I printed up a decal sheet... not too shabby either. I'm actually going to use some to replace some I messed up with the original decals I got.
Bandai 1/72 PG Millennium Falcon (also the Revell Germany rebox)
- Thread starter Jaitea
- Start date
I printed up a decal sheet... not too shabby either. I'm actually going to use some to replace some I messed up with the original decals I got.
Jaitea
Master Member
It looks brilliant,...that's the way they did the grilles for the 1/144,....really nice job,.....cockpit & grilles, I'll probably buy
J
jim357
New Member
that's a great idea, the small little decals are worthwhile, the large ones with the tone pattern are garbage. I'm sure the majority of builders have painted over the panel decals.
That looks fantastic. Did you just scan the original sheet and print on decal paper?
Jaitea had scanned his awhile ago. I just used his scan and printed them on decal paper. I did a test print to match the size first, then printed them on the decal paper.
So I've had a look at the Green Strawberry website's info on their etched metal upgrades for the PG Falcon. There are four sets.
I haven't seen the actual products, so I'm going to assume that the quality matches their Bandai Falcon 1:144 products, which were pretty decent. This isn't, therefore, a review.
1: Fan grilles:
- Double-layer replacement fan grilles, versus the less realistic Bandai single-layer grilles. That's pretty cool since it means the thicker Koolshade struts are raised, as they should be. Because they're etched brass they have finer grid spacing than is achievable using 3D printing tech.
- Octagonal fan disc details which bizarrely follow the Force Awakens fan design, though they don't label them as such. Not sure what the point of that is. Bandai deliberately created an Falcon model that's 100% ANH-era on the outside, so why add these?
- Additional curved cross details for the Empire top hatch used by Lando.
- the Kettenkrad greebly from the starboard mandible sidewall. Super-thin, which is great.
- Replacement cockpit neck grille but only one layer.
- Tiny detail parts for the ESB-era mandible tip headlights, the small U-shaped details for the radar dish base, and the small recessed mandible gap headlights.
YT-1300 "Millennium Falcon" - exterior
2: Landing gear discs and hatch covers:
- Replacement tapered rings/discs with holes.
- Thin replacement landing gear doors.
- Curved boarding ramp door, for installation as a closed part. The frame pattern used is similar to, but not identical to, the inner side of the door as seen in episodes IV and VII, or the outer door of the set on episode VII.
- Ceiling plate for the boarding ramp. With 8 ceiling lights, TFA style. (not blank ANH style or with 6 lights ESB style) Since the PG Falcon is ANH, this is not "accurate" as they describe. It's as much work to install this as it would be to cut a sheet of styrene and glue in some tubes.
3: Cockpit backwall and gunbay interior details:
- Backwall with holes and decal to make it easier to illuminate. Unfortunately it's the incorrect ESB backwall, not the ANH backwall. The greeblies are obviously not raised if you take this approach, which is also a drawback.
- There are *no* cockpit sidewalls, which makes this set rather less cool since you can illuminate the back but not the sides. Bummer. Such a missed opportunity!
- Replacement door and doorframe. Nicely thin.
- Seat pieces to cover over the holes in the Bandai parts used for plugging the figures into.
- Hyperdrive activation levers.
- ESB-era Han-side lever. (not accurate for ANH)
- Overhead handles.
- Replacement gunbay floor.
- Replacement gunbay control levers.
- Curved ladder end.
- Gunbay sidewall details for some of the walls.
4: Undersaucer lights.
- Flat plates which resemble the ones installed on the five foot Falcon for the filming of ESB. Note that the two large lamps seen on the physical set on either side of the ramp are not included - these are just plates for the small lamps.
- Foldout pieces which are supposed to look like the red undersaucer warning lights. These would be better suited to 3D printing, IMO.
In short, kind of a mixed bag, in my opinion. The fan grilles are great, and will be really valuable to buyers of the "Standard" kit. The TFA-era fan details and boarding ramp ceiling are kind of a waste of metal. The landing gear discs are nice, and the cockpit backwall is cool for lighting purposes. The absence of cockpit sidewalls isn't so cool. And a lot of the tiny gunbay/cockpit details are nice, but represent a fair bit of work to install for details that most people aren't going to see. They will photograph well, though. The undersaucer light components are fairly useless.
I'll probably get the first set, since the grilles look better than the Bandai ones owing to the dual components. I've designed 3D printed grilles, but you can make thinner pieces using etched metal than you can with 3D printing for materials reasons. The other three sets are of fairly limited utility, or are ANH-inaccurate, so of no interest to me.
I haven't seen the actual products, so I'm going to assume that the quality matches their Bandai Falcon 1:144 products, which were pretty decent. This isn't, therefore, a review.
1: Fan grilles:
- Double-layer replacement fan grilles, versus the less realistic Bandai single-layer grilles. That's pretty cool since it means the thicker Koolshade struts are raised, as they should be. Because they're etched brass they have finer grid spacing than is achievable using 3D printing tech.
- Octagonal fan disc details which bizarrely follow the Force Awakens fan design, though they don't label them as such. Not sure what the point of that is. Bandai deliberately created an Falcon model that's 100% ANH-era on the outside, so why add these?
- Additional curved cross details for the Empire top hatch used by Lando.
- the Kettenkrad greebly from the starboard mandible sidewall. Super-thin, which is great.
- Replacement cockpit neck grille but only one layer.
- Tiny detail parts for the ESB-era mandible tip headlights, the small U-shaped details for the radar dish base, and the small recessed mandible gap headlights.
YT-1300 "Millennium Falcon" - exterior
2: Landing gear discs and hatch covers:
- Replacement tapered rings/discs with holes.
- Thin replacement landing gear doors.
- Curved boarding ramp door, for installation as a closed part. The frame pattern used is similar to, but not identical to, the inner side of the door as seen in episodes IV and VII, or the outer door of the set on episode VII.
- Ceiling plate for the boarding ramp. With 8 ceiling lights, TFA style. (not blank ANH style or with 6 lights ESB style) Since the PG Falcon is ANH, this is not "accurate" as they describe. It's as much work to install this as it would be to cut a sheet of styrene and glue in some tubes.
3: Cockpit backwall and gunbay interior details:
- Backwall with holes and decal to make it easier to illuminate. Unfortunately it's the incorrect ESB backwall, not the ANH backwall. The greeblies are obviously not raised if you take this approach, which is also a drawback.
- There are *no* cockpit sidewalls, which makes this set rather less cool since you can illuminate the back but not the sides. Bummer. Such a missed opportunity!
- Replacement door and doorframe. Nicely thin.
- Seat pieces to cover over the holes in the Bandai parts used for plugging the figures into.
- Hyperdrive activation levers.
- ESB-era Han-side lever. (not accurate for ANH)
- Overhead handles.
- Replacement gunbay floor.
- Replacement gunbay control levers.
- Curved ladder end.
- Gunbay sidewall details for some of the walls.
4: Undersaucer lights.
- Flat plates which resemble the ones installed on the five foot Falcon for the filming of ESB. Note that the two large lamps seen on the physical set on either side of the ramp are not included - these are just plates for the small lamps.
- Foldout pieces which are supposed to look like the red undersaucer warning lights. These would be better suited to 3D printing, IMO.
In short, kind of a mixed bag, in my opinion. The fan grilles are great, and will be really valuable to buyers of the "Standard" kit. The TFA-era fan details and boarding ramp ceiling are kind of a waste of metal. The landing gear discs are nice, and the cockpit backwall is cool for lighting purposes. The absence of cockpit sidewalls isn't so cool. And a lot of the tiny gunbay/cockpit details are nice, but represent a fair bit of work to install for details that most people aren't going to see. They will photograph well, though. The undersaucer light components are fairly useless.
I'll probably get the first set, since the grilles look better than the Bandai ones owing to the dual components. I've designed 3D printed grilles, but you can make thinner pieces using etched metal than you can with 3D printing for materials reasons. The other three sets are of fairly limited utility, or are ANH-inaccurate, so of no interest to me.
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gt350pony66
Master Member
being the lighting nut that I am, I elected to got the open hole and PE route, I wanted to illuminate two of the holes as it's seen in ESB, though it was a tricky affair i got it done
Hunk a Junk
Sr Member
I'm with Analyzer on the cockpit tube styrene pieces slightly edging out the PE piece. It looked closer to Coolshade, and Bandai did a good job making the holes "behind" it visible. My only wish is that they'd have molded it in one piece.
One's gotta imagine that the day will eventually come when 3D printers will be able to produce detail fine enough to replicate Coolshade in the appropriate scale. I started going to the gym, so maybe I'll live long enough to see it!
One's gotta imagine that the day will eventually come when 3D printers will be able to produce detail fine enough to replicate Coolshade in the appropriate scale. I started going to the gym, so maybe I'll live long enough to see it!
gt350pony66
Master Member
thinking on it again, I suppose I could have taken the other pieces, the one I wanted to light and carefully scraped the plastic out from behind it till it was thin enough to properly transmit the desired amount of light...nah, too much work and fore thought would have been required
Working out (physical activity) is key to longevity! I'm glad to hear you're getting back to it... I am a personal trainer, part-time, so being healthy is a big part of my life.
gt350pony66
Master Member
Amen to that!
Hunk a Junk
Sr Member
Come on, aside from overwhelming body shame, my sedentary lifestyle had worked for me so far.
gt350pony66
Master Member
LOL!!
Check out what this guy is doing to his Falcon:
Millennium Falcon Update WIP Custom Interior 1/72
SB
Millennium Falcon Update WIP Custom Interior 1/72
SB
gt350pony66
Master Member
WOW!
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