The LAAT (Republic Gunship)
- Piran John Miller
- Jan 9, 2025
- 4 min read
The Low Altitude Assault Transport, or the Republic Gunship. Clones actually nicknamed them Laaties. Produced by Rothana Heavy Engineering for the Clone Wars, I definitely have a few hot takes on this iconic Star Wars vehicle. I will attempt to illustrate my points with more pictures in this article...
The Coruscant Guard Republic Gunship
So I am of the opinion that Lego has only just made a good LAAT, in the Coruscant Guard Gunship. Of course, lots of the loud voices in Lego Star Wars have decided this set sucks for various reasons, yes the Commander Fox is not the best (I prefer not to cry and instead pick up one I do like, Clone Army Customs, GCC ex, we have options.). These larger content creators again often don't understand what it is they are looking at. I am talking about the double door controversy. "The set is downscaled and s#it, it doesn't even have the double doors!" I have lost count of how many times I have told people that this vehicle has both a double and single door variant. Single door was developed for in atmosphere use only and then of course the double doors are capable of space travel. If you ever see the source material for the single door variant, you'll see it to be plenty accurate enough, at least in my opinion.
I was very excited by the release of this set, although I really did want a standard colour variant the one we all know and love. I have over the years sold off all previous versions of Republic Gunships for a couple of controversial opinions, those being...
They have aged poorly. The 2013 and especially 2008 are held in high regard by many. However I am really starting to wince when I look at them now, they are not ageing well at all. The more basic parts available at the time along with more advanced building techniques are hastening this decline.
The scale is all over the place. As many will know I am a big fan of my minifigure scale sets. This isn't for everyone and of course thats fine. In the older versions of the Gunships this scale is way off, the head room in the troop bay is ridiculous as are the engine/canon sizes.
So due to this desire to seek a better more complete Lego Republic Gunship, I turned to my Instagram and the wider Internet to see what was out there in the world of MOC's. I came across someone that I had been following on Instagram @kyle.jannin who had recoloured the latest Coruscant Guard variant into the white and red version prevalent in Attack Of The Clones and The Clone Wars TV show. When I saw it I knew it was the one I had been waiting for...
Recoloured Republic Gunship
Now of course this is not a straight recolour, there are a few more improvements and additions. Obviously the bubble turrets are an amazing addition to this build. A great design and I must say perfectly positioned on the ships body. It also receives some armour updates and some improvements under the wings.
All in all a great build and one I am so pleased I waited for it. The link to @kyle.jannin Rebrickable is here, recommend a follow on Instagram too, some great creativity there...
It was very easy to gather the parts for this build, I in fact gathered parts for 2. I was so surprised that the cost of this was only slightly more than the cost of 1 official Lego Coruscant Guard Gunship. So that is another massive pro.
Accompanying Crew
So along with the perfect Gunship, I have just about acquired in my opinion the perfect Clone squad to accompany it.
Of course up first had to be the classic Phase 1 Clone Trooper. I like to be cost effective and creative when I build a Clone Unit, I am not an army builder and I don't personally see the appeal of an excessive amount of Clone Troopers, straight from a Lego battlepack or Clone Wars set. I am way more into quality over quantity, the squads I build are made up of 9 troopers because I think they look great stood 3 x 3. What I mean by quality over quantity is, of those 9 troopers, they all have printed arms, they all have the correct blasters and I have gone for upgraded helmets (Not pictured here). I have this approach for all the Clone squads I create. I do plan to unveil all of this soon, the backlog is growing. I am currently crafting the two Clone Pilots I need, the helmets I had my eyes on have just arrived. I have a few more parts to choose from and order from @firestartoys but I very much look forward to this, and seeing the finished scenes come together...
