the detailed model, you can display it, along with the LEGO Star Wars minifigures on a display stand with an info plaque. On this stand, the ship can be positioned in two alternative ways: either side-on or facing forward.

We finished by asking César what he thinks fans are going to love about this set.

“The building experience is unique and different from everything we made before due to the shape of the Starfighter,” he says. “And the accuracy of the shape and proportions are very close to the real ship.”

A good answer.

“Also, great minifigures!” he makes sure to add.

Thanks César!