Robert Porter
Senior Master Sergeant
Nicely done kit!
Bandai 1/144 Millennium Falcon (The Force Awakens)
- Thread starter JKim
- Start date
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SANCER
Senior Master Sergeant
It's an awesome and extraordinarily detailed kit !!
How many pieces are included?
I see a lot of work and fun hours and more hours ...
How many pieces are included?
I see a lot of work and fun hours and more hours ...
- Thread starter
- #24
JKim
Senior Master Sergeant
I couldn't find a parts count online so I did the manual thing and come up with exactly 200 parts.It's an awesome and extraordinarily detailed kit !!
How many pieces are included?
I see a lot of work and fun hours and more hours ...
I've finished the tour of the Bandai kit but I have a couple of more goodies to show you. What is a build without some aftermarket stuff eh? Damn boring is right.
So I decided to spice things up with some additions. First... I previously mentioned that this kit is from The Force Awakens and includes a rectangular radar array. I thought it'd be nice to have the old skool round radar as an option so I searched around the internet and found a guy who makes a round radar dishfor the Bandai kit using 3D printing technology.Secondly... the exhaust grills. As I showed in the sprue pics, the six circular exhaust vents on the top rear of the Falcon have some really cool detail molded into them. But Bandai inexplicably supplies solid covers to go over that nice detail (see photos of Sprue F). So I purchased some photoetched grills from a company called Green Strawberry.
Lastly is the lighting kit. I don't have it yet but I'm working on getting one from a company called Tirydium Models in England. This should be a significant upgrade from the Bandai lighting kit and will give me the option of lighting the engine, the gun positions, the boarding ladder and/or the cockpit or any combination thereof. He says he's working on adding the two "headlights" in the mandibles too so I should be getting that feature too.
It doesn't look like an especially complicated build but the amount of detail plus adding the lighting is a bit overwhelming. I'm going to kick back, do some internet reading and try to get a game plan together before starting.
- Thread starter
- #25
JKim
Senior Master Sergeant
I just wanted to report on my search for BB-8. I missed him during my initial review of the sprues so I was curious as to his whereabouts. It turns out he is located near his costars on Sprue A.
Although I'm not in a position to officially start this build, I thought I could take a closer look at this smallest of figures and take a stab at painting him. Might be a good warmup for what's to come. I cut a portion of the sprue free but left BB-8 attached so he'd be easier to handle. The sprue connections were a bit too flimsy so I ended up detaching him and drilling a hole in his base to insert a toothpick handle.
A little bit of white, a dash of orange and smidgen of grey netted this result. To stand out from the crowd, I gave him a stretched sprue antenna to poke out from his cute little ballhead.
Marveling at the presence of molded detail on a figure that small, I got the idea of giving it a pastel wash. Most of it came off but it added a teeny bit of depth.
Here's BB-8 resting on my 1/48 scale Bf109K-4 to give you a perspective on size.
Although I'm not in a position to officially start this build, I thought I could take a closer look at this smallest of figures and take a stab at painting him. Might be a good warmup for what's to come. I cut a portion of the sprue free but left BB-8 attached so he'd be easier to handle. The sprue connections were a bit too flimsy so I ended up detaching him and drilling a hole in his base to insert a toothpick handle.
A little bit of white, a dash of orange and smidgen of grey netted this result. To stand out from the crowd, I gave him a stretched sprue antenna to poke out from his cute little ballhead.
Marveling at the presence of molded detail on a figure that small, I got the idea of giving it a pastel wash. Most of it came off but it added a teeny bit of depth.
Here's BB-8 resting on my 1/48 scale Bf109K-4 to give you a perspective on size.
Holy cow!
Good work so far!
A4K
Brigadier General
B-loody hell John! Fantastic painting mate!
Thanks too for the info earlier re the kit origins - interesting!
Some useless knowledge for ya: that round radar dish was knocked off in Pt.VI 'Return of the Jedi' when Lando Calrissian used her to lead the Rebel attack on the new Death Star's reactor. He was being chased (as is wont to happen when you want to blow up someone's wonder weapon) by TIE ('Twin Iron Engine') fighters and it got knocked off trying to outmanoeuvre them.
Another useless piece of information is I read recently the original film models were largely made up from spare Airfix kit parts. Those fancy grills on the Millennium Falcon apparently came from Airfix Panzer models!
Thanks too for the info earlier re the kit origins - interesting!
Some useless knowledge for ya: that round radar dish was knocked off in Pt.VI 'Return of the Jedi' when Lando Calrissian used her to lead the Rebel attack on the new Death Star's reactor. He was being chased (as is wont to happen when you want to blow up someone's wonder weapon) by TIE ('Twin Iron Engine') fighters and it got knocked off trying to outmanoeuvre them.
Another useless piece of information is I read recently the original film models were largely made up from spare Airfix kit parts. Those fancy grills on the Millennium Falcon apparently came from Airfix Panzer models!
- Thread starter
- #30
JKim
Senior Master Sergeant
B-loody hell John! Fantastic painting mate!
Thanks too for the info earlier re the kit origins - interesting!
Some useless knowledge for ya: that round radar dish was knocked off in Pt.VI 'Return of the Jedi' when Lando Calrissian used her to lead the Rebel attack on the new Death Star's reactor. He was being chased (as is wont to happen when you want to blow up someone's wonder weapon) by TIE ('Twin Iron Engine') fighters and it got knocked off trying to outmanoeuvre them.
Another useless piece of information is I read recently the original film models were largely made up from spare Airfix kit parts. Those fancy grills on the Millennium Falcon apparently came from Airfix Panzer models!
Thank you! The information regarding the Star Wars movies is quite fascinating and I'm learning as I research for this build. While the majority of the live filming of Star Wars (A New Hope) happened in England, the model miniatures were made in Southern California. Airfix wasn't as widely available as other brands and the majority of the parts came from Tamiya kits as evidenced from this picture of model makers working on the five foot Millennium Falcon. But I do spy what looks to be an Airfix on the shelf (Harrier?).
There are people that have produced photographic maps that identify the model parts that the Millennium Falcon was made from. Check these out...
[URL]http://www.thhttp://www.therpf.com/showthread.php?t=104116[/URL]
[URL]http://s306.photobucket.com/user/Gort_99/library/Millennium_Falcon_IDs/Latest Millennium Falcon Partmaps?sort=3&page=1[/URL]
That's the strange thing about this build... I am essentially building a model of a CGI model of a plastic model made from other model parts.
The Fine Molds kit, which I have, was considered pretty damn good but the Bandai release goes to another level with detail and parts count.
A4K
Brigadier General
Can't open that first link John, but judging by the second, it looks like someone had alot of time on their hands!
I read it was Airfix kits, which I think were sold as 'Star fix' in the US. I can't remember if it was a modelmaking site or not though, so maybe they got their brands wrong (?)
Great photo btw. I'm looking forward to this build, whatever it's origins!
I read it was Airfix kits, which I think were sold as 'Star fix' in the US. I can't remember if it was a modelmaking site or not though, so maybe they got their brands wrong (?)
Great photo btw. I'm looking forward to this build, whatever it's origins!
- Thread starter
- #33
JKim
Senior Master Sergeant
Ok! Ready to start this build back up. I have returned from my yearly trip to Kazakhstan/Kyrgyzstan and have spent the last week decompressing, processing the photos that I took and getting over jet lag and with all of those accomplished, I can step back into my model workshop.
While I was away, I received another aftermarket piece... a lighting kit! There is a lighting kit produced by Bandai but it is expensive and very limited, allowing only the option of lighting up the rear panel OR cockpit/access ramp using two LED's. For about the same price, I picked up a kit from Tirydium Models in England that includes 8 LED's to light up the rear panel, access ramp, gun turret, and red and white fiber-optic strands for the cockpit in any combination that I choose.
The kit is designed as a drop-in for the Bandai Falcon kit and I shouldn't have to do any electrical work.
The lights run off two 2032 batteries, which are housed in a small plastic case with an on/off switch.
These four primary LED's will light up the blue rear panel.
The two yellow LED's are for the gun turret and access ramp. The red and white fiber-optic leads can be used to light up the cockpit.
Warren at Tirydium Models recently worked up this latest batch of lighting kits to include the "headlights" found in the Falcon's distinctive jaws or "mandibles".
The lighting kit comes with folded paper instructions, similar to what you'd find in a Eagle Editions resin kit.
Curious to see how this might look, I mounted the clear blue panel in the rear of the Falcon and put the four LED lights into place.
Switch on... oh yeah! I'm going to have to spend some more time with this lighting kit to figure out the specifics of wire routing and how the fiber-optics will be used to light the cockpit.
Most of the buzz about the Bandai 1/144 Falcon kit is positive but there are a few complaints. One of the most commonly mentioned negatives is the strip of detail on top of the cockpit tube. The mass of piping and other small details is quite heavy and sits proud of the tube surface itself.
This is quite different than the five foot model used in the filming of Star Wars (and served as the base for the CGI Falcon in The Force Awakens).
Using a razor saw, I cut the offending strip from the cockpit tube.
I can now mount the strip "below sea level" so to speak.
This should render this area more inline with the five-footer.
While I was away, I received another aftermarket piece... a lighting kit! There is a lighting kit produced by Bandai but it is expensive and very limited, allowing only the option of lighting up the rear panel OR cockpit/access ramp using two LED's. For about the same price, I picked up a kit from Tirydium Models in England that includes 8 LED's to light up the rear panel, access ramp, gun turret, and red and white fiber-optic strands for the cockpit in any combination that I choose.
The kit is designed as a drop-in for the Bandai Falcon kit and I shouldn't have to do any electrical work.
The lights run off two 2032 batteries, which are housed in a small plastic case with an on/off switch.
These four primary LED's will light up the blue rear panel.
The two yellow LED's are for the gun turret and access ramp. The red and white fiber-optic leads can be used to light up the cockpit.
Warren at Tirydium Models recently worked up this latest batch of lighting kits to include the "headlights" found in the Falcon's distinctive jaws or "mandibles".
The lighting kit comes with folded paper instructions, similar to what you'd find in a Eagle Editions resin kit.
Curious to see how this might look, I mounted the clear blue panel in the rear of the Falcon and put the four LED lights into place.
Switch on... oh yeah! I'm going to have to spend some more time with this lighting kit to figure out the specifics of wire routing and how the fiber-optics will be used to light the cockpit.
Most of the buzz about the Bandai 1/144 Falcon kit is positive but there are a few complaints. One of the most commonly mentioned negatives is the strip of detail on top of the cockpit tube. The mass of piping and other small details is quite heavy and sits proud of the tube surface itself.
This is quite different than the five foot model used in the filming of Star Wars (and served as the base for the CGI Falcon in The Force Awakens).
Using a razor saw, I cut the offending strip from the cockpit tube.
I can now mount the strip "below sea level" so to speak.
This should render this area more inline with the five-footer.
Excellent.
SANCER
Senior Master Sergeant
Nice to see you back.
It's a great light set John, ready to follow the process.
Saludos
It's a great light set John, ready to follow the process.
Saludos
Great work so far John!
This is fantastic John!
turbo
Staff Sergeant
Should look cool John 
