4' (AKA 5 foot) Falcon build

Bandai Falcon has a lot of mistakes, so please judge carefully when referring to them.
The part shown in the first photo is Bandai 1/48 Tiger l. Here, it is correct to cut out the right side of the engine grille and use it. It is wrong to use the left side.
The following photo shows the E14 parts of the Tamiya 1/6 CB750 Racing type. However, the correct part to be used here is E13.
 

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The original studio scale Falcon is extremely demanding for the builder that must get everything right all the time. It has taught me that sometimes I need to sit back and agree that “close enough” is O.K. and a “no cigar” result does not diminish perfection as a goal. But, today is not that day. Therefore, it goes on the completion commitment list. Thanks.
 
A small update on my build for those interested. Things have been a bit slower than I would like, but I'm still getting things done.

I'm planning on making some changes and updates to the cockpit, specifically the fan in the back. Now that I have the correct fan on order, I'm going to rework that part of the build.

Most of the past little while has been on the mandibles. Specifically the 8 mechanical pits.

The tubs themselves are made from 1mm sheet styrene. I added a 3mm strip around the top edge simply to provide a little bit more gluing surface. The four that are squared off are done so to accommodate the aluminum tube that goes through the mandible structure. ILM did the same thing.

Port - Lower - Forward
90% complete. There's a small 'gear' like part that I'm missing. I've not figured out what kit it comes from, if it comes from a kit at all. It may be an actual gear, but based on some up close photos, I'm not convinced of that. The part maps call for it being N45 of the Hummel, but that's not correct. N45 is much too small. If anyone can confirm if it's a kit part, or an actual gear, that alone would be helpful.
IMG_4545.jpg


Starboard - Upper - Rear
Complete. Just the one casting here. I made it from the original part, but I am not sure if that part is used in other places yet, so I made a cast instead of using the real part.
IMG_4544.jpg


Starboard - Lower - Rear
90% complete. Just missing the Elephant part, lower right. The kit is currently stuck in some Canada Post depot so I guess it shows up when it shows up after the strike is over. Thanks to Shamon for helping get the orientation of the Scammel part correct. The Bandai PG kit is very helpful, but you really do need to triple-check photo references. Either on purpose or by accident, the Bandai kit does have some things wrong.
IMG_4546.jpg


Port - Upper - Forward
Complete. Just the one casting here as well. The Sealab grill lower left. I have pretty much cast the complete Sealab kit at this point.
IMG_4547.jpg


The Others
The remainder four are all waiting on parts before I start assembling, but I've gathered what I do have into the little tubs I made. I'm trying to source the one kit that is required for the top two. I know the kit I need, I just can't find one for sale.
The other two, on the bottom, have kits on the way but they're currently stuck with Canada Post.
IMG_4549.jpg


So, there's where I am. I'm off until January, so hopefully I can make a bit of progress on this beast.

thanks for looking.
 
RealDaveWinter said:
A small update on my build for those interested. Things have been a bit slower than I would like, but I'm still getting things done.

I'm planning on making some changes and updates to the cockpit, specifically the fan in the back. Now that I have the correct fan on order, I'm going to rework that part of the build.

Most of the past little while has been on the mandibles. Specifically the 8 mechanical pits.

The tubs themselves are made from 1mm sheet styrene. I added a 3mm strip around the top edge simply to provide a little bit more gluing surface. The four that are squared off are done so to accommodate the aluminum tube that goes through the mandible structure. ILM did the same thing.

Port - Lower - Forward
90% complete. There's a small 'gear' like part that I'm missing. I've not figured out what kit it comes from, if it comes from a kit at all. It may be an actual gear, but based on some up close photos, I'm not convinced of that. The part maps call for it being N45 of the Hummel, but that's not correct. N45 is much too small. If anyone can confirm if it's a kit part, or an actual gear, that alone would be helpful.
View attachment 1888856

Starboard - Upper - Rear
Complete. Just the one casting here. I made it from the original part, but I am not sure if that part is used in other places yet, so I made a cast instead of using the real part.
View attachment 1888855

Starboard - Lower - Rear
90% complete. Just missing the Elephant part, lower right. The kit is currently stuck in some Canada Post depot so I guess it shows up when it shows up after the strike is over. Thanks to Shamon for helping get the orientation of the Scammel part correct. The Bandai PG kit is very helpful, but you really do need to triple-check photo references. Either on purpose or by accident, the Bandai kit does have some things wrong.
View attachment 1888857

Port - Upper - Forward
Complete. Just the one casting here as well. The Sealab grill lower left. I have pretty much cast the complete Sealab kit at this point.
View attachment 1888858

The Others
The remainder four are all waiting on parts before I start assembling, but I've gathered what I do have into the little tubs I made. I'm trying to source the one kit that is required for the top two. I know the kit I need, I just can't find one for sale.
The other two, on the bottom, have kits on the way but they're currently stuck with Canada Post.
View attachment 1888859

So, there's where I am. I'm off until January, so hopefully I can make a bit of progress on this beast.

thanks for looking.
Click to expand...
Good idea about the small pit rim strip to aid in attachment with skin and armor above. FYI, some of my pit wall diameter and height had to have “ tolerance” (rework modification) added for the greeblie layout to fit correctly. Ironically, each pit has a vertical that sets that pit’s unique height dimension. Precise layout determined the diameter.
 
Yes, each pit has its own size. While they're all 'roughly' 90mm (3.5") in diameter, they are not all exactly that. I started with tubs that were 91mm in diameter, and added styrene to the inside of the tub, in layers, until I reached an ID that was correct determined by the greeblie layout inside. So some of my tub walls are a little thicker than others.

Also the height is unique to each. That is determined once the parts are laid out. I also double checked by placing the top/bottom tub pairs on top of each other and ensured that, when stacked, they didn't go beyond 44.8mm in total height. Assuming 3mm sheet used for the top and bottom mandible 'boxes', it ensures the correct 50.8mm (2") mandible thickness.

I would have guessed ILM would use off the shelf 3.5" plastic tubs - I don't know, like a petri dish, or something similar. But they do seem to be all slightly different, so I guess they scratch built them and just wound up with slightly different sizes.
 
One other thing on all the Falcon mandible pits. Watch the surface piping run geometry. These tie-in to very specific equipment nozzles and pit floor penetration locations as you know. The pattern of greeblies layout is very unforgiving if pits are built before piping runs. Perfect pit hole location and piping run dimension is then required up front. Interestingly, this is true in the power plant industry when equipment skids are located. Either the equipment or piping and conduit are not exactly per the engineers drawings. ILM never had exact drawing for their model as one of this web site gurus recently mentioned. They just built. No as-building the drawings & little rework to meet design. Big reason for industry capital construction overruns.
 
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Out of curiosity, does anyone know what these holes were used for?

1735490431855.png


They where there while it was being built but I've never known what they were for.
1735490687485.png


Just curious, thanks.
 
Mail call.... finally starting to get items arriving again. I ordered this the beginning of November.

1736279747900.png


I've pretty much given up hope on two other kits - including a 1/500 Nagato that I ordered in October from Japan. Not sure how I'll find another of those. Anyway, at least I can finish off the sidewalls now.
 
So a thing I made.

The 'muffin fan' from under the engine deck. Practically nothing about this is correct, except perhaps the fan blade shape.

As I do not have the real thing, and the only photos of the real thing I have are obscured by Koolshade, almost all of this is guess work.
  • I have no idea what the exact dimensions are, so I've tried to go from photos and dimensions of similar fans.
  • I am 99% sure the outer ring of text is a US Patent number, but I don't know the number, so I made one up.
  • I have no idea what the inner ring of text is, so I made it up.
  • In at least one, small, fuzzy, photo of the purported real thing, the top of the hub sort-of-kinda looks like it is slightly rounded, but all other images seem to show it perfectly flat. So I went with flat.
  • Also in that one lone photo, the corners of the outer casing are inset about 5mm. However you can't see that inset in any of the Falcon photos. (at least not in ones I have). So I went with completely flat front and back sides of the fan.
  • The blade shape came from the only other fan I could find that was the correct size, had close to the correct hub diameter, but more importantly, the correct number of blades; The Orion OA80AP series of metal fans used in aircraft avionics. I then took the concepts of that fan's blades and tweaked them until they looked sorta-kinda like the Falcon's fan blades. 9 blade muffin fans seem like a rare breed.
  • I wanted my fan to be functional so it was designed around the small Type 130 6VDC motor. With 3VDC it'll spin around 1000rpm, which is far, far less than what the real fans would do, but mine isn't real, and that speed will still sell the point.
If I ever find out what the text really says, it'll take me about 30 seconds to update the model. And if any of my dimensional guesses are close, I should be able to swap these fake ones out with real ones if I ever find any. I really do hate using 'fake s**t' on my build, but it sort of is what it is at the moment.

1736623145447.png


1736623566071.png
 
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Perfect for my liking, Dave
at least until we can identify the real thing
i'd have kept it 'in universe' and put Corellia Shipyards YT-1300 ~ Dawinter Turbodines, or something on there, instead of US patent
 
Looks good! And certainly the precise identity of the Falcon fans is one of those ongoing mysteries...

I'm not sure if they had any lettering on them, though. I can't see any obvious evidence of surface letters on any of the photos I've seen. Also, the rectangular slot was definitely much deeper, I think.
 

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You could be correct.

This is apparently the real deal. Or at least, it's the only image I have that, is an enlarged screen grab from a video in which the claim is made that it's the real thing. And while I can't read the lettering, it's certainly there. You can also see the inset corners I mentioned above, as well as the seemingly rounded face of the inner hub.

So, I'm not sure. Maybe that's not the real thing at all. ‍¯\_(ツ)_/¯

I have gone ahead and made that slot deeper. It's now about 2.5mm deep.

1736633778548.png
 
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