MPC Falcon builders of the galaxy unite!

davidvaradyszab

davidvaradyszab

New Member
We all know this vintage kit (with all its faults and imperfections) and we all love trying to make it right!
This is certainly not your "build-it-straight-out-of-the-box" kit, but that is exactly the essence of it.

While the Bandai PG Falcon is out now (and it is a huge success), there are still hopeless romantics all across the galaxy working on their piece of plastic junks.
If you are one of them, this is the place for you to discuss stuff, get answers, post your progress, share the pain and share the joy this kit brings.

2017-05-30-17h34m31.JPG 2017-06-15-09h28m11.JPG
 
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I have started working on one of mine again so I can test painting for the PG one.
I started this over 10 years ago

scratched a basic cockpit. Now that I have a lot more ref I may revisit this

12O6dUV.jpg


Added the missing frames for the canopy

xiTTatB.jpg


and shortended the side walls

yd5i4fk.jpg


Now I've got to sand/shave off the sidewall details and rebuild the them.
 
couldn't have said it better, I for one appreciate being challenged by more than just some lighting and a good paint and weathering. The MPC bird as is in the box is a horrible mistake, making it look like something as good as a FM or even a PG is a lot of work, but so rewarding. I might give a shout out to Tony 308 Bits on Shapeways and Haystack Hair of HH Miniatures for they're HUGE contributions and dedication to improving this "out of the box" disaster. Once upon a time though...MPC was all there was, there was no FM or Bandai...MPC was the only game in town. prices have gone up and down, I pretty much kept an eye on Ebay for decently priced kits, 30 or less. I think at one time I had nearly 20 of these, mostly regular kits, but some cut aways. The one's I've kept are early US production kits in the heavy box. The detail is very "crisp". The later kits are off shore production out of cruddy molds. I had lofty ideas about building them to the nine's and selling on Ebay. Didn't work out so well, sold one and lost my butt. So, I took about a half dozen to my local shop for consignment. he's been getting 45 for regular kits and 55 for cut aways. people will come in the shop and see the price of the PG and gulp real big, then he points them to the MPC, and he moves them. I got enough store credit to get a PG Falcon :thumbsup My last MPC is a combination of all the upgrade parts and I'd park it next to a FM any day. The PG being of a slightly different class of kit, so I won't go there. I have all of them. FM un-built, PG un-built, and a DeAgo complete kit, yet to be started. But my first love is the MPC :thumbsup
davidvaradyszab said:
We all know this vintage kit (with all its faults and imperfections) and we all love to try to make it right!
This is certainly not your "build-it-straight-out-of-the-box" kit, but that is exactly the essence of it.

While the Bandai PG Falcon is out now (and it is a huge success), there are still hopeless romantics all across the galaxy working on their piece of plastic junks.
If you are one of them, this is the place for you to discuss stuff, get answers, post your progress, share the pain and share the joy this kit brings.

View attachment 805761 View attachment 805762
Click to expand...

- - - Updated - - -

nah, I think it looks great! Very well done :thumbsup
Carnet said:
My first falcon. I dolled her up with the Bluemoon mods. Still very happy with her, although the weathering is a bit heavy.

View attachment 805763
Click to expand...
 
Blakeh, my friend...do yourself a favor and get the HH Miniatures upgrade kit. it's only like 85 buck I think. Well worth the time a labor saved on screwing with doing the side walls you have. been there, done that.
blakeh1 said:
I have started working on one of mine again so I can test painting for the PG one.
I started this over 10 years ago

scratched a basic cockpit. Now that I have a lot more ref I may revisit this

http://i.imgur.com/12O6dUV.jpg

Added the missing frames for the canopy

http://i.imgur.com/xiTTatB.jpg

and shortended the side walls

http://i.imgur.com/yd5i4fk.jpg

Now I've got to sand/shave off the sidewall details and rebuild the them.
Click to expand...
 
I have one, virtually untouched. Cutaway version. Along with the blue moon kit. (and another resin gunwell aftermarket kit that you can't get anymore)

I should really sell it. It's been under my desk for years.

The blue moon kit seems pretty redundant these days. 3-D printing and scratchbuilding are at their peak.
 
I have been teaching my son how to build models and detail them- passing on the tricks and techniques I developed over the years. Each kit we build provides a good experience in his education and I chose the MPC Falcon to teach him weathering.
We are building it almost stock because the focus will be on the outer hull, adding the famous grime and oil/rust streaks which give the Falcon so much character. We did replace the clear engine panels with as aftermarket exhaust and will be modifying the engine deck some, but the old MPC is such a great size to experiment with weathering techniques the accuracy of greebly is going to take a back seat on this one.
 
I did a cut away once, with the short walls, did the full on fiber optics...man what a chore that one was!
astroboy said:
I have one, virtually untouched. Cutaway version. Along with the blue moon kit. (and another resin gunwell aftermarket kit that you can't get anymore)

I should really sell it. It's been under my desk for years.

The blue moon kit seems pretty redundant these days. 3-D printing and scratchbuilding are at their peak.
Click to expand...
 
falcon 4 near done.JPGhere's the cut away I did, side walls were shortened stock walls and the stock docking collars, otherwise it looks pretty much the same as the other one I posted a bunch of picks of. I always add the ESB extra landing gear (308 Bits:Shapeways)...just like the look better. Though I've made silicone molds of nearly all the upgrade parts so I could duplicate them to keep the cost of each build reasonable. Some things though, you just can't duplicate with liquid plastic.
 
I've got 3 myself.

One I built (poorly) out of the box in 1979/80 or so when I was 9 or 10. I built it to use it as a toy since it was so much better looking and more accurate :lol looking than the Kenner falcon. I had previously built the X-wing and Vader tie for the same reasons. I also used to use the MPC Snowspeeder withthe Kenner At-At since it seemed more in scale than the Kenner Snowspeeder did. It ha the grain of wheat bulbs that ran off of 2 D batteries (I think)

I still have it. It has seen better days as a cockpit glass is cracked and the seams are coming apart in places and some of the landing gear broke. It is badly painted with just a simple very light grey base.

I am considering turning it into the Solo movie version of the Falcon

Then I have 2 I picked up around 10 years ago before I knew anything about the Fine Molds Falcon. One is the cutaway version, the other is the ROTJ box cover

I started the cutaway falcon just gluing random bits on the side walls without really doing much research into accurizing it other than looking at the picture on the box front (which isn't too great for getting those side wall details)

I also thought the cockpit cone looked too stubby. Of course the problem was I was using the ROTJ box cover for reference, which actually is the 32: ESB falcon. I should have been using my orginal MPC release box that had the 5 footer, but at the time it was in storage

maxresdefault.jpg

So I tried making the cockpit cone look longer by doing this :facepalm



Then after doing some research and realizing the side wall height problems, I started the ROTJ one trying to get it a little more accurate
 
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Sounds like we've trampled the same bit of path here and there. My first one was in the closet for 20 years till summer of 2016. Stock build except for added lighting, still ugly though. I sent it to a buddy in HI. the 2nd got shortened stock side walls and added landing gear, lights and sound. that one I sold but lost money on...ala Ebay. the third was the in flight in my office at work, short stock side walls, extra random greebs and lights, no sound. the 4th was the cut away, massive fiber optics, short stock side walls, ESB landing gear and sound. I gave it to my service managers kid cause I was tired of looking at it. the 5th got all the goodies including the better docking collars from 308 and the side walls from HH. I still think I can do better though. I have 6 or 7 left to try. if you're interested in the HH sideswalls, collars, ESB gear, ramp, etc., send me a PM. I might be able to help you out. :thumbsup
blakeh1 said:
I've got 3 myself.

One I built (poorly) out of the box in 1979/80 or so when I was 9 or 10. I built it to use it as a toy since it was so much better looking and more accurate :lol looking than the Kenner falcon. I had previously built the X-wing and Vader tie for the same reasons. I also used to use the MPC Snowspeeder withthe Kenner At-At since it seemed more in scale than the Kenner Snowspeeder did. It ha the grain of wheat bulbs that ran off of 2 D batteries (I think)

I still have it. It has seen better days as a cockpit glass is cracked and the seams are coming apart in places and some of the landing gear broke. It is badly painted with just a simple very light grey base.

I am considering turning it into the Solo movie version of the Falcon

Then I have 2 I picked up around 10 years ago before I knew anything about the Fine Molds Falcon. One is the cutaway version, the other is the ROTJ boxing

I started the cutaway falcon just gluing random bits on the side walls without really doing much research into accurizing it other than looking at the picture on the box front (which isn't too great for getting those side wall details)

Then after doing some research and realizing the side wall height problems, I started the ROTJ one trying to get it a little more accurate
Click to expand...
 
I got this back in 2010, when I was just really getting into doing models. I didn't really change anything, although I did try and add a bit to the cockpit. Back then, I mostly used cardboard or posterboard for making things. I've learned SO much since then. One of these days I'll have to get a better Falcon and make another one with a much better paint job...and try and not glue stuff wrong or backwards.... For now, this one still hangs in my room.

P1040110.jpgPC270024.jpgP1040092.jpg
 
nothing to be ashamed of bro, we were all there at one point. shoot man, that weathering job looks pretty good to me :thumbsup
JediMichael said:
I got this back in 2010, when I was just really getting into doing models. I didn't really change anything, although I did try and add a bit to the cockpit. Back then, I mostly used cardboard or posterboard for making things. I've learned SO much since then. One of these days I'll have to get a better Falcon and make another one with a much better paint job...and try and not glue stuff wrong or backwards.... For now, this one still hangs in my room.

View attachment 805829View attachment 805830View attachment 805828
Click to expand...
 
gt350pony66 said:
Blakeh, my friend...do yourself a favor and get the HH Miniatures upgrade kit. it's only like 85 buck I think. Well worth the time a labor saved on screwing with doing the side walls you have. been there, done that.
Click to expand...
I can support gt350pony66 on this one. Haystack Hair's resin upgrade kit for the MPC Falcon really does make a difference. I can only recommend getting your hands on it.
https://www.hhminiatures.co.uk/
I followed the development thread as well with pure joy: https://www.therpf.com/showthread.php?t=261957
_IMG_5842.JPGIMG_5855.JPGIMG_5144.JPGIMG_5145.JPG
 
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I am happy for the thread kicking in this well - comforting to see that I am not to only one still obsessed with the kit.
I am in still the progress of building my MPC, so I also gain from your experiences.

My goal is a classic TNH Flacon, five-footer-style. Strictly three landing gears, ship in a flying position.

One accomplishment I recently made to achieve this is building an adapter for the stand - I needed to sacrifice the bottom turret well however.
I bought a camera screw adapter (1/4" Female To 3/8" ) and a cheap tripod stand (both from aliexpress)
I placed the adapter into a 3mm styrene circle, fixed it with Loctite and hot glue, then glued everything together. I used multiple thick styrene sheets and loads of hot glue in order to build up enough strength to carry the weight of the kit. It looks and feels pretty solid for now, I am hoping for the best.
2018-03-21-16h09m35.jpg2018-03-21-17h22m44.jpg2018-03-21-22h03m36.jpg2018-03-23-10h38m13.JPG

The tripod came with a ball joint neck, so it is fully poseable. I am pretty satisfied with the result.

2018-03-23-10h29m10.JPG2018-03-23-10h28m10.JPG2018-03-23-10h31m23.JPG2018-03-23-10h36m13.JPG
I am progressing rather slowly with the overall build, one step at the time. I am a perfectionist, often indeterminate about practical decisions, I like to plan a lot and always stay on the safe side rather than rushing into incautious decisions, probably causing irreversible damage to the kit - I guess I will be busy with this build forever :lol
 
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