Deagostini Millennium Falcon with Cloud City Landing Pad

Got everything in primer. I love the look of a black Falcon! It's amazing how after you get rid of that plastic sheen it looks so much more like a legit SS model.
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That's simply stunning . You must be well chuffed with what you've accomplished mate !
Could you tell us what type of paints you used ie enamel , acrylic , lacquers etc ? , and was it applied directly over the black primer ? . Hoping to see her all lit up on your display/diorama soon . Thanks for sharing .

Cheers Ged :thumbsup
 
That's simply stunning . You must be well chuffed with what you've accomplished mate !
Could you tell us what type of paints you used ie enamel , acrylic , lacquers etc ? , and was it applied directly over the black primer ? . Hoping to see her all lit up on your display/diorama soon . Thanks for sharing .

Cheers Ged :thumbsup
Thanks Ged, mighty kind of you! The short answer is yes, I use all of the above LOL I used a car primer with adhesion promoter to start off with because I didn't know how well paint would bond to the ABS. It was probably an overkill, but I wasn't taking any chances after spending all the money and time building this thing. I went with the Tamiya AS-20 as suggested, but I've always used that color for my x-wings and y-wings. I was bummed when Deogastini started promoting it because I thought it was my little secret. :devil

My theory has always been start off lighter rather than darker with a your base color because you will end up having better contrast of shades and colors in the end. I also feel the color of the Falcon was lighter in the beginning before age and dust has yellowed the paint. At least all early production shots of it appear lighter to me. For me to get the look of an ILM ship it's all about the layers. Layer upon layers of paint.

My technique is pretty much the same as what you see on the other threads from ktaylor or darkview. they have done a good job on the step by step of it all. I start with painting my panels, the greys and reds using Tamiya flat acrylics. I'm sorry I can't quote colors, I just mix until I like it. I mask for some of the chipping effects. At this point when I look at the ship it reminds nothing of the Falcon and in fact looks wrong to me. Some of the panels that others use a concrete color, I just mask off and spray a really thinned black paint to achieve looks the same to me.

I then start hitting it hard with washes. For these I use oils. I have always liked the control. The downside is the dry time, but I combat that with a clear acrylic matte coat. Seals it right in. For colors I mix a combo of blacks and browns. I tend to get mine pretty thin and will apply in multiple passes (3 or 4 times) over a couple of days. I brush it on with a large brush, let it sit for about 15 minutes then wipe off the excess. I try to leave more discoloration in strategic panels and crevasses. At this point I've changed the base color quite a bit. In fact, sometimes I have to repaint a panel after a mistake and find that after the washes it's quite a bit different than the base coat in contrast.

At this point I start adding the ILM fake panel technique with my airbrush and a piece of painters tape. I think I remember Steve Dymszo demonstrating this pretty well on one of his paint tutorials. They are all over the Falcon and represent false panel lines and are used for oil streaks.

I'm now starting to beat it up with a combination of sanding, dremmel, and scraping. I will constantly tinker with some of the panels by adding a slight variation of another color to give me the desired effect. All my oil streaks and battle damage are done with a combination of oils, pastels, Sharpie, and Tamiya Weathering Masters. It's whatever I feel like will achieve what I'm going for in that particular moment. I like using multiple shades of rusts starting from dark to light. I'll use washes or the weather Masters for the rust.

Overall, don't be afraid to use color. I think the Tamiya weather Masters are great for adding some subtle color to your piping, rusted areas, or access bays. You can get some cool effects by miking various colors into each other. Oh and if you screw up with the Weather Masters, you can totally use a pencil eraser to remove it, as long as it's not too big.

The biggest mistakes I see with replicating ILM paint jobs is trying to paint it all in one go which makes it lose the depth and ends up looking muddy. The other is over emphasizing every gap between all the armor plates. Be strategic, about where you darken those in. There is not a real life situation where they would all be darkened in equally. Well, I hope that ansswered your questions. Have fun with it and practice on something until you like how it looks then go at your Falcon.
 
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Thanks kokkari ( Mike ) , for taking the time to explain your process / es , really appreciated . I'm doing the Brian Taylor/Jordan ( DARKVIEW ) methods of Oils straight onto the supplied parts for the ( bottom ) hull at the moment , a method totally new to me , so as getting back into this hobby . We're only on # 51 at the moment over here .
Thing is , I received an airbrush & compressor for a Kris - Kringle present over Xmas . Something I've always wanted ( way back when - late 70's early 80's ) , but have never /ever used . I've seen the Steve D. tutorials , and a bunch of others on YouTube , and reading up on various sites /forums , on how too . Realise I've gotta practice , practice and practice , but , as much as I've really enjoyed ( learning about using oil paints for models ) , I'm still not sure if that's the way to go for the top Hull . Not sure if it's just my old eyes / shared photos on posts etc..,but it still seems to ' shiny ' . Gotta lot practicing and thinking to do ...
One last question if I may , do you apply gloss/matt sealing coats in between the numerous layers of paint/weathering , or just between various levels , and when's the best time ?
Sincerest thanks again , Ged
 
One last question if I may , do you apply gloss/matt sealing coats in between the numerous layers of paint/weathering , or just between various levels , and when's the best time ?
Sincerest thanks again , Ged

I use it whenever there is a possibility of smearing or pulling up paint with tape. I've gone to paint false panels and accidentally peeled up paint from other panels before when removing the tape. Which really sucks! So with my Falcon I applied a matte clear coat after I painted the panels, then the washes (because they're oils), then after the tick marks and streaks. I will put a final coat on once I apply the splatter with a toothbrush.

I also usually only use matte clear coat unless I plan on applying decals, because they adhere better to glossy. Oh and don't forget to mask off any clear parts AKA lights before you use a clear coat.
 
Thanks for the tips, kokkari!
I guess I haven't been paying too much attention to this project here lately, but yours is the first that I saw with a matte black starting point. Is that the new way to get the best paint finish? I saw it was to use the AS 20 first... at least according to Steve D. Cheers!


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Thanks muchly Mike . Will try to remember , as I'm also using various types of paints over the oil base coat directly on supplied parts/panels . Enamels,acrylics and car primer on metal turrets and hold interior .

Cheers Ged :thumbsup
 
Re: Deagostini Millennium Falcon with Cloud City Landing Pad Base

...

I've ordered a dimmer switch because the LEDs are just too bright for the setup. Looks OK in these photos in the garage, but as soon as I put my Falcon is on top inside the house, it looked like an inferno!

Fantastic work, the landing platform came out really, really great! With a lot of the lit kits out there I find brightness a huge problem regarding scale. I think that a lot of the kits have way too bright lighting, be it inside a cockpit or outside.
 
Does anyone else have this problem on there Falcon? My removable panel on the cockpit tube doesn't quite want to stay closed all the way at the bottom. Deagostini has magnets at the top, but not the bottom and it won't stay shut. I thought I would install some magnets at the bottom, but there is nothing to adhere them to. So, I was wondering if anyone else fixed this or has any ideas?

Thanks
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Thanks for the tips, kokkari!
I guess I haven't been paying too much attention to this project here lately, but yours is the first that I saw with a matte black starting point. Is that the new way to get the best paint finish? I saw it was to use the AS 20 first... at least according to Steve D. Cheers!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
I wouldn't say "new" way. I've always used some sort of primer before painting all my models. I chose black on the Falcon because if I use my dremmel to chip away the base layer when making blast marks, the black will show through. ILM used black styrene for their armor plating and it shows through on many of the paint chips when you look close. It is a way of simulating this without using black styrene. Just be careful not to go all the way through both layers of paint when your dremmeling those chips.

Not sure if Steve D. used primer under his base coat. He sure didn't mention it in his videos. I always do to ensure maximum paint adhesion.
 
I must admit that I hated the gap around this panel, especially for what you can actually see underneath (and none of which was on the filming miniature)...
My solution was filler, it looks tons better.
 
I must admit that I hated the gap around this panel, especially for what you can actually see underneath (and none of which was on the filming miniature)...
My solution was filler, it looks tons better.
I've debated that and have really consider gluing it down, but I installed corridor lights inside that panel. But again, how often am I going to look at the inside of that panel. I really hate that gap though!
 
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