Star Wars Theme Group Build

[blakeh1]

Oh man! I have only ever seen one of them in the wild - in the box - and it had a hefty price tag on it. I didn't know there were different versions of the kit. I'll be watching your build in earnest.

MSRP on the kit was $499.

I got my for around $425 with some kind of special discount deal at the time

I had always drooled over the idea of having something like the DIAgostini replica, or similar, but studio scale stuff was just way out of my price range

Then Bandai came along, and it coincided with a 25th year anniversary for my work, of which I had a choice of roughly $1500 in gift cards or ordering some nonsense stuff from a list of things they had. So obviously chose gift cards, which I essentially treated as found money and wound up buying some of my grail items which I figured I would never be able to afford otherwise
I got a 3-D printer (which was on sale), the Falcon, and the 1/72 Halcyon Aliens Dropship (got a good deal and wound up paying $100 shipped for that one) and still had a few hundred left over for more normal priced kits
Once in a lifetime splurge

As such, it took me such a long time to get up the nerve to build the Falcon as I had to make sure to get it right as there was only one shot. i.e. can't just trash it and get a new one if I screwed it up

Looking at https://camelcamelcamel.com/product/B073ZRGX6T you can see the price history of it. Man, had not realized it dropped as low as $288! I missed that one for sure

Although I wonder if that was the Standard edition as that was often around $75 to $100 cheaper

 

[banistersmind]

MSRP on the kit was $499.

I got my for around $425 with some kind of special discount deal at the time

I had always drooled over the idea of having something like the DIAgostini replica, or similar, but studio scale stuff was just way out of my price range

Then Bandai came along, and it coincided with a 25th year anniversary for my work, of which I had a choice of roughly $1500 in gift cards or ordering some nonsense stuff from a list of things they had. So obviously chose gift cards, which I essentially treated as found money and wound up buying some of my grail items which I figured I would never be able to afford otherwise
I got a 3-D printer (which was on sale), the Falcon, and the 1/72 Halcyon Aliens Dropship (got a good deal and wound up paying $100 shipped for that one) and still had a few hundred left over for more normal priced kits
Once in a lifetime splurge

As such, it took me such a long time to get up the nerve to build the Falcon as I had to make sure to get it right as there was only one shot. i.e. can't get trash it and get a new one if I screwed it up

Looking at https://camelcamelcamel.com/product/B073ZRGX6T you can see the price history of it. Man, had not realized it dropped as low as $288! I missed that one for sure

Although I wonder if that was the Standard edition as that was often around $75 to $100 cheaper

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That's brilliant! I'm down in Australia and I don't think I've seen it for anything under $1000AUD here.

 

[ohbejuan]

More work on this damn piping. I only broke one so far.

 

[TimM63]

More work on this damn piping. I only broke one so far.
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I got away with only breaking one piece of piping. Patience is the key

 

[ohbejuan]

I got away with only breaking one piece of piping. Patience is the key

yes. I have had two sessions so far with the piping. When I feel the inevitable irritation start to rise I put it away, rather than "power through" and end up breaking something else.

 

[banistersmind]

yes. I have had two sessions so far with the piping. When I feel the inevitable irritation start to rise I put it away, rather than "power through" and end up breaking something else.

I was a little like this tonight down here with mine. The bloody cockpit kept popping off the shuttle body dangling precariously from its lighting wires. I was going to wait to glue it back onto the body but I was getting stressed and I could see I was heading for disaster. Fortunately I pulled back from the brink after glueing it back on. I'll leave it til tomorrow to allow the plastic to fuse.

 

[blakeh1]

Bandai has some tiny parts for sure. In some ways the snap kit thing makes certain things a bit harder than if it was a glue kit

I also find for some of the more fragile things like piping it is an art to figuring out the right way to cut from the sprue in the correct nub/fill hole sequence that relieves the most pressure. I try to figure out what is the most fragile part first and cut there before trying to cut off some of the others

 

[ohbejuan]

Bandai has some tiny parts for sure. In some ways the snap kit thing makes certain things a bit harder than if it was a glue kit

I also find for some of the more fragile things like piping it is an art to figuring out the right way to cut from the sprue in the correct nub/fill hole sequence that relieves the most pressure. I try to figure out what is the most fragile part first and cut there before trying to cut off some of the others

Yes. In a couple places I snipped off the fittings, and made CA glue my best friend.

 

[blakeh1]

Got a bit more weathering done, plus some decaling

Did some mist coating with Tamiya Smoke and Deck Tan here and there

Starting to look more like I wanted, but still feel like, but still a lot more do do





and here it is with the Fine Molds "1/72"

Fine Molds used the old smaller size that was given to the Falcon which wound up scaling the MPC one around 1/63 or something like that.
The MPC is almost identical in size the the Bandai 1/72.

I prefer the larger size for the Falcon as it make it more likely you can fit the interior in it in a reasonable fashion

 

[banistersmind]

Got a bit more weathering done, plus some decaling

Did some mist coating with Tamiya Smoke and Deck Tan here and there

Starting to look more like I wanted, but still feel like, but still a lot more do do

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Looking superb! Are you using a particular set of reference photos?

 

[blakeh1]

Looking superb! Are you using a particular set of reference photos?

Thanks

Using a bunch of different sources along with the Bandai color guide. The color guide is a great reference for where the odd color panels are

For general weathering a bunch of places

This is a great site for general Falcon related stuff and figuring out which pictures show the 5 ft vs 32" etc...
https://sites.google.com/site/3dsfinfo/part-i-the-miniatures?authuser=0

and these are some great pics

https://modelermagic.com/millennium-falcon-studio-model/

plus the Sculpting a Galaxy Book and Star Wars Chronicles for pics like this

 

[blakeh1]

Anyone who has ever built a modern jet fighter will recognize the triangular sticker placed over a route 1 symbol on top of the cockpit

 

[janinej]

Were all of the instructions written in Manderin?

 

[banistersmind]

I think I'm done with the putty work, sanding and finessing (?)

I've spent the past few days with this process and I think I have done okay with it. I sprayed a pass with the top coat, reviewed my work, then fixed up some areas I wasn't happy with, then applied a second spray pass. Reviewing the images, I think I'll do a little more work on the cockpit seam otherwise, I think I'll incorporate any blemishes I pick up into the weathering.

This was my first attempt with putty. It has tested me. I think I did okay.

 

[banistersmind]

Thanks

Using a bunch of different sources along with the Bandai color guide. The color guide is a great reference for where the odd color panels are

For general weathering a bunch of places

This is a great site for general Falcon related stuff and figuring out which pictures show the 5 ft vs 32" etc...
https://sites.google.com/site/3dsfinfo/part-i-the-miniatures?authuser=0

and these are some great pics

https://modelermagic.com/millennium-falcon-studio-model/

plus the Sculpting a Galaxy Book and Star Wars Chronicles for pics like this

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Brilliant! I have the old Star Wars: Chronicles book (the one in the slip case) from the mid 90's. It has gorgeous reference photos of the Shuttle that I'll use to guide me. There's a really good video series on YouTube from a guy who did a Shuttle build a few years ago and he walks you through his weather process in detail. I'm looking forward to this part of the process. It's where these models really come alive.

 

[TimM63]

Looking really good @blakeh1
I could be the on board princess Leia These are from one of my princess cosplay sets.

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These images are very inappropriate and I have reported this to the administrator. There isn't any place on this forum for this content.
I also requested that you be banned from this site.

 

[ohbejuan]

These images are highly inappropriate and I have reported this to the administrator. There isn't any place on this forum for this content.
I also requested that you be banned from this site.

Thank you. I was stunned and did not know exactly what to do. Thank you for being decisive

 

[blakeh1]

I originally clicked like before the images were posted. After liking the comment when I came back to bit about being princess leia and the images were there.

Now I don't want to seem like I am discouraging anyone's interest in Cosplay or modeling assuming that the person really is who they say they are (what appears to be an under age girl)

I certainly apologize if you are truly an over enthusiastic teen girl with no ulterior motives enjoying your outfit

but there are some red flags in how that post comes off

if you are 100% legit and this was an innocent post, I still encourage you to consider that you are posting on a predominantly adult aged forum where someone with less than good intentions may take advantage of your naivety and images like that may seem harmless to you could be very provocative to someone who preys on underage kids. Not saying we have anyone here like that, but why take the risk?
I have a daughter of my own around what appears to be your same age and I certainly would not want her posting a comment like that with those images

On the other hand the red flags are that you may not be who you seem and are using "stolen" images of someone else and are trying to lure someone into something nefarious

 

[banistersmind]

I originally clicked like before the images were posted. After liking the comment when I came back to bit about being princess leia and the images were there.

Now I don't want to seem like I am discouraging anyone's interest in Cosplay or modeling assuming that the person really is who they say they are (what appears to be an under age girl)

I certainly apologize if you are truly an over enthusiastic teen girl with no ulterior motives enjoying your outfit

but there are some red flags in how that post comes off

if you are 100% legit and this was an innocent post, I still encourage you to consider that you are posting on a predominantly adult aged forum where someone with less than good intentions may take advantage of your naivety and images like that may seem harmless to you could be very provocative to someone who preys on underage kids. Not saying we have anyone here like that, but why take the risk?
I have a daughter of my own around what appears to be your same age and I certainly would not want her posting a comment like that with those images

On the other hand the red flags are that you may not be who you seem and are using "stolen" images of someone else and are trying to lure someone into something nefarious

This not a cosplay forum.

The post and images were very, very wrong.

 

[Pantherman]

Finally got my got my Shapeways MPC shuttle engine inserts this week which I've been waiting on for a month - and I almost caused the first instance of major damage right out of the gate.

The first image doesn't show it but the vents for these aren't hollow all the way through so I thought I would have to scribe out the holes or drill them myself - which I commenced doing. However, because they are 3D printed, the plastic turns out to be a lot more delicate than I'd anticipated and the first couple of holes really caused some damage to the material. I immediately stopped and I thought I'd ruined them. As I was assessing the damage with my phone's light, I realised the plastic material itself is quite transparent and the light passed through it quite well. So I made the decision to abandon drilling out the vents and I patched up the holes with some glue, then I matched the colour of the inserts as best I could and painted the area I damaged. I actually did a reasonable job - so much so, it would take an eagle eye to spot it.

I proceeded to painting them with the gun metal grey I've used for the main guns and landing gear and then fixed them in place. They fitted in really well and I lined them out with additional aluminium foil before glueing them in place.

In the course of doing this, I decided to move the light tubes and their backing mounts back and glue them directly to the backs of the engine inserts.

The result came out better than I anticipated. I will need to touch up areas on the finials to address some of the light bleed in between each one but I'm really happy with the engine glow effect. I would definitely recommend the tan version of these inserts (as opposed to the grey version) because the resultant yellow glow looks really cool!

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Now that's a work of art. Pantherman