Thoughts and tips on painting the Millenium Falcon

starks

Sr Member
After doing the Imperial shuttle recently, I had some energy to finish the Bandai Y-wing that I had half painted. At the same time, I pulled my FineMolds Falcon down and kind of thought..."I'm not happy with this".

As hard as I tried to copy the studio model, It just didn't seem to look correct. A bit too much overspray here and there and somewhat felt over detailed but also not detailed enough. It looked like a model kit with some black streaks and a few different coloured panels. Not like a somewhat realistic model.
I may be over thinking this, I tend to do that.
I've already repainted it once and tried to add a few more rust sections and yellow it up a bit to give it a more realistic appearance, which I know this is not accurate to the 32" model and the engine sooting is a bit over the top. I am somewhat thinking I need to be trying to not replicate the studio model as there is clear differences between the 5 footer and 32" models and just make it look like the Falcon. But thinking it looks maybe over-grimed. Good reference photos are hard to come by now and I'm wondering if the Falcon is actually a lot cleaner than I picture it in my head.

I'll put some pics up for critique, they look ok on my phone but pretty poor on my cheap computer monitor so hopefully present reasonably to others.
I'd be interested in peoples thoughts and tips, post pictures of your own work. Doesn't matter if it's the 5 footer or 32". I think peoples thoughts may be a good reference for others starting out on theirs. So it's clear in your head, what makes the Falcon look like the Falcon?

Cheers,
Josh




 
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I'd be happy with that finish if that were mine! My Bandai Falcon has sat unfinished for years because I don't think I have the skills to get the weathering/streaking "correct." It doesn't help that there are some absolute masters of the craft here who haver exactly replicated the finish of the studio models down to the streak. It's both awesome and "I'll never achieve that so why bother" humbling.
 
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I'd be happy with that finish if that were mine! My Bandai Falcon has sat unfinished for years because I don't think I have the skills to get the weathering/streaking correct. It doesn't help that there are some absolute masters of the craft here who haver exactly replicated the finish of the studio models down to the streak. It's both awesome and "I'll never achieve that so why bother" humbling.
Thanks for the kind words.
And you're totally right! There are absolute masters who seem to do it perfectly. Some of the best I've seen is on the Bandai and Deago models. I'm sure the size helps on the latter.

Cheers,
Josh
 
The engine sooting does look too dark but the rest looks fantastic. One thing to note is when you’re watching the ship in the movies it is being drenched with light for motion control photography so it will look cleaner and whiter than the model does just sitting under normal lighting conditions.
 
The engine sooting does look too dark but the rest looks fantastic. One thing to note is when you’re watching the ship in the movies it is being drenched with light for motion control photography so it will look cleaner and whiter than the model does just sitting under normal lighting conditions.
Thanks mate,

And thanks for the confirmation on the sooting.
I think I'll go back and repaint that engine area.
I had been questioning it but now feel confident that is the way to go.

Cheers,
Josh
 
starks,
Thanks for the pictures and the second guessing on your Falcon weathering. I fully agree with the Attirex and JeffBond opinions above. My Falcon is getting close to being construction complete after 4-1/2 years. I would be delighted with your painting results, but do not have that skill set.
Looking at engine sooting on other models, your’s really is not as dark in comparison. Rather than risk messing up a beautiful job, consider the old Eddie Murphy movie bedroom joke, i.e. turn down the light.
 
Josh ,
Great paint work on your model , the streaks and ect are well done . I would be happy if it was my work, for sure !

Duaine
 
starks,
Thanks for the pictures and the second guessing on your Falcon weathering. I fully agree with the Attirex and JeffBond opinions above. My Falcon is getting close to being construction complete after 4-1/2 years. I would be delighted with your painting results, but do not have that skill set.
Looking at engine sooting on other models, your’s really is not as dark in comparison. Rather than risk messing up a beautiful job, consider the old Eddie Murphy movie bedroom joke, i.e. turn down the light.

That's kind of you. I still feel like I'm learning. I would be interested to see how much I could improve on painting another Falcon. I think the trick is almost a less is more approach. Paint your base white and all your panel colours, scotch brite it back a bit, then carefully do your streaking (keeping it somewhat defined), toothbrush splatter etc.
You're on drugs, your model looks amazing.

Hahahaha, I did say I may be overthinking it a bit. And thank you.
Josh ,
Great paint work on your model , the streaks and ect are well done . I would be happy if it was my work, for sure !

Duaine

Thanks Duaine,
As said before, still learning. I think it looks ok overall but could be a bit better defined, less smudgy in its detail.


I had to do it though. I spent yesterday afternoon, after work, cleaning up the engine panel. Admittedly this is one area I don't like on the studio model, the streaking on the engines is such a half arsed airbrushing of black.
And isn't it funny how you think something looks compared to how it actually does. I was sure the sooting was flowed past the sides of the engine fans but no, its directly beneath them.
I've just used some Abteilung 502 weathering powders to add the soot effect. Some brown first to give a burnt hue then a dusting of black soot.
I added a few darker rust spots, I have to come back and do a few more red oxide spots.

To my eye, addressing the engine panel has been a big improvement. The heavy sooting, while looked cool, kind of acted as a break and just didn't look right. Now the whole ship has taken on a more complete appearance.





Cheers,
Josh
 
Fan streaks look great brought down a bit! The original models weren’t actually all that dark there. :)
 
That's kind of you. I still feel like I'm learning. I would be interested to see how much I could improve on painting another Falcon. I think the trick is almost a less is more approach. Paint your base white and all your panel colours, scotch brite it back a bit, then carefully do your streaking (keeping it somewhat defined), toothbrush splatter etc.


Hahahaha, I did say I may be overthinking it a bit. And thank you.


Thanks Duaine,
As said before, still learning. I think it looks ok overall but could be a bit better defined, less smudgy in its detail.


I had to do it though. I spent yesterday afternoon, after work, cleaning up the engine panel. Admittedly this is one area I don't like on the studio model, the streaking on the engines is such a half arsed airbrushing of black.
And isn't it funny how you think something looks compared to how it actually does. I was sure the sooting was flowed past the sides of the engine fans but no, its directly beneath them.
I've just used some Abteilung 502 weathering powders to add the soot effect. Some brown first to give a burnt hue then a dusting of black soot.
I added a few darker rust spots, I have to come back and do a few more red oxide spots.

To my eye, addressing the engine panel has been a big improvement. The heavy sooting, while looked cool, kind of acted as a break and just didn't look right. Now the whole ship has taken on a more complete appearance.





Cheers,
Josh

Excellent. Looked great before, but I think that now looks much better with the more faded engine deck compared to the darker black

The only other advice/criticism I might offer is the contrast on some of those grey panels. I feel like they might be a bit too saturated looking

You could try toning down a bit by using some whiteish/grey oil paint.
I find it easier and more easily undone than going back with an airbrush

I struggle with the same thing on mine. I think the key to getting the Falcon to look right is less contrast in panel colors and not doing dark panel line washes. It just kind of has a general uneven grime
 
- I agree that this thing looks darn good now.

- But yeah, the "correct" look is a moving target. Two major ILM models, varying lighting, etc. You have to decide which look you're going for.

- The ILM model shots had to be lit pretty hard which tends to wash out contrasts. This is speculation, but it wouldn't surprise me if they intentionally leaned heavier on the paint contrasting to compensate for it. We take it for granted that the greeblies were done pretty heavily because it helped the shots. And we know they were considering red TIE fighters but they had to switch to gray for photographic reasons.

- Don't forget that people's memories of "the" Falcon are not all from the ILM models - the big soundstage exteriors are a lot of it! Those seem very streaked & weathered but less severely contrasted & saturated. It might support my theory that the ILM models were purposely painted "harder." Or maybe the soundstage props looked washed-out because they were lit so strongly too. Either way, same result - it's a big percentage of the Falcon's screen time and it looks less color-saturated & contrasted. It looks more like a zillion shades of weathered light gray.
 
Hi Josh, looked amazing before, now you’ve toned down the engine deck it looks even better, lovely painting

J

Thank you!
That looks fantastic! You should be proud!

I appreciate that, cheers mate.
Fan streaks look great brought down a bit! The original models weren’t actually all that dark there. :)

Thanks! it has definitely helped. And no, you're correct. Even the digital model I note is very light on the weathering around the fans.
Excellent. Looked great before, but I think that now looks much better with the more faded engine deck compared to the darker black

The only other advice/criticism I might offer is the contrast on some of those grey panels. I feel like they might be a bit too saturated looking

You could try toning down a bit by using some whiteish/grey oil paint.
I find it easier and more easily undone than going back with an airbrush

I struggle with the same thing on mine. I think the key to getting the Falcon to look right is less contrast in panel colors and not doing dark panel line washes. It just kind of has a general uneven grime

Thanks, I've really loved some of the models I've seen you build so means a lot.... and I know exactly what you mean!
I had initially done the white overspray trick over the coloured panels, that ILM seems to have done on the studio model. But then it looked too washed out and gave the red panels a magenta hue... I had to go back and put some oxide red over those to pull it back. then I scoured them heavily.
But yeah, I will study some more images and can try giving them a whiteish wash. And you're totally correct on the panel line washes, this is somewhere I failed. I know the 32" didn't have a wash and I planned not to either. When I did my repaint on this as it was too dark, I whitened it up quite a bit. Looked great in the shade or a not well lit room, but get it in the sun or under strong lights and the thing glowed. I rectified it by giving the whole ship a couple of grey washes to tone it down. It basically gave the colour but dirtied up the panel lines a bit too much. I don't think it's bad enough to deserve a 3rd paint job though, at least I hope not.
- I agree that this thing looks darn good now.

- But yeah, the "correct" look is a moving target. Two major ILM models, varying lighting, etc. You have to decide which look you're going for.

- The ILM model shots had to be lit pretty hard which tends to wash out contrasts. This is speculation, but it wouldn't surprise me if they intentionally leaned heavier on the paint contrasting to compensate for it. We take it for granted that the greeblies were done pretty heavily because it helped the shots. And we know they were considering red TIE fighters but they had to switch to gray for photographic reasons.

- Don't forget that people's memories of "the" Falcon are not all from the ILM models - the big soundstage exteriors are a lot of it! Those seem very streaked & weathered but less severely contrasted & saturated. It might support my theory that the ILM models were purposely painted "harder." Or maybe the soundstage props looked washed-out because they were lit so strongly too. Either way, same result - it's a big percentage of the Falcon's screen time and it looks less color-saturated & contrasted. It looks more like a zillion shades of weathered light gray.

Thanks, and yeah it is a moving target, and I suppose throw in the mix the digital model and every other interpretation and toy you have ever seen.
That's why I had somewhat decided on having something that looks like The Falcon than a copy of one of the studio models.

Without seeing the model for myself in good lighting it is really a hard tell. All the photos I have seen from the exhibitions have quite dull lighting.
And I think you're right, I think they would have heavily leaned on paint contrasting to compensate for the wash out of studio lighting as we know thought was put into the paint colours they had, such as light grey instead of straight white and the TIE fighters as you mentioned.

As you have basically pointed out and Analyzer, the production at the least, does cause the whole ship to look very washed out. And to some degree I want to paint more what I see on screen.

Cheers,
Josh
 
Seeing the originals in person in the archives many times I have always been struck as to how light the paint, panels and weathering actually is. While these are impeccably created I would venture the opinion that they are too dark and that a much lighter hand needs to be used when finishing the Falcon

M

DSC04137.JPG
 
Seeing the originals in person in the archives many times I have always been struck as to how light the paint, panels and weathering actually is. While these are impeccably created I would venture the opinion that they are too dark and that a much lighter hand needs to be used when finishing the Falcon

M

View attachment 1902068
That's very kind of you to share.
Would you say the photo you posted shows a fair representation of what colours you see in person? On my end for example the red panels look basically like oxide rust.

Cheers,
Josh
 
Two pictures, before & after shots. Both excellent. They are a perfect weathering guide for my Falcon painting after its completion. Great discussion by all the masters.
 
That's very kind of you to share.
Would you say the photo you posted shows a fair representation of what colours you see in person? On my end for example the red panels look basically like oxide rust.

Cheers,
Josh

It is like red oxide with a dusty faded filter over it. Now that I think about it a straight white misting or filter layer would probably shift it to the wrong color. Needs more like a grime or sand colored type of misting/fading?

I am pretty sure all those odd grey, tan, light grey and red colored panels started out full tone and saturated. It was the subsequent weathering layers that tied it all together and made it more uniform looking. That is the ILM magic that is hard to capture and what I struggle with and feel like I never quite achieve. I have come close on things, but never quite got it

I had set aside my Bandai 1/72 for a while since I am was disappointed as well, but I think this thread may have renewed my resolve to give it another crack and finally finish it up. I'd much rather be where yours ( starks ) is at.

Where my head is at...I feel like the weathering is just too light and my panels as well just don't feel blended in
Plus I do not think I got the base color. That is another thing I struggle with. It just feels to "white"

P9042771.JPG



The other thing that comes into play with ILM stuff is light.

For example the pic above has no string light source and kind of highlights the flaws or weak weathering, in addition many of those greeblie details just get lost

Add a strong directional light source that cast shadows and all of a sudden it seems to come alive.
Unfortunately this is the look I am painting for, but without requiring shining a "spotlight" on the display case to achieve :lol:

IMG_6638.JPG


and replacing the background even further enhances the effect

PG Falcon no background.png
 
Don't know if this helps, as you know the FineMolds model is their representation of the smaller model built for 'Empire' to do more dynamic shots, The image Kramstar posted is of course the Bible Falcon, the original bigger model made for 'SW' which is a lot paler, here's a photoshopped image of the 32" top & bottom from the Chronicles book....(photoshopping out the support arm on the underside image)


Falcon UNDERSIDE jaitea 40%.jpg


I honestly don't think you need to do anything more to your model, it is a beautiful piece

J
 
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