On Radar Dishes...

This is LEGO part that serves as the UCS Millennium Falcon's radar dish. Specifically, is is LEGO Design ID 50990 (a 10x10 dish) colored in medium stone gray. You can find it in Bricklink  as part 50990pb03 or Peeron as 50990pb3 (the pb03 or pb3 meaning the 3rd pattern variation for that design).

Since the UCS Millennium Falcon is the only set to ever have this part, this means its expensive. Very expensive. Current prices on Bricklink are between $120-$340.

They were a bit cheaper a before the teaser video of the new Star Wars movies. I think there was some hope that Lego would do a new Falcon using this part. The teaser's Falcon sporting a new dish design ended that (makes sense, the old dish is still in the debris of the Death Star II after all)!

This is a standard 50990 10x10 medium stone gray dish that you can get for about $10-$20 on Bricklink. Still pricey as they were only in 2 sets, both high dollar that had it (and somewhat ironically, set 10188: Death Star and set 10143: Death Star II).

The design is actually a sticker from a German seller on eBay that offers both the sticker loose or already applied to a 50990.

I've been mulling over getting a "real" 50990pb03 VS a stickered version of a 50990 since I saw folks selling decals for the 50990 (and in one case actually etching the pattern onto them somehow).

This morning I pulled the trigger. The price of the 50990pb03 are climbing without any real hope of coming down. And though I've spent a lot of money on rare parts in the past, if this 50990 with a decal looks just like a 50990pb03 unless your are right on top of it, I think I can handle not being 100% accurate.

Especially if that means I have an extra $100+ dollars to spend on all the other parts I still need!

It's good to have friends!

If you've ever had any LEGO space sets, you probably run across these lever / antenna looking things. According the info that I can find, LEGO has been making them since at least 1985 and they are pretty much a stable of space sets since that time.

Which makes perfect sense for them to be included in the Ultimate Collector's Series Millennium Falcon. The trouble for me are that the "light stone grey tops on light stone grey base" version of this part is comparatively rare and that the largest source of them is the UCS Millennium Falcon itself. It has 60 of the little buggers.

They are currently selling for ~$3.50 on Bricklink.  Even the old gray color from pre-2004 are averaging about $1 apiece. Since they are rare and I need so many, this one part is quickly becoming one of the more expensive line items on the rebuild.

Happily, a few folks that know what I am up to have offered a helping hand. Above are a trio that +Sean Dilda traded me for the comparatively more common "black tops on light stone grey base" version. This is the second batch of these that he's found for me making a total of 7.  That's over 10 percent of the way there (and about $25 cheaper of build)!