Lego and Star Wars have again joined forces to release the next item in the Lego Ultimate Collector’s series, the Republic Gunship.

At just under 3300 pieces, it is not the largest set, but when you look at its overall size, seen below, you will notice it is still quite large. The set also includes Lego Star Wars minifigures of legendary Jedi Master Mace Windu and a Clone Trooper Commander.

The challenge of creating the Star Wars Republic Gunship in LEGO® brick form was given to designer, Hans Schlömer who used his wealth of previous experience including designing the iconic UCS Millennium Falcon and UCS A-wing. The LEGO Group has developed around 150 LEGO Star Wars sets inspired by the prequel trilogy films (Star Wars: The Phantom Menace, Star Wars: Attack of the Clones, and Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith), with this set being the third UCS prequel-themed build - the others being Darth Maul, and Obi-Wan’s Jedi Starfighter.

Discussing the new set, Jens Kronvold Frederiksen, Creative Lead of LEGO Star Wars at the LEGO Group said: “Our fans are always coming up with concepts and ideas for the LEGO Star Wars range – so it was great to give them the opportunity to let their voices be heard and choose the next UCS set. There is always an enormous responsibility to deliver a quality design, and the set that Hans has crafted is a triumph, particularly the size. We knew our fans would want to display this model but we didn’t want to compromise on the scale versus the ability to exhibit it. I can’t wait to see how the fans incorporate the set into their Star Wars collections.”

There is a nice little interview over on StarWars.com for it, so head on over and give it a read. As for when you can get your hands on it, August 1st is the date and the price is $579, order it from Lego here.