Customer Reviews

LEGO Star Wars Venator-class Republic Attack Cruiser (8039)

5 star:		(26)
4 star:		(18)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

My nine year old son had to have this, and after raiding his savings account and a few extra dollars from me, he was able to purchase it. It maybe took him five hours to build (because he would start play with what he had just put together before going on to the next page.). He had a great time building it and loves to play with it. It is a hundred times better then the Lego Imperial Star Destroyer for play with and does not fail apart like the Destroyer.

My son saved his allowance and Birthday money for this ship even before it was available to buy. The ship came the day after it was purchased online and was built in 4 hours! My son is exstatic with the Attack Cruiser and has rebuilt it several times (after a rogue AT AT attack). This is a toy that keeps on giving!

10 year old put it together by himself. the directions are well done. it was a great learning opportunity as he had to take apart a few things and rebuild them. he didn't get frustrated as he saw the progress he was making. when finished, the Republic Attack Cruiser is a little fragile and must be handled with care. that proved to be a little difficult for our builder, but he figured it out. Just be sure you have a space that can hold all the individual legos and the project, while it it being built. i would give this a high rating, if your child likes to build legos.

Like almost all the larger Star Wars Lego sets, this one is delightful to look at (but not so durable to hold/play with). On most of our Star Wars ships, I grabbed additional "reinforcing" pieces from our existing collection to make the model sturdier---it's possible to modify it in a way so as not to change the outer look of the ship. Without additional reinforcement to the design, this set is more like a cool display you might keep on a shelf or desk and play with carefully. The price-per-piece cost is about right, lower than many current sets; there are not any truly unique parts to add to your large collection though.

The pieces (almost 1200) are NOT in numbered baggies for building purposes. To avoid major frustration searching for parts during construction, you will need to do some preliminary sorting by color or type. With the pieces somewhat sorted out, this is still what I would consider a challenging build for a smaller child. Because there are a lot of connecting sections, it's critical that certain pieces are in exactly the right place; with less-than-perfect attention to detail an inexperienced builder might realize down the road that something isn't fitting together correctly because of an earlier oversight (mercifully, mistakes can be corrected in most cases without breaking the whole thing back down). Kids might learn a good lesson there---pay attention to instructions, check your work carefully, be persistent, etc. There are 2 booklets of instruction and most of the ship is modular, so there are plenty of opportunities for taking a break during the process. I would say this took about 2 hours to get finished.

The ship is very cool though---moving wings and a fully retracting main compartment, bomb-dropping mechanism, escape pod, and more. All the Star Wars sets are great to look at and this one is no exception. The only challenge is keeping the thing together during play time!

OK- so I've loved Legos since I was a kid- in fact I still have some sets from way back then. My son loves them too, but a set like this is going to be WAY beyond the means of most kids to build until they are at least 10 and really probably even older without a LOT of adult help. And that adult better be mechanically inclined too or they will get as lost as the kid would.

I have an engineering design background, I build furniture, and am up to just about any fix-it challenge too, and I can honestly say it took me a full NINE hours to build this thing over three nights! Yes, nine hours of concerted building! The set was a gift from an uncle that didn't quite get how complex this would be for a kid to build (and impossible for our pre-schooler). But his age is almost beside the point. If it took me that long, I would expect it to be a major undertaking for any kid even with adult help. It has 125 pages of instructions for Pete sake!

The other thing as another poster said is that it's not very durable as a model once finished. I wish they had included more pieces to reinforce how it stayed together once built. That being said, the design of the ship is nothing short of amazing. It has all kinds of fun compartments, a guy inside riding this laser canon on a track, and much more. So it is indeed very cool, it's just not nearly as fun to play with as it could be if it were more sturdy.

One more big flaw is that I'd say half of the 1200 pieces (yeah, that's right 1200) would only work for this model alone. There is definitely limited play beyond what it's designed for, and God help you if you loose any of those tiny connectors because it'll never go together again (though you might be able to get more at [...])

So, it's fun, and could be fun to build for the right kid (and parent) but be forewarned about what you are getting into before you buy.

This is a great set. The mini-figs are Chancellor Palpatine, two senate commandos, a clone pilot, and a clone gunner. It has some cool features like: a big turret from Ep: 3, a bombing feature where a hangar door is in the movies, a cockpit to sit your pilot, an escape pod, Palpatine's office with desk, chair and decorations, the Death Star plans in a little box, 45 degree angle turrets, and four small turrets on each side. There are some stickers and a good amount of Republic coloring. There are some cool engines (four on each side) at the back with light blue translucent pieces for fire. There are two bridge platforms at the top. To use the bombing feature, you turn a handle and five bombs will cone out one at a time.

The handle is not too stable so be careful. You should monitor the place where it's connected every once in a while and push it down if it disconnected. I rated it low because it is very fragile.

Thank you for reading!! Bye!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

From Paul, Age 9

My nephew really wanted this Lego set and he used his own, saved allowance money for the hefty $116 price tag in order to get it. He was very proud to have built it himself (took him about 5 hours to do so) and I recevied a distressed call the next day saying that it had fallen apart and broken. Having built lego sets since 1978, I consider myself something of an "expert" in Lego building. This set follows a growing trend in Lego sets nowadays: namely, they are very structually weak and fall apart way too easily! In the case of the Lego Venator-Class Republic Attack Cruiser, while it is a very cool vehicle, it is one of the weakest sets I have ever encountered in all my years of building Lego. There is not enough re-inforcing to keep the bottom of the craft attached to the rest of the structure and it repeatedly fell off, requiring re-attachment several times. I finally tired of re-attaching the bottom and I super-glued the bottom to its very few (and weak) attachment points. I did this at the request of my nephew, who just wanted to play with the set already, as gluing Lego pieces together goes against my Lego philosophy.

Yes, it is a very cool ship, with lots of neat features, but overall, it is way too flimsy and weak for everyday play by youngsters (or adults). This trend has become the norm with Legos I have noticed (especially amongst the Star Wars Lego sets) and I have become very disapointed in them.

My son has built many LEGOS of all types: Star Wars, Space Police, Pirates, Castles, etc. This LEGO was not any harder or more complicated than any other but it simply wouldn't stay together. Pieces were constantly falling off. Don't see any reason for this -- it's not larger than others he has built. Very disappointed -- especially for the price.

This cruiser is great if you don't mind fixing it every now and then and you don't hold it by its engines. Its a lot of fun if you already have a couple other sets, preferably Sepratist ones.

My son has put together almost every new Star Wars Lego, this was the last large set. It is really cool but it has a lot of the dark gray pieces as structural components. In all sets, the dark gray pieces work apart on their own for some weird reason, they have a higher oil content or something. That, combined with a delicate frame that moves in a lot of ways, and a lot of piece that are designed to barely hang on, makes this ship very delicate and hard to play with without it breaking apart. Glue this one up as you build it.

If you don't have it, buy the Republic Gunship instead. It has lasted longer than any other set and is just as cool.