LEGO showed off the largest model ever built, a life-size model of Star Wars’ X-Wing, the iconic vehicle that Luke Skywalker flew throughout the original trilogy.
The company said that it took 32 master builders over 17,000 hours to put together. It’s 11 feet tall, 43 feet long and has a 44-foot wingspan. It also weighs 46,000 pounds, so it won’t be easy for anyone to take it off the ground in Times Square.
LEGO built the ship to promote The Yoda Chronicles, a new miniseries that’s premiering on Cartoon Network on May 29. During the summer, it will be moved to LEGOLand California for a permanent stay.
In a video for PopSci, a master builder explained how the model came together. The set is just like the one you can buy at any Toys R Us, except 42 times bigger. They used a steel infrastructure to make sure that it is strong enough to withstand an earthquake and a person can sit in the cockpit. To add some final touches, they built in electronics to light up the engines and ensure that R2-D2 can beep and whistle.
While LEGO undertook the challenge to do a life-size X-Wing, don’t expect a life-size Death Star anytime soon. Eric Varszeg, one of the master builders, told Time, “There aren’t enough LEGO bricks in the world.”
Hopefully there are enough bricks though to make an X-Wing that actually flies next.