3D Printed Millennium Falcon Build

[dstrunc2]

Been working on this a couple of weeks and thought I'd take the plunge and actually start a build thread to document (first post). I found a pretty decent falcon stl file on Printables. It is pretty detailed and accurate. It definitely has its quirks but they're manageable. The file is already split and oriented to print without support. I am upsizing to just shy of 1/48. I think it measures about 27" long. Printing the bulk of it in FDM with details in resin. I have most of it printed out and here it is mocked up and a few of the resin parts.

The file comes with an engine grill but I cut that out and designed my own. I intend to add lights and a few sounds and quotes. Here is the engine grill I designed in fusion. The blue part will be printed in clear pla.

Got the bottom and back half assembled, primed and added some battle damage with the dremel.

Just about got the front half primed and smoothed and close to adding the damage. I also need to finish designing the mount. The plan is to mount this to wall but it ended up being heavier than I originally thought so need to come up with something pretty robust.

 

[Sluis Van Shipyards]

Nice! I've been eyeing a couple Falcon models and will get to it eventually. I've got a resin printer on order so I'm hoping to use it for detail and my FDM for large parts.

 

[TazMan2000]

What are you printing it on? I've yet to see layer lines or even joining edges.

TazMan2000

 

[dstrunc2]

Bambu P1P, .08 layer height with the high quality preset in Orca slicer. Not to mention the putty and multiple coats of filler primer.

Really impressed with how the mandible decks came out with top layer ironing on. Had to increase the flow rate but looked great once that was dialed in.

 

[dstrunc2]

A little more work done on the Falcon. Used a dremel to replicate damage on the front half. This was the part I was most nervous about but I really liked the way this blast damage turned out.

Not quite as happy with the blast marks on the port side. I like overall outline and size, but the individual holes are too deep and wide. They don't have that 2 layer effect. I think I am going to fill some of the holes with resin to create that second level and then redo smaller more defined holes within them.

 

[dstrunc2]

Ok. I think this will work a little better.

 

[starks]

Looks great!
Yeah that 2 layer effect always got me, it looks like someone pushed a soldering iron into plastic and the 'layer' is burnt lifting paint. The holes even melt inwards.
I'm not saying this is how ILM achieved it, it just looks like that to me.

Cheers,
Josh

 

[sd68]

Do you have a link to that 3d file printables location. That rear deck looks incredible.

 

[jah5150]

I could be wrong, and feel free to correct me if I am, but I think that is the Millennial Falcon 2.0.

Millennial Falcon 2.0 - millennium falcon fan model by Captain_plan_it | Download free STL model | Printables.com

An awesome video from the 3dprinting nerd!Here is a link to detailed instructions:… | Download free 3D printable STL models

www.printables.com

 

[dstrunc2]

Yep. That’s the one

 

[Bloop]

Looks great so far! I keep wanting to print one myself. I forget who it is, but there's a user here that had some free Falcon files, MoffEaton maybe? I'll check.

 

[starks]

Just curious with your bed size, I understand this file is of the 5' Falcon but if a file of the 32" Falcon was available, would your print bed be able to accommodate a 32" print? Or are you at about your maximum?
27" is not tiny by any standards, about the size of the Hasbro Falcon a number of years back.

I ask because really Im a bit sore I didn't take advantage of doing the Deagostini when the run was happening. But for the cost of trying to acquire all the issues I can buy a 3D printer (which is on the cards anyway) and have change left over.

Cheers,
Josh

 

[dstrunc2]

I think with this particular set of files I could upscale to about 30in before having trouble fitting some parts on the build plate. Maybe 3 or 4. But if you don’t mind a some extra seam filling you could split it up further and go as big as you want.

 

[publiusr]

As a side project perhaps—perhaps have a “blank” saucer just with panel lines for a Planet of the Titans Enterprise…the superdetailed piping above and behind the mandibles I could see atop the wedge secondary hull—perhaps a widened Venator mesh.

 

[dstrunc2]

Some of the more tedious work done this weekend. Had some gaps/holes that needed to be plugged. quick primer coat before sanding. Was truly a pain because i misplaced my calipers while working on this and ended up having to eyeball most of it.

Intended to leave the separation as a panel line, but thinking it'll probably bother me. We'll see how i feel after some sanding and another primer coat.

 

[dstrunc2]

Just some of the fitment issues you can expect to run into if you want to print this thing.

The complete model you get when you download looks great but something happened when the creator split it for printing. That and little details disappeared and had to recreate a few. Like these little guys.

 

[Bloop]

Just some of the fitment issues you can expect to run into if you want to print this thing.

View attachment 1922624View attachment 1922625View attachment 1922626

The complete model you get when you download looks great but something happened when the creator split it for printing. That and little details disappeared and had to recreate a few. Like these little guys.
View attachment 1922634View attachment 1922803

I've had parts of models go missing when trying to split them. Could be the original model wasn't manifold, or maybe not enough vertices around the cuts? I don't know enough about why it happens to say for sure, but it is annoying, especially if you don't catch it.

 

[laellee]

I've had parts of models go missing when trying to split them. Could be the original model wasn't manifold, or maybe not enough vertices around the cuts? I don't know enough about why it happens to say for sure, but it is annoying, especially if you don't catch it.

Another thing that can happen to cause this and some other issues (I'll try and keep this short, promise )

Most complex parts I model start as a whole bunch of individual bits that are eventually merged together (boolean modifier) to form one single mesh/model. Pretty cut-and-dry, the export is a water-tight single mesh that should cut and slice easily. So if I model a snowman (lol), I model some separate arms, carrot nose, a hat, and then I join them all to the body using a boolean modifier to make all of those parts permanently joined as one piece.

Sometimes, modelers will make their snowman like above, but they never join those individual pieces to make one piece. The model looks the same on the outside, but the snowman is not one water-tight piece but 6 or 8 individual pieces that are all oriented to look like one piece. The full carrot nose is still there, the arms are still all there (even the parts hidden inside the snowman's body), a lot is just hidden inside the snowman.

Hopefully still with me? Both methods above will work if you go straight to slice & print; I believe most slicers these days can take the 'unjoined' snowman and slice it up just like mine, printing a single solid model.....

BUT.... That second snowman is still really 8 or 9 separate meshes that have been exported as one STL, and modeling and cutting software can have an issue with this. For instance, you can cut this snowman in half in one software, and suddenly the carrot nose might disappear because the program didn't know what to do with it because it wasn't attached to anything. Another situation, you might try to auto-orient the snowman model, and suddenly you will have all those individual parts separated! A couple of arms, a carrot, a hat, and a body, all by themselves. Your program recognized all those individual meshes, and oriented them individually. The body is also not going to have any holes where those arms/nose/etc were positioned before, so you that's going to be a pain to put together.

So anyways, on a complicated part like a Falcon mandible, joining all of those individual details when modeling can be a pain in the @$$, but if it's not done then it can cause a bunch more problems when you modify/cut/etc those parts in other software. I don't think I am particular good at explaining stuff like this, but I just wanted to point out that (quite often) the model's makeup can cause unwanted results when modified. It's not that the model can't print, but it may get really wonky when you start cutting parts down for your bed/etc.

***Also, I have ZERO knowledge of the falcon model above (it's a beautiful model!), and all of the exports could very well be single meshes and something else is causing the problem. I am speaking only from my experience where unjoined models can cause the problems mentioned***

Sorry for the long type, kept it as short as I could!

 

[dstrunc2]

Finally ready for paint.