Bandai 1/72 PG Millennium Falcon (also the Revell Germany rebox)

Re: Bandai 1/72 Millennium Falcon

Shaunpug said:

Not sure I've ever seen that photo...can it be found anywhere online?

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I can't find it. I thought I had uploaded it to this site at one point.

The thing for me is that I got that book in 1995..YEARS before getting into this. And I certainly didn't have online access to anything back then.

So I just poured over the images in that book for years. They are the definitive pics for me

Re: Bandai 1/72 Millennium Falcon

To Astroboy you listen.
He knows his stuff!

Love that falcon as well!


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Re: Bandai 1/72 Millennium Falcon

DARTH SABER said:

To Astroboy you listen.
He knows his stuff!

Love that falcon as well!


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I wouldn't go that far.

I'm a guy who barely ever builds anything but I look at pics daily. Hell. I obsessed over this forum for years before i even bought a model. Thely two models I'm proud of are my falcon and my 1/48 x-wing. And the falcon took me a year but the x-wing took me a week.

Check out bashing kits on YouTube. That guy is a master. Or John Simmons. Mind-blowing.

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Re: Bandai 1/72 Millennium Falcon

rbeach84 said:

Astroboy, your pix are always so nice! Clearly conveys your model's character.

As regards the choice of coloration, I feel this must a point of artistry determined by the individual. IF the Falcon were a real thing, then we could get an official paint reference and work from there. As it is, we only can interpret what we see on the small/big screen showing the original VHS or DVD or Blue Ray releases or even using our 'mind's eye' of the apparent color. Given the light tone (white?grey?) of the Falcon, ambient lighting also plays a part (think of the approach to the Cloud City...rather orange. ) From a modeling standpoint, IF you decide you are building a model of the "full size" Falcon, then you have scale effects to worry about as well.

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Speaking to this, I ran into that very problem when recreating the Cloud City landing pad for my Deagostini Falcon display and decided to paint it in daylight balanced colors of off white and beige, not the matte painting colors that showed up on screen. After looking at it for a few days I decided that it just didn't look right, because we never saw the pad represented in those daylight balanced colors on screen. I decided to paint it more of the sunset colors of browns and beige and it looked so much better, even though they were not accurate to what it would look like during normal lighting conditions. In my minds eye, I only see it the sunset version.

Re: Bandai 1/72 Millennium Falcon

kokkari said:

Speaking to this, I ran into that very problem when recreating the Cloud City landing pad for my Deagostini Falcon display and decided to paint it in daylight balanced colors of off white and beige, not the matte painting colors that showed up on screen. After looking at it for a few days I decided that it just didn't look right, because we never saw the pad represented in those daylight balanced colors on screen. I decided to paint it more of the sunset colors of browns and beige and it looked so much better, even though they were not accurate to what it would look like during normal lighting conditions. In my minds eye, I only see it the sunset version.
View attachment 734841

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Dude.


You just won the forum

Re: Bandai 1/72 Millennium Falcon

astroboy said:

Thanks for the compliment!

Mine was definitely trying to be a scaled down version of the studio model. The pic in the lucasfilm archives book is my favorite. It's so clear and bright. One of the ways I tried to get the feel of a much larger model is that I made everything a shade lighter. It can get pretty heavy handed if the grey panels are as dark as a fight foot model.

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Re: Bandai 1/72 Millennium Falcon

kokkari said:

View attachment 734948

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There it is! My favorite picture. It's a shame it spans two pages.

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Re: Bandai 1/72 Millennium Falcon

astroboy said:

There it is! My favorite picture. It's a shame it spans two pages.

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Quite telling that under bright lights the Falcon is a very light grey and yet under warner studio/exhibit lighting the falcon shows its warmer tones and its grime emerges more.

Thats sort of the test I used on mine.
I would use warmer lights as a comparison to the studio/exhibit photos and switch to the brighter lights to compare with the lighter pics.
Once I had a balance between both light sources I was satisfied.





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Re: Bandai 1/72 Millennium Falcon

Heres a comparison to show the Falcons chameleon color changes-

Fluorescent lighting with white paper towels underneath-



Fluorescent lighting with dark base underneath-


Subdued Warmer light with dark base underneath-


Original falcon -



I had one more with natural bright daylight but cant seem to find it in my camera roll.



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Re: Bandai 1/72 Millennium Falcon

DARTH SABER said:

Heres a comparison to show the Falcons chameleon color changes-

Fluorescent lighting with white paper towels underneath-

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20170609/b100e323d09d29d3fc297de19dee9df2.jpg

Fluorescent lighting with dark base underneath-
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20170609/ae49ade6bd5c34af02117667e32a4ac2.jpg

Subdued Warmer light with dark base underneath-
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20170609/9d450b457f4b1c3fe0ff91e6eaad6529.jpg

Original falcon -
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20170609/5ff52abb21cd0ca279b7c15af6288e4a.jpg


I had one more with natural bright daylight but cant seem to find it in my camera roll.



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Click to expand...

Really beautiful...out if curiosity, what was your vase coat color?

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Re: Bandai 1/72 Millennium Falcon

DARTH SABER said:

Heres a comparison to show the Falcons chameleon color changes-

Fluorescent lighting with white paper towels underneath-

Fluorescent lighting with dark base underneath-

Subdued Warmer light with dark base underneath-

Original falcon -

I had one more with natural bright daylight but cant seem to find it in my camera roll.

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Click to expand...

And the surrounding light is only half the battle. Unless you are using a film camera, which I doubt, your digital camera is interpreting the white balance of each background and light source differently in each shot. Sometimes you can take the two images right after another of the exact same subject matter in the same lighting and your camera won't interpret it the same twice. A nicer camera allows you to be able to manually set the white balance. So yes, the lighting is changing the color of the Falcon, but so is your camera.

Beautifully done Falcon BTW!

Re: Bandai 1/72 Millennium Falcon

Goes to show what the color field can do to a camera's computer! ;^)

Another round of images using a fixed set of exposure settings (preventing the camera from compensating) would be interesting to see.

Regards, Robert

Re: Bandai 1/72 Millennium Falcon

rbeach84 said:

Goes to show what the color field can do to a camera's computer! ;^)

Another round of images using a fixed set of exposure settings (preventing the camera from compensating) would be interesting to see.

Regards, Robert

Click to expand...

It could be worse...we could be discussing TIE fighter colors. Lol




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Re: Bandai 1/72 Millennium Falcon

Shaunpug said:

Really beautiful...out if curiosity, what was your vase coat color?

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I used white grey for the base.



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Bandai 1/72 Millennium Falcon

Oh one more thing, I used Vallejo "model" white grey.
I also have Vallejo Air white grey and even though both have the same name one of them is slightly warmer than the other.
I think the "Model" type is warmer...the bad thing about the "Model" type paint is that the airbrush will tend to clog up more often, even with thinner added.


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Re: Bandai 1/72 Millennium Falcon

kokkari said:

Speaking to this, I ran into that very problem when recreating the Cloud City landing pad for my Deagostini Falcon display and decided to paint it in daylight balanced colors of off white and beige, not the matte painting colors that showed up on screen. After looking at it for a few days I decided that it just didn't look right, because we never saw the pad represented in those daylight balanced colors on screen. I decided to paint it more of the sunset colors of browns and beige and it looked so much better, even though they were not accurate to what it would look like during normal lighting conditions. In my minds eye, I only see it the sunset version.
View attachment 734841

Click to expand...

This is so incredible. Blown away.

Re: Bandai 1/72 Millennium Falcon

Just had a horrible thought... What if it's vulnerable to the plastic weakening with solvent based thinners like many other Bandai kits.

This model is begging for oils and enamel based weathering.

Re: Bandai 1/72 Millennium Falcon

I've only heard of Turpentine being bad for Bandai plastic.

Re: Bandai 1/72 Millennium Falcon

jthornton1993 said:

I've only heard of Turpentine being bad for Bandai plastic.

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The other Bandai kits state on the instructions that waterbased paints should be used.
Once it comes out someones bound to post images of the instructions.


I abandoned oils and turpentine a long time ago.
They stink, they take forever to dry, theyre messy, and cleaning the airbrush is a nightmare.
IMO the final results arent worth it.
To be honest ive been able to get the desired results without oils or turpentine.




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Re: Bandai 1/72 Millennium Falcon

Vanoyen said:

Just had a horrible thought... What if it's vulnerable to the plastic weakening with solvent based thinners like many other Bandai kits.

This model is begging for oils and enamel based weathering.

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That was my worry, too, that Bandai would use the same type of plastic as their 1/144. Mine suffered from enamel wash cracks on the edges of the overhangs of the hull and I know how nasty they look -- like hairline cracks on eggs. You can't fill them properly with putty because the cracks are so thin. The technique that worked for me was fusing the plastic back together by dabbing with Tamiya thin glue, letting it seep in through the cracks and sanding lightly and repainting over it. On some of the cracks I tried to bend the hull to widen the crack gap and let the Tamiya glue in. The melted plastic will then bulge slightly when you let go -- and I wiped off the excess melted plastic with my finger, then sanded it down This is how I dealt with it -- just to reassure you that there's a way to fix it should it happen to you. The other good thing about the Falcon is that the hull comes in "sections" because of the armor plating so a repainted area camouflages easily. Just make sure that the crack is fixed well because any wash will enhance it -- just like highlighting panel lines with wash would.

I read the cracks happen when stresses are created on the joint during assembly -- then using an enamel wash during painting. That seems to be true with mine -- because I would constantly assemble and disassemble the hull to test-fit the sidewalls. And with Bandai's press-fit assembly (almost requiring no use of glue), stresses are created when you press down on areas and try to detach them as had happened to me when trying to pry the hull-halves open. So try not to stress the plastic during assembly -- and avoid prying off parts after assembly.

I read a good primer coat after assembly and before painting will prevent the cracks. This I haven't tried. I used the Tamiya AS-20 straight on as a base --- I was worried primer would hide detail. I then tried using an enamel wash over the AS-20. The cracks didn't come instantly -- they appeared after a day or two.

I've tried the 50-50 mix of Floquil Grime and Reefer White before but it turned out too yellow for me. And it's still solvent-based so I'm going for DOA's water-based paints. They've got the proper shade for the 5-footer hull. I ordered these sometime back for the 1/144 Falcon but never tried it after seeing kokarri's, Astroboy's and John's paintjobs (those guys never seemed to use fancy paints but still manage to turn out eye-popping, ILM-like paintjobs). I'll give the DOA a try this time anyway and maybe a layer of clearcoat before applying wash would keep the Falcon hull from cracking.



http://www.starwars-doa.co.uk/doa-starwars-millennium-falcon-sets-2-c.asp