Building The ANH 5'Millennium Falcon

eagle1

Sr Member
RPF PREMIUM MEMBER
Well here we go!

After 30 years of wishing & wanting the ANH Falcon, it is finally time to realise this dream!.

Really there's no excuse not to. Having collected around 60% of the required donors & all the known ref, now seems a good time to give the 'old girl' a go.

This really has come about through the dedication by some members here in Nick's ID thread. The info found there is just staggering & I am duelly indebited to all who have contributed their knowledge.

I intend this thread to to be a no holds barred, all questions answered, full construction documentation of just what it will take to construct the Falcon with all her eccentricities.

After a few years now of just pouring over ref & ID'ing , I'm confident around 90% of the Falcon has been ID.
There's still a few donors that elude us but they will not put a stop to me making a start. It is just mindblowing when I look through my Falcon parts bags, just how many parts there actually are waiting to be placed.

The pic shows a portion of confirmed donors in my collection. Duplicates make up another similar pile:rolleyes

First up for construction for now is the cockpit. This area is surprisingly complex & takes a good deal of thought in how it was originally made. I will document this area over the coming weeks.
One thing I have found which was almost immediately apparent is the size of the main cockpit tube. It was always a given that it was 6" tube. I agreed too in the past, but now that I have delved into the details, placing donors etc... 5 1/2" tube fits the bill exactly!
More to come.....
 
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Bout ****in time..... No sense living in denial..... You were ALWAYS gonna build this one. 32 inches just don't cut it. (that's what she said).
 
Good luck with this monumental build, Eagle1. I would say this is the Holy Grail of studio scale builds so there will be many who will be following thi thread intently, no matter how long it takes.

Hopefully one day I can follow in your footsteps.
 
Oh great, another awesome thread to be placed on the "Watch List".

Eagle1, will you be building this with a wooden frame and heavy,... or will you be making it lighter so that it would be a little easier on your back to move around?
 
For a model that big I would vote to give it a steel inner framework of some kind. Most of the model's understructure could still be wood & plastic but IMHO it would be good to have a basic steel layout underlying all of it.

Wood or plastic is fine for smaller models, but you're talking about a hell of a lot of mass and size with this thing. Steel is perfectly straight by default when you buy it, which becomes a much bigger issue on a 5ft model than a 1-3ft one. Steel doesn't expand & contract & warp with moisture or time. It's easier to build strong areas far out from the center of the model. It flexes & bends when pushed over its limits instead of cracking apart. It sounds pretty heavy but it's not bad compared to wood for this job if you build it right.
 
You can do it. Go for it.

I agree with metal armature. If you don't weld, just take it somewhere local and give them a few bucks for some welds. I do it all the time.
 
Yes, there is a metal armature being designed. I don't see any other way. But dimensions have to be finalized.

I'm glad you're back onboard all the way, Stu! No small task as there are so far around 90 confirmed kits, not counting duplicates. I can't wait to see what you've been working on.

Craig
 
Thanks all for the support & opinions, I'm really gonna need all the help I can get here:).

Ah the basic armature question. Seems to be the main topic here.
Well, I'm still finalizing from a plastics firm here just to the exact size they can blow mold the 2 hemi's. I would rather go this way.
If this falls through I have a second option, but both options have a tubular steel armature with 6 mounting points.
The basic form to hold the hemi's would be wood formers.

Either option I will be happy with in the end. One just involves alot more work making the hemi's:rolleyes.

Simon, yeah, the 32" just doesn't do it for me anymore, even sold all my bits for the 32" to put some funds into the 'real Falcon' model:lol

Back soon
Stu
 
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This is the thread I was looking for :thumbsup
Take all the time you need to make a success of it ! Good luck with this great model. I will follow your progress.
 
Right! Woohoo! Great stuff Stu.

I've started a half-shell mockup myself, to place parts. You will need a BIG build table for this bird. Not a bench, benches are way too small. :)

Guess I'm back into it too. I've been restricting myself to juggling single projects but eff it, life's too short.

As with you, I'll be sharing 100% of whatever I come up with. Call us raving commies if you must. :lol
 
Ahhh. I hate when I stumble on an epic journey like this and it's only just begun. I like it when I find threads like this and they are 99% complete! Now I will find myself checking this everyday!!!

And to quote a certain space pirate "Good luck...you're gonna need it" ;)
 
I hear ya mate. I will get back to this one day. Spent about $1500 on donors for the Narc and even more on the turbo laser donors so once they are out the way I should be on to the $10,000 or so needed for the 5 footer...:lol


Thanks all for the support & opinions, I'm really gonna need all the help I can get here:).

Ah the basic armature question. Seems to be the main topic here.
Well, I'm still finalizing from a plastics firm here just to the exact size they can blow mold the 2 hemi's. I would rather go this way.
If this falls through I have a second option, but both options have a tubular steel armature with 6 mounting points.
The basic form to hold the hemi's would be wood formers.

Either option I will be happy with in the end. One just involves alot more work making the hemi's:rolleyes.

Simon, yeah, the 32" just doesn't do it for me anymore, even sold all my bits for the 32" to put some funds into the 'real Falcon' model:lol

Back soon
Stu
 
Hi Stu,

Way to go mate, you know it makes scary mad sense. Good luck with it all. Sounds like you guys who are actually building her, will be the best source of dimensional blueprint type info. Your observation re the cockpit dia is interesting straight away. What made you decide on the 1/2" reduction?

Still not sure the best way to compile the dimensions though. I think we need clear elevation images on which to keep updating the sizes as they get confirmed rather than having lots of scraps of info dotted about.

BTW ahem...its Nick, not Neil. I may have started the thread but you guys are driving it. I'm just a sort of archivist at the moment :)

Can't wait to see your progress

Cheers
Nick
 

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