An RPF Open Source 5 ft Millennium Falcon Build/Reference Thread. All Are Welcome

[jcoffman99]

People are using 2 inch aluminum pipe on their Studio Scale Galacticas, and that is a heavy beast. Its 1.90 " OD, fairly light and very strong. It's used as hand railings. They also sell various connectors and fittings as well.

Here's a catalog page from Julius Blum who makes the railing system. They also sell a 1.6 inch OD version. It's a little ways down the page. Hope this helps. I bought mine locally from a metal supply co. You might save on cost and shipping if you have a metal supply near you.

Architectural Stock Components Catalog - Julius Blum & Co. Inc.

Explore the comprehensive Architectural Stock Components Catalog by Julius Blum & Co. Inc. Find premium quality components for your architectural projects.

www.juliusblum.com

Thank you so much. That’s a big help.

 

[bwayne64]

Thank you so much. That’s a big help.

Your welcome ; ) Another idea is to use
steel conduit for canopies. You can get various sizes. It's fairly strong when it's a short section, which is what you'll have in the Falcon. You'll need to support it with bulkheads. As long as your mounting rod is strong enough it should be more than adequate. It's steel so heavier than the aluminum tubing, buts it's fairly thin walled, so not too heavy.

 

[Necronaut]

Total 5’ noob suggestion, but has anyone ever considered using extruded aluminum channel & components as the armature frame? Like some chunky, beefy 3060 extrusion or something?

 

[Necronaut]

Repeat post. Apologies.

 

[JSchneider]

Okay I need to rethink my armature.

With only a 2 5/8 patty, a 2” pipe isn’t going to work. There’s not enough “meat” to mount it. Also, it’s way too heavy.

Anyone try aluminum pipe? Is it strong enough? Have any other suggestions?

Thanks,
John

I've been thinking the whole time about using 2" aluminum square tubing bent into the round to the outer perimeter of the waistband (minus whatever thickness I use for my gluing surface for the waist (maybe .125 styrene wrapped around the outside perimeter?), with a 1.60" main cross pipe, and 1" (maybe 3/4"?) mandible support tubes welded to the main pipe and come through the front of the 2" square tubing. It would look similar to what ILM did with the wooden armature and tubing, but all aluminum and lighter.

I have a steel shop nearby that says they can get a perfect circle with the 2" square tubing on their bender, but I'd almost have to cut it in half to weld the main pipe through the center. And i'd have to account for the DR notch-outs. I'm worried things would get out of round and out of square having to cut it in half to fit that pipe through that comes out through the docking rings. I was thinking that would end up being lighter than using the wood and a bit more robust. One other thing that worried me is adhering my styrene around the outer edge for the waistband being such dissimilar materials. And I'm still hung up on how I want to attach to the mount. Someone around here had the great idea of using an exhaust tubing expander to expand inside the main tube to hold steady on the mount. I'm a little worried though that using aluminum pipe instead of steel for the main pipe would end up bending the main tube, and there's also the issue of getting the exhaust expander mounted to the engine stand.

I'm still running the scenario through my head after all these months and have committed to nothing yet for the armature. LOL!

How are you going to mount to the stand John? Weld a long tube onto the engine stand that slides inside the armature tube and drill some holes through both tubes to be able to throw a bolt in and lock it in place so it can't spin?

 

[JSchneider]

Almost time for a 100 page celebration... Milestones. Haha!

 

[jcoffman99]

I've been thinking the whole time about using 2" aluminum square tubing bent into the round to the outer perimeter of the waistband (minus whatever thickness I use for my gluing surface for the waist (maybe .125 styrene wrapped around the outside perimeter?), with a 1.60" main cross pipe, and 1" (maybe 3/4"?) mandible support tubes welded to the main pipe and come through the front of the 2" square tubing. It would look similar to what ILM did with the wooden armature and tubing, but all aluminum and lighter.

I have a steel shop nearby that says they can get a perfect circle with the 2" square tubing on their bender, but I'd almost have to cut it in half to weld the main pipe through the center. And i'd have to account for the DR notch-outs. I'm worried things would get out of round and out of square having to cut it in half to fit that pipe through that comes out through the docking rings. I was thinking that would end up being lighter than using the wood and a bit more robust. One other thing that worried me is adhering my styrene around the outer edge for the waistband being such dissimilar materials. And I'm still hung up on how I want to attach to the mount. Someone around here had the great idea of using an exhaust tubing expander to expand inside the main tube to hold steady on the mount. I'm a little worried though that using aluminum pipe instead of steel for the main pipe would end up bending the main tube, and there's also the issue of getting the exhaust expander mounted to the engine stand.

I'm still running the scenario through my head after all these months and have committed to nothing yet for the armature. LOL!

How are you going to mount to the stand John? Weld a long tube onto the engine stand that slides inside the armature tube and drill some holes through both tubes to be able to throw a bolt in and lock it in place so it can't spin?

I “think” I’m going with 1.5 “ pipe. The pipe will go to a 2” pipe via a steel reducer. That 2” pipe with go into the engine stand with a hole drilled in it to lock it with a pin.

I’ll probably weld a vertical piece to mount it from the bottom. That’s how it will end up being displayed.
Thoughts?

 

[JSchneider]

I “think” I’m going with 1.5 “ pipe. The pipe will go to a 2” pipe via a steel reducer. That 2” pipe with go into the engine stand with a hole drilled in it to lock it with a pin.

I’ll probably weld a vertical piece to mount it from the bottom. That’s how it will end up being displayed.
Thoughts?

Trying to picture it... Where would the reducer be placed (inside the body, or outside?) And where would the hole be drilled (inside, or outside?) I'm guessing outside for both, right?

When I've been thinking about my options if I go this route... I don't want the main internal pipe extending past the docking rings obviously. If I end up using a tube that slides inside another tube I was thinking I'd want the larger diameter tube inside the body, and I'd want to drill the hole for the pin in the center so I could access under the turrets because the turrets will be removable. (DR bodies could be removable too to be able to drill the locking pin there as well, but then all the weight is to the side as well.) I also worry that if I use a pipe that slides into another pipe, the weight of the Falcon may eventually over time crack the pipe weld on the mount with all the weight being on that one small area. So that will have to be beefed up a bit. I wish I knew how much it will weigh when we're done... 80-100 pounds? And the biggest thing I would need to pay attention to is that the armature tubes ID and the mounting pipe OD are going to play nice together, that they fit inside each other without too much slop. I haven't even looked at buying an engine stand yet, so I'm not sure yet how my mounting plate will be set up yet.

Sounds like you're going 2" from the mount, to slide over 1.5" main structure pipe. Am I reading that right? Would they mate inside the DR body, or just outside of it? Can you fit 1 3/4" through your wooden armature and still leave some meat there, or would 1 3/4" still be too big? I haven't started looking at pipe yet, but they have thin walled and thick walled John which all have different OD's. We just have to find pipe that plays well together. Decisions, decisions. All that matters is that it works! LOL

 

[jcoffman99]

Trying to picture it... Where would the reducer be placed (inside the body, or outside?) And where would the hole be drilled (inside, or outside?) I'm guessing outside for both, right?

When I've been thinking about my options if I go this route... I don't want the main internal pipe extending past the docking rings obviously. If I end up using a tube that slides inside another tube I was thinking I'd want the larger diameter tube inside the body, and I'd want to drill the hole for the pin in the center so I could access under the turrets because the turrets will be removable. (DR bodies could be removable too to be able to drill the locking pin there as well, but then all the weight is to the side as well.) I also worry that if I use a pipe that slides into another pipe, the weight of the Falcon may eventually over time crack the pipe weld on the mount with all the weight being on that one small area. So that will have to be beefed up a bit. I wish I knew how much it will weigh when we're done... 80-100 pounds? And the biggest thing I would need to pay attention to is that the armature tubes ID and the mounting pipe OD are going to play nice together, that they fit inside each other without too much slop. I haven't even looked at buying an engine stand yet, so I'm not sure yet how my mounting plate will be set up yet.

Sounds like you're going 2" from the mount, to slide over 1.5" main structure pipe. Am I reading that right? Would they mate inside the DR body, or just outside of it? Can you fit 1 3/4" through your wooden armature and still leave some meat there, or would 1 3/4" still be too big? I haven't started looking at pipe yet, but they have thin walled and thick walled John which all have different OD's. We just have to find pipe that plays well together. Decisions, decisions. All that matters is that it works! LOL

Here’s a quick sketch

 

[JSchneider]

Here’s a quick sketch

View attachment 1734843

I’m picturing your using a threaded reducer. So the reducer will be threaded onto the 2” mount pipe, and threaded onto the 1 1/2” pipe (inside the docking ring body?) And the 2” pipe will run through the mount and be pinned. The OD of that reducer will be rather large I’m guessing, so the hole cut into the docking ring face would have to be large too. Does your stand have a swivel handle/plate to be able to spin the ship? Or you’re going to have to handle the Falcon to spin it on the mount.

I’m away from home today so replies may be sporadic.

 

[jcoffman99]

The reducer will be outside the ship and only temporary. Since I'm going to mount the ship from the bottom, I really don't need access to the sides once it's finished. My stand has the arm for swinging.

 

[JSchneider]

The reducer will be outside the ship and only temporary. Since I'm going to mount the ship from the bottom, I really don't need access to the sides once it's finished. My stand has the arm for swinging.

I was going to ask too… are you planning on aluminum armature pipe, and then steel mount pipe and reducer? If you thread the aluminum pipe you just have to be careful don’t cross thread it cause it’s so soft comparatively. And steel to aluminum corrodes pretty easily, so if it stays together for long periods of time they may seize together. It’ll be indoors, so might not be an issue but you can use anti-seize on the threads.

 

[jcoffman99]

Hard to tell from the pic, but there are my mandibles ready to be cut. Hopefully this weekend they’ll be cut and sanded.

 

[jcoffman99]

A few early shots. Thoughts?

 

[JSchneider]

Look how purty she looks...

 

[jcoffman99]

Just messing around.

 

[jcoffman99]

Revised.

 

[Dimitri-Ajith]

Let the fun begin!

 

[jcoffman99]

Just playing around. I need to get thicker plating. What’s your go to thickness? 1mm? This is some .3 I had around. It’s great for cutting with scissors. Lol. Need a little thicker.

 

[JSchneider]

Just playing around. I need to get thicker plating. What’s your go to thickness? 1mm? This is some .3 I had around. It’s great for cutting with scissors. Lol. Need a little thicker.
View attachment 1736402

A certain someone around here (you know who you are!) turned me on to this GodHand cutter. It works well, but rather expensive like every other GodHand. I love their stuff though. And replacement blades were a little tricky to find locally, but you can get 50 packs of them.

Godhand Amazing Cutter - Walmart, Amazon, model shop websites, etc. I think I paid around $130-$150 for them.

I have had a pair of Leatherman Raptor Shears for years for work. They work really well for cutting styrene, along with a whole bunch of other hard to cut items. EMT's and fireman usually have them for car accidents and rescues. They have come in really handy over the years cutting a wide variety of things and they're cheaper than the GodHands. You can break car windows with the rescue shears too among a bunch of other stuff. Multipurpose. They fold up too and have a little belt case to store them in. I have gotten mine on Amazon and I think they were $80-$100. These are nice if you have long cuts to follow and just use them like scissors. Think these were around $80-$90 last pair I bought.

As for the armor, I haven't gotten that far yet, but I was going to start with 0.30 and see how that looked. I think I have .030 written down for the mandibles and a mix of armor for the dome, but .040" to .060" mostly if I recall correctly, with thinner layers lain underneath where the big gash damage in the lower hull is. But .030 looks too thin on the mandible, huh? I think .040 = 1mm, yeah?