Hasbro Legacy Millennium Falcon Conversion

[superjedi]

I set out to build the actuators for the Falcon's engine feathers.

Reference photos from Studioscale:
The venerated Bandai Messerschmitt BF-109 part. What is it anyway - is it
rudder actuator?

Joseph,
Those are the main landing gear struts.

Excellent work on scratching those puppies!! Hope someone will offer some casting help for you.

 

[crackerjazz]

Thanks guys! Sure thing, Amish Trooper!
Superjedi - that clears the mystery, thanks!

 

[crackerjazz]

Now I made a New Year's resolution to get something completed on the Falcon every week. So I'm plodding away. My new motto is: Take the middle way. To not necessarily go as fast as I can trying to get everything done at record speed but not laze around too much either that nothing at all is being accomplished. The middle way is the best way - just tooling along the road at easy speed. Takes care of the motor too.

So look what I've done mama.....

After mulling it over a great deal, I've decided I want to modify the plating arrangement to the 5-foot's. So I'm shaving off all the details, and re-plating the whole thing. This is the only way to get it looking like the 5-footer anyway - with bent overhangs - and just get that dilapidated plating look.

We'll see how it goes.....it still hasn't convinced me to start the body from scratch, which you've probably wondered I should've just done after seeing all this.

 

[tek2graphics]

Nice! Keep em coming!

 

[sasmysquatch]

This has been a great post to watch, i cannot wait for more updates. Keep up the progress.

 

[ozzyguanche]

Were you at????

Ozzy

 

[clancampbell]

Amazing stuff so far! Can't wait to see more!!!

 

[crackerjazz]

Thanks guys - I got stuck Ozzy and I haven't touched the Falcon since early January (New Year's resolutions just don't work do they) I was mulling over whether or not to re-plate the whole thing to match the plating design of the 5-footer better. Finally I decided to shave off all the details on the Hasbro (and leave nothing on it) and when the weather gets better, I'll Bondo the whole thing and come up with a nice, smooth, curvey hamburger base to put real styrene plating on (couldn't do it inside the house - I've got a 6-year old and the wifey has the olfactory capability of detecting fumes in the air at .001 parts per million. Thankfully that Locktite CA glue I'm using seems fume-free. But any painting and puttying has to be done outside). Got a question, by the way - will CA glue stick well to the Bondo? I plan to stick the plating on just with CA.

Then there's the matter of casting those actuators - frankly I know zilch about casting. And someone beat me to that last alumilite starter box at my LHS (excuses, excuses).

And lastly, I'm being sidetracked by the speeder. But here was a wee bit of progress on the Wankel with some styrene, popsicle sticks and whittled balsa. Hopefully I'll get to start working on the Falcon body again soon.

 

[3d-builder]

WOW i guess the speeder is just a vacation compared to this LOL
Amazing thread thanks for sharing!:thumbsup

 

[Treadwell]

Doing some great work!

But shave off everything and replating/detailing? You might as well have done a scratchbuild.
"This is my grandfather's axe. My father replaced the handle, and I replaced the blade."

 

[3d-builder]

Doing some great work!

But shave off everything and replating/detailing? You might as well have done a scratchbuild.
"This is my grandfather's axe. My father replaced the handle, and I replaced the blade."

I dont know on the falcon not having to build
that saucer shape for the main hull is a great
jump start!!:lol

 

[scoutrooper]

Can't wait to see the finished product; keep the updates coming!

 

[Laspector]

Any updates on this?

 

[crackerjazz]

Hey, Laspector. No updates, really - I'm not at all proud of my work or progress - except for having been successful at clearing the engine deck of details. It took me a while to figure out what works to get those details off. At first I tried the Dremel cutting wheel - not too effective. Then tried chiselling them off but the details were too big. So I just cut vertical lines on them with the dremel wheel and chiselled away. Then to smoothen things out I tried filing and sanding - I thought it would take forever so I headed off to the hardware to get a sander. I remembered someone saying you can't use a circular sander on ABS as it melts. It was true. This is the only sander that worked for me. It vibrates instead of rotating - I've never been happier being covered in fine ABS dust. This thing will cut through the details effortlessly but I chiselled first anyhow. And I had to cut off the rear feather array to be able to sand the whole engine deck properly.

 

[MwNN]

I've just gone through all the pages up to your last post, and all I can say is "Wow, wow, wow!!" Such an epic conversion! It is really great to see your steps along the way.
You have such "mad" skills. I'm looking forward to more!

 

[crackerjazz]

Thanks for lifting up my spirits, MwNN. One day I'll get back to that MF fulltime. Somehow, Treadwell is right - I should have scratchbuilt the whole thing - my son still keeps telling me about how he misses the toy.

 

[ozzyguanche]

I had to laugh when you said your son tells you he misses his toy.

My boy after years, still reminds me of some bits I borrowed years ago for different models.

They never forget, LOL.

Look forward to when you get back to it.

Ozzy

 

[crackerjazz]

Sorry for the long lull. The Hasbro Falcon does continue to haunt me in my dreams and I still have the desire to see it built. Recently I cut off the rear feathers and began sanding and puttying up the upper hull to a nice smooth surface worthy of plating.

I've also began placing support ribs. The hull can become flimsy without the innards it can collapse under its own weight. I plan on cutting up round pieces of plywood to support the top and bottom hull pieces.

I'm glad I kept this piece as the curve would be difficult to duplicate with a piece
of styrene:

Cut off the turret so that I can rebuild a tapered one. Off go the 32" docking tunnels, too.

The cockpit has been begging for control panels for the longest time. And I just might seal up the wooden tunnel and use it as is. Got some patching up to do here.

Test fitting:

 

[tek2graphics]

Keep up the good work. Can't wait to see more!!! thumbsup

Sorry for the long lull. The Hasbro Falcon does continue to haunt me in my dreams and I still have the desire to see it built. Recently I cut off the rear feathers and began sanding and puttying up the upper hull to a nice smooth surface worthy of plating.

I've also began placing support ribs. The hull can become flimsy without the innards it can collapse under its own weight. I plan on cutting up round pieces of plywood to support the top and bottom hull pieces.

I'm glad I kept this piece as the curve would be difficult to duplicate with a piece
of styrene:

Cut off the turret so that I can rebuild a tapered one. Off go the 32" docking tunnels, too.

The cockpit has been begging for control panels for the longest time. And I just might seal up the wooden tunnel and use it as is. Got some patching up to do here.

Test fitting:

 

[NAZGÛL]

Great! Cant wait to see this finished!