Lego continues it UCS starfighter collection with the iconic Sienar Fleet Systems TIE/Ln Fighter.

Box/Instructions

The standard large rectangular UCS black box. The Black Squadron Pilot is displayed on the top with side and front shots of the fighter. The front shows the TIE Fighter in the Death Star trench from the Battle Of Yavin, and also a smaller image of the ship on its stand. The back shows a close up of the ship on the stand and 7 panels illustrating the features.
There is one thick A-4 instruction book.

Parts

The price per piece ratio for the kit is higher than other kits in this range. This has been a sticking point for some collectors. The pieces are predominantly grey and black with some odd coloured bits thrown in for the internal structure of the ship.
There are 12 bags in the box.
Bag 1 contains the lower hull of the cockpit, the flight controls and the seat.
Bag 2 contains the port side wing connector
Bag 3 contains the starboard side wing connector.
Bag 4 contains the upper hull of the cockpit.
Bag 5 contains the front and rear hull of the cockpit.
Bag 6 contains the port side upper and lower wing sections.
Bag 7 contains the port side central wing.
Bag 8 contains the port side wing framework.
Bag 9 contains the starboard side upper and lower wing sections.
Bag 10 contains the starboard side central wing.
Bag 11 contains the starboard side wing framework.
Bag 12 contains the stand.

Minifigures

The set comes with one exclusive minifigure which goes on the stand. The Black Squadron TIE Fighter Pilot is nicely detailed, with printing on the legs and arms. This, plus markings on the helmet, set it apart from other pilots and clearly show that it's one of Vader's elite squadron.

The build

Total building time, 120 minutes.
The build is very straightforward for a UCS kit. The design makes good use of S.N.O.T. techniques to capture the spherical design of the cockpit very well. As expected, the wings are a repetitive construction requiring four wing tips, 2 central wings and 2 frameworks. The scale is impressive and as the set goes together you can appreciate the design more and more.
Unlike other UCS kits, there is minimal use of technic pieces in the construction which makes a nice change.
Once the cockpit is built, the book starts to double up the construction for the wings, asking the builder to use bags 6 and 9, then 7 and 10 and finally 8 and 11. Not really sure why they didn't just number the bags sequentially for this part or just build the port wing and then the starboard one. Make sure you have plenty of space to build the wings and you'll need to keep them on a good flat surface for construction.
There are stickers, 15 in total. Besides the large ID plate one, there are two that go inside the cockpit for detailing on the walls. Four are on the end of the wing connectors, two forward and two aft. Two go on the aft hull on either side of the thruster ports. The remaining six go on the front around the cockpit glass with one upper, one lower and two each side. To be honest, besides the ID stand and the two inside, the other stickers don't really add to the model at all.

The completed model

The TIE Fighter is a great looking UCS Starfighter and a fantastic display piece. The ship is very sturdy when built and despite the lack of technic pieces in the structure, the design is so well done that the model doesn't require them.
The cockpit hatch opens and the seat inside has hinged back and head rest sections. The control column can also be moved backwards and forwards.
When sat on the stand, you can actually rotate the ship while 'docked' so it can be displayed at angles if desired.
It measures and impressive 30 cm long (across the central wing), 30 cm wide and 40 cm tall.

Overall opinion

There was a lot of criticism when the set came out; price point, repetitive build, other UCS sets have more features, but besides the first one I think it's not justified. Given the design of the TIE Fighter you must expect a repetitive build, especially when the ship is nothing more than a ball cockpit with wings.
The set looks most impressive when finished and great when displayed with 2000's TIE Interceptor and 2006's TIE Advanced X1, or opposite any UCS Rebel starfighter.
So, if you like the starfighter scale UCS kits then this if definitely for you.

As I saw the TIE first on the images of the NYTF, I thought: "What an ugly Set"- but then I saw the Designer Video! Awesome... And besides the AT-AT, the TIE-Fighter for me is the most iconic vehicle of the Empire in the old trilogy.

Box/Instructions

The box itself is very nice. It's higher than the Box of the 75060 Slave 1. The front is very nice designed. I love how light effects where used to give the TIE a majestic look. It is flying over the surface of the death star- very iconic and nice! I love, how LEGO designed the new UCS-Sets (Since the UCS Sandcrawler) with the classic Star Wars-Logo in Gold and such a nice graphical work. It stands for itself and not for the current production line design. For the first time you can find the "Disney" Logo on a UCS-Set. I have no problem with that.

The Instruction is one thin book and very self explaining. As usual, the first pages are showing the Interview with the designer and facts about the actual vehicle. Very nice! For this time this little extra is only in English. Bad :( The other languages are aviable online.

Parts

No surprises here. What I liked was that they re-used the red L-Tiles from the Detectives Office on the bottom of the cockpit. Many large plates where used to build the wings and for train fans there are eight Monorail-rails for the wings. On the wings they also used plates from the collectable Minifigures. Many of them!

Minifigures

The only Figure it contains is the Pilot. A very nice detailed figure with printed arms. I think and hope LEGO will do this extra detail with all the new upcoming (UCS)-SW-Sets. The TIE-Fighter is not in Minifig-Scale, so the Pilot gets a place on the side of the stand.

The build

Some of you guys are complained about the symmetrical build on the TIE-Fighter. Yes.... that is the fact at a symmetrical Fighter like the TIE. This thing has an fictional model based on a movie. The designer had not many options to avoid symmetrical building. I knew that as the first news came up with rumors of an UCS-TIE. For me it was fun to build. I made a few breaks to sort the remaining bricks. Nothing new with the building techniques - except the wing attachments. You can see that in the Designer Video. What a Genius!

The completed model

The model itself is HUGE! Compared to the Slave 1 it is gigantic and the TIE is an eye catcher in every room- caused by its size. And on the stand he can be rotated and looks like he is on a battle right now- like shown on the Box. Nice!

Overall opinion

If you are not give much attention to the price (which is very high compared to the number of parts) and you want to have an impressive model, then you have to buy it. If you want building fun and playability, buy the Slave 1 or the Sandcrawler.