Brad Barber is a LEGO builder from Orlando, Florida who lives in Japan thanks to his job in the US Navy. Most people either collect LEGO sets or throw all their parts together and build MOCs. Brad does neither. He is a builder who likes to challenge himself by using only the parts from a single set when he builds a model.

Lamborghini Diablo built from the parts of set 10290 Pickup Truck

Brad says he has been building with LEGO for as long as he can remember. When he discovered Rebrickable a few years ago, he liked the idea of alternate builds. After trying with a few different sets he found form with cars. He turned a farm truck into a Lamborghini Diablo and a Ford GT into a Batmobile.

The Force Is Strong With This One

Earlier this year, he changed direction when he saw the 75375 Millennium Falcon set and realised its potential. “I have always been a Star Wars fan,” Brad says, “but I have fallen off in the last few years.” He started looking at the pieces in the set and created a list of a few potential ships to build from the set.

“I wanted to start with the Imperial Light Cruiser because I didn’t think there were enough wedge pieces in the set to make a good Star Destroyer,” says Brad (who later proved himself wrong with a pretty good Star Destroyer model).

LEGO model of an Imperial Light Cruiser — Brad’s first alternate build from set 75375, an Imperial Light Cruiser from The Mandalorian

That cruiser turned out very well, indeed, so he immediately got to work on the next alternative build, a Venator Class Star Destroyer. When that build was also successful, he expanded his “to-do” list of ships. He also started reviewing other midi-scale sets, such as the 75377 Invisible Hand and 75356 Super Star Destroyer, looking for a wider range of Star Wars alternative models to build. (For those who are unaware, midi-scale sets are sized between mini- and minifigure scale, so the sets usually don’t include minifigures but have more details than miniscale sets.)

LEGO model of a Venator Class Star Destroyer — Midi-Scale model of a Venator Class Star Destroyer, built solely from the parts in set 75375

I would have thought these models would start with some research and planning, but I was wrong. “When I start a new build, I pull up several images of the ship on my phone, then dump all the pieces on the floor and get to work like I’m 10 years old again!” said Brad. He first puts a few key pieces aside that he knows will be needed for specific areas and details and then starts at the front. “It’s important to make the face of whatever you’re building look right.”

Work In Progress; parts on the floor, and the “face” of a Death Star is built

You Must Unlearn What You Have Learned

The restricted selection of parts is a challenge. “When working on the build, sometimes I know what piece I would like to use, but it’s not in the set. That is actually the part I love about doing alternative builds because it forces me to think harder about how to solve the problem and keep the model looking good,” Brad told me. “More often than not, this results in something better than what I would have done if I had access to the original piece I wanted.”

There’s a similar issue with colours. The Ebon Hawk, for example, has a distinctive dark red pattern, and there just aren’t enough dark red parts in the Falcon set. I asked Brad if that was a problem for him. He said, “Having to color swap some pieces doesn’t bother me that much as it gives me a chance to come up with a new design. Usually, when I have to do this, I completely change where the colored pieces go, such as in my Tie Striker and Black Ace alternate builds, where I used Red and Green instead of black and grey.”

“Ebon Hawk” from Knights of the Old Republic

With the initial challenges out of the way, when the build reaches the halfway point and looks like it’s heading in the right direction, Brad starts to put it into BrickLink Studio. The second half of the build happens in parallel in Studio and “in the brick.” Once the model is complete and finished in Studio, he creates the instructions to publish on Rebrickable.

Example of the quality instructions Brad sells on Rebrickable

“When designing midi-scale ships specifically, my goal is to make them look bigger than they actually are. One of the best ways to achieve this is by keeping most studs covered and using small pieces to create detail. You will notice this if you look at any midi-scale ship compared to a playset ship where most studs are exposed and have less detail. This is why larger sized ships like Star Destroyers look better in midi-scale compared to something smaller like an X-Wing.”

One question people often ask is if he has multiple copies of these sets, and the surprising answer is no. For Brad, it’s all about designing and building. Once a model is built and photographed and the instructions are finished, it’s taken apart again. Work starts on the next project where he can enjoy the building experience all over again. He does admit there’s a downside to this approach: “I don’t get to see what all of my midi-scale ships look like together.”

Difficult To See, Always In Motion Is The Future

As of writing, Brad has developed ten alternate Star Wars ship builds from the 75375 Millennium Falcon and he’s working on number eleven, the Death Star. He has also created four alternative models from the 75377 Invisible Hand and two from the 75356 Super Star Destroyer… and he has more planned for the future!

With Brad’s speedy pace, there may well be more by the time you read this! I asked him to look into his crystal ball to see how many more midi-scale alternate builds he will have in the future. He said, “I’m starting to run slow on ideas. I can’t say how many more there will be. I would like to try my hand at a Metal Gear or Hunter Killer at some point in the future.” [Editor’s Note: He already has.]

You can get a close up view of each of his Millennium Falcon alt builds in the gallery above.

As Brad keeps finding new ways to stretch the limits of a single LEGO set, he shows us that creativity thrives within limitations and that a LEGO model can be so much more—if you are willing to take it apart. His armada is proof that even when working with less, the imagination can do wonders—an inspiring reminder for all of us who want to rebuild the galaxy with whatever bricks we have on hand.

You can find more of Brad’s work on his Rebrickable page and on his YouTube channel.

Do you ever take apart your LEGO sets and rebuild them? Let us know in the comments below.

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