LEGO Star Wars Set #8099 Midi-Scale Imperial Star Destroyer Review

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(More customer reviews)Back in high school I had the Revell plastic-and-glue model Star Destroyer, and my friends and I spent a LOT of time drawing it, flying it around my room, and zooming it slowly over our heads to replicate the opening shot of A New Hope. So the lines and details of the Imperial Star Destroyer are engraved on my brain. This midi-scale Lego model is pretty darned accurate. It has a lot of nice little touches, like both ventral hangar bays and big areas of raised surface detail that echo those on the movie ships. The back end looks particularly cool, with the three big engines and four smaller engines between them. They are even correctly recessed with hull plates sticking out beyond them above and below.
The "display stand" is basically a kick stand that snaps onto the bottom between the main hangar bay and the dome over the reactor. It is small and unobtrusive but lets the model sit horizontal when it is parked, without leaning or tipping. You can easily snap it off for play and then put it back on for display, which is a nice touch.
The design isn't perfect. The main hull consists of four big triangular sections that snap onto a hidden chassis at an angle to create the classic Star Destroyer lines. There is minimal space between the four sections, but if you look at the front end of the ship from _exactly_ above, below, or from either side, you can see a narrow strip of light where the four sections approach each other but don't quite merge. Also, where the smooth top and bottom sections come together at the sides, the rough, detailed area between them is somewhat thicker than it would be in a perfectly scaled model. But these are very small nits to pick and they don't really detract from the finished model, unless you are an stickler for absolute perfection (in which case, the Ultimate Collectors Series Star Destroyer can still be had, for vastly more money).
The completed model is about 9" long and about half that wide and tall. It is DENSE. Most Lego sets are at least somewhat airy when built, to accommodate mini-figures and so on, but this one is mostly bricks all the way through. It feels reassuringly solid in your hand, and it is easy to pick up and play with without feeling like you're going to break it, which isn't always the case with the bigger Lego Star Wars vehicles. My little boy dropped mine once when he was carrying it one-handed, but the repair job only took a couple of minutes.
Although the Midi-Scale Star Destroyer looks good just sitting on the shelf, it practically cries out to be picked up and zoomed around the room. About five minutes after I finished building it, I was flying it over my head making laser blast sounds and talking like Darth Vader. Any toy that can make me feel that much like a kid again has earned its five stars. Highly recommended.

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