32" falcon at Wonderfest

[qcfoundry]

Didn't get to meet ya, but REALLY enjoyed checking your bird out. I doubt I'll ever tackle the bird, but it was impressive feat. I'm afraid lots others don't realize the effort put forth to make that both mentally (the homework of kits), the sweat (scratch building) and the ass (paying for all those kits).

i raise my glass to you..
and also pour a little out. i feel you shoulda got a gold.

i'm afraid they may have kept that from you due to not being "complete". i don't know.

thanks from bringing it to wonderfest, who ever you are. (and assuming you visit this forum, lol).

 

[gjustis]

thanks from bringing it to wonderfest, who ever you are. (and assuming you visit this forum, lol).

I'm like 87% sure the Falcon was from Paul Francis...

 

[qcfoundry]

yeah...i had to peak.
it was...
but i have no ideal who that is (their handle here).
and didn't see any mention/tease of them mentioning it coming to wonderfest.

best all, i believe he lives in "neighborhood" of lex, ky.

feels a little less lonely when you have like-interested people within shouting distance.

 

[steveo]

I too am very impressed with this and wish it were a kit. I didn't find out what award it had won, but yes, it should have won the gold. I also heard someone complaining that it shouldn't have even be entered since it wasn't complete, and how could they accept it since it wasn't complete. I'm not sure if that person was a judge or not, but it was a little irritating to hear. All in all, Wonderfest was a good time. Congrats on the Falcon!! A great job and can't wait to see it with lights.

 

[gjustis]

Not to go too OT, but I'm an ex-Lexington resident myself...only recently moved to Evansville (not all that far away...I'm in Louisville quite frequently, in fact).

Miss the ol' Bluegrass just about every day....:$

 

[Robiwon]

Yeah that Falcon was so nice I new it would be photographed. That's why I parked my Blue Leader behind it for photo ops.!

This is the best coverage I've seen so far.
http://kitbash.net/wf2009/

 

[qcfoundry]

this shows i have such crappy memory.
it was YOU robiwan, that i peeked at your card and saw that you were from danville! had no clue you were so close around my town.

 

[Rogue Studios]

I built a lot of that model. He bought it off of me after I was tired of working on it. I received plenty of help from Frank and Moe on it as well. He just finished where I left off and painted it, I provided parts etc. but he did have to do a lot of finish work. And a right nice job he did on it too.

Lee

 

[voice in the crowd]

All,

When I tried to look at the kitbash.net site to see pics my security said the site wasn't safe and contained a trojan virus.

Might be BS but please beware.

Cheers Chris

 

[BrundelFly]

Moe and I keep debating How many people would actually be serious about a kit.


Rule of thumb here, and I have been here a while, probably before most of you were born, (we were on AOL back then), is its about 25% of folks BUY a kit that say they will.

With that said, If a Kit of the Falcon was available, and it was priced roughly 1500 to 1800 who would actually buy one?



We are guessing 20 of you will say ya want one. Which is why would make 5.
Which makes us ask....is it even worth doing?

 

[sstinson]

BF
I agree that many would be interested, however very few would be able to afford such a large kit. I might suggest a "starter" kit??? possibly provide bits and pieces/assemblies? for example a set of sidewalls, cockpit, radar dish etc....
i have started the project and would be interested in something like this to help me finish up.

 

[Lazyeagle]

I can imagine that the kit would command such a price, however I'm just one person who's after the Falcon without the desire of doing it all myself. I turned down the ~MR version purely because of the weight issue and that huge base. I thought a resin one with an aluminium internal armature would make for a lighter model and the freedom to support the model with a custom smaller tripod base. Anyway my two pennies as this is down to Frank & Moe to decide with respect to the expected demand and the return they can possibly make on producing such a complex kit.

 

[superjedi]

We are guessing 20 of you will say ya want one. Which is why would make 5.
Which makes us ask....is it even worth doing?

Well, that would really be up to you guys. You would be the ones who do the work to mold/cast a kit, so in the end you're the only ones who can determine if that amount of work would be worth the price of the kits.

 

[BrundelFly]

Appreciate the comments.

Starter kits, its basically where we are at. Except, its like 85% done for you stater kit, instead of groups of smaller parts.

Not saying we would not be opposed to selling PARTS of the kit, especially to our model building brotheren. Just have not thought that far ahead yet.


Why is our kit not going to be 100% ?

Its Impossible to mold EVERYTHING for it. When were were sent the MR version, unassembled, the BOX of Small parts was staggering to look at.

I have built my personal one over MANY years, so I never saw ALL the unassembled parts AT ONCE In one sitting.

Had someone shown those to me, I would have never started this project.

IF we do our kit, I want to offer it with LANDING GEAR.

 

[uncannyx]

I want a kit as long as I'm given time to save up for it, this has been on the top of my list for a long time. If it will be available for sometime those of us interested can save up for it or some kind of lay away plan would be great.

 

[Jedi Dade]

If you had gotten me before I dropped MORE then that on my sig edition Falcon (#12 BTW) I would have been all over that deal! Having the MR one sitting beside me I'd have a hard time selling it to the wife.

That being said if you make a kit - or several kits of the sub asemblies - I'll hesitate but I'll bite... Its just too damn tempting. Heck it will be worth it just for the sheer numbner of hard to find greeblies :thumbsup

Actually thinking about it... selling it as the sub assemblies would be a pretty cool way of doing it... and the individual sub assemblies could be kept to somewhat "reasonable" prices... Plus it lends itself to a lot of cool kitbashing ideas... I'm liking that idea more and more. Its probably a big PITA for you guys though...

However you do have a pretty good idea of a reasonable parts breakdown from the MR example... NOT ADVOCATING COPYING THEIR STUFF - just to be clear

I just popped over to your web-site VERY cool - I always have a happy few minutes when I drop in over there. the "Store" looks like a good start as well :thumbsup

Jedi Dade

 

[LastBattlestar]

I want a kit as long as I'm given time to save up for it, this has been on the top of my list for a long time. If it will be available for sometime those of us interested can save up for it or some kind of lay away plan would be great.

Gotta agree with you mate. If we knew we had a year (for example) to save for the thing, I'd be interested. It's a grail model for me. After seeing a friend's MR Falcon several times, it's an impressively-sized model in the flesh.

Mike, Oz

 

[nightrider]

How did I miss this thread? Anyway, you know I'm in for one.

 

[SD Studios]

As I had stated elsewhere, there are over 1100 parts in the MR Falcon. Think about how many individual parts ONE THOUSAND, ONE HUNDRED is.

Take that in.....

If I had to build one, I would look at the box of parts and jump out the window. :lol MR had to make it that many parts, so that we could capture all of the undercuts and deal with the various properties of the different materials (resin/inj ABS, Inj PVC, etc...)

I built a Tamiya 1/32nd F-16 and that had about 600 parts...and it still took me a year to finish. And I had a huge instruction booklet to guide me.

Obviously, if you are making a Falcon kit, you can combine assemblies to save casting work and lower the parts-count. But the castings are so large, that they have to be "beefy" or they would crack and/or deform under their own weight.

I HAVE to ask though...

Over the last year, there has been a price dip for the Falcons here and on eBay. Why would you want to build a thousand pieces, when you could have a pre-built model for less???

Yes, the paintjobs were "variable", so do what I did and REPAINT it. It took me about 60 hours but it was definitely worth it.

On the weight thing...we were ALWAYS concerned about weight. The MR model is a hollow resin shell over an aluminum armature and it is STILL 50+ pounds. If you think you are going to have a SS Falcon in resin and have it light weight, forget it.

A team of engineers and designers spent 18 months trying to accomplish that and we couldn't do it. Now, if you substitute a lighter resin for the Polystone (which we HAD to use, no choice from the factory), that will cut maybe 5 pounds. But you are STILL at 40+ pounds!

The only way to have it notably lighter is to make it from plastic sheet like all of the scratchbuilders do.

If you hate the MR base, just ditch it and make a new one!

Frank. I think you are walking dangerous ground here, amigo. You will spend an enormous of time making kits for 5 or 6 people who actually follow through and pay. That is a terrifying amount of work for what you are talking about charging.

Look...I am selling Aliens Grenades and I am having a bunch of people flake on me and these are $20!!!

$1800? Go with God...

(And let me know when you come out with a CARBON FIBER Falcon kit.
I will buy TWO!) :lol

 

[Lazyeagle]

I agree with your assertions in repect to the weight, it's one thing that put me off getting the MR Falcon, which I regret a little. However I do feel that fibreglass wrapped around an aluminium armature could be a solution. The more I think about it, a complete kit sounds like a nightmare, so a builders kit could be the answer. I'd love a Falcon, however it needs to be light and polystone gives it that cold diecast feel- okay for mass produced but for me it's an anvil. Resin, completely agree with you on weight.

If part casts such as the hull plating, cockpit, polar guns, side bits along the equator and mandible keeps the cost down then great. I could engineer my own armature.

However I'm no expert, if there's a kit/partial kit in the works then that's great.

Sanjay.