Millennium Falcon Alternative Early Concept Version

Jaitea

Master Member
Hey fellow Falcon lovers

There was an image in the Art of Solo-A Star Wars Story of an artist sketching a version of The Millennium Falcon with a centre cockpit position,....folks suggested that the artist was Joe Johnston, but he has since said that he doesn't remember doing it,....so it's a bit of a mystery

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I decided to have a go at making it....I modified the design a bit:

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So again I'm making a Falcon variant,....out of PVC Foamex....heres my build progress

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Thanks for looking folks

Hopefully progress soon

John
 

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It's McQuarrie's thumb/desk apparently. NO ONE remembers this pic, but it's from McCune's negatives, so it's real. My gut says it was an idea to skin the Pirate Ship model (everything lays over perfectly) when they realized it was too close to the Eagle from Space:1999.
 
It's McQuarrie's thumb/desk apparently. NO ONE remembers this pic, but it's from McCune's negatives, so it's real. My gut says it was an idea to skin the Pirate Ship model (everything lays over perfectly) when they realized it was too close to the Eagle from Space:1999.
Thanks Jason, yeah,...I never thought of it that way....the original Pirate design with a huge disc in the middle

Pretty cool stage in the Falcon's design. Those engines really give it some muscle.

It looks in the same family as the Falcon,...but with a beefier engine

John
 
I've never seen this photo either (43 years later and I'm still learning new things about this ship!), but it makes sense that it was an early attempt to transition the ship from the original "pirate ship" design to George's "flying hamburger" idea. I'm sure in their discussions George likely instructed them to keep some of the design elements from the first ship and incorporate them (the cockpit, gunports, radar dish, etc.), with the team eventually dropping the 11-engine block for something that better retains the saucer shape. It's like finding a missing link in the Falcon's evolution! A transitional fossil, if you will. :D

I've never heard or used PVC Foamex. Is it solid and can you carve it/sand it or is it more like foam board?
 
I've never heard or used PVC Foamex. Is it solid and can you carve it/sand it or is it more like foam board?

Yep Hunk a Junk, it’s a solid board with small bubbles inside....you can’t see them by eye...but it’s enough that you can carve, sand, file, drill etc...it’s pretty light & sturdy when glued into objects....it’s used for shop signboards etc

I get it from work from set designs etc

John
 
it’s a solid board with small bubbles inside....you can’t see them by eye...but it’s enough that you can carve, sand, file, drill etc...it’s pretty light & sturdy when glued into objects....

Interesting. I'm going to order a sample sheet to try it out. So when you sand it, do the bubbles leave craters that need to be filled, like resin?
 
Very cool! It totally makes sense that this might have been one of the options after deciding the original pirate ship design had to be modified

it's like the halfway step between converting the original design before deciding to go with something new and the off center cockpit

Looking forward to watching your progress.
 
Interesting. I'm going to order a sample sheet to try it out. So when you sand it, do the bubbles leave craters that need to be filled, like resin?

Hi Hunk a Junk,....I'd been toying on making YouTube videos,....so I thought I'd try it out with a response to your questions about Foamex


Very cool! It totally makes sense that this might have been one of the options after deciding the original pirate ship design had to be modified

it's like the halfway step between converting the original design before deciding to go with something new and the off center cockpit

Looking forward to watching your progress.

Thanks Analyzer...I want to get to a stage where it makes more sense to me

Really cool design

Thanks thegnome

John
 
Hi Hunk a Junk,....I'd been toying on making YouTube videos,....so I thought I'd try it out with a response to your questions about Foamex


Really awesome video, Jaitea! You have such a calming voice! You're officially the Bob Ross of the RPF! :lol:

It looks like great stuff. I assume since Foamex is PVC that you need to glue using CA and that styrene weld solvents won't work - or am I wrong? I like how you used dinner plates for the hull curvature. I was wondering whether you used the foamex to make those deep convex shapes.
 
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looking forward to updates!

Thanks Stinson,....I've done some more today, & I'll post images in the morning,....after midnight here at the moment

Really awesome video, Jaitea! You have such a calming voice! You're officially the Bob Ross of the RPF! :lol:

It looks like great stuff. I assume since Foamex is PVC that you need to glue using CA and that styrene weld solvents won't work - or am I wrong? I like how you used dinner plates for the hull curvature. I was wondering whether you used the foamex to make those deep convex shapes.

Ha....wow thanks,....Bob Ross is a family favourite (thanks to Netflix)....& I'm introducing his videos to my work colleagues as a de-stresser

Yes the Foamex locks together really well with Super Glue,....Styrene glue doesn't stick permanently.... after a few days it falls off

The dinner plates were convenient....the ones on the RMQ Falcon are pretty heavy,....but have the right depth....The ones on the Outrider-ish ship had the right sharp slope I was looking for but were VERY brittle....I used a lot of them to get the cuts I needed.....The curvature on this build though is all foamex,....cut into pizza slices & held down onto curved wedges on top of the ship with superglue,....when the entire top & bottom curved hulls were glud down & filled & sanded untill the surface was pretty smooth,....& I sealed the model with adhesive aid to allow more to be attached to the filled surface

That foamex stuff looks very useful!

It is....It's pretty amazing stuff.....Great for attempting crazy projects

John
 
There is an architectural modeler (and so much more) that has a fantastic site full of resources called David Neat that has a whole slew of interesting techniques and materials explained and demoed. PVC foam is one of them. Spanish Plastcraft games makes gaming terrain pieces in PVC foam. Quite useful as it holds such a high resolution compared to extruded polystyrene if you wish to "sculpt" it. You can put it in a CNC mill and get high res detail, you can heat form it and even vacuform it. Like Jaitea says in the video - it's very easy to work with.

It's commonly used for printing big photos on as you can have a photopaper substrate on it and it's quite light weight.
 
Okay, John, you win. Even incomplete, your mock up is WAAAY cooler than Johnston's drawing. Cool enough that if someone from Lucasfilm is lurking these threads they should give it a cameo in Mandalorian.
 

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