Hello! I'm new to these forums, but I have been building plastic and multimedia kits for years, in addition to being a railway modeller. As a big fan of Harrison Ford's greatest characters - Indiana Jones, Han Solo and Rick Deckard - I had to subscribe to this at my local newsagent as soon as I saw it!
I thought I might take some time to post here my personal impressions on the series so far, as I see plenty of questions from members outside the UK.
Pros
- Most importantly to me, it is a kit! Fun to build and detail, without the dread of taking an x-acto to an MR Falcon!
- From photos I have seen online, overall dimensions of parts look almost identical to MR Falcon
- Moldings so far have been really good quality, free of any flash or ejector pin marks
- Fit between parts so far has been perfect
- Base colour of hull parts has been uniform. The apparent variance in colour reported by some is caused by variance in the strength of weathering wash applied at the factory
- Comparing with photos of the original filming miniature, the parts have the correct "greeblies" in the correct areas. Will also come with extra "greeblies" that were originally on the filming model but had fallen off by the time MR scanned the model and as a result, omitted from their Falcon
- Metal frame looks like it will be strong once completed, especially if Loctite is used on screws
- Interior included (For some who just want a replica of the filming model, this isn't a pro, though it is for me!)
- Landing gear included
- Boarding ramp included
- Based on Steve Dymzso's personal model, he is also acting as a consultant for the series
- Much cheaper than buying the MR Falcon second hand!
- Final weight as estimated by the publisher is less than the MR Falcon
- Cost is spread out across the duration of the series
Cons
- Orientation of the dorsal gun window was wrong from the factory. Easily fixed by running a knife round the frame to remove it then re-gluing in the correct orientation
- Because hull parts are injection molded plastic, some of the fine details appear slightly "heavy" when compared to the original, although they are nice and crisp. There are a couple of areas where I will probably carve the molded detail off and add separate parts, but that is only in 2 or 3 places
- Some compromises have been made so that the pieces can be molded and mass produced. For example lack of notching on the bottom of armour plating on airlock corridor. This can be corrected with some model making skill
- Weathering wash as applied at factory inconsistent between parts. I have seen some heavily overdone and some with barely any wash at all
- Magazine, in my opinion, is disappointing. I would have liked to see more "Behind the scenes" stuff about the ILM modelmaking dept, and the sets.
- Will take two years to complete, I can't yet see an option available to buy the complete series for those that have the funds and would prefer to do it that way
Regarding the paint colour, I have looked at the parts in natural light and under bright electric light and the colour looks like a grimy cream to me, or a very light beige. I do not see any green in it.
I will be building mine as a model of the Falcon as I imagine it would look like if it actually existed, with the exterior matching the 32" model and the interior based on the sets.
Hope this helps answer some of your questions!
