1:1 Millennium Falcon Cockpit Replica - Group Build

[SofaKing01]

Hmm, I'm thinking those bits of pink acrylic aren't Empire-approved. Jessie must be a Rebel to the core. Love that dollop of individuality!

Jessie has been doing this to me on purpose... she knows everything will be painted, but she LOVES handing me all the pink acrylic. She's been going nonstop on these greeblies! Both she and Scott were my heros this weekend!

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Love the update...those machines are surely working full time:cool

OH YEAH! They are def earning their stripes!

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Excellent stuff!

Thank you, Sir!

 

[ataru72ita]

Hi Gang... Enjoy!

We put the laser cutter on overtime these last few days... Lots of Greeblies!
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WHEW! Between renovating and the project... I'm surprised we got this far. BUT. I have the next 2 weekends off before the show. We're going to make some great progress!

You're admirable, it's a titanic work (not talking about the ship LOLL:lol)!!

Regards,

Alberto

 

[SofaKing01]

You're admirable, it's a titanic work (not talking about the ship LOLL:lol)!!

Regards,

Alberto

Hi A,

Thanks so much! It is a HUGE task. I'm hoping we have enough time to finish... Of course, we always run the risk of sinking entirely!

Side note: No pics but Philip finished up the last of the new console cuts so I can begin putting everything together and slap some color on the great beast!

 

[bbmchl]

Moving right along. Great work, as always. Really enjoy dropping by and checking on the progress.

Mike

 

[cayman shen]

Wow. Dang. Looking great!

 

[joberg]

Dayem!! Always looks cool:cool

 

[Snakenator9]

You know, every now and then I get bored and get online. I start to look around on the web, all the crazy stuff that's going on around the world, who's leading the NFL, stuff like that. Then I come on therpf.com. I begin to see all these people making actual Iron Man suits, forging armor to perfectly fit, and making freakin' life size Millennium Falcon cockpits!!! And then I get off the computer and start playing X-Box when I realize something: I'm lazy as heck! You guys amaze me, really. This is incredible! Have you ever stopped and thought "Oh crap, this is awesome!"? I can't imagine going a day without yelling at the world "hey, look over here! I just made the worlds coolest thing!" Or just checking it out all the time. I'm seriously astonished. Great work, and keep it up.

 

[SofaKing01]

Hi Gang,

Not much of an update... I was helping Philip build some travel cases for his TESLA gun to be shipped across country. Daniel popped by and picked up a WHOLE bunch of stuff to cast along with the slider panels and a test panel to backlight. We're also able to start putting the new console together! And I finally added more paint to some greeblies

Nose panel greeblies ready to go

The 1" tiles need to be painted black - this is what those small cut outs were for

Very edge of the newly CNCd instrument panels - look at that SMOOTH line

Showing how precise Starkiller/Maruska's 3D model and Philip's conversion is - PERFECT!

Tonight... full speed ahead!

 

[SofaKing01]

Moving right along. Great work, as always. Really enjoy dropping by and checking on the progress.

Mike

Hi Mike,

Thanks so much! Pull up a chair... it's about to get really exciting!

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Wow. Dang. Looking great!

Thank you thank you!

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Dayem!! Always looks cool:cool

Thank you, my friend. Everybody is pulling together! Should be a fun/stressful next couple of weeks!

 

[SofaKing01]

You know, every now and then I get bored and get online. I start to look around on the web, all the crazy stuff that's going on around the world, who's leading the NFL, stuff like that. Then I come on therpf.com. I begin to see all these people making actual Iron Man suits, forging armor to perfectly fit, and making freakin' life size Millennium Falcon cockpits!!! And then I get off the computer and start playing X-Box when I realize something: I'm lazy as heck! You guys amaze me, really. This is incredible! Have you ever stopped and thought "Oh crap, this is awesome!"? I can't imagine going a day without yelling at the world "hey, look over here! I just made the worlds coolest thing!" Or just checking it out all the time. I'm seriously astonished. Great work, and keep it up.

Hey Snake!

Thanks so much! The RPF is an amazing site, indeed! The talent is just amazing.

Every now and then, as with I'm sure everybody has felt, I'll sit back and say HOLY MOLY... I did that? I think the greatest feeling was when the seats were finally installed and I was able to actually feel like I was sitting in the cockpit. That was great fun! But now we're heading in such an awesome direction... Lights, screen accurate greeblies, bells, whistles, etc... I'm sure I'll have another one of those "moments"!

NFL? Go Niners!

 

[SofaKing01]

Hi Gang,

Philip stopped by to drop off a few more pieces to the new console - I can now officially put her together and slop on some paint!

Philip cut a base support for the console's bottom and base bottom

This now seals the console off, adds structural rigidity and lots of mounting surface for wires, electronics, etc... Looking in from the nose

Looking down into the back of the armrest

Base support

Throttle housing

Looking below the instrument panels - look at that clean line!

Another look at the side of the instrument panels

Looking down the nose and at the horizontal cross beam

Nice...

Stay Tuned!

 

[Fuzzual]

Holy CRAP! I turn my head for a couple of months and you started over!!!!!! (oh, and guess who started a little project of his own to contribute *wink *wink)

 

[joberg]

Clean build on that console, it'll be sturdier and a fine example of cabinet making:cool Eager to see the final result of course!

 

[SofaKing01]

Hi Gang,

Early morning updates! Philip stopped by last and dropped off the last of the CNC cuts - panels, bracing, boxes, etc! I also finished up some painting and pin striping!

Volvo Dash Cluster getting its final coat of paint

I attached the bottom rear (upside down) back panel of the console - the main panel will be removable

PIN STRIPES! The two nose panels are finished! Let's add some greeblies

More Volvo pics

Unfortunately, I'm two clusters short - two of them were ruined at the last big show we did

W/O Flash - how they will more than likely look in the cockpit

Other Nose Panel

A 3 day weekend is almost here! More to Follow!

 

[DaftAider76]

I've watched this thread for a long time, the new console looks great!!
This may be have been covered earlier in the thread (not sure) but are those volvo clusters also used for the HIC side panels?

 

[SofaKing01]

Holy CRAP! I turn my head for a couple of months and you started over!!!!!! (oh, and guess who started a little project of his own to contribute *wink *wink)

MAN-O-MAN! Can't wait to see the magic! let me know when you're ready to receive your greeblies!

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Clean build on that console, it'll be sturdier and a fine example of cabinet making:cool Eager to see the final result of course!

Hey J,

The lines are amazing and everything just fits together so beautifully! I can't wait to get my hands dirty with it. There are SO MANY things we're going to do different. The lighting guys were drooling over the amount of space available! It's going to be fun!

 

[SofaKing01]

I've watched this thread for a long time, the new console looks great!!
This may be have been covered earlier in the thread (not sure) but are those volvo clusters also used for the HIC side panels?

Hi D,

Welcome and thanks for the kind words! Just stay tuned for upcoming some goodness! You are correct, the Volvo Dash Clusters are the same as the HIC greeblies. A HUGE THANKS to Darth Chromer for those! The original designers used them extensively throughout the SW universe. If you look closely they are painted a high gloss black and used in the Super Star Destroyer Bridge Pit and other various locations.

Thanks again!

 

[Psab keel]

Not sure if you would be interested or not but I have a bunch of electronic components that I have no use for that could be used for greeblies. If you pay for shipping, I'll send them for free otherwise . Let me know. Thanks. Still one of the most interesting and awesome builds on the entire forum!

 

[hamsalad]

One question: when you finish this, are you going to allow people you don't know to sit in it and make 'whooshing' noises? Just asking.

 

[SofaKing01]

Hi Gang,

UPDATES!!! This weekend, a 3 day weekend, has been filled with accidents, coolness, frustration and everything in between! It rained for most of it limiting my time outside - which is a very bad thing, but we were able to get A LOT finished...

Friday started out finally finishing the nose panels

I then moved onto attaching the 15" extension platform to the main platform - didn't get to the nose platform because of the rain

It was then time to dive in and work on the center console - clamping the instrument panels together

LOTS of sanding

These parts are the sides that act as the inner mounts for the instrument panels - more to come

This slips into the center console then the instrument panels will bolt directly to the this frame

Temp fitting

It was a very tight fit and required some trimming

Toward the back

Finished up sanding the great beast!

Back to the instrument panels

Time for a run to the local home improvement store

This greeblie is FINALLY FINISHED! Watch this transformation...

Test fitting the switches

From the back

Putting everything together...

Primer and Color - FINALLY!

Sanding

Texture paint

I was ALMOST finished... and then I dropped it...

UGH...

After fixing the breaks and adding an extra acrylic base... I moved forward and added paint - waiting for it to dry!

WHEW....

More random goodness! More work on the old console

The hole allowed the existing panel to slip into place

What a mess

One of MANY greeblies

Routing, Filling and Sanding... OH MY!

This gives you an idea of what this greeblie will look like when finished

The box will be black with a white greeblie on the side and silver "cassette" player greeblie on the top of the box

Adding filler to the new instrument panels (it's sitting on the old console)

Primer!

After LOTS of sanding

I then jumped to the console - which required a LOT of filler and sanding

Filler added to the bottom on the lower instrument panel

Instrument panel frame/cradle

Back to the greeblie

Back to the nose... whew...

Had to rip this little piece to fill in the front part of the console nose

PERFECT!

Filler will hide all the little imperfections

Daniel and Jessie stopped by to help! Daniel working of making molds

Back to more greeblies!

Back to sanding...

Now it was time to get down and dirty... how are we going to mount everything?

New cradle looks good - as I mentioned I had to adjust a few things - now it fits perfect and slides in and out perfectly!

Aligning the cradle

Drilling holes...

I quickly realized the bolting/screwing these thin MDF edges was NOT going to work. Had to come up with a better solution

I drilled the holes a little bit bigger

Ripped two pieces of wood and bolted the panels together - the two pieces of wood pressed the panels tightly - PERFECT!

This made drilling in tight spaces MUCH easier

There is some warping but nothing I can't fix

BACK to the greeblies! Jessie cut all the acrylic over the weekend! She's my hero! Here we're starting on the NEW vertical gauge display

Another nose panel greeblie

And more and more and more

DONE

The cutting template for the vertical gauges

The vertical gauges themselves... this I several layers of acrylic sandwiched together

A later version will be back lit

Getting ready to cut the holes!

BUT WAIT! Here's Daniel pouring silicone

VERY VERY slowly...

HOLES CUT!

Let's see how it looks...

Planning out the slider mechanism

PAINT - FINALLY!

More nose panel greeblies

PAINT!

I had finished this greeblie... the wind took right out of my hand and SMASH!

I'll paint over it and call it "Character"

PAINT!

Nearing completion - need to drill mounting holes

Lots of molds!

Jessie and I started pin striping! WOW... there is an end in sight!

About time this panel was given a little love

And this is where we are...

Most of the weekend was spent waiting for paint, filler, primer, silicone, putty and glue to dry... And the rain didn't help either!

WHEW...