After seeing Shaun's AT-AT
in person, and getting other various ideas for
improving the model, I started making adjustments. But what started out as small
modifications quickly turned into a complete redesign. The entire version 3 AT-AT
came apart in favor of the newer, better, version 4, quite a while later in February
of 2001. Unfortunately, the pictures shown here aren't the best, but if you're
that curious, just check out version 4.2, which is nearly the same.
The head, while completely rebuilt, stayed very similar to version 3. It acquired a more
tiled look to hide the studs, and was extended by 1 stud. The chin guns were also modified
to be slightly larger.
The Interior changed quite a bit. Finally determined to get individual seats for the
troops inside, I had to play with lots of different arrangements before finally fitting all
40 troops. Unfortunately at the time these pictures were taken, I didn't yet have all matching
color chairs.
The speeder bike bay also changed a lot from the rather ridiculous and impractical design used
before. To accomidate the 5th speeder bike as defined in Star Wars source material, the bikes
were now mounted on the walls, and a central ramp was added, upon which rested the 5th bike.
Probably the neatest change from version 3 to version 4 was the side bay doors. While the version
3 doors folded out and down, the new doors slid up and inside the AT-AT body, nearly hiding them
from view when open. This also had the added feature of keeping the outside smoother, as the new
doors were tiled, while the older doors had studs facing out. And what's the secret behind making
the doors lift up and stay there? Simpler than I had thought: a Lego rubber band.
I've included some other pictures here-- again, apologies for the quality (we had just acquired a
new camera and were playing around with various features).
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