1:1 Millennium Falcon Cockpit Replica - Group Build

Wow... very sweet!!! :thumbsup

I think #4 looks too conventional. Like a normal wall vent. I'd pick any of the others over that.

And 1 droid socket is my opinion on the lower part.

Maybe keep the simple design of #4 but make the slots a different size, shape, alternating or something so that it doesn't look like an every day A/C vent.
Either way it's awesome.

I like design 1 so it's not just a plain vent and would love to see one droid socket!

Hi Gang,

Finally... the end of the long weekend and time for an update. Unfortunately, the heat and humidity came back with a fiery determination to keep fall / winter away so I had to cut the day short. The humidity was overwhelming! But enough about that!

With the laser cutter still down, ugh, it forced me to change gears and knock out all the little annoyances that have been in my rear view for quite some time. I also made few mod's to the main frame... Away we go!

Let's start with new greeblies and misc items! I picked up a 3" corrugated pipe to insert into the corridor ring


Along with the pipe I picked up a few connectors as well


They will screw into place and help keep the pipe in place - whoops that's a bit too big


I made some measurements (this is when I wish the laser cutter was working) and cut the sides down




Still too big


I have a few extras for this exact reason! When the laser cutter works I'll design a cut and hole guide so each is close to perfect




I'm always searching the net for greeblies. This old typewriter part jumped out at me because of its familiar shape


Sprayed some oven cleaner to remove all the grease


Cleaned up the greeblie


Primer




Again... this typewriter part looks VERY familiar


Those who have been following the build and know the cockpit, knows this piece sits behind the nav chair on Han's side


Here are the two pieces for comparo


VERY similar


Even the length is close! I'm going to dig some more and see if I can find THE part!


Another greeblie that arrived was the final CPU cooling fan with cone!


Time to finally fill this blank spot


Painted the cone


Cut the holes


Installed!








Still have to add more pinstripes and other little cone details






I finished wiring this area




I then removed all the corridor panels


This section of the corridor panel needed some work before I could add the skin


Much better!


Ready for a skin!


I took the time to set the MDF on top of the main body for a few days so it took the basic shape of the corridor - that really helped


Have to cut all the excess away


There is always one side that requires 1 or 2 screws!


Finally!


From the back


I have to cut holes for the new maint console to mount




I added lip to the back side of the console to help keep in place when screwing in the bolts so I had to cut away for the lip to slide through




Console now in place!








Slight gap... oh well


I might widen the lower panel - not sure yet






I then took each panel and filled in ALL the holes from the brads and the screws


Some areas needed a little extra attention and adhesive


In all... 5 rounds of sanding, filling, priming






While all that filler dried and removed more excess from other parts of the ring






Sanding, Sanding, Sanding








This is what was giving me all sorts of grief!


I wound up having to use a ball peen hammer to knock down the screws holes and then fill with more filler


With the corridor spread all over the shop I removed the floor to add another bolt point for the corridor ring to mount






The last of the sanding


Lead to painting the panels!


But something was wrong...


UGH... the paint was too dark!


The code on the paint can was a later version of the color I originally had mixed years ago!


So I went back to the home improvement store and they were nice enough to exchange the custom color for a lighter shade


Before


After


MUCH better and it dried a little bit darker




Time to address the corridor ring brad holes






More primer filler


Panels installed


Love it!


For years the light bars have been a source of GREAT pain! When I finally boxed in the main body panels this rendered the light bar housing virtually useless and gives us lots of space to now figure out how we're going to move forward


With the light bar still in place I added a horizontal beam and screwed it into the panel above the light bar


That new piece carries a LOT of the weight and the light bar is now removed (when the body is finally taken apart I have to screw in the beam from the backside)




From inside


I then removed the light bar from Chewie's side - the small piece you see is mounted to the box/frame and needs to be lowered just a bit


I then worked on the cockpit entrance capstone panel


Took measurements to mount the recessed box


Screwed into place


LOTS of work to do to clean this up


The greeblies are mounted but are WAY too low. They have to be re-positioned


In place




DEF too low


I LOVE those greeblies


You can see how low the greeblies are with the trim plate in place


Now for the FUN STUFF! Daniel is back! Not full time (not yet) but he got started on lighting the new extension panel boxes




So pretty!


The red LEDs are temp lit


The red LEDs will DEF have some sort of flash pattern


He then added some LEDs to the coil housing(s)






These will have a dimmer switch so we don't drown out the light that will be inserted into the braided hoses


We might add some light behind the fans




The floor grating is coming next!






And this...




Is where we are!


WHEW! I've ordered lots of good stuff so PLEASE stay tuned for more MAJOR updates!

Cool stuff to follow!

EDIT: Head on over to the Facebook page! Daniel posted a vid of the illuminated ext panel!

Hi, Because i saw Daniel's post on FB I rushed back here to see the update!! Yay !!! It's so exciting.. i'll have to go up page again and take a second look!! Well done!!!

Fantastic Greeblie work! Welcome back Daniel . . . Now get to work

There's a ton of cool stuff there. It never ceases to amaze me how much you get done in adverse weather. Can't wait to see the floor lighting. What are you going to use to simulate the flooring panels?

On the capstone, what if you just flipped the greeblies upside down? That would put the focal point up higher.

Great update. Too bad the laser cutter is still down. But they didn't have one to make the sets originally, so it's just more authentic.

I like these little projects pumping around to older parts of the build. I was wondering when you'd work on the light bars again. When do you think you'll get the milk-plexi in?

Also, why all the effort hiding screws in the wall panels? Won't all that get covered up by the wall pads and whatnot?

Hi Gang,

Thanks for all the input and ideas for the maint console. Still not sure how to move forward with the upper screen. I've created 10 different designs and I'm still not satisfied. The lower panel will DEF have at least 1 droid socket. Still working it!

- - - Updated - - -

Daboudzi said:

Hi, Because i saw Daniel's post on FB I rushed back here to see the update!! Yay !!! It's so exciting.. i'll have to go up page again and take a second look!! Well done!!!

Click to expand...

Thanks D!

I think we need to get more vids created and posted.

- - - Updated - - -

Fuzzual said:

Fantastic Greeblie work! Welcome back Daniel . . . Now get to work

Click to expand...

Thank you, Sir! We're working... we're working!

Katuna said:

There's a ton of cool stuff there. It never ceases to amaze me how much you get done in adverse weather. Can't wait to see the floor lighting. What are you going to use to simulate the flooring panels?

On the capstone, what if you just flipped the greeblies upside down? That would put the focal point up higher.

Click to expand...

Hey K,

OH MAN! The latest tropical storm came up and pushed a fresh round heat and humidity into the area. It was really humid yesterday. UGH

Daniel and I are discussing different options for the flooring. The ply is 3/4" so whatever the floor grating is has to match the ply width. I'm thinking 1/2" birch with two layers of the alumiclad (the same material we're using for the skin) to rest on top. It's just a working idea. Whatever it is has to be strong enough to take people accidentally standing on the actual grates as they come in and out of the cockpit.

I think flipping the greeblies on the capstone panel is the right move. I have a LOT of work / redesign to do on those greeblies and the recessed box. I should be able to knock it out in a few hours - after the laser cutter is fixed of course!

Lt Washburn said:

Great update. Too bad the laser cutter is still down. But they didn't have one to make the sets originally, so it's just more authentic.

I like these little projects pumping around to older parts of the build. I was wondering when you'd work on the light bars again. When do you think you'll get the milk-plexi in?

Also, why all the effort hiding screws in the wall panels? Won't all that get covered up by the wall pads and whatnot?

Click to expand...

Hey Lt W,

As mush as I hate having the LC down, it's actually forced me to address all those little things I've been pushing aside. So, there is a bright side! And you're right, they didn't have access to any of the tools we have today - just a larger warehouse of greeblies to pull from! Lucky guys!

The light bar plexi has already been cut so it's just a matter of figuring how to mount it in place. After looking at TFA 360 Pano view we realized that they used 1/2" frosted acrylic / plexi for the light bar covers. But they rested behind both the panel above and below each light bar - that made mounting certainly easy. We have LOTS of room so we'll DEF figure something out.

I asked myself that exact question why I'm sanding the brad and screw holes to the point of perfect when they are only going to be hidden by hoses and pads. The only explanation I can give is that it takes only one screw hole to take away from the look and feel. Also, I just like finishing the panel(s). It gives me personal satisfaction that each panel is finished off.

Hope that made sense?

Nice progress, but I want my ship ready by Dec. 15! ****cracks whip!****

trainman said:

Nice progress, but I want my ship ready by Dec. 15! ****cracks whip!****

Click to expand...

Well... that's the real trick isn't it?

Hi Gang,

GREAT NEWS! The parts for the laser cutter arrived! Let's hope this solves the problem - fingers crossed

I like design 1 with both droid sockets.

My 2 cents!

Those lights make an already awesome thing even cooler looking. Great job, y'all! Keep up the good work.

Katuna said:

https://media.makeameme.org/created/Prepare-the-Laser.jpg

Bwahaha!

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BigBigDave said:

Those lights make an already awesome thing even cooler looking. Great job, y'all! Keep up the good work.

Click to expand...

Kudos to Daniel! These next few months are going to be fun!

Hi Gang,

Just a small update before this weekend's adventures...

As I mentioned, the laser cutter parts finally arrived


And... another surprise showed up in the mail. More on this interesting material later.


Stay Tuned!

Hi Gang,

Can anybody recommend an excellent auto seat upholsterer here in the US? I really need to get these seats finished up and need to find someone who is reliable and reasonable with a decent/quick turnaround.

Any help would be fantastic! PLEASE PM me!