Hasbro Legacy Millennium Falcon Conversion

superjedi said:
How's working on this type of plastic? Is it pretty close to "model grade" styrene? Or softer?
I noticed you're working with what looks like a really fine jeweler's saw and wondered how easy/difficult it is to cut and clean up.
I did a couple of SW toy mods years ago and remember the plastic being pretty difficult to sand smooth because of its softness. It was a pain!
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Hi Eric! (guys! Eric's the one who built that amazing 32-inch "5-footer!") It's hard plastic of a different grade on the Legacy Hasbro falcon, I guess - less brittle than polystyrene. Using the usual polystyrene cement is less effective than using loctite superglue gel which sticks like hell to this kind of plastic (I should've found that out earlier than experiementing with gorilla glue first - which expands and needs grinding the excess off).
Use the gel to stick styrene to this plastic, too.

There are parts which are the "rubbery" plastic kind but they are the ones that you don't need on the conversion - such as the sidewall detail and the corridors. All the rubbery plastic parts are detachable and are for discarding. Everything else I haven't found any difficulty sanding smooth, cutting and cleaning up so far.

The saw I'm using (for curved shapes) is Weeks' 360-degree spiral-tooth saw, the best thing on earth for curves than flat-blade saws. It's thin and has spiral blades (which go around it - think candy cane - instead of teeth) It cuts sideways in any direction you go. And it won't cut your skin. It's my "manual" laser cutter : ) I use it for curves only, though. I still use my trusty regular hacksaw blade for straight lines.
 
Jedi Dade said:
Another option for thde ockpit might be to contact Frank Cerney... Brudlefly. At one time he was making castings of the 32 inch cockpit for scratchbilders... He was going to take a break from the hobby a bit ago but its worth a PM ;) It "should" be close scale wise.

Thanks for the suggestion, Jedi Dade
Click to expand...
 
Spiral toothed saw. . . interesting. :)
Yeah, the more rubbery plastic is what I was talking about. It was a bear to work with.
 
crackerjazz said:
4993785072_aeb119a96b.jpg
[
/QUOTE]


how on earth did you get your pic to line up with the reference photo so perfectly?
:confused:thumbsup(y)thumbsup great thread btw...
Click to expand...
 
Wow, nice! Now, we can share ideas on how to go about it. I'm sure you're having second thoughts - "Do I preserve, or do I convert?" I had sleepless nights just thinking about it :) My son was struck the hardest. He was shocked to see me one morning over the Falcon which was all in pieces on the floor. I was holding up the screwdriver grinning sheepishly. At that moment he was the dad I was the kid. It took him a while to resign and accept but now he's quite excited about how it turns out.
 
I guess I'm not a full-fledged member yet to be able to access that page. I'll have to wait a bit of the 45 days it takes as stated in there, but thanks for the link ! :)
 
Crackerjazz,
I think you are doing a terrific job. :thumbsup Excellent idea about the older cockpit!

Wondering if you are going to install an internal mount, similar go the MR mount? Shouldn't be too hard, PVC fittings maybe? Also the AMT has an engine upgrade kit with etched brass vents (similar to koolshade), wondering if you can find a scaled up version of it for your conversion?

This is a big project, hang in there!
Mike
 
Thanks for the kind words Neosporing : ). and thanks, Mike. A mount would be nice, although, I want to see the belly cannons too - so in all likelihood it will be suspended. I'm thinking about detailing those vents too - it's almost a sin not to. Something so big deserves fans and grilles. Actually, I spend so much time thinking about approaching so many things in so many different ways that in the end I get overwhelmed and don't get to do anything. And then I get to read Scratchy's Star Destroyer (amazingly detailed and fiber-optically-lit too!) - instead of being inspired it makes me wanna give up :( I don't know how you do it Scratchy you seem to have microscopes for eyes :)

Test fitting cockpit (just for size):

5050920098_4fcae09cee.jpg


5050303071_8e6cb72de5.jpg


5050303619_803ee1ffa2.jpg
 
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Putting that old cockpit on the new Falcon was the first thing that came to my mind when I bought mine. But after losing about 5 attempts to get one on e-bay I finally gave up. So now I'm just re doing the guns, bumping up the size of the radar dish a tad to compensate a bit for the over sized cockpit and repainting. What are you going to do about the tube part of the cockpit that points towards the center of the ship? Won't that have to be re done? The old one the tube was very cone shaped, meaning the lines were not parallel. Also wouldn't it be too short for the new sized ship?
 
Laspector said:
Putting that old cockpit on the new Falcon was the first thing that came to my mind when I bought mine. But after losing about 5 attempts to get one on e-bay I finally gave up. So now I'm just re doing the guns, bumping up the size of the radar dish a tad to compensate a bit for the over sized cockpit and repainting. What are you going to do about the tube part of the cockpit that points towards the center of the ship? Won't that have to be re done? The old one the tube was very cone shaped, meaning the lines were not parallel. Also wouldn't it be too short for the new sized ship?
Click to expand...

Hi, Laspector. Try your local kijiji or craigslist listings for an old Kenner Falcon. They were released several times and shouldn't be in short supply. They were all the same mold until the Legacy Falcon came out. As to the cockpit tunnel, the entire tunnel will have to be scratchbuilt. I'm looking at making styrene bulkheads of varying sizes that will form the shape and covering that with styrene sheet - semi-monocoque airplane fuselage-style.
 
Am I correct about the radar dish? The one on this new one seems to be the same size as the old one. Wouldn't it have to be a little larger too? Just going by my old 1980 Falcon model (model, not toy) the dish actually has a diameter a little larger than the cockpit. I'm not actually going with that size but I did add about (maybe not quite) a half an inch all the way around on mine.

What are your plans with the guns? I acquired two sets of the old ones off the kenner one and was planning to use those. Actually they are still too big but closer to size than the ones that came on it. Had to remove the housing on the ship that the guns are in as those suckers stick up about a half an inch. I shaved about a quarter inch off mine. Still not movie accurate by no means, but better.

Sorry, not trying to hijack this thread, it's just I have been thinking about doing what you are doing for months now and this thread fascinates me to no end.
 
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