SirCharles77's Hasbro Millennium Falcon Conversion - COMPLETED!!!

[SirCharles77]

Re: SirCharles77's Hasbro Millennium Falcon Conversion

Ok, more updates coming today as I finally have a few hours to do this!

After my last post I was completely done modeling and making changes. So now it's time to start painting!! Oh god!

Priming is completely done at this point, here are some shots of her all primed up.

After priming I realized that my 3d printed parts were no where near smooth enough to match the plastic of the model. but I think they will still look good once weathered.

Smaller parts all taped up and read to go.

In the paint booth and drying.

Priming of the body is done for the bottom half. I learned alot on this one. First attempt on a large surface piece and I was holding the paint can too far away and I didnt clean the paint booth before I started painting so I ended up with some rough areas and some dust. Had to spend some time cleaning it all off and then sand it and add another coat overtop. Looks much better now and the top half turned out great. So lesson learned there!!

You can see some of the rough and dusty areas here.

And Here...

Cockpit turned out great first pass.

Top worked out much better!!

Next step was to mask off the outsides so that I could paint the insides flat black to block out the light. This was kinda painful to mask all of this off but the results are worth it.

Black Falcon looks BAD ASS!!! Even inside out! Someday maybe I will do a flat black Falcon model just for fun!

OK, that was a lot of pictures! Like 24,000 words worth!! At this point my next step is to get the base coat of Insignia White on. That will be coming next. Hopefully this weekend.

She's coming together slowly but surely!

 

[SirCharles77]

Re: SirCharles77's Hasbro Millennium Falcon Conversion

So I decided I needed a good test piece to practice on. So I took a page from Kris Taylors playbook and I used some for sale signs to make a quick test piece.

Then I had to get caught up to the rest of the Falcon so here it is primed.

And then I did some preshading with oils and nuln oil. This wasn't nearly dark enough as none of it shows through under the base coat.

And added a base coat of Tamiya Insignia White.

I needed a good way to store small amounts of mixed paint for painting panels so I went to Michaels and found these guys. Works pretty great so far.

Masked off a few areas to paint panels on.

Here are all of the panels painted. I had some issues with the tape running. In order to get smooth surfaces with a brush I thinned out my paints with thinner to make them into more of a wash. This is great because it makes a nice smooth surface. The negative is that the wash runs into an cracks in the tape. I bought some mask paint to try next time to prevent this.

Did some initial weathering with sandpaper to rough up some areas. Turns out this is a bad idea to do this before the oil in my next step!!

In progress using the fast drying oils to start the weathering process.

Looks pretty good except that you can see clearly where the sandpaper scratched areas I didnt want it to scuff up. The oil got into those grooves and wont come out. So next time I will wait until after this step to do scuffing.

Last step was doing a clear coat over this to lock in the oils.

Still more to come soon but wanted to get this posted.

And now you are 100% caught up with me!! HAHA

 

[SirCharles77]

Re: SirCharles77's Hasbro Millennium Falcon Conversion

First pass at weathering streaks on my test panel. I used black and burnt sienna oils to get oil and rust streaks with some turps to streak them down. Then for the water stains I just dropped a large amount of turps and with a fine brush I mixed some burnt sienna into it. Then held it vertically and let gravity do its work. I think it turned out pretty good!!

Next was a pass with a straight edged piece of plastic for sale sign and some shaved pastels on a brush Was able to get those streaks you see on the Falcon with this. Again thanks for the idea Kris Taylor!!

Finally I used some more pastels in various different colors to make some of the rust and oil streaks pop. Also, where I let the water run on the top right corner you will notice some extra water stains. These magically appeared as I lightly brushed pastels over it. Works pretty awesome actually! Also added some dark with a marker to the blaster marks to make them stand out better, some splattering with Nato Black and heavily diluted Burnt Sienna and finally hash marks!!

Here are a few close ups! Please let me know what you think! I am looking for feedback on what I can do better before I apply this to my actual Falcon model. For some reason I feel like it's too much weathering but I am not sure. Might be too close to it.

The main thing I am missing is some good paint chipping. I haven't done a test of that yet. Not sure I understand the hairspray method. Curious to try it. Anyone know of any really good tutorials on how to do it?

 

[Taiters]

Re: SirCharles77's Hasbro Millennium Falcon Conversion

Great work as usual. I always liked this video (except the loud intro) because it quickly covers 4 different techniques. I would definitely go easy on the chipping as it's very easy to overdo it. Were you just planning on the paint chipping on the colored panels?

 

[SofaKing01]

Re: SirCharles77's Hasbro Millennium Falcon Conversion

Hey SC77,

Love the work your doing so far!

Check out this vid of a fellow modeler named Lasse who is painting his scratch built studio scale model of the Tantive IV. Not only is it just an amazing vid to watch but it shows some great tips and techniques WARNING: You're going to want the vid to keep going and going and going...

Also, save that practice panel! I would frame it up and enjoy.

https://vimeo.com/51995786

Hope this helps

 

[SirCharles77]

Re: SirCharles77's Hasbro Millennium Falcon Conversion

Yeah probably. The non-painted panels will have some wear and tear but not likely any chipping.

Thanks for the video link! I will check it out!

Great work as usual. I always liked this video (except the loud intro) because it quickly covers 4 different techniques. I would definitely go easy on the chipping as it's very easy to overdo it. Were you just planning on the paint chipping on the colored panels?

 

[rbeach84]

Re: SirCharles77's Hasbro Millennium Falcon Conversion

You've made me wonder about the wear on the 'unpainted' panels, Sir Chuck. If composed of a homogeneous material, then scratches and wear would not typically show any difference in color (unless exposure alone made for a color change...) However, if there is any type of surface treatement, then wear effects could be applied. I suppose it all depends on just how far you want to get into the 'analysis' of your weathering goals, imagining the surface materials, surface history & any misadventures in detail.

For example, I might say the Falcon's 'skin' is composed of many layers that provide protection in depth. The outer 'armor plates' are to stop high energy impacts both kinetic and otherwise - of the larger variety. These replaceable plates (hence all the hand-cutouts on the edges) overlay the micro-particles layer which absorbs any of tiny stuff that gets through the outer plate, including any through the gaps. Beneath the impact protection would be the radiation shielding then the structural skin that provides support for the outer layers & the pressure/ life support envelope, which would be a separate (& readily accessible from the interior) layer. In addition to these basic considerations, you might also say there was a specialized functional layer that serves as part of the hyperspace drive (field projectors, TS bubble shapers, etc.) and even an EMF generator (as a form of active radiation protection.)

Since only the two outer layers really 'show', weathering is confined to those surfaces. Instances of the abalative damage would abound as would dents and scrapes along with other physical deformations (just like the ripped effect you've demonstrated so well...) though 'dents' might not be like with metal if you assume the armor has a structure like ceramic - more like cracks & chunks chipped off the surface. And so it goes... fun 'imagineering' the hardware & modeling the damage it sustains.

R/ Robert

 

[Galligraphics]

Re: SirCharles77's Hasbro Millennium Falcon Conversion

That test panel reminds me of a Mondrian - you should definitely frame it and hang it as a piece of art.

 

[SirCharles77]

Re: SirCharles77's Hasbro Millennium Falcon Conversion

So more progress lately. Been taking ALOT of pictures but I wont bore you with them all. Just a few of em!

Did some tests to figure out preshading and discovered that just painting a few areas of black isn't going to do the trick. I did this all by hand and then realized it wasn't enough.

So instead I got a few more cans of Matte Black and did this!! Black Falcon looks SOO COOL!!! Might have to make a midnight black Falcon model someday just for fun!!!

I painted up all of my parts in black and the top in prep for spraying with the base coat.

And here is that base coat in Tamiya Insignia White!! Sprayed all of the panels at a 45 deg angle or so, never straight on. That way the paint always kinda shot over the crevices and holes. I am really happy with the depth it gave me!

I have more work but that's enough pics for this post!! Needless to say, I am now 100% basecoat complete!! Starting to do some initial base weathering work now before I start the assembly process. Hoping to have this Hunk of Junk finished in the month!!

 

[GTImotion]

Re: SirCharles77's Hasbro Millennium Falcon Conversion

is always nice to see progress on your build. Loving the blacked out theme.

SirCharles, what primer and paint you're using? sorry if has been answered before.

 

[Mr Greebly]

Re: SirCharles77's Hasbro Millennium Falcon Conversion

Wow that's looking amazing!! great work! Love how crisp and clean it's looking!

 

[Taiters]

Re: SirCharles77's Hasbro Millennium Falcon Conversion

I was considering buying an airbrush mostly for the Hasbro Falcon and some future builds but now I might just hold off on that after seeing everything you've done with rattle cans and brushes. That test panel is absolutely perfect. How many cans of Insignia White did you end up using?

 

[SirCharles77]

Re: SirCharles77's Hasbro Millennium Falcon Conversion

Thanks! I am using primarily Tamiya paints. I used Surface Gray Primer for the primer over an adhesion promoter. Then I used Tamiya Matt Black, and then Insignia White over that. I did use a little Testors Flat Black because I ran out of Tamiya but since it was going to be under the base coat it seemed like a non-issue. Would never attempt that on the base coat!!

is always nice to see progress on your build. Loving the blacked out theme.

SirCharles, what primer and paint you're using? sorry if has been answered before.

- - - Updated - - -

I will have to look again but I think I used about 4.5-5 cans total so far. Some of that is for testing though so the Falcon itself would be slightly less.

I was considering buying an airbrush mostly for the Hasbro Falcon and some future builds but now I might just hold off on that after seeing everything you've done with rattle cans and brushes. That test panel is absolutely perfect. How many cans of Insignia White did you end up using?

 

[DarthFlatus]

Re: SirCharles77's Hasbro Millennium Falcon Conversion

Do you have any updates? This project is fascinating!

 

[SirCharles77]

Re: SirCharles77's Hasbro Millennium Falcon Conversion

Hey thanks for asking! Yes I actually have been making lots of progress...just been super busy and not getting them posted. I hope to post an update in the next day or 2. Sorry for the delays!

Sent from my SM-N915V using Tapatalk

 

[SirCharles77]

Re: SirCharles77's Hasbro Millennium Falcon Conversion

OK so last time I think I said I planned on having this Hunk of Junk done in about a month...well....life got in the way. So it's been over a month and a half and I am nowhere near done. But I do have progress!!

I did some finalizing on one set of pieces. The fans for the inside of the 6 exhaust vents on the back top. These are gonna be hidden a lot by the vents so I wanted to do some practice weathering on them just to get some ideas.

Primed with Tamiya Surface Gray Primer.

Next I did a pass with German Gray to give them a base coat.

Then some rub n buff Pewter (LOVE THIS STUFF!!!) to give them a shiny metal look and some quick dry Lamp Black to add some black oil weathering to the crevices.

Finally I used some Burnt Sienna Oils with Turps, some shaved pastels, and a Tamiya weathering kit to give them some more wear and tear.

Please let me know what you think! I am most worried about weathering the inside of the wells on the hull and I would love any tips and ideas you can pass along to make it look better!

More updates coming soon!

 

[SirCharles77]

Re: SirCharles77's Hasbro Millennium Falcon Conversion

Forgot that in the middle of doing the vents I also finished up my engine assembly. (Painting wise at least)

Here is what I did with that.

Painted it all black just like I did with the hull. In this case its to help block out light even more as there are going to be bright LEDs insde this thing and I don't want them to leak through.

Next I painted the inside with a chrome metal paint. This is to help bounce the light around the inside to get the most illumination possible from my LEDs.

Then I used the Rub N Buff Pewter again over all of the chrome I previously painted in it. This really shines it up and makes it reflective.

Painted the areas that will be visible on the outside with German Gray to give them a base coat.

Masked off the grating on the lid and gave it a coat of Insignia White so that it matches the rest of the hull.

Lastly some more Rub N Buff to shine it up on the edges. Gives it a look like its metal that was painted and most of the paint is worn off now.

And some fast dry oils on the grating to add some dirt and grime.

Those are now ready to go! Just need to assembly them when I install the lighting rig and glue them into the hull.

 

[theyrenotdolls]

Re: SirCharles77's Hasbro Millennium Falcon Conversion

Hey Charles. I Love what you have going here. I'm excited to see what's next.

 

[DarthFlatus]

Re: SirCharles77's Hasbro Millennium Falcon Conversion

I love the work you are doing. How did you cut the notches in your hull panels? I want to replace the sticker locations with styrene, but I rue the thought of cutting all those little notches by hand.

 

[rbeach84]

Re: SirCharles77's Hasbro Millennium Falcon Conversion

Really moving along, Sir Chuck! One thing - be careful using paper towels as masks; they are made to be absorbant and so are subject to bleed through (I once had paint shoot straight through on an A-Wing model, but those were the really cheap kind...) I like using plastic bags, cut open into sheets or even intact. Even those require care because of pinholes that sometimes get in them. You can also use kitchen plastic wrap. But all plastic needs something to keep static under control, such as a water spritze. Water also can be useful with paper towels...

Regards, Robert