interesting facts.... just ordered. Will look good in the bookcase next to the chronicles books and the rinzler books. 
Our Collective 5-Foot Millennium Falcon Build
- Thread starter Studio Kitbash
- Start date
While waiting for castings to solidify... serendipity: Tina Fey on Craig Fergusion, via YouTube, discussing her Millennium Falcon in her parent's basement starting at around the 9 minute mark -- sound effects included.
Sometimes castings come out perfectly.
Sometimes you get careless, and stack molds on top of molds that don't have enough support underneath...
These are what I call "Salvador Dalis":
Sometimes you get careless, and stack molds on top of molds that don't have enough support underneath...
These are what I call "Salvador Dalis":
Oooh I really don't want to cast... but I think I have to start soon also... last time I did it, it was really not successful. Hope I have some more patience, to learn the craft.. that it's just good enough.
received the book.... just did a quick flip through. Looks like an interesting read! Thanks for the hint.
received the book.... just did a quick flip through. Looks like an interesting read! Thanks for the hint.
This thread started in January 2020.
February 2022 -- Finally satisfied with engine vent rings. Thanks to a lot of trial and error, a lot of going back to the drawing board, and a lot of help from my friend with CAD skills. I have no idea if they are exactly like the originals or not. What I can tell you is that YOU have to be satisfied with what YOU come up with.
I may have enough leftover vintage Koolshade to sell a few sets of six-- check the project runs page in about a week. If there's enough, I'll include the 18 inches of Koolshade strip you need for the cockpit tube and the few inches for port and starboard upper docking arm walkways.
February 2022 -- Finally satisfied with engine vent rings. Thanks to a lot of trial and error, a lot of going back to the drawing board, and a lot of help from my friend with CAD skills. I have no idea if they are exactly like the originals or not. What I can tell you is that YOU have to be satisfied with what YOU come up with.
I may have enough leftover vintage Koolshade to sell a few sets of six-- check the project runs page in about a week. If there's enough, I'll include the 18 inches of Koolshade strip you need for the cockpit tube and the few inches for port and starboard upper docking arm walkways.
Very Clean!
How the Sausage is Planned:
VS
How the Sausage Is Made:
It ain't pretty.
But it is fun.
VS
How the Sausage Is Made:
It ain't pretty.
But it is fun.
Wow superb. 'it ain't pretty' he says... Looks very cool to me. And a good wink to the past. (And saves weight ofcourse )
)
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Yeah, I thought it would save "a ton" of weight -- turns out the "lightening holes" saves you about about ten pounds...Wow superb. 'it ain't pretty' he says... Looks very cool to me. And a good wink to the past. (And saves weight ofcourse
But that really helps when you kick in the hyperdrive, because every ounce you save improves your parsecs on the Kessel Run!
in either direction.... it adds up.
Studio Kitbash,
Nice to see the process used in the original disc core fabrication being used. Have you made any estimate on total weight? My plywood skinned disc and mandibles weighed about 40 lbs with landing gear and ramp. After aluminum armor is added my guess is around 100 lbs.
Searun
Nice to see the process used in the original disc core fabrication being used. Have you made any estimate on total weight? My plywood skinned disc and mandibles weighed about 40 lbs with landing gear and ramp. After aluminum armor is added my guess is around 100 lbs.
Searun
I don't have a weight estimate just yet, but will be weighing the wood/aluminum armature once it's all together, and then weighing once again after the domes are in place.
If you squint your eyes, and just look quickly, the armature looks AMAZING!!!
Whereas if you blow up the picture, and run your eyes all the way around the wooden rings, you'll see that I have screwed up in a MAJOR way!
So first, the good news:
The aluminum armature tube is perfect, and perfectly centered.
The blown dome on top (which as actually the bottom), is perfect, but the center 2.25" ring is slightly off (nothing I can't fix with a little Dremel action.)
The wooden rings really are circles, and even though they are not all identical/perfect in sharing the same diameter, that is not the source of my problem.
The problem:
I somehow mismeasured the dead-center halfway point, or misguided my drill bit when I cut the lateral tube slots on port and starboard side of the wooden rings, and so the whole thing is slightly "ahead" of dead center, which is why there is so much more acrylic dome overhang on the aft section (like 2+") than the fore section (which only has +/- 1" overhang).
These were handcut, with a circular jig and a battery-powered DeWalt router saw, but the lesson learned is possibly a major time-and-money saver for someone else reading this: get a CNC router machine to cut your rings, and make sure it's perfectly aligned. There's no way to save/salvage this mess, because even though I could shim my way to making the rings concentric underneath the domes, the placement of the alumininum armature puts the docking rings still one inch too far forward to build an accurate Falcon. So the wooden rings have to go and with them goes a few hundred dollars of plywood sheet from Home Depot, and back to the drawing board for doing it the "old school" way.
And here I thought, by doing it the old school way, I'll be saving money on an expensive shop that will charge me an arm and a leg for CNC routing my wooden pieces!!!
Ah, vanity...
Whereas if you blow up the picture, and run your eyes all the way around the wooden rings, you'll see that I have screwed up in a MAJOR way!
So first, the good news:
The aluminum armature tube is perfect, and perfectly centered.
The blown dome on top (which as actually the bottom), is perfect, but the center 2.25" ring is slightly off (nothing I can't fix with a little Dremel action.)
The wooden rings really are circles, and even though they are not all identical/perfect in sharing the same diameter, that is not the source of my problem.
The problem:
I somehow mismeasured the dead-center halfway point, or misguided my drill bit when I cut the lateral tube slots on port and starboard side of the wooden rings, and so the whole thing is slightly "ahead" of dead center, which is why there is so much more acrylic dome overhang on the aft section (like 2+") than the fore section (which only has +/- 1" overhang).
These were handcut, with a circular jig and a battery-powered DeWalt router saw, but the lesson learned is possibly a major time-and-money saver for someone else reading this: get a CNC router machine to cut your rings, and make sure it's perfectly aligned. There's no way to save/salvage this mess, because even though I could shim my way to making the rings concentric underneath the domes, the placement of the alumininum armature puts the docking rings still one inch too far forward to build an accurate Falcon. So the wooden rings have to go and with them goes a few hundred dollars of plywood sheet from Home Depot, and back to the drawing board for doing it the "old school" way.
And here I thought, by doing it the old school way, I'll be saving money on an expensive shop that will charge me an arm and a leg for CNC routing my wooden pieces!!!
Ah, vanity...
I like the way your armature helps ensure that all 3 axis are true centerlines. Good work there. Ensures mandibles are aligned and have a strong spine.
Even so you have to rework the rings, their lamination build up is an excellent way to keep your disc wall thickness precise and uniform at the locations you want them. My approach to the disc was based on a airfoil curve using ribs. My major rework on the disc front was at the 45.5“ dia. were I thought the wall (channel) height was 2.625” for the 2” thick mandible entrance. That height was good for the 47.50 dia. to 48“ dia. I did not have the Sheridan Tank kit part in the beginning. It’s hull height properly set the jaw box mouth entrance.
Honestly, I have pushed the reset button more than a few times. Mock-up, templates and trusty alignment jigs help. Persistence is not an option. Recall the statement attributed to Hannibal upon crossing the Alps, “If we can not find a way, we will make one.”
Even so you have to rework the rings, their lamination build up is an excellent way to keep your disc wall thickness precise and uniform at the locations you want them. My approach to the disc was based on a airfoil curve using ribs. My major rework on the disc front was at the 45.5“ dia. were I thought the wall (channel) height was 2.625” for the 2” thick mandible entrance. That height was good for the 47.50 dia. to 48“ dia. I did not have the Sheridan Tank kit part in the beginning. It’s hull height properly set the jaw box mouth entrance.
Honestly, I have pushed the reset button more than a few times. Mock-up, templates and trusty alignment jigs help. Persistence is not an option. Recall the statement attributed to Hannibal upon crossing the Alps, “If we can not find a way, we will make one.”
Oh man, I feel for you...I have been there. My thread isn't called 'my second attempt...'.
Hope you work it out soon...
Hope you work it out soon...
