1:1 Millennium Falcon Cockpit Replica - Group Build

SofaKing01 said:

Hi L,

Thanks so much! There are times when I'm really focused and other times I just want to finish this "certain" task and move on.

Funny thing, I haven't even looked at the harness since it arrived. Shame on me. The movies version(s) were lap only. The only time we saw them used (if memory serves) was when Ben, Luke and 3PO sat on the couch. I'm hoping we can take a mold of the buckle itself and then attach to the Nav Chairs - another task I need to finish up...

Click to expand...

Just to be clear, all the buckles are 5 point....until you press the the little tab and it releases the shoulder harness tabs (We only use the shoulder harness for take off and landing or turbulence). Im flying on Sat night...Ill try to remember to take a pic of mine to compare.

Katuna said:

Really dig the coil pack terminal blank. I really like function to follow form and it looks like it belongs there.

Click to expand...

I agree, the cover looks spot on, and the weathering is gorgeous! It looks like a random greebly just picked off some old machinery, very "Falcon"!

Hi Gang,

Another weekend come and gone.. time for some updates! I spent way too much time in front of the computer designing and redesigning a couple of new additions to some old greeblies but did finally make some forward progress.

But first, I picked a few new real world parts - cool fan frame to a Yamaha bike (I think)






Lucent Cable Rack






Dont really need these parts






I started the weekend by removing this greeblie and drilling hole a bit deeper


Picked up a water sprinkler hose for a few bucks to get some ideas


Not sure what I'm going to do yet... this is one of those "pondering" greeblies. But I might paint the greeblie silver and then heavily weather


But I may have figured out what do do with this part of the wiring harness. I might create a new base plate


I then moved on to other coil and created a new housing. This greeblie gave me ALL sorts of grief on Saturday!




I thought about having two smaller pipes come from the coil base




Ultimately decided on staying with the 1" PVC pipe so I made the hole a bit deeper


Nothing a little filler and paint can't fix


Again... I went through 8-10 different cover plate designs before finally settling on a design I liked


Basic layout








I laser cut these sides to help counter sink the coil






After filler and sanding comes primer


Base plate


Getting closer






Silver exterior / black interior


hmmmm... not sure I like it








I cut holes in the base plate to allow me to screw the coil in place without having to go through the actual cockpit entrance panel


Mounted!








Gotta figure out that wiring harness


First coat of weathering added to the new panel and more to the sister panels


Its growing me but I'm not sure it works


What do you guys think?


I then jumped to the new pipe greeblie. I'm designing something completely different. This is as far as I got!


This is where the Lucent Cable Rack will be added


I finally got back into pin striping! I think the metallic grey works really with the darker silver. I think white pin stripes would have been too much




Han's side


Moving on... Here's a nice comparo between bad MDF and good MDF. Same setting(s) on the laser cutter. Note how burnt the one on the left looks compared to the clean cut edges on the right


Same settings and the laser didn't cut all the way through the bad MDF. This is SO frustrating


I then jumped to this panel. I thought it too needed a facelift


So... I cut the "nub" off and sanded smooth




Added silver


Sanded and repainted the panel flat black


Configuring the new layout




Basic layout


Found a place for a wiring harness


First round of weathering was nothing more than taking a low grit sanding pad and lightly scuffing the silver paint


Another redesign... A new base with mounting points coming off the edges


Drilling more holes


Primer


Paint and scuffing


This is actually the new base plate for 2 more CPU fans with the cones


Rings


Silver


Lets add a wiring harness


Down and around


Up and to the right


Why go ALL the way around the panel instead of straight up? Wheres the fun in that! I'm considering taking a few wires from the main harness and breaking them away and attach to the new CPU fan base




Mounted with pin stripes!


I then found a new route/path for this wiring harness


Cut the ends and add connectors


Attached - I have 12 new connections I can make!


Ran out of time on this area


Basic wiring layout


Now what to do with this lonely guy


The lower panel DEF needs a wiring harness. I'll figure something out


Back to this guy!


Another greeblie I thought needing a redesign is the large silver panel on Hans's side. I laser cut a new interior piece to mount the new fan frame


WOW! That was a close cut!


I need to add more life to this guy!


Removing the center piece for the frame to fit


Removing that piece wasn't enough. I had to drill a counter sink hole as well


This is where this piece going to go


It was really difficult trying to figure the exact measurements and spacing of the 3 holes


The black outer ring on the fan frame was also interfering with the existing set up so I had to create spacers to lift the frame even higher


Unfortunately... I was supposed to cut a 1/8" piece not a 1/4" :facepalm


Before I do anything I have to clean this up and sand smooth


More laser cut pieces added to this growing puzzle


Almost there... just one more change. I love the natural color of the MDF against the silver


Wire connector




A place to put some flashing LEDS!


Getting close to mounting! I had to cut some counter sink holes


New trim piece cut with blue acrylic spacers - both to be painted black




New center piece mounted


Weathered


Almost there!


DONE! (mostly)


I love it! The new fan frame adds so much visual interest! I can't wait to add the flashing LEDs






Still need to add the pin stripes to all the other panels - that's going to be fun!




And this is where we are!


More to follow! I'm going to try to go to the shop this week and knock out a few things.

Lear60man said:

Just to be clear, all the buckles are 5 point....until you press the the little tab and it releases the shoulder harness tabs (We only use the shoulder harness for take off and landing or turbulence). Im flying on Sat night...Ill try to remember to take a pic of mine to compare.

Click to expand...

Hey L,

More pics would be wonderful! I still haven't looked at the buckle in more detail. Another shame on me! I'll DEF check it out tonight.

- - - Updated - - -

Friendly flyer said:

I agree, the cover looks spot on, and the weathering is gorgeous! It looks like a random greebly just picked off some old machinery, very "Falcon"!

Click to expand...

Thank you, my friend! Thank you for the ultimate compliment. I must be doing something right.

SofaKing01 said:

Why go ALL the way around the panel instead of straight up? Wheres the fun in that! I'm considering taking a few wires from the main harness and breaking them away and attach to the new CPU fan base
http://i778.photobucket.com/albums/...n Build 01197/20170806_131358_zps2hvsbz7u.jpg

Click to expand...

I think breaking the wire up like you suggested will make it look better. As it is you your photo, it looks a bit contrived. Such exposed wiring would certainly be Han's and Chewie's modifiaction, right? I can't really see the Corellians building a lighspeed light freighter with such a slapdash electrical system. As such, it makes no sense for the wiring to be neatly bundled to and go all around the panel. A few wires branching off here and there would make the long rout look more probable.

Oh, and the Yamaha fan frame looks fantastic! It's a really good use of a neat looking piece, and it really helps the greeblie underneath come to life!

The fan looks great! As for that lone blue tube...meh:sleep I'm sure you'll come up with some kind of solution for that one. Besides that, great work/effort on the project Sofa:cool

Friendly flyer said:

I think breaking the wire up like you suggested will make it look better. As it is you your photo, it looks a bit contrived. Such exposed wiring would certainly be Han's and Chewie's modifiaction, right? I can't really see the Corellians building a lighspeed light freighter with such a slapdash electrical system. As such, it makes no sense for the wiring to be neatly bundled to and go all around the panel. A few wires branching off here and there would make the long rout look more probable.

Oh, and the Yamaha fan frame looks fantastic! It's a really good use of a neat looking piece, and it really helps the greeblie underneath come to life!

Click to expand...

Hey FF,

I actually preferred to have the wiring harnesses go from panel to panel but the reality is some of those panels may have to come off during transport which would require me to remove all the zip ties. I quickly realized that when I started to attach them to the long red pipe. At least this way it makes assembly a bit easier.

The MF is the hot rod / rat rod of the SW universe. She might be one of those ships were the "factory warranty" expired so long ago that many of the repairs had to be on the fly when a specialist couldn't be found. If you look at the main hold there are LOT of exposed wires, pipes, hoses, etc. But even those exposed hoses had a sort of organized chaos to them. Also, I'm just having fun with it. For years I've had to replicate every aspect of the ship. This is one of those few areas I actually get to have fun and stretch my imagination.

I was really happy with the way the Yamaha fan frame worked out. As I mentioned, trying to find the correct measurements was the toughest part but again, it looks like another mod that was done to help improve the performance of the ship.

- - - Updated - - -

joberg said:

The fan looks great! As for that lone blue tube...meh:sleep I'm sure you'll come up with some kind of solution for that one. Besides that, great work/effort on the project Sofa:cool

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Hey J,

Thanks! I'm having so much fun redesigning the entrance panels. Maybe too much fun!

The blue flex tube will be DEF be painted black or red. I left it alone as I wasn't sure what to do with it. I've been doing a series of sketches and I think I figured out how to move forward with the flex pipe. That panel should be finished up this weekend if not sooner!

Never cease to be amazed by your creativity in those panels. As for the one that you weren't sure of (bottom right hand side) Its a really unique panel, I think the spacing and height difference is what is causing it to stick out. Maybe try flipping it around or shifting it some? Who knows. I'm sure whatever you decide it will look great

Every time I check in this quote comes to mind: "We're not worthy!" -Wayne and Garth

Marvin3242 said:

Never cease to be amazed by your creativity in those panels. As for the one that you weren't sure of (bottom right hand side) Its a really unique panel, I think the spacing and height difference is what is causing it to stick out. Maybe try flipping it around or shifting it some? Who knows. I'm sure whatever you decide it will look great

Every time I check in this quote comes to mind: "We're not worthy!" -Wayne and Garth

Click to expand...

Hi M,

Thanks so much! I'm really having fun with these panels.

I'm going to pull the lower rt panel off and try rearranging and see if I can come up with something a little more visually pleasing. I also have to add pinstripes so that might help with the overall layout as well. I do have an idea... I just hope it works!

What is that?... A light bar kind of on the ceiling in the Falcon now?...

trainman said:

What is that?... A light bar kind of on the ceiling in the Falcon now?...
View attachment 750454

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Hey T,

That "light bar" has been there since ESB. You can kind of see it here illuminated. Odd thing... the nav chair on Han's side look like its sitting almost in the middle of the cockpit.

http://ladymanson.com/galleries/movies/MoviesRS/displayimage.php?pid=107875&fullsize=1

Really see it here
http://ladymanson.com/galleries/movies/MoviesRS/displayimage.php?pid=110901&fullsize=1

Oh, I see. Just a shorty of a light bar. Never noticed before for some reason.

SofaKing01 said:

Hey T,

That "light bar" has been there since ESB. You can kind of see it here illuminated. Odd thing... the nav chair on Han's side look like its sitting almost in the middle of the cockpit.

http://ladymanson.com/galleries/movies/MoviesRS/displayimage.php?pid=107875&fullsize=1

Really see it here
http://ladymanson.com/galleries/movies/MoviesRS/displayimage.php?pid=110901&fullsize=1

Click to expand...

trainman said:

Oh, I see. Just a shorty of a light bar. Never noticed before for some reason.

Click to expand...

Hey T,

I've been a SW fan since 77 and working on this cockpit for 5 years. I still see/find things I've never noticed before.

SofaKing01 said:

Odd thing... the nav chair on Han's side look like its sitting almost in the middle of the cockpit.

http://ladymanson.com/galleries/movies/MoviesRS/displayimage.php?pid=107875&fullsize=1

Really see it here
http://ladymanson.com/galleries/movies/MoviesRS/displayimage.php?pid=110901&fullsize=1

Click to expand...

whoa that is super weird. Hard to tell but I think it's maybe an optical illusion, maybe lens distortion? Check out the clip

https://youtu.be/PxDqEojPK6Q?t=45s

and the chair slides over as Chewie leans in.

Well, it IS a movie set. They don't live in the same reality as we do. They just need to make things work, like a moving chair that never moved before or an interior that doesn't fit inside the exterior.

We're way nerdier than set builders. We have the luxury of time and space. They only have to meet deadlines and stay within the frame.

Hi Gang,

Another "End of the Weekend" update!

Lightly painted the remaining solid black greeblies silver


This guy needs a LOT of work. Not sure what to do just yet


That's a start




I thought I would redesign this greeblie but it didn't work out they way I wanted








I wasn't thrilled with it so I went back to the original...


I cut a hole in the middle


Larger on the backside


I designed and laser cut a new circular surround


I then added some dressing to the gas regulator










Dry fit everything on the panel








I'm considering adding this extra detail... not sure yet








I then painted the blue plastic tube red


Slightly weathered










Moving on I then laser cut these little pieces




Those little details will help with the new base I designed for this greeblie


Cut the wire


Paint and adhere the new detail and connect the wires








A new cooling fan with cone arrived so I painted, mounted in place and added a pin stripe


EWE... Need to cover or remove the sticker


The black pin stripe is similar to those found on the nav computer cones


Now it makes a little more sense having the harness go around the fans




I still need to find one more cooling fan. In the meantime I laser cut these






A new cover plate for the dual fan greeblie








I then pin striped these panels




I used black pin striping on this panel but I'm thinking I need to change it out for the silver... ideas?


This side is almost finished!


I then switched to this new greeblie. From concept to...








Basic layout




Primer






Dry fit




Time to add some details!






Tough to see everything without the silver paint added








There's the silver paint!








The basic layout for the new pipes are added








Added a red pin stripe


Painted the long strips a darker silver




Adhered the smaller details in place




Cutting and dry fitting the new pipes








Dry fit again to get a feel for overall look




Painting the pipes




Silver elbows


From concept to realty!










Added a new wire


Lets get some weathering on these pipes!


I used a very heavy black dirty wash then gently wiped away leaving most in the cracks


After gently wiping






Still need to add pin striping


OOOPS... there is a greeblie missing from the lower panel!


I really wasn't comfortable with the rectangular shape of the coil greeblie so...


Adding some depth


UGH... How am I going to attach the lid? :facepalm


New lid cut with mounting tabs


Filler


Paint


Slowly mounting everything together


Mounted!


I decided to leave the large scuff mark. It adds character




I like it






Saving the BEST for last! Before I changed this greeblie, Daniel had a little surprise for me! We threaded this little transparent guy into the hose and...


The coil FINALLY come to life!


Simply used the flashlight function on the phone


DROOOOL


Lights off


Let's add a red LED


Oh My!


So pretty!


And this...




... is where we are!


More to Follow so stay tuned!

Okay, the soft glow coils sold me :lol Are completely set on a colour for them? I kinda liked the orangey yellow better than the red personally

wow, huge update, getting there. Love these touches of red

I am still in awe about each and every update!

Is this a FULLTIME project? What are you guys doing for a living?

You have to post some comparsion pictures of your and the screenused cockpit at some point...pretty please

Schwing! Best update in months!

I was kind of worried (?) about the PVC panel until you painted it. Was afraid it would look exactly like what it is, PVC fittings glued together. That paint scheme just completely changed it. Looks absolutely awesome!

The lighting on the coils is great. Maybe light them all in a yellow/orange and make one in a flickering red, like there may be a problem. That would make a neat spot for a smoke effect.

I don't know how you keep improving on what was totally bitchin' months ago. You have an incredible eye for detail everything you come up with that isn't canon just keeps plussing the project. I think you need to give your brain a rest and let it cool down for a while. Those Nav seats aren't going to build themselves mister ; )