1:1 Millennium Falcon Cockpit Replica - Group Build

Looking good Sofaking01. Looking good

I still love the progress no matter how small it is... Sometimes a little breathing break and letting your brain works in the background to get ready for another BIG step forward!! Who says that passion has to be always at the fastest pace possible??

Hi Gang,

Just a quick morning update...

I re-designed and cut these pieces


Skinned another pedestal




The circles I laser cut will simply cover the edges of the holes


I cut new backer plates


Slightly shorter


Let's adhere everything together


Add some eyeballs


Add some primer






I wound up having to recut these - anther ugh moment


More sanding and filling on other misc panels


Fixing cracks


No matter the steps you take you always find small errors!




:facepalm


I then adhered these beauty rings in place






I thought this was a cool pic with the sunlight


And this is where we are!


More to follow so stay tuned!

Snow Builder said:

Great update SK -your slow weekends are the equivalent of my productive ones.

Caught Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2 this weekend. Don't know if you've seen it yet, but there's a scene where Rocket is tied to a chair and, after watching your build, it's a very obvious ejection seat. I'm guessing more modern than the ones you're creating, but the lineage is very obvious.

Click to expand...

Thanks SB! I have to laugh about Saturday. It felt like a "limbo" day...

Haven't caught GotG yet. I like it when designers use real world objects to dress sets. Makes it easier for us! Sometimes!

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IzzyMel said:

Looking good Sofaking01. Looking good

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Thank you, Sir!

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Daboudzi said:

I still love the progress no matter how small it is... Sometimes a little breathing break and letting your brain works in the background to get ready for another BIG step forward!! Who says that passion has to be always at the fastest pace possible??

Click to expand...

Hey D,

Thank you so much and I appreciate the continued support!

I couldn't have said it better myself. I think my brain was trying to tell me something. I just have to go with the flow!

Another amazing update!

Looking at all those gorgeous in-progress shots, I realize what makes some of these so amazing are the partly shiny, partly matte surfaces when the paint is drying. At work, a lot of old machinery is being dragged out these days, and I've been taking mental notes on the surfaces. Heavily used surfaces that are either very shiny or very matte will often wear to a semi-gloss. Would it be an idea to use a rattle can to patch-wise either matte down parts of the high gloss paint or shine up some of the matt stuff to simulate the effect of wear? I was particularly thinking about the chair lauch tubes, which are large surfaces without much detail to distract the eye.

Looking very good Sofa...and yes, when screwing into solid wood/MDF , I always use a clamp to make sure it's holding the sides (no splitting that way)

Actually you don't have to use a clamp to screw into wood if you drill a pilot hole. A drill removes material, a screw just pushes it to the side. Of coarse, drill a small enough hole that the threads can bite.

I understand 13doctorwho...but I was never lucky, even when pre-drilling a hole prior to insert the screw (especially MDF)

Hi Gang,

Another quick morning update! I spent an hour or so at the shop and jumped all over playing catch up on a few things. I want to work on the other two chairs at the same time. So...

I fixed the cracks in the headrest


I've started the process of mounting all the greeblies to the frames


I painted the new parts


Drilled the holes in the 3rd frame




Nice and clean


On both sides!


Sanded the filler and gave the entire chair a light sanding before adding paint


1st of several coats




Let's mount some greeblies!


3rd chair frame in place




Slowly coming along


And this is where I left things...


More to follow!

Friendly flyer said:

Another amazing update!

Looking at all those gorgeous in-progress shots, I realize what makes some of these so amazing are the partly shiny, partly matte surfaces when the paint is drying. At work, a lot of old machinery is being dragged out these days, and I've been taking mental notes on the surfaces. Heavily used surfaces that are either very shiny or very matte will often wear to a semi-gloss. Would it be an idea to use a rattle can to patch-wise either matte down parts of the high gloss paint or shine up some of the matt stuff to simulate the effect of wear? I was particularly thinking about the chair lauch tubes, which are large surfaces without much detail to distract the eye.

Click to expand...

Thank you, Sir!

Any high gloss pics you see of paint are all fresh out of the can. I don't use any gloss, high-gloss or even satin finishes (expect on the cockpit panels). I use only "Flat" paints. The silver does have a natural metallic gloss to the finish but usually tamper that down when I weather. Even the silver trim around the nav chair panels will be repainted and weathered.

However, your idea of adding "Gloss" to simulate "low traffic/wear and tear" is VERY interesting. I wonder how the ejection tube would look if it had a satin or gloss finish to it? HMMMMMMM

I LIKE IT!

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joberg said:

Looking very good Sofa...and yes, when screwing into solid wood/MDF , I always use a clamp to make sure it's holding the sides (no splitting that way)

Click to expand...

Hey J,

I did drill a pilot hole before screwing the angle bracket in place. I thought the bit was larger enough... :facepalm

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13doctorwho said:

Actually you don't have to use a clamp to screw into wood if you drill a pilot hole. A drill removes material, a screw just pushes it to the side. Of coarse, drill a small enough hole that the threads can bite.

Click to expand...

That is exactly right! Unfortunately, the bit I used was too small. I needed the hole to be wide enough to accept the screw post and barely catch the threads. I just wasn't thinking. Bad me!

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joberg said:

I understand 13doctorwho...but I was never lucky, even when pre-drilling a hole prior to insert the screw (especially MDF)

Click to expand...

MDF is one of those tricky materials to work with. Depending on the vendor you can have a perfect piece of MDF or you can have a piece that has not enough or way too much adhesive making laser cutting a nightmare. I've even seen some MDF so brittle in some areas it literally fell apart in my hands.

Hi SK!

While browsing for motion simulators (a crazy idea of mine involving a "Banshee" from Avatar and VR) I stumbled upon this video:
And it got me thinking: you made a superb job on the Falcon cockpit, but did you ever though about setting it up so that it could mimic the Falcon's flight? like the greebles and gadgets actually made something work? it would be amazing to not just walk into the Falcon (you got that down to a T!) but if you were to turn it on and take off (lights and sound included). Maybe it is worth 5 minutes of discussion, and I don't mean to hijack your thread, maybe not, but one can only wonder, and with the new Star Wars Land coming up which will supposedly have a flyable Falcon, maybe you could be one step ahead of Disney here.

Cheers buddy!

Thinking like that is definitely a bruce thing I have previously made same suggestion I've also suggested changing the glass panels of the windows to tv screens so as you can play clips of the falcon flying (like approaching death star)

Loosebruce704 said:

Thinking like that is definitely a bruce thing I have previously made same suggestion I've also suggested changing the glass panels of the windows to tv screens so as you can play clips of the falcon flying (like approaching death star)

Click to expand...

Nice idea, although besides the tv-as-windows, I would also like to see the greebles actually DO something, trigger things, lights and sounds.

Hi Gang,

Time for another one of those updates again! Let's jump right to it!

First, I accidentally broke a piece... ugh


No worries...




While the paint dried I weathered the new assemblies




And dry fit into position








Interior side mounting plates


From above and in position






I masked off the 3rd and final headrest


Painted


Dry fit




Bolted in place


Looking through more images of the real ejection seat I noticed this little detail




Add some eyes


Primer




Paint


Time to mount and weather!








Love this photo! DEF needs more weathering


Laser cut these new guide plates for the nacelles








Paint


I laser cut new nacelle covers and dented these guys up a little to see how it looks - what do you all think?




Silver




Before weathering


After


Dented versions on the bottom. Yes? No?


I laser cut more nacelle guides






Primer


Paint


Inspired by fellow RPFer Fuzz, I decided to give a try at using rubber cement as a way to give the appearance of chipped paint. I painted the edges of the panel black


Broke out the rubber cement and dabbed it on as if items had hit the edges


Plop Plop Plop


Waited for the rubber cement to dry then sprayed with silver


When the silver dried I simply rubbed off the rubber cement! And Ta-Da!


YUCK! It looks like dripped paint!


However... A+ technique... F for execution!


Some areas look good. I need to be MUCH MORE careful with how the cement is applied


I'll sand smooth and start over


This angle gives a better idea how I want it to look


I cut these nacelle extenders


The original idea was to have the interior of the nacelle tips exposed but the covers I created took that away so I cut solid pieces and adhered into place




Work continues on the ejection tube cap / guide


Still lots of filler required


Told ya!


Its a never ending process


I really like this piece but I'm not sure if I can put it into it correct position


It attaches to the ejection tube and can be seen only from the back


There is a vertical plate




More on this guy later!


Finally... work continues on the pedestals


Added all the skins


Filler


PRIMER! That's a good sign!




I then had an idea... we DEF want to add more sound to the cockpit and these pedestals would make a GREAT bass housing! So I designed and laser cut these


What the heck is this?


Not only a pedestal detail but also a speaker grill!




2 More


Back side


Front




Primed!


Paint




Finishing up this one pedestal


Beauty rings


Paint


Grills temp in place... what do you guys/gals think? Yes? No?




I still have to cover the front / back sides






And this...


Is where we are!


Stay Tuned! More to follow!

BruceKenobi said:

Hi SK!

While browsing for motion simulators (a crazy idea of mine involving a "Banshee" from Avatar and VR) I stumbled upon this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FV8PMwbGh08?t=10m40s

And it got me thinking: you made a superb job on the Falcon cockpit, but did you ever though about setting it up so that it could mimic the Falcon's flight? like the greebles and gadgets actually made something work? it would be amazing to not just walk into the Falcon (you got that down to a T!) but if you were to turn it on and take off (lights and sound included). Maybe it is worth 5 minutes of discussion, and I don't mean to hijack your thread, maybe not, but one can only wonder, and with the new Star Wars Land coming up which will supposedly have a flyable Falcon, maybe you could be one step ahead of Disney here.

Cheers buddy!

Click to expand...

Hey BK,

We've been toying with the idea of turning the cockpit into a "sort" of flight sim but it would take some serious money to make functional yokes - not to mention to reinforcement of the console. We might get away with it using XBox or PS controllers but that would DEF take away from the overall experience.

Its not out of the question and any flight sim would be cool! Again, we're DEF looking into it!

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Loosebruce704 said:

Thinking like that is definitely a bruce thing I have previously made same suggestion I've also suggested changing the glass panels of the windows to tv screens so as you can play clips of the falcon flying (like approaching death star)

Click to expand...

Hey LB,

I really like the idea of having a IMAX style screen wrapped around the cockpit to give a full view experience but again... money! Enclosing the cockpit creates/retains an incredible amount of heat so venting would be necessary. But again, everything is possible but we're restricted to what we can afford...

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BruceKenobi said:

Nice idea, although besides the tv-as-windows, I would also like to see the greebles actually DO something, trigger things, lights and sounds.

Click to expand...

As of right now I think I've convinced the guys to make every toggle switch (250+) have some sort of function - whether light or sound. If we go "Flight Sim" then the switches and throttles would DEF have specific flight related tasks!

I love the idea!

SofaKing01 said:

Hey BK,

We've been toying with the idea of turning the cockpit into a "sort" of flight sim but it would take some serious money to make functional yokes - not to mention to reinforcement of the console. We might get away with it using XBox or PS controllers but that would DEF take away from the overall experience.

Its not out of the question and any flight sim would be cool! Again, we're DEF looking into it!

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Hey LB,

I really like the idea of having a IMAX style screen wrapped around the cockpit to give a full view experience but again... money! Enclosing the cockpit creates/retains an incredible amount of heat so venting would be necessary. But again, everything is possible but we're restricted to what we can afford...

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As of right now I think I've convinced the guys to make every toggle switch (250+) have some sort of function - whether light or sound. If we go "Flight Sim" then the switches and throttles would DEF have specific flight related tasks!

I love the idea!

Click to expand...

Hi SK! it's great that you guys are also thinking about it. I can see the reinforcements needed to withstand the shaking, the idea would be NOT to take away from the experience, but to enhance it.

You are very right about venting, and I'm not sure where you could have AC ducts, although I'm sure the original set had some, and the "in-universe" ship also had some ducts, maybe they are not as obvious? Now thinking about functional (as in flight-related) switches and throttles on the Falcon makes me drool already. Do you think there would be a way to quantify how much it would be needed to make it happen? I've seen some flight sims on the internet, so there is some road covered by other people maybe a donation drive....I dunno....I'm brainstorming here, it's just that the idea is so fascinating!!!

I always thought the easiest place to start from would be to find an old simulator fairground ride. then simply change the existing body for the cockpit this way you already have a portable powered unit that comes with powerful enough rams to lift up and move (tip back to front side to side etc). obviously I don't know how available stuff like that is over there and how much but would certainly in my opinion give best starting point and then as well it becomes a ride.


on a side note I've always had similar ideas to create a x wing cockpit and connect it to a pc playing the old x wing games.
part of me hopes Disney does a mass simulator where you go in as 24 people 12 in x wings 12 in ties and you dog fight for say 10 mins highest scoring team wins how cool that be flying a x wing in a sim against other people.

loosebruce

Hello there!

So yes for the dented version... and yes for the pedestal grills speakers.

The trick with the rubber cement to create that special effect is very interesting.

I'd like to point out, that weathering/ paint chipping...has to make sense.

For example, weathering costumes you have to think of where is the most friction, most likely where the fabric will be more damaged... so in the elbow, the knee and the butt area , there,s gonna be color/dirt around the hem of the pants , the sleeves, around the collar...so you have to think about where the object is gonna get more damaged, attacked, scrubbed or touch, where is the friction is going to be...

this is the secret to have a more realistic feel to weathering...

so you have to be more careful... and not creating a random effect that doesn,t feel real... our brain can feel it but sometimes we,re not able to say what,s good or wrong...

I know that you have to be all those departments , all at once... plans, building, finances, technical stuff, electrician, research and painters and artists...

so I wish that I could help you in some way...

Can,t wait for the next updates,

Cheers .. Éric

As always, LOVE seeing your work. I say yes for the pedestal grill speakers and dents. Also, I love the red engraved covers, even though not screen accurate.

I also say "yes" to the dented version and the pedestal grills.

In regards to the paint chipping effect with the rubber cement, I agree with Daboudzi but would also add that doing the black layer first, then the rubber cement, then the silver creates the illusion that the base material is something black and it's been painted over with silver paint, which has then chipped. I think you want to reverse that - base it with silver, then rubber cement (strategically), then over spray with black. That would result in the look of a metal surface that has been painted black, that's now chipped and worn.