Obi-Wan Kenobi called a lightsaber an elegant weapon, but I think he needs to hand that description over to this electronic LEGO DL-44. Builder Baron von Brunk has been tinkering with the full-size LEGO replica of Han Solo’s blaster from Star Wars since spring of this year. It doesn’t look clumsy or random to me, and I’m sure it’s suitable for taking to cantinas in case you need to shoot anyone first.

Von Brunk used over 400 bricks in the project, and while I’m taken with how much it looks like the iconic weapon, I’m more impressed by the fact that it has lights and sounds. He used an Arduino board to make a LED blink and play a sound clip of the blaster firing (specifically the audio from the Mos Eisley Cantina scene in Episode IV) whenever the trigger is pulled. Needless to say, I want this on my shelf immediately. Also, the LEGO blaster would be a perfect accessory for a Han Solo LEGO minifig costume.

The coolest part about this LEGO DL-44 blaster is that you can make your own. Baron von Brunk has shared a complete step-by-step tutorial on crafting the weapon over at Instructables. I mean, it makes sense. Padawans have to build their own lightsabers, smugglers and bounty hunters should construct their own weapons. It’s not what I would call a beginner’s project, but if you want to learn about LEGO’s free 3D CAD program called LEGO Digital Designer and level up in the electronics area, it’s worth trying. If that’s too much effort, you can vote for the DL-44 on LEGO Ideas to help get a less complicated version of the blaster on store shelves.

HT: CNET, photos via Baron Von Brunk’s Flickr