Bandai 1/72 Millennium Falcon

I'd say the revised cockpit would be the better option,....it was revised for a reason

J

According to the John Knoll book on the sets, it was enlarged for Empire to be more comfortable for the actors since there were more scenes in it. When GL found out they did that without consulting him, however, he was angry because he specifically wanted the cockpit to feel cramped like a WWII cockpit. Nick Meyer decreased the size of the Enterprise sets in Wrath of Khan for the same reason, to make it feel more like a submarine. Truthfully, 99% of moviegoers have no idea it ever changed, so it's pretty much a moot point.

If you want your Bandai Falcon cockpit to be ANH-style, decrease the depth of the back wall, misalign the light strips, and remove the steering yokes -- you'll be good to go! If you're really daring... fuzzy dice.
 
If you want your Bandai Falcon cockpit to be ANH-style, decrease the depth of the back wall, misalign the light strips, and remove the steering yokes -- you'll be good to go! If you're really daring... fuzzy dice.

Yep,....good point.....easier to take away than try to add

J
 
One thing to do to pass the time until the kit is released would be to do gather some research on the 5-footer studio model faux cockpit for those who want to go that route. Parts identification, layout -- maybe even someone handy with 3-D can mock up a version to aid scratch building. I doubt many people will make this modification, but I know some (including myself) are considering it.
3cbbe840908583.57918119c5a15.jpg64912640908583.57918119c1ec1.jpga4812a40908583.57918119c4863.jpg
 
If you go that route, you better make the cockpit rotate too. Lol

Sent from my SM-N910V using Tapatalk
 
One thing to do to pass the time until the kit is released would be to do gather some research on the 5-footer studio model faux cockpit for those who want to go that route. Parts identification, layout -- maybe even someone handy with 3-D can mock up a version to aid scratch building.

Joshua Maruska's research suggests that the two key elements of the 5 foot shooting miniature's cockpit interior were the seats and floor pan of an LS Models Auto Salon Series No.1 1/16 Scale Morgan Plus 8 Roadstar.

The floor pan, which was used as the basis of the main dash console, is the most complex part to model. The monitor housings, the central console and levers, and the two round white thingies on the wall should be more straightforward to model based on photographic evidence.
 
One thing to do to pass the time until the kit is released would be to do gather some research on the 5-footer studio model faux cockpit for those who want to go that route. Parts identification, layout -- maybe even someone handy with 3-D can mock up a version to aid scratch building. I doubt many people will make this modification, but I know some (including myself) are considering it.
View attachment 746630View attachment 746631View attachment 746632
Where did you get these gorgeous references?!

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By the way - it's official. Lucasfilm has deemed that the extended ESB-era cockpit is the only cockpit the Falcon ever had. The short ANH cockpit did not happen.

Either that or they thought, enh... no point revamping the TFA cockpit to match the ANH look. Nobody's going to care except a handful of megageeks!

Ron Howard has posted a photo from the new Solo movie set, showing a small part of the Falcon's cockpit interior. Along with, one presumes, Donald Glover as Lando Calrissian. Note that the additional side panel; part of the extended cockpit.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BWtBTGSFXr7/?taken-by=realronhoward
 
Either that or they thought, enh... no point revamping the TFA cockpit to match the ANH look. Nobody's going to care except a handful of megageeks!

I'm sure the thinking was, "We have the cockpit set. The movie is costing $250 million to produce (and that's before Ron Howard was brought on to reshoot it). Can we save some money using the same set? Yeah, we're doing that." It's just economic reality. We've suspended disbelief over far more farfetched stuff.

- - - Updated - - -

Where did you get these gorgeous references?!

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"Don't thank me, thank the moon's gravitational pull." https://www.pinterest.com/haystackhair/millennium-falcon-reference-5/
 
One thing to do to pass the time until the kit is released would be to do gather some research on the 5-footer studio model faux cockpit for those who want to go that route. Parts identification, layout -- maybe even someone handy with 3-D can mock up a version to aid scratch building. I doubt many people will make this modification, but I know some (including myself) are considering it.
View attachment 746630View attachment 746631View attachment 746632

Here's the MPC box photo, showing the console part currently missing. It would be cool to build this at 1/72 scale with tiny LEDs.
mpc cockpit.jpg
 
Joshua Maruska's research suggests that the two key elements of the 5 foot shooting miniature's cockpit interior were the seats and floor pan of an LS Models Auto Salon Series No.1 1/16 Scale Morgan Plus 8 Roadstar...

Bingo. Here's a look at the LS kit, the seats match.
 
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Just a quick question gang , apologies in advance if asked before elsewhere . Those circular shapes / lights ( as seen in Echo Base - red ) , under the ' kool shade ' cockpit ring ... how many of them are there ? Asking cause the two visible ones in post #83 seem to be higher placed than the ones on screen ( as mentioned ) in ESB !?

Cheers Ged
 
Nice find! The seats show at 18:35 on the video. Yeah, those are the seats. So how is the floor pan used to make the console and what was used for the dash "monitors" (like the one that is missing?) Anyone know what donor part was used to make the overhead panel of gauges?

No idea. I just took nkg's post and googled for info on the Roadster kit and found the video. Credit to Maruska for the donor kit info.

And it explains something, when I saw the 5footer at NASM the seats sure looked about 1/16 scale to me, which jived with all the ILM interview quotes about the models being mostly 1/16. Not that donor kit scales matter in general, but seats are obvious. The various fighters work better at 1/24, but the Falcon would be too large to be 1/24, 1/16 makes more sense.
 
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Bingo. Here's a look at the LS kit, the seats match.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bPZjGK9T2Dg

Ya know, based on the video I think the floor pan was flipped upside down and then cut in half to make the base of the control console. It looks like it's glued on top of something underneath and then the two lighter trapezoid monitor boxes (with one now missing) on top of the upside down pan piece. Am I seeing that right?
 
Joshua Maruska has produced 3D models of three of the Morgan parts (including the front engine grille but I don't know where that was used), and has published photos of the parts on his site. However, he has not chosen to give the 3D files out, which is fair enough. I started work on making models of the same parts a few weeks ago, but I found they're quite complex and hard to replicate accurately.

The Koolshade ring on the five foot model (it does not exist on the 32 incher) seems to have 9 holes drilled into the plastic beneath the grille. Obviously you can't see all 9 at once owing to the obscuring nature of the Koolshade material, and the way that the strip wraps around the tube.

the Empire full sized set put two red lights in the same position as two of these holes, but didn't have representations of all 9 holes. The ROTJ half sized set used for the sandstorm sequence that never made the final film seems to have another red light at the bottom of the cockpit tube.

- nkg
 
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And you beat me to the punch with the video, robn1. That was the best reference I could find last night for the Morgan parts, except for Maruska's truly awesome 3D models.

http://falcon.maruskadesign.com/digital-donors/

View attachment 746784

The interior was lit by LEDs and fibres. The missing Chewie-side console reveals they stuck three 5mm LEDs in there - red, yellow, green. (blue and white LEDs didn't exist back then, of course!) Presumably the Han-side console had similar LEDs.

The side panels were lit by fibres. These were powered by a small tungsten bulb by the looks of it.

Anyone know if the 5 foot Falcon is on display publicly anywhere these days? It'd be useful to get better photos of the cockpit interior. :) The 32 incher is in London at the moment.
 
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