Ralph McQuarrie Millennium Falcon

[Jaitea]

I entered the Scale Model Addict Spring Contest with the hopes to convert a Revell Easykit Millennium Falcon to a design sililar to Ralph McQuarrie's concept paintings

That is about all the images I can find of this version, a CG artist called Taranis had started making a CG render of the craft:

His blog:
http://taraniscgi.wordpress.com/201...-war-millennium-falcon-concept-design-update/

The kit:



A lot of the surface details are to be removed:



Underside clean:




The upper Docking arms removed & gaps supported:




The Engine deck hull drawn on:





I bought an Airfix 1/72 Seaking to use it's cockpit etc (loads of nice details) & a Revell 1/72 Merkava Mk III for greebles

Heres some photos of it with 'bits stuck on':






That's where I'm at

Thanks for looking

John

 

[clactonite]

Jaitea,
I am noticing a falcon obsession developing here! Seriously though, this is looking great. Look forward to seeing the progress.

 

[FoxhoundTCF]

Looking good

 

[Archive&Future]

Wow! Looking forward to seeing this develop for sure. I converted a Revell EasyKit Falcon sometime last year, so much wrong with it accuracy wise, but it's neat little side piece to have.

 

[mr sinister]

there is nothing you won't attempt. I love the concept falcon so looking forward to this build ( and your others)

 

[Jaitea]

there is nothing you won't attempt. I love the concept falcon so looking forward to this build ( and your others)

Thanks Mr Sinister, I really ought to get back to the MPC, but I want to be sure that this one will be OK, the cockpit will be the test

Wow! Looking forward to seeing this develop for sure. I converted a Revell EasyKit Falcon sometime last year, so much wrong with it accuracy wise, but it's neat little side piece to have.

It has very simplistic computer designed details straight off the Code 3 Die-cast design:

....but the plastic is very easy to cut & modify

Looking good

Thanks Foxhound

Jaitea,
I am noticing a falcon obsession developing here! Seriously though, this is looking great. Look forward to seeing the progress.

Ahem....yes....I admit it.....all the research I've done just makes me want to build all the variants.....I really should move on to something else, but I'm addicted

John

 

[Archive&Future]

It has very simplistic computer designed details straight off the Code 3 Die-cast design:

....but the plastic is very easy to cut & modify

Aha! Very familiar details. I see the die-cast suffers from chubby sidewalls, but as you said, at least the Revell plastic is easy to cut

 

[SofaKing01]

This is too cool! I always wondered when somebody was going to tackle this project! Great start so far!

 

[Jaitea]

Thanks SofaKing01, I just hope I can pull it off

OK, just a small update, I had to cut off the top jaw (& will have to do the same for the lower) as it widened too much at the turret, it was also too long.

I've modified the mandibles in the top half of the ship (will follow up with the lower half also)

Ive also made the walkway to the cockpit:




John

 

[Randy13]

This is way cool. I love the idea and I know you're going to do a great job! Looking forward to this.

 

[crackerjazz]

Jaitea, you are just amazing with Falcons! Looking forward to your progress on this!

 

[Durrett]

Always great to see another unrealized concept come to life. That cockpit is going to be awesome!

 

[Avanaut]

What a splendid and fun idea! Subscribed.

 

[Bloop]

Great stuff! I wanted to weigh in on the concept pictures vs the 3D model. Those four rectangular shapes hanging off the back of the ship, below the hyperdrive, look more like flaps to me than solid wedges like the 3D model has. Maybe the 3D modeler did took some creative license. I know you're not going for 100% accuracy (which is never really possible going from these concept paintings anyway), but I figured I'd mention it.

 

[Stormy320]

A fair observation, but I disagree.

 

[Corpse Thrower]

Great stuff! I wanted to weigh in on the concept pictures vs the 3D model. Those four rectangular shapes hanging off the back of the ship, below the hyperdrive, look more like flaps to me than solid wedges like the 3D model has. Maybe the 3D modeler did took some creative license. I know you're not going for 100% accuracy (which is never really possible going from these concept paintings anyway), but I figured I'd mention it.

Spot on. Also the lower hull has a much steeper angle on it in that spot down to the flaps.

I'm tipping that they folded backwards and up when not in use, and deployed like an air brake when needed. If you look closely at the Mos Eisley pic, the box sections at the rear aren't there. They should be where the landing gear is and go all the way to the ground. You can see this as well in the Death Star pic.

 

[The 48th Ronin]

I also think that they're flaps. You just have to consult the other McQuarrie paintings...

Notice how there's no dimensionality whatsoever to the shapes in question? They just appear to be flat panels. Also, look at how they almost touch the deck - if they were solid blocks that wouldn't make much sense structurally, or design-wise.

Then there's this view...

No block shapes, but there is an indication of something flat hanging straight down, suggested by the highlights and shadows.

*edit*

I just consulted the Star Wars Sketchbook.... they're the rear landing gear doors. Joe Johnston made a notation:

Anyway... this is really cool - I look forward to seeing the finished model :thumbsup

 

[Jaitea]

Thanks very much for the comments guys

This is way cool. I love the idea and I know you're going to do a great job! Looking forward to this.

Hope I know what I'm doing

Jaitea, you are just amazing with Falcons! Looking forward to your progress on this!

.....no just addicted to Falcons

Always great to see another unrealized concept come to life. That cockpit is going to be awesome!

I'm looking forward to that bit too, there's a lot more detail on this version

What a splendid and fun idea! Subscribed.

Thanks Avanaut

A fair observation, but I disagree.

It is a tough one to interpret

Great stuff! I wanted to weigh in on the concept pictures vs the 3D model. Those four rectangular shapes hanging off the back of the ship, below the hyperdrive, look more like flaps to me than solid wedges like the 3D model has. Maybe the 3D modeler did took some creative license. I know you're not going for 100% accuracy (which is never really possible going from these concept paintings anyway), but I figured I'd mention it.

Thanks for bringing it up Bloop, to tell you the truth I was undecided what I was going to do with these rectangles, they do look flat like panels & not like how Taranis envisaged.......hmmm

Spot on. Also the lower hull has a much steeper angle on it in that spot down to the flaps.

I'm tipping that they folded backwards and up when not in use, and deployed like an air brake when needed. If you look closely at the Mos Eisley pic, the box sections at the rear aren't there. They should be where the landing gear is and go all the way to the ground. You can see this as well in the Death Star pic.

I don't know what they are for, I did find them strange at first inspection, but I would like to incorporate them as flaps on the model & try not to stray too far from the concept art

I also think that they're flaps. You just have to consult the other McQuarrie paintings...
Notice how there's no dimensionality whatsoever to the shapes in question? They just appear to be flat panels. Also, look at how they almost touch the deck - if they were solid blocks that wouldn't make much sense structurally, or design-wise.
No block shapes, but there is an indication of something flat hanging straight down, suggested by the highlights and shadows.

*edit*

I just consulted the Star Wars Sketchbook.... they're the rear landing gear doors. Joe Johnston made a notation:

Anyway... this is really cool - I look forward to seeing the finished model :thumbsup

Wow thanks D48thRonin, I have seen that Joe Johnston in the past and paid little attention to it,.....but now when you look at it with the RMcQ design (or was it JJ who designed it.????) it reveals so much help.....I'm going to incorporate the JJ explanation into the model

Also when you look at this image you posted:

...it's funny that McQuarrie conceived the scene with the Falcons landing gear already down, I always wondered in the film how did the Empire get the landing gear down on an unmanned ship???

Thanks very much for your help everyone!!

John

 

[SofaKing01]

Also... After all these I just noticed how the perspective is a little off - notice how "low" the cockpit is hanging off the body. It appears almost even with the landing gear.

 

[SteveStarkiller]

Jaitea, I had been toying with the idea of a cg model of this, but I'm really pleased to see somebody like you doing a practical build. Cannot wait to see more.

Also, I'm in the flaps, not box, camp, for what it's worth.

And I would note that the McQuarrie/Jonston falcon had two extra prongs extending forward from the inner edge of the mandible tips (you can see them best on the front view of the ship in the deathstar bay) These prongs were noted on plan-view outlines of the FS Falcon where it sat in the drawings for Docking Bay 94 (and I'm pretty sure also on the Jonston sketch that D48thRonin posted, area cut off in the scan provided)

I think they may have based the design on nib-jaw vernier calipers, which makes sense as Lucas has said in interviews that the manibles were meant to grab cargo

The build is looking great so far, keep up the good work!