Building The ANH 5'Millennium Falcon

[eagle1]

I use cyanoacrylate glue exclusively, medium. Thin I do not like at all, it runs everywhere!. I buy 3 bottles at a time & open one up right away & put aside in daylight. I find by doing this the glue 'goes off' a little & gives me a mix that offers a little more time in fixing parts down, rather than almost an instant set with a new bottle. I can wiggle a part for around 10 seconds, which beats 1 to 2 seconds set time!.
I use a kicker also in some cases.
And Tamiya thin cement very rarely.

 

[SSR]

It doesn't seem to matter what you do to ACC it always bonds skin in seconds !

Fabulous build - very neat and tidy.
Curious as to how easy it is to mark out and cut straight lines on the preformed panels ?

Also, a question back to the start of your project - does your internal structure include the side mounts on the Falcon ?
Not talking about points to mount the ship on to the filming armature, but the holes in the side for the short lifting handles to carry the ship around the studio and lift it on/off the mounts. There isn't a "safe" place to lift the miniature otherwise and regardless of modern materials would certainly be quite heavy when done.

 

[eagle1]

It doesn't seem to matter what you do to ACC it always bonds skin in seconds !

Fabulous build - very neat and tidy.
Curious as to how easy it is to mark out and cut straight lines on the preformed panels ?

Also, a question back to the start of your project - does your internal structure include the side mounts on the Falcon ?
Not talking about points to mount the ship on to the filming armature, but the holes in the side for the short lifting handles to carry the ship around the studio and lift it on/off the mounts. There isn't a "safe" place to lift the miniature otherwise and regardless of modern materials would certainly be quite heavy when done.

Thank you kindly.

With the pre-formed curved styrene panel making being only 1mm thick, I simply pressed down on the roughly cut panel on my bench & marked out the correct size. The panel was then again pressed down almost flat to cut it out. The panel pops back up to its curved state as plastic has a memory.

Yes I do have the holes for those extra holding/handle points on all 4 curved sidewalls, or at least I added extra material behind my kit core walls to allow me to do this later. Each handle entry point through the casting plate & sidewall material also has it's own unique cover hiding the hole.

 

[eagle1]

More progress done with the starboard front pit installed & surrounding detailing applied.
I love doing the pipework, matching the miniatures bends is tricky, but patience is the key here.
Working on the radar plating & the damaged area.

 

[3DImpact]

Beautiful! Love seeing these come together!

Dan

 

[Bjorn]

Fantastic!

Stu, what technique are you using to achieve the bends on the styrene rod. They appear perfectly formed.

 

[eagle1]

The pipes are all pretty much bent over a candle. Thicker pipes are held closer to the flame over the thinner ones, but not too close, it's all a matter of practicing & seeing what works. Some can be bent simply by bending with your fingers, especially the thinner pipes, but without heat they tend to spring back & don't stay in the shape wanted. Heat bending gives the desired tight bend needed for alot of the pipes, it's the only way really.

 

[swgeek]

Did I just read, "I love doing the pipe work"? What's wrong with you man?
Haha.
Fantastic work though.

 

[darthjord]

wow a dream job. admire your progress.

 

[joberg]

Did I just read, "I love doing the pipe work"? What's wrong with you man?
Haha.
Fantastic work though.

Well, if he's just laying pipes, I don't see a problem

 

[JediMichael]

Whenever I bent a rod over a flame, it always made that part black from the burn. Maybe I held it too close, or are you wiping off the burnt part. (Or both)
It gets primed/painted anyways, but just wondering.

 

[eagle1]

If you are getting the pipe black, then yeah, way too close!. Larger diameter styrene rod you can hold closer, say 3", but not for long at all, it's only to soften & pull away to do the actual bending, not holding over the flame at the same distance while pulling a bend.

 

[JediMichael]

If you are getting the pipe black, then yeah, way too close!. Larger diameter styrene rod you can hold closer, say 3", but not for long at all, it's only to soften & pull away to do the actual bending, not holding over the flame at the same distance while pulling a bend.

Ok. I figured. Been a few years and have only done it a few times. It was very small rods, like 2mm or less. Can't remember.

 

[eagle1]

Radar quarter section progress. Plating complete & the 'blast' damage added with more work here needing to be done with layering of damage & dremelling to replicate the miniatures wonderfully applied damage.
One more donor part to add, seems to have gone AWOL for now, but will have another hunt for it.

 

[joberg]

What a beautiful pic Every single update is full of stars

 

[Searun]

Radar quarter section progress. Plating complete & the 'blast' damage added with more work here needing to be done with layering of damage & dremelling to replicate the miniatures wonderfully applied damage.
One more donor part to add, seems to have gone AWOL for now, but will have another hunt for it.View attachment 1409463View attachment 1409465

 

[Searun]

Awesome work eagle 1. I am brand new to the forum and have started down the path of attempting a 5 ft. model as mentioned in the related ANH thread. Basic wood construction on the fuselage is a work in progress using the dimensions open sourced by the professionals on this site. Proper airfoil camber is being added above straight stringers from the disc ring to the trailing edge.

My plan is to armor the Falcon using thin brass plate as I have done on some other models. Could you please advise “edge“ measurements for the the disc and mandible side walls? I realize the mandible is about 2” in depth and it slides into a disc slot of about 2.625”. My question is what should be the inside height and recess of those channels to permit Greeblies or 3D printing detail installation if I can obtain such later.

Thanks for any advice you can provide, Searun

 

[eagle1]

Thank you Searun. PM sent.

 

[Fabian 71]

Thought I'd post some progress on my hull dome work.
I realised early on & couldn't find a place in New Zealand anyway to blow mold one piece domes, that really, there is no point to full domes, why wouldn't a half dome or even a quarter dome section work!. So that's what I have done, built an oversize quarter section form or tool, to have the domes vacformed in 4.75mm ABS. The tool is oversized to allow good pulls & trimming when placed on my core. The tool was all CNC'd MDF. Just finishing up the skinning now, which is 3mm MDF. All this will be sanded smooth & filled if needed & sanded again & sealed. Then it will be down to the plastic formers for vacforming. 10 pulls will be needed for 1 Falcon, 8 for the 2 domes,1 for the engine deck & the last for the engine petal strips & maybe another as a spare.

View attachment 840853

View attachment 840854

View attachment 840855

Hi Stu, sorry to bother , do you remember what thickness you used for the mdf ribs ?

 

[eagle1]

Hi Stu, sorry to bother , do you remember what thickness you used for the mdf ribs ?

Yes, I used 18mm MDF.