FM 1/72 Millennium Falcon Mandible Surgery

Thanks vixr.

Scratchy, thanks for the new dish(s) (I also bought another for my 2nd FineMolds 1/72 Falcon)

It is a necessity after doing the mandible/jawbox mod....It matches perfectly the dimensions of the modded jaw, cockpit & docking rings:
fmnew2.jpg

fmnew3.jpg

fmnew4.jpg

fmnew1.jpg


The Cockpit:
cockpitlights.jpg


Decided to open the door on the cockpit so that you can see the walkway/corridor behind:
cockpitwalk1.jpg

cockpitwalk2.jpg

cockpitwalk3.jpg

cockpitwalk4.jpg


The Landing gear covers:
p1050289l.jpg


Just push the forward end of the cover:
p1050290r.jpg


The other side of the cover....one end of the piece has its support removed and packed out in the mid part with a low strength rubbery fridge magnet attached:
p1050288bz.jpg


Parts of the bay is cut out to allow the piece to pivot out.....metal attached over gap:
p1050294l.jpg


The landing gear part (not completed).....the 'bird cages' carved out:
p1050296c.jpg


This piece requires a stronger magnet than the covers:
p1050297m.jpg


The piece in place:
p1050299g.jpg


The boarding ramp....I created a hook at it's axis:
p1050300g.jpg


The modded entrance:
p1050301m.jpg


The ramp slides in & hooks on:
p1050303u.jpg


Had to use flash to photo this one:
p1050308e.jpg

p1050310c.jpg


Now....the setback.....after attaching the landing gear, I thought the legs were too high....the Falcon just didn't look right, so after checking reference photos & blueprints of the full scale ESB falcon I dropped the height....all's good.....then I discovered that the main thing that was throwing the whole landing gear thing off was that the mandibles weren't level with the rest of the ship......I'm going to have to correct this...you can clearly see that they point up:
p1050312g.jpg

p1050315e.jpg


Thanks for looking, have a good Xmas
J
 
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That's a really good idea for the magnets in the landing gear bays and the boarding ramp. The modifications to the ramp are an improvement as well.
(y)thumbsup:thumbsup
 
Glad you tapered the turrets... Going to do the same on the escape pods?

It's funny - once you get into it, you realize there is SO much wrong with the FM Falcon its almost silly!

Your mods look great!
 
Thanks for the comments guys, magnets seem to be the way to go

I think I've fixed the upward angles of the mandibles:

fixedzn.jpg

fixed2u.jpg

fixed3.jpg

fixed4.jpg

fixed5.jpg


I didn't like the FM cockpit console so I scratched a new one with help from SteveStarkiller's Screen accurate thread:
cockpit.jpg

cockpit2.jpg


And the lit corridor:
cockpit3.jpg

cockpit4.jpg


A view inside:
insideik.jpg

inside2x.jpg


The Mandible lights:
mandiblelights.jpg


Thanks again for looking & have a very happy New Year
J
 
I have a speculative theory that fine molds used the cgi model from Lucas when they designed this. The one used in the ANH special edition. They both look similarly wrong
 
It's a pity FineMolds made those mistakes, Master Replicas got it right though (I think)

More work on the landing gear....I made doors for them:
gearm.jpg

gear2rt.jpg

gear3i.jpg

gear4i.jpg

gear5.jpg


The hinges on the doors are from an old busted Dell laptop keyboard:
keyboardkw.jpg

keyboard2.jpg

images


Back to magnets....I've made 2 electrical contacts with magnets for the power to the cockpit lights:
contactsp.jpg


Thanks for looking
J
 
The landing gear looks stunning, Nicely detailed and amazing. I'll need to remember not to throw out any old keyboards now.

A modelling lunatic indeed!
 
Thanks very much guys, I got some EL sheet for the cockpit & at the minute I've scrapped the corridor behind the cockpit and kept the door closed,....I'll post some photos soon

J
 
Woof, so much research !! I'm still frightened on hacking apart my newly aquired $200 Falcon just to toe-in the mandibles a few degrees. I'm afraid I'll never get them back on right that's all.

I doubt I could ever pull off something of this caliber without having years of worktime !:D
 
Thanks TBadger, really it's not that bad, if you take your time & measure well it should work out well.

When I get round to doing my other one I will definitely document it better

John
 
Woof, so much research !! I'm still frightened on hacking apart my newly aquired $200 Falcon just to toe-in the mandibles a few degrees. I'm afraid I'll never get them back on right that's all.
And that's the exact reason I'm not doing it when I get around to building mine. It's not enough of a difference to me to risk scrapping a $200 kit. I give a lot of credit to modelers who do it, but I won't be one of 'em.
 
I agree with you Zombie, the FM Falcon kits are definitely the best MF kits out there, and you don't need to modify them, look at Merseajohn's 1/72, to me it is the closest to the ILM studio model I've seen

John
 
OK, I'm back (just a bit of painting to do on the McQ Falcon)

Heres a photo of some of my addiction ;D
piggyback.jpg

Got the 1/144 FineMolds Falcon on ebay for under £30 + £5postage from inside the UK,......couldn't resist it

It is a beautiful model & makes me really appreciate the fantastic work done by all who built & modded this kit on this site....the micro work that Scratchy has done on his.....and the scale defying paint job John Simmons done on his.

I think I might modify the mandibles & jawbox like I've done on my 1/72.....speaking of which I tried a new technique of detaching the mandibles on my other 1/72 Falcon......If you look on the inside of the kit where the mandibles join the main hull you can see a machine line moulded into the plastic:

Thisline.jpg

If you cut along this line down to the level of the hull, youll find if you hold the model up to the light that the mandible & hull is now nearly separated & cutting with a fine blade from the outer side of the model is really easy without damaging details:

BreakThrough.jpgcutbellow1.jpg

Thanks for looking

John
 
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Thanks very much tek2graphics, I really should be doing a bit more to this build, apart from the cockpit & turret interior(s) she really is ready to paint,....maybe do a bit more this week, thanks for renewing my attention

John
 
Jaitea, what are the revised dimensions of the mandibles? You shortened them in length and narrowed them...but by how much?
 
Jaitea, what are the revised dimensions of the mandibles? You shortened them in length and narrowed them...but by how much?

I remember bringing the mandibles in just before they touched the jawbox,....I left the model like that for long time.....when I restarted working on it I was bugged by the size of the nose of the jawbox, so I decided to reduce it's size also.

When the jaw was reduced I was able to bring in the mandibles a shade more

I measured the parts tonight,.....gap between the front end of the mandibles is 46mm,......the length the jaw comes out from the saucer is 44mm......the width of the nose of the jaw is 39mm:

FMmeasurements.jpg

Hope this helps samster,.....good luck

John
 
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