Building The ANH 5'Millennium Falcon

A day off here in New Zealand & figured I'd put up some pics of the build.
Have been going around the model adding last details such as kit parts in pits & I guess everywhere really & also the hundreds of extra relief chips on the hull & again, everywhere really!. This is the stage where it looks like not much is happening, but believe me it is!.
The radar assembly is coming along. The hardware was kindly supplied by Joshua as I couldn't get a single item here that I wanted, such as the set screws etc... . But it now rotates/pivots as per the original. A beautiful model in itself!. A few more kit parts to add & adding the last teeny tiny T strips today.
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It's coming along nicely. Only seeing the actual 5 ft model back in summer 1998, now 25 years ago, its a bit hard to actually picture how big it is.
After these last few months working on an old MPC Falcon at around 18 inches, seeing you hold the dish reminds me how much bigger it is.
Me holding this tiny dish...lol.
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It's coming along nicely. Only seeing the actual 5 ft model back in summer 1998, now 25 years ago, its a bit hard to actually picture how big it is.
After these last few months working on an old MPC Falcon at around 18 inches, seeing you hold the dish reminds me how much bigger it is.
Me holding this tiny dish...lol.
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I have the MPC kit & is always fun to dig it out and see how small the parts are compared to the 5 footer. I don't think I could build it now, mainly due to its so small, but after working on this build & the large size, understandable I think haha.
You are lucky to have seen the original mate. I haven't to date as yet, but who knows in the future.
Good luck with your MPC build. Maybe some 'special modifications' been done?.

Cheers
Stu
 
I have the MPC kit & is always fun to dig it out and see how small the parts are compared to the 5 footer. I don't think I could build it now, mainly due to its so small, but after working on this build & the large size, understandable I think haha.
You are lucky to have seen the original mate. I haven't to date as yet, but who knows in the future.
Good luck with your MPC build. Maybe some 'special modifications' been done?.

Cheers
Stu
I added a few little things, mainly the back engine area, but mostly I left it as is and painted it best I could. My build is in the normal modeling area.
 
Been guilty of that one myself at times...figured that might have been the case :p
All good.

Incidentally, I think Stu failed to mention that he dropped this video a little over a moth ago, for those not keeping up with his channel. Well worth a watch as always. Thanks Eagle1

Another great vid Stu:cool::cool:(y)(y):notworthy::notworthy::notworthy::notworthy::love::love:
 
Hi guys. Thought I'd put up some random pics of my progress on the radar assembly & engine vents.
The radar assembly is pretty much done, with only 3 parts to add before a light primer & then basecoat in Reefer White. Big shout out to Joshua for acquiring me the hardware in the U.S. to assemble it, to swivel & pivot as per the original, I couldn't get anything so small here in New Zealand, such as the tiny set screws etc... . I'm going to attach the pedestal assembly to the base with magnets, with the base being permanently glued inside the pit on a raised platform to just the right height. Immensely fiddly this assembly is to match the original as best as I could, hours of pouring over ref & help from Bjorn & Dimitri with more sets of eyes, thank you guys!.

And the engine vents having their chipping added, again trying to match the positioning of each single chip, arghhhh, I'm bonkers!. Thin styrene used for these & I use a compass cutter to get the top lid radial chipping I need & the outside is a bigger diameter radius cut by hand drawn from a compass.

Nice seeing these areas being finalized & adds just incredible detail to the overall look. The ILM guys were just amazing in adding these tiny details that gave the Falcon it's wonderful 'busy' look, but man, for us to replicate all they added, fun, but also time consuming to research & reverse engineer.

Ill get another video up very soon, explaining more about these 2 areas.

Stu
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Oh & I should apologise for taking pics of the model in a terribly dusty state!. Will get to that fully & I do dust it down section by section as I move around the model working on sections.
 
Incredible work. Sets the Falcon benchmark for those who wish to strive for perfection. Amazing photography clearly shows the “compression“ needed to fit kit parts on the engine deck. Accomplished by a puzzle master. I have to shake my head when looking at how beautiful the radar detail was crafted. Again, trademark clean crisp construction everywhere you look.
 
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