Most sincere thanks guys! Much appreciated! :cheers
SteveSK, Thanks! Yeah, it's amazing the level of detail Bandai put on that PG Falcon, and it's been a godsend in the 'hidden' areas like in the pits!
Carnet - Not exactly sure, but it's heavy - I'm guessing it's currently around 40-50ish lbs, maybe more.
So here's a few more progress shots, have primered the entire bottom now, looks pretty darn cool in person, it's hard not to just sit there sometimes and just stare at it, so damn impressed with the original model makers with this thing. It feels so 'real' now that it's coming together.
Primered up
And flipping a few photos orientation to show the actual bottom as it'll look once mounted.
I won't be painting it until after I get the top done, then I'll hit it with a black coat, then the white, then the thinner gray overspray and colored panels. Ohh, then weathering and decals - just a few minor things to get to the finish line! :eek
Here's the comparisons of the pits - it shows warts and all! The cool thing about this is it helps me see and understand what didn't quite match up so I can fix. For example, the piping in a few places is undersized on mine, so I'll rip them out and replace them. Also, I find several of the larger 'chips' are too big on mine, so again, I'll pop them off and fix them.
Here is the port pit, gives me a view that I need to fix some pipe sizes, and some chips. Pretty happy with the overall overlaps compared to the original on this one though. (Note the truck frame that fell over on the original - when filmed, it was clearly 'upright' as seen in some freeze frames in ANH, so I matched to that.)
On the Starboard side below, just using an iPhone gets quite a different view than as viewed in person, so due to not having the right angle/height/distance, the alignment at the back perimeter looks a bit off.
Regardless of the minor detail shortcomings I'm hitting, I am more than thrilled at the level of detail/accuracy the model is coming out. It's one of those things that I hoped to make a model that looks like the original, and feeling it's already farther ahead in accuracy than I could have ever hoped for. Such a joy to try and replicate the amazing work Lorne Peterson and team did on this beauty! This is due to, and thanks to the several amazing folks that have done so much spectacular/tireless research, ID's, plans, etc, that I could never have built this without them!
And ya gotta love the FULL SIZE PIT! It's actually pretty cool how much they tried to match up! They actually made the tank body parts and the piping very similar, as well as the 'nibbles'. That the set builders paid that much attention to the full size set details to emulate the filming miniature for just the few seconds we see in this area is amazing. Feels like the TFA and TLJ full size falcons didn't go to this much effort.
Thanks again for looking!
-Sean