A fleeting moment of Star Wars related, joyous insanity.

[F-UnitMad]

It was the battered, weathered starships that made Star Wars (THE Star Wars) stand out so different to all the SciFi films that had gone before it. Previously spaceships were bright, shiny & worked perfectly. In Star Wars they were "everyday" technology that gets dirty, needs maintenance and wears out.

[fender]

It was the battered, weathered starships that made Star Wars (THE Star Wars) stand out so different to all the SciFi films that had gone before it. Previously spaceships were bright, shiny & worked perfectly. In Star Wars they were "everyday" technology that gets dirty, needs maintenance and wears out.

 

absolutely, and also the fact that they are not sleek, streamlined machines. the Millenium Falcon actually looks like a fairly run-of-the-mill boring freighter ("what a piece of junk!"). it's only our affinity with it that makes it so cool (and its speed, obviously). same thing with many of the other ships, the Y-wing, for example, as well as the Star Destroyers, the Jawas' crawler, the landspeeder, Slave 1 etc. they all look like they've had bits added and taken away over their lifetimes. Tie fighters look functional, and even the sleek X-wing looks pretty ungainly when parked in a hangar.

 

I always liked that, and is one of the reasons I never liked Star Trek that much. the main ship in Alien is a great film 'spaceship' in my opinion. it looks really functional and boring, exactly as one might look in the future.

 

contrast those with some of the cartoon machines in the first three Star Wards films: Amadala's silver ship being the best (worst) example.

[Guest]

absolutely, and also the fact that they are not sleek, streamlined machines. the Millenium Falcon actually looks like a fairly run-of-the-mill boring freighter ("what a piece of junk!").

What I could never understand was that if the Millennium Falcon is supposed to be a freighter where does the freight go?

Or is it like a Tardis?

[Guest Centurion]

This diagram shows the cargo hold, not huge. Perhaps it's thier version of a UPS van, short drop offs! It's under the roof part that has those roundels on it. This even shows where the loo is!

[F-UnitMad]

Are you sure that's a 'correct' diagram there..?? That version isn't going anywhere fast as the engines appear to have been removed to create a cargo hold...!!! Other diagrams I've found on the 'web show the hold as being in the front half of the ship. Be interesting to know what the Blueprints visible in the OP's pictures say.

Admittedly the Falcon doesn't look like it can carry very much... then again, neither can a white van, but they're both driven at similar speeds....

[Guest Centurion]

lol@correct. But I know what you mean, perhaps the guts of the engines are under the hold?

[F-UnitMad]

 

From the Star Wars Wiki, so it must be true.....

[Graham Walters]

It is mentioned in one of the books. The gravity changes as they climb up/down to the gun turrets. That scene confused a lot of people in the movie.

 

And the award for the most ridiculous explanation of a plot hole goes to .....

[Graham Walters]

Probably the best scene from all the Star Wars films

 

[chris p bacon]

This diagram shows the cargo hold, not huge. Perhaps it's thier version of a UPS van, short drop offs! It's under the roof part that has those roundels on it. This even shows where the loo is!

I really hope gravity is sorted for there...........

[fender]

that Falcon diagram doesn't look anywhere near correct. the Star Wars Vehicles book my son has (wonder how he got that? ) shows the main cargo loading area as being between the gap at the front of the ship, where a freight loading arm is attached. the cargo moves through the front into the cargo holds directly behind and on the starboard side of the ship. it doesn't show any holds at the rear, that I can see, although presumably the Falcon would have lost some hold space as it has been modded to go faster.

[The Stationmaster]

I noticed on the tv ad this evening that this kit is described as 1:1 scale - just how big is this thing going to be?  At the scale 900 quid could be a bargain.

[Chameleon]

Its a 1:1 scale copy of the Empire Strikes Back filming model. The original 5' model was to unweildy to fling about so they built a 1:43 scale model which is about 32" long.

If it really is 1:1, I'm gonna need a bigger driveway.

[fender]

you could always just knock your house down and then live in it.

[froobyone]

Hi all.

Necroing this thread after two and a bit years because I've spent the last three months building the Falcon and I'll be posting pics shortly.

(I know no one remembers this...)

 

Frooby

[froobyone]

OK, here we are.

Two years ago I started collecting the Diagostini part-work build of the iconic Millennium Falcon. Having initially been sceptical that it was nought but a cheap cash-in on the upcoming (at the time) Force Awakens. However, after doing a little research it became apparent that this model was in fact a replica of the filming miniature used for the Empire Strikes Back and furthermore, Steve Dymszo (the guy behind the very rare Master Replicas version of the same model, that fetches upwards of £4000 if one every comes up for sale) was providing technical assistance with the whole thing. That was the gold seal for me and I promptly subscribed.

I had intended to build it as the monthly parcels arrived, but soon tired of only being able to go so far before having to wait another 4 weeks. So I opted to wait, a long agonising two years. When the final parcel arrived I had to spend a good few hours sorting through each magazine, putting them in order (and making sure I did in fact have every one. I did) and then de-bagging all the parts bags and putting them in some semblance of order.

 

This is how it looked. Daunting.

Just going to quickly post this to see if my image linking worked and if it did, I shall continue tomorrow.

 

Frooby

[Horsetan]

....(I know no one remembers this...)

 

Remember it? This is the first time I'm seeing it!

[froobyone]

Right. Are we sitting comfortably? Then let's begin.

First order of business was de-bagging. Once I was in just my underpants I could start with removing all the parts from the magazine bags This took more time than I initially imagined. I was thinking, crikey, if this is how long it takes just taking the stuff out...

Little did I know there would be a further three months of Falcon in my life.

If you've ever idly wondered what 100 A4 plastics bags look like...

 

 

So de-bagging complete and environment irrevocably harmed, it was time to make my build space. I knew this was going to be a fairly epic build and I'd spent the last couple of years buying all the things I thought I'd need (I was wrong, I needed more).

 

The calm before the storm.

I had decided up front to build the model in the order that the magazines were published. I figured that would guarantee I wouldn't build something that shouldn't be built yet. The only flaw in this, was a steady build up of parts and sprues that were to be used later -that I had to watch like a hawk, lest they disappear into the ether where all small parts go.

The first order of business was the internal spaces provided with the model. Specifically the main hold and the cockpit.

 

 

Now at this stage of the journey, I was planning on keeping the internals as an out-of-the-box build. Honestly, I planned on keeping it standard. Well, that escalated, as we will see later.

 

Hold area put safely aside, it was time to work on the lower-hull sub-frame. A little side-note: I started the build in earnest in February when I had a couple of days off work. So I hit it hard at the beginning, spending all four days in the build room. I can honestly say, that it was four of the happiest days of my life. The metal frame was like playing with Meccano again and the resin hull parts were like the best fitting Airfix kit you ever saw. It was simply a beautiful time. I fully regressed to being that 10 year kid watching The Empire Strikes Back for the first time and the joy of building my favourite ship. It was sublime.

 

None of the joy is evident in the photo. I left the joy filter on by mistake.

So the hull assembly continued for the next couple of hours and I ended up with this.

 

I also fitted the motorised landing ramp and associated lighting.

Next I gathered all the lower-hull plating.

 

 

That's a lot of resin.

and a lot of very tiny screws...



I ended up doing so much screwing (stop it) that I had a blister the size of the third moon of the Yavin system on my palm. It started to get really difficult to fix anything to anything. A quick search on Amazon netted me a small electric screwdriver and 2.5 million different bits. (I used one). Sorted.



Woah. We're halfway there. Ahhh, Falcon on a chair..

You're welcome.

There are two greebly cut outs underneath and I have a secret penchant for greebly goodness. The attention to detail was superb. Most of the greebles were individually fitted.



Unpainted. (the grubbyness is a factory applied "weathering" for people who lack painting skills/have a life).

I wasn't going to stand for that, so a mix of Metal Cote and powders netted me some proper grubby greebles.



Side 1.



Side 2.



In position. (temporarily. That part wouldn't be fitted until last weekend...)

I then built the gun turret internals. These look naff all ike the studio set, but the filming miniature didn't even have this, so +1 for us I guess.



It also came with an LED



Seriously too bright. Oh well, at least the TIE pilots will be able to see who they're shooting at.

It was then time for more Meccano while I assembled the top-hull framing. This was made so much easier with the electronic screwdriver. I was three days into the build at this point and I was thinking (and stupidly telling people) that I'd have the thing finished by next weekend. Wrong.

There are a bunch of greebly cut-outs on the top hull and I'm going to add them to the thread here, as opposed to liberally scattering them throughout the post like dandelion seeds.



Unpainted.

 

 

So that's them out of the way.

I then started on the front mandibles and I came across this little basta -nice attention to detail.



Seriously, why? My eyes are old.

I compel anyone to actually see that on the model. Jokes aside though, it's good that they don't give shi -really care about the details.

and so to the day that became know as "The day of mandibles".



Many many tiny things superglued into many many tiny holes.

Luckily I had a mag headset.



It was a bonus that they were good for those tiny greebles as I'd originally got them because I look so damn cool...

Things were progressing quite well and she was starting to look very Falcony.



It was only a couple of weeks later when I reached issue 90 and as I was building it in chunks of ten issues at a time, it felt like I was on the final stretch. Wrong.

Well, remember back in the day, at the top of this post when I said I'd planned to keep the internals standard?

There was one part of it that left me feeling a bit itchy.



This little door-to-nowhere. On the full-size set, this of course leads to the room where Leia and Han kiss for the first time. "My hands are dirty" "Well my hands are dirty too" 

I just couldn't let it be a hole in the wall, because a) it would bug the shiz out of me and b) nosey people would be able to peer into the superstructure and that's private!

So I opted to build a little room to go behind the door. Some plasticard and some parts from a donor 1/32 Mig29 (I say donor, the Fulcrum didn't agree to any of it).

and lo and room is formed.



It was impossible to create a screen likeness due to space constraints, but it's enough to fill in the space.

Once in place, it stops peering.



However, there was a problem. Once I started scratch-building I kinda got a liking to it and this is where the out-of-the-box idea went out-of-the-window.

Now I could chronicle those changes with pictures, but I think you've suffered enough pictures already. Instead I'll post the before and after pics and then explain the bits you can't see. (It's got computers in it. It's exciting).

So before.



and after



While I was at it, because if you're going to do something, you might as well do something that's actually beyond your skill level/experience

I added lighting, fibre optics and programmed three Arduinos to run three separate systems. Two running Neopixels and one running multiple LEDS. o.O



Having never used an Arduino before, the learning slope required a carabiner and a sturdy rope. I spent at least a week trying to write code in a language I barely understood to make Neopixels do things only I required them to do. (Specifically flash specific colours at different intervals. whilst others remained static). I needed the flashing for the nav console in the hold and then the cockpit back wall. I'd seen a number of people who had added fibre to the consoles, but all their flashing leds flashed in sync and it just didn't look right. It looked a bit festive if you know what I mean.



This is one of the Arduinos running a scratch-built fibre box for the cockpit.

Which is connected to this



The piece behind the cockpit wall hold the kit-supplied back-light that illuminates that back wall.

Thus..



Minus the fibre lights, because I can't upload a fancy video.

Enough electronics!

Back to modelling. I made start at painting some of the add on details. Base coat and panel wash, pre-cleanup.



I also started on the landing gear. Again, I planned on keeping it standard but hey. Once you start modding...

The kit didn't come with landing gear doors, so I spent a good couple of hours cutting plasticard, cutting my finger, cutting more plasticard, wiping blood off plasticard until finally I had something that was passable at most. Then my stupid brain piped up with "Hey, you know you've got a 3D printer right? -and you're a 3D modeller for a living?" Cheers brain. You tell me that now when I'm at the end and only have half a finger left.

Sooo another hour or so later, after modelling some doors in 3D...



and a few more hours of 3D printing...

and an hour of weathering...

and the top string of a bass guitar...



Then it was a case of installing them press-fit so she could stand on her own seven feet for the first time. I was a good day.



Once all that was done, there was no more putting off the bit I was dreading the most. Painting.

The reason I struggle with painting is a) I'm colourblind and b) I'm shi -not very good.

Oh well, It's got to be done and boy was there a lot of it. So many layers. Like Photoshop. but without an undo...

I started with some airbrushed pre-shading.

 

Then I airbrushed Vallejo Aged White,(Acryllics.....Dry on the nozzle much?)



Then the panel shades.



Then the panel wash, for which I used oil paints thinned with odourless turps.

 

Finally damage and light airbrush work.



and relax. All this took a couple of weekends and all I was thinking was "You've got to do the top next and it has to be BETTER because that's the bit people will see". I swear I was obsessing over bits on the lower hull that literally no one will ever lay eyes on.

To give myself a break from hull work, I started on the engine greebles.



This was a mix of Acrylic base, enamel washes, oil paint streaking and rust and weathering powder dirt.

I couldn't put it off any longer and made a start on the top hull. Pre-shading first.



Base coat.



Panel colours.



Panel wash and streaking.



Almost there.

I just had to work out where all the electronics were going to live before screwing the top on permanently. 



I mean, they sort of fit right?

I'd also added red marker lights to the docking rings.



The build was coming to an end. All that was needed was the final buttoning up of the two halves of hull, adding the sidewalls, cockpit and engine diffuser, 

Just as I could see the finish line and after I thought all the potential disasters were behind me, I glued my right hand together, glued my other hand to the Falcon, dropped a 500ml container of dirty paint water on the carpet and realised that my fancy LED marker light actually fouled the frame and wouldn't fit. I honestly rage quit three times that day. Thankfully, I got back on the horse and pushed through to the end.

Now the bit that you've all been waiting for (look at me, pretending people are reading this) and the bit that most people are going to fast-forward to.

I present the Deagostini Millenium Falcon. Built by and swore at by Daniel Cook.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

and because why not?

 

Thank you for joining me on my journey, I hope you marginally enjoyed the ride.

Dan




 

[Ozexpatriate]

Looks ready to do the Kessel Run in less than 12 parsecs. 

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nmyvFEkJSE4

 

It hardly seems fair to give all that work just one craftsmanship button click.

[chris p bacon]

Isn't a Parsec a measurement of distance.............

[Ozexpatriate]

Isn't a Parsec a measurement of distance.............

Why yes, it is.

[Horsetan]

....It hardly seems fair to give all that work just one craftsmanship button click.

I'd really like a "that's completely nuts!" button.

[PaulRhB]

Well I enjoyed it Dan

Cracking job and finished model!

[DougN]

Dan, brilliant... though some warning of the photo with the magnifier on.... almost spilled my coffee.....

 

Looks like you had way too much fun putting that all together. 

 

I hope your recycled all that plastic waste! 

[F-UnitMad]

Isn't a Parsec a measurement of distance.............

Now don't start all THAT again...!!!

 

Awesome build, Dan. If you can do all those fancy electronics things, though, you can post some video of all it's flashy lights on here for us!!