The Force Awakens Millennium Falcon Projects

A nice render of the Battlefront grille:

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J
Here be a better look at the grille area form battlefront, for you guys.
g9Qhkp8.jpg
 
Great thread...very interesting and nice to see the new TFA falcon build.... Hope my ESB falcon has the 6 heat vent details, if not lm making them...
 
Hi ntdigitalworks, thanks for that render! Are you going to build a printable one for it? I was going to post one up on Shapeways -- but if you're doing one I'd rather not.
 
Does anyone here know the approximate dimensions of the new radar dish if applied to a 5ft Falcon? I'm thinking of doing one.
 
Yeah I pretty much figured 6 or 5 1/2" length,2 3/4" width. I don't think it's length is quite as much as the old dishes diameter.
 
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Hi Faustus, are you referring to the rectangular dish? I've been trying to make one as well -- but just for the Hasbro. I enlarged the Bandai dish for mine, although I can see a bit of difference from the digital asset. Compared the Bandai dish profile (outline) below to the movie model:


kfXEJ0X.jpg
 
Yes,I'm thinking about the rectangular one. Seems a fairly simple design . I think my measurements are ok. I measured off some screen grabs.
 
Has anyone heard anything about a possible 1/72 scale version for Bandai? Maybe I'm dreaming, but I can't get enough of this little 1/144 kit.
 
Hi there. I've done things kind of back to front - I bought the Bandai online when I pretty much stumbled over it, and subsequently found this forum while looking for build hints. (There's some really, really nice work on show here btw, it's inspiring) The thing is, I've not made anything for a while, I don't have an airbrush, and even with youtube and sites like this one I still have some questions, if you don't mind helping out.

So far all I've done is shaved the radar strut down to match the pictures I've found ( and the ones upthread) and ordered the pe vents. I'm going to do the same thinning to the cockpit; and attempt a spray job on the glass.

Don't want to bug you with obvious stuff, but it's the order I want to ask about before I get started.

Is it better to build and then paint? Or prime the more recessed components before, and then build? Or paint the interior stuff first?
Does the kit come apart easily again once built?
I love all those decals, but surely paint is a better finish for the panels? Are those scratched and weathered decals I'm seeing in pictures of final versions, or paint?

Apologies if they're a bit obvious, but thanks for any help, I'd like to do it justice!
 
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Hi Viraxes, welcome. I personally don't think there is one right way to go about building this kit. Everyone has their own method and preference. For this kit I painted my cockpit interior first and made it really nice and detailed just so that I can't see it anyway after its all put together. I, like a lot of other guys, did prime the recessed parts early on because they are so small I knew it would be hard to get paint in there after it was together. I also find myself using my airbrush less on small kits such as this. I just can't get the detail and accuracy that I need for this little guy with an airbrush.

I personally am not big on decals and prefer to paint when it's possible. I did use some of the smaller ones such as the route 1 and the little orange squares on the cockpit tube. I also didn't really like the colors of the bandai kit's panel decals.

One thing I wish I did that others have done is cut out the detail on the top of the cockpit tube and recess it down into the tube a bit. As is it sits too high IMO.

Yes, it comes apart after you put it together, but warning, the more you take it apart the looser the fit the next time you put it together. I glued all the smaller parts together that I was afraid of losing, but I left the saucer section non glued so I can get to my wiring and battery. Hope this helps.

Mike
 
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Thanks Mike, I'd pretty much come to the same conclusion. The strategy of how to build is an individual thing, and I'm quite enjoying working it out.
After thinning the radar and cockpit, I think I'll have to attempt the cockpit tube detail - I've found that the plastic is fairly easy to work through and I think it will be worth it. Then start on some pipework. It's tempting just to build but I'm going to make the most of it!

I was looking at led bike lamps and mini torches in a car store earlier, and wondered, would it possible just to scavenge a battery/led set from a small unit to install in the Falcon? I saw some that were very small, but ran different strips of leds from a couple of AAA batteries. It might work for the rear light as well as a cockpit/ramp light.
 
Just a heads up, Viraxes, the plastic on the Falcon becomes quite brittle/easy to break once youve glued it. So if you have to take something apart after glue has dried go very lightly with a scalpel/sharp blade rather than just trying to snap them apart. Learned this the hard way :)
 
Thanks for the heads up. Not planning to put glue on anything just yet though!

I had a look at the raised detail on the cockpit tunnel earlier - it looks complicated, as I can't decide what to do with the detail on the cockpit end of the arm. The last 5mm or so of detail is different from that on the overhead pictures of the movie version - so I might shave that part off completely, which would leave the join with the cockpit screen part intact. I can then lower the rest. I just don't want to leave a scar.

That is some nice work J.
 
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No going back now, I guess. I've preserved the edge where the canopy joins on, but shaved off some of the raised, superfluous detail that doesn't appear on the top-down reference pictures I'm using. If they're accurate, that is. Now I've got to figure out how to stick it back together. (I did the cut from the outside in to start, then finished from the inside once i could see the line coming through.)

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Excellent work, John. I have a 1/144 Bandai Falcon incoming and will certainly reference yours. I'm also going to use it to finish my MPC Falcon. Lots of inspiration!

-Kris
 
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