MR Falcon Mandible Problem

[nightrider]

Well, I finally recieved a Falcon with working lights and a pretty nice looking paint job, that's the good part. Bad part, there is a larger gap between the left front mandible than there is on the right. To tell the truth I probably wouldn't have noticed it for some time but I remembered another member receiving one with this same issue so I checked mine for it and to my dismay, there it was on my formerly "perfect" ship. Unfortunately this is the last replacement I can get, and I'm not entirely sure I would want one even if I could considering the rarity of a decent finish on these. So, I'm looking for opinions. What is the consensus, would this be something that would bother you enough to send it back, or would you be happy enough to have a nice paint job, or would you simply want a refund for the whole miserable, sloppy, experience. From some angles it's hardly noticeable and from thers it's not. Opinions?

 

[SSRN Seaview]

My MF has that same gap but to slightly less degree. I think if you polled most MF owners, you would find that a relatively perfect falcon was a rare bird.

 

[vaderdarth]

I hate to say it, but every MR falcon by and large has this problem to some degree. It's not worth trading for just that...........especially considering the quality of your paintjob...........dude that is the best MR paintjob I've seen yet........no Lie. If mine had looked that good right out of the box I wouldn't have repainted it period!!!

Dave

 

[nightrider]

Yea, I thought it might be a bit common, I feel much better about it now. I tend to be on the obesessive compulsive side at times, sure can be an expensive disorder.:lol After a closer examination it appears that the mandibles are aligned correctly, it seems to be the center piece that is slightly off to one side. On the bottom the gap is perfect, so it's just the top. Wish it had been the other way around, but oh well, I guess I'll just have to learn that everything can't be perfect all the time. On the up side, I do really love my paint job. Thanks for the replies.

 

[Pauleysolo]

Yes- That paint job is top notch- I would hang on to it!

P

 

[BrundelFly]

Ok well....here ya go.
The REAL prop...is pretty WONKY. The real mandibles are not perfect either. And the Back section....good Lord...Dont even ask.

So....be happier with the Paint job. If I can figure out WHAT got moved...might be able to help. I have to look at the one I have that is completely unassembled to tell ya what could be off and if its worth trying to move.

Frank Cerney

Yes- That paint job is top notch- I would hang on to it!

P

 

[propcollector]

mine is not off at all plus i got an outstanding paint job.... but on the left side where the dish is the pipe going to the edge is off like most mf

 

[nightrider]

Thanks guys, really do feel a good bit better about it now. When I look up into the docking area under the top docking piece I can see that it fits down into the groove on the left(facing me) and sits on top of it on the right, they just didn't center the front of it properly. That said, the more I think about it I realize I probably wouldn't have noticed it if I hadn't been looking for it. All in all I'd say she looks pretty good.

 

[PHArchivist]

The paint job on that one blows mine away. One o the best I've seen.

 

[Treadwell]

Tell us about the stand you're using!

 

[zorg]

forget about it, as ohers have said its a decent finish, they have to put up with the whole ship not to thier liking.

i would be happy to own that ship and it seems non of them are perfect so it looks like you got a good one!

just my 2 euros

z

 

[PHArchivist]

The paint job on that one blows mine away. One o the best I've seen.

The more I look at the pic, hte more the paint job looks like an artist's proof to me - I'm jealous! :angry

Oh, and I can't een see the mandible spacing issue.

 

[nightrider]

Yea, when I opened the box my jaw just about hit the floor. I've been worried to death the last few months about getting one that was finished poorly, so that was quite a treat, thanks for the compliments.

As for the stand, it's really nothing special, just the base of an old metal stool that was in my shed. The pole was the right diameter so I just cut it at the length I wanted and filled the end in with resin leaving a hole for wiring if I decided to run lights later, shot it with some black paint and that's it. I really like Kuhn Globals find with the speaker stands, I've seen some that look very nice, I like this one from zzounds very much in particular. The base measures 17.7 inches, should be adequate support if it's cut down to a lower display height I think. The shelf measures 9" square, covered with felt the falcon could be displayed level if it was in a protected enviroment and should be pretty stable.

http://www.zzounds.com/item--QLKBS300

 

[PHArchivist]

And see... For you it seems the paint job is just right; perfect. Definitly keep the model you have.

For mine the paint job is perfect too, because I really want a crack at re-painting it! If I had yours, I' be totally torn and indecisive about painting it over again!

 

[Zenwalker]

I have been through 3 Falcons now and they were all about equal in terms of the bad paint jobs. I finally got one that didn't have the mandible problem and since I had plans to repaint it anyway I decided to opt for the one without the mandible issue.
However, looking at your Falcon with this outstanding paint job it would be a tough decision and I would probably keep the one you have. The mandible issue for me was more important because it was something I could not correct and my model had a bad paint job anyway. Since I decided from the beginning that a repaint would be in order it was a no-brainer for me to keep the one without the mandible issue.
Having said that I think it is up to each individual's taste as to which flaw(s) they can live with or without.

 

[Jingo]

I have tried to figure out what the mandible problem is. I don't find any pictures in this forum showing a close up of what is misaligned. When I look at the pictures in this thread, I am not able to see what is wrong. I have a MR Falcon myself and I don't find anything wrong with it. There is an older thread that is missing some pictures where it might had been possible to see what the mandible problem is. I think this Falcon looks great. Maybe it is better for me, not knowing what the problem is since I might be affected

 

[ralphee]

Look at the gap between the outer wall of the central jaw, to the mandibles inner most edge!

lee

 

[GF]

I would definetely keep it, the paint job is excellent! Honestely the mandible gap difference doesn't distract at all compared to a poor weathering paintjob. Mine too has little issues but the great weathering
job on mine makes it up big time for the little defects. The first one I got had a terrible weathering paintjob which really bothered me.

GFollano

 

[nightrider]

Hey guys, I added a few touchups to my bird today and thought I would post a couple a shots. The paintjob was already very nice but I thought it could use a few adjustments here and there. I lightened the center of the tiangular panel on the front cockpit side so it would look a bit washed out like the original. Then I added rust in all the places I could see in my reference pics and also redid the rust panel on the tot turret. I then redid all the rust streaks with the airbrush to make them pop a bit more, couldn't really see them before. I then weathered the rear deck exhaust ports so they would look more realistic and like the ILM model and not solid black. Last thing was to redo all the chipping on the red panels. Mine looked like the chipping effect was just painted on very lightly with a brush and white paint, if you look at the pics up top you can't really see any chipping on the red panels at all, whereas on the real bird they look to be the most heavily chipped. The simulated chips also looked kinda pinkish with the red showing through the white paint, ugh. I tried to copy the chipping on the original but I don't think mine turned out quite as good. What can I say, I'm not an ILM model maker, but I think it turned out fairly nice and looks better than it did before to me. Let me know what you guys think.

 

[AT-AT Luvah]

To use the 'insider' lingo, that's a nice bird!

Great work.