Researching the original "Pirate Ship" Millennium Falcon

[3Dsf]

Hey, folks! So I've been doing some research on the pre-Blockade Runner pre-round Falcon spaceship design created for Star Wars. And I've been trying to assemble all the images on the subject I can. I've posted them to a site for anyone else who's interested.

The Original Millennium Falcon

The pictures are hosted on a Google Site as a community resource, and so should be around indefinitely unless Google decides to pull a Photobucket...

 

[Analyzer]

Very cool!

On a side note, supposedly the new Bandai blockade runner/ Falcon actually work nicely for kitbashing the pirate ship. The 1/350 cockpit cone seems to be a good match for the 1/1000 body

 

[Jkirkon]

Lot of good information on the original ‘pirate ship’ in Chronicles, and (I believe) ‘Art of Star Wars’.
There is also a bit in “From Star Wars to Indiana Jones”.

Edited to add: I just flipped through ‘Art of Star Wars’, and I was wrong...nothing in that one.
I swear I’ve even some more early drawings and concept models of the pirate ship somewhere else. When I get time, I’ll go through my reference library and find it.

 

[3Dsf]

Very cool!

On a side note, supposedly the new Bandai blockade runner/ Falcon actually work nicely for kitbashing the pirate ship. The 1/350 cockpit cone seems to be a good match for the 1/1000 body

Indeed. I'm working on some 3D printed parts to convert the Bandai Blockade Runner into a Star Wars Pirate Ship, for those inclined.

 

[Jaitea]

Check out RPF member Stevestarkiller (Stinson's) web blog

Stinson's All Things Star Wars Blog: The Falcon that Almost Was.

J

 

[3Dsf]

Thanks, Jaitea! I forgot about Stinson's two CGI models. Added a link!

 

[division 6]

Lot of good information on the original ‘pirate ship’ in Chronicles, and (I believe) ‘Art of Star Wars’.
There is also a bit in “From Star Wars to Indiana Jones”.

Edited to add: I just flipped through ‘Art of Star Wars’, and I was wrong...nothing in that one.
I swear I’ve even some more early drawings and concept models of the pirate ship somewhere else. When I get time, I’ll go through my reference library and find it.

IIRC it's the Star Wars Sketch Book that has the drawings. (blue cover)

 

[Hunk a Junk]

It would be awesome if Bandai made a larger scale Blockade Runner kit, but made it at a scale where it could be converted into a passable 1/72 Pirate Ship using the same size cockpit cone as the PG Falcon. If I was any good at math I could figure out what scale that would make the BR.

 

[Analyzer]

It would be awesome if Bandai made a larger scale Blockade Runner kit, but made it at a scale where it could be converted into a passable 1/72 Pirate Ship using the same size cockpit cone as the PG Falcon. If I was any good at math I could figure out what scale that would make the BR.

If I did it correctly, assuming the 1/350 cockpit works for a 1/1000 Blockade Runner than a 1/72 cockpit should fit a 1/205 Blockade Runner?

 

[Hunk a Junk]

Welp, I'm going to predict that the chance of Bandai releasing a kit in 1/205 scale is less than zero.

Thanks for the math skills, Analyzer!

 

[Jaitea]

Just some images of the X-Wing Miniatures Blockade Runner that John Simmons made using Tony RR's Falcon Cockpit,....Marko Olsterholtz was the guy who approached Tony to make the cockpit frame to fit & made the mod first,....but I cant find any images of his build

J

 

[Jaitea]

Here's everything I have saved to do with the Pirate Ship

Includes some of Stinson's renders



J

 

[3Dsf]

Hmmm. Interesting. The cockpit front cone looks a tiny bit large here. It’s clear from the photos that the front cone is a bit bigger than the back, but this seems just a smidge too large. It’s a shame we haven’t got higher-rez photos of the original model... (or the ability to apply calipers to the existing models to see what sizes they were!)

 

[publiusr]

I wonder if it inspired the original Palomino from THE BLACK HOLE...
Original Peter Ellenshaw's Preproduction Two Sides Painting of the Cygnus and Palomino

 

[Lt Washburn]

If the Blockade Runner was to originally be the Falcon, what were they planning to do for the Blockade Runner?

 

[Jaitea]

The Blockade Runner design was always changing & believe it or not,.....it was actually intended on being the Princess' ship before becoming the Pirate Ship, theres a great web page to have a look at which explains the history of the Blockade Runner, Pirate Ship & Millennium Falcon

The Millennium Falcon

John

 

[3Dsf]

That’s a really good question, and I’ve wondered about that myself. We do know that the opening sequence was filmed towards the end of production, since it took them some time to figure out how they were going to do it. I don’t know if there were plans drawn up to use a different vehicle prior to that point. Presumably there must have been.

 

[Jaitea]

oops double post

J

 

[Britcinescribe]

I wonder if it inspired the original Palomino from THE BLACK HOLE...
Original Peter Ellenshaw's Preproduction Two Sides Painting of the Cygnus and Palomino

Those things were designed by Bob McCall before the Ellenshaw paintings.

 

[Lt Washburn]

Thanks. So they never actually started building a model before the decision was made to alter the pirate ship to be the Tantive IV?