Senator, Rebel, General, and undeniably a hairstyle icon; PRINCESS LEIA was the original strong female leader. When it came to depicting her, this iconic scene from A New Hope was our first and only choice.
LEGO® BRICKS
BUILD HOURS
The majority of Princess Leia’s body consists of White bricks to represent her flowing dress, which meant we had a good range of brick sizes and shapes available to us. This is always helpful when building large brick models. This model is to scale, showcasing the petite stature of the remarkable Carrie Fisher.
An important detail that we wanted to capture in this design was Princess Leia’s distinctive belt. The fact that she is leaning forward meant that we had to attach the belt at an angle different to the direction of the surrounding bricks. To achieve this, we used hinges and Technic pins to connect the various belt sections both to each other and to the main body of the model.
Leia’s face was constructed using a sideways SNOT (Studs Not On Top) technique, utilising slopes and curved bricks in Light Nougat. While the selection of these elements can be somewhat limited, we embraced the challenge. Perfectly capturing her face shape, the delicate curve of her nose, and the expressiveness of her eyes demanded meticulous attention to detail and some truly innovative brick usage. For her pupils, we opted for Black saucer elements, and embedded Dark Red LEGO wedge pieces, positioned with their rounded edges facing outwards, subtly shaped her lower lip.
Because her face is angled slightly downward toward R2-D2’s head, we built this angle into her face rather than trying to angle the entire SNOT assembly. This meant her forehead was about 3 bricks further forward than her chin.
Her instantly recognisable “bun” hairstyle peeking out from under her hood was replicated using Dark Brown bricks, rounded out with cheese slopes and inverted slopes.
Finally, a seemingly small but incredibly important detail was the insertion of a Transparent Clear panel into the small gap in her outstretched hand, between her thumb and forefinger. This is a prime example of a crucial safety feature we integrate into models that are intended for public interaction. This clear panel effectively prevents curious fingers from accidentally going through the gap and potentially getting stuck!
Witness these incredible models and more at the world-first LEGO® Star Wars: The Exhibition. Embark on an epic, hands-on adventure through the Star Wars galaxy – Created by Ryan ‘Brickman’ McNaught and his talented team with over eight million LEGO bricks and 25,000+ build hours. Now open at Melbourne Museum.
