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.