Necro's Deagostini Millennium Falcon Build

Joined
Sep 25, 2011
Messages
804
Good day, addicts!

I committed to DeAgostini's Studio Scale 32" Falcon 2 year subscription. You can read LordSatyr8's build thread for his Deagostini Falcon if you're unfamiliar with it. My second month of parts is getting delivered any day now, so here's what I've been working on with the first month's set of parts.

63668D99-7641-4EAE-9BF4-DF8617E75718_zpsztctznad.jpg[/URL]
The first complaint that everyone has with this kit is the window position of the gun turret. From the factory, it's glued in so the window frames are at the 12 o'clock and 6 o'clock positions. However, reference pics clearly have the windows themselves at these positions. It's a simple matter of chucking the part in the freezer for 20 minutes to get the glue all brittle, then repeatedly scoring the inside seam with the back of your hobby knife, until you can pop out the window. Trim the factory locating tab off, then glue it back in position.
The plastic for the hull plates appears to be ABS, so your traditional styrene glues won't work. Some sort of MEK solvent, such as Tenax or Deluxe Plastic Magic cement will work a treat as a weld-action glue to secure parts such as this together in their correct position.

0FB1A851-F071-4E7F-ADCD-F5ADAD435C24_zpsovippyjr.jpg
The seats have kind of a horrible paint job from the factory. The front seats are a red leather color, while the rear seats are just straight black. I repainted them, starting with a coat of Tamiya Surface Primer. The front Porsche seats got a coat of XF-49 Khaki through the airbrush. I then stippled them with some XF-55 Deck Tan. I applied a couple Citadel Badab Black washes, drybruhed them with some Vallejo Green Brown, did a small pin-wash between the cushions of a little Citadel Devlan Mud wash, then finished them with a little Mig Dark Mud pigment.
The rear seats got airbrushed with XF-16 Flat Aluminum, then they were coated with some hairspray to chip them later. After a coat of NATO Black through the airbrush, I used a toothpick to scrape off some of the black paint. The seat cushion are just XF-49 Khaki brushed on, then coat with Citadel Devlan Mud wash. I did apply some AK Light Dust pigment, and alit Mig Dark Mud pigment too, just to dull down the black.
 
4F277BED-357C-443E-B993-A5BC06B63186_zpsirpj9gux.jpg
I kept the padding around the cockpit door a little simpler. It's just XF-49 Khaki brushed on, stippled with XF-55 Deck Tan mostly in the middle of each tiny panel where possible, then a wash of Badab Black. I'll be using this same paint scheme for all of the interior hallway pads, the bunk pads above the Holochess table, and all of the archway ring pads.

E5113F9F-549E-412F-9179-20665CDEB331_zpsjyvsrbrz.jpg
The gun turret parts are all cast in white metal. I cleaned off and polished the old lines and ridges from casting. I started with some files, then graduated to sponge sanders, and finally a sponge nail polisher. I also drilled out the nozzles at the gun tips using a pin vise.

E64D160F-C65D-4773-BADC-8FF33BA41BDC_zpsvcoicsj4.jpg
These parts were then primed with Tamiya Metal Primer, then they were airbrushed with Humbrol 34 Matt White enamel. I chose to use an enamel on these metal parts for its durability. I think they will need another coat of white before assembly and weathering.

I have already pre-ordered the Photo-etch cockpit bulkhead and instrument panel set from ParaGrafix. I don't think they will be shipping those sets until mid-August. Its basically a lighting gobo for the cockpit. As long as I can solder the parts so there's no light leak between the panels, I'll use that instead of the supplied cockpit parts. The supplied bulkhead panels and instrument panels are simply stickers. Not very detailed or worthy of something this size or value.

Cheers, and I hope to be a more productive member of the SMA community over the next while. It's those dang 501st costumes... ;D
 
The second month of parts have arrived, but I've been on vacation in the Maritimes for the last 3 weeks. My third batch of parts will be arriving within the next few days too, so I'd better get cracking on this...
Look what ParaGrafix have just sent me! ;D

604E29CC-3346-4815-915F-318101859C17_zpsobugzhqg.jpg
181689A6-C0B4-4C27-9CDF-6E31B0020A7A_zpslmlldbam.jpg
B3FEBFD1-A7E6-4EDD-B410-18CE2CF77E8B_zps2dtzgysf.jpg
61F93CB9-014E-451C-B679-5CDA1D24FD88_zpsb9aqfnfj.jpg
My internet went out around 7:30 AM and didn't come back on until about 6 PM. Lots of time to do my errands, hit the gym, and do some work on this newly released bit for the DeAgostini Falcon.
Although the suggested method of assembly is CA and aluminum foil tape, I elected to try soldering the brass together, to prevent light leaks. I've never done it before, so i did some research and looked at some tutorials. It's important to try them on scrap before you try it on your new $60 USD brass!
50DA1FF0-E21B-4A2B-8FFC-2F9A2E6265E3_zpsbzratj9h.jpg
 
Although the rear bulkhead and the bottom console are all soldered, I must confess that I did revert to CA for the top console control panel and its associated parts. ;)
 
I've been plugging away at this in my free time.
7474B649-F085-4BBC-8A8D-0839CAEA1F20_zpsyckfzwcs.jpg
I used some brass and styrene parts and cut-up styrene strip stock from my spares bin to add some detail to the kind-of-blank sidewalls. I had no Volvo instrument cluster parts in there unfortunately. :p
1FB2EC9A-6F99-411D-A1DF-64133D3E7EF9_zpsnuzh61mi.jpg
Hopefully you can see the sidewalls a little better in this shot.
I metal-primed, regular primed, then sprayed the brass sidewalls and console in Tamiya Dark Gray. Next, I added styrene strips over the light bars and giant holes in the brass, then filled the smaller lighted holes with PVA canopy glue. Some of those holes got tinted red, blue, or orange with Tamiya clear paints.
I also added an overhead console to the cockpit from Shapeways. A few of the detail parts on the console are cut off of a Shapeways console I previously purchased.

67F6627F-9E5C-4FEC-962E-5EF8A2B33561_zpsiyahqebx.jpg
After lots of test-fitting, adjusting, filing, sanding, and cutting, I can now get everything to fit securely.

0B4ABC4C-1B84-45FF-8A1E-057F94DF070C_zpsw3a7kyxa.jpg
F52B7A2D-AE18-4218-94A0-0166DA06E025_zpsybillxst.jpg
I have some LED tape, some pre-wired single SMD-LED's, and some pre-wired bulb LED's on order from China and Hong Kong via eBay. Next update, I should have everything illuminated.

3AA0665E-0C1B-4EAD-96FB-87A534573C5C_zpsawtgt4vt.jpg
Cheers!
 
Okay, so the next update is a little sooner than I thought. No lights from Asia yet, but I thought I would share some WIP pics of how I am detailing the storage/bunk above the Holochess bench in the Falcon's cargo hold.
5E2F0882-EFCB-41D1-8B76-A9B3BB51591A_zps9p4tm5qz.jpg
9C0A93F6-BCF9-4F47-8714-5D631B214D52_zpsrgt3cq6k.jpg
The pieces that come with the kit don't include space for any of the panels seen in the bunk walls. While one panel is on the flat part of the back wall, the other is recessed into the curve at one end. This had to be drilled at the corners, and cut out with a razor saw.

CA6A4712-5D55-4EEC-9E85-5371877033EB_zpsternkb9z.jpg
I painted all the cushions with Tamiya Deck Tan, brushed on a coat of Future acrylic floor polish, then coated them with a clay-based weathering liquid. The excess was wiped off dry with a couple q-tips. I scratch-built the cushions for the back wall out of some plastic card: cut into rough shape, sand into final shape, paint, then glue on.

ABC297CA-1E55-47E5-B986-37FB9981173D_zpsxcexdkjp.jpg
The back and head panel that go inside the bunk were scratch-built from some bits of plastic card, plastic rod and channel, a little wire, and a couple photo-etch dots from my spares bin. I used a crappy reference pic to get an idea of what parts could be seen, and filled in the hard-to-see parts of the pic with random bits.
 
64EEFEB9-F845-4F94-B770-798AF8CA67A4_zpstt0hdtiv.jpg
The panels have been painted and glued into place on the top part of the bunk. at this point, I assembled the entire bunk and glued it together.

D753D555-8A3B-41EB-86DF-16A0EA24049E_zpszthiavuf.jpg
The cargo hold has tons of corrugated ducting and pipework all over the walls. All of the corresponding pipework (of which there isn't too much of) included in the kit is all smooth-walled. I intend to replace it all with guitar and bass string scavenged from band-mates when they change their strings. Its windings can simulate the corrugated look of the pipes. Here, I'm using an old acoustic guitar string to create some pipe-work seen rimming the entry into the bunk.

B56AAC2C-FC32-4E23-B181-D1E3FCC45440_zps1yiskgb0.jpg
With the string bent into shape, and glued into place, I added strips of aluminum foil from the kitchen, and wrapped them around the pipe to look like wall-mounts for the pipe.
As for the corner of the bunk, there are a couple pieces of galvanized ducting used on the set. The kit-supplied piece is smooth plastic rod with a slight kink in it. I wrapped it in strips of masking tape, sealed it down with some clear-coat, painted it dark steel, then gave it a wash with Citadel Devlan Mud. The curvy bit of piping behind the straighter piece was made from some stretched and bent sprue heated with a lighter. I then carved in the joins between each piece of ducting with a Tamiya photo-etch scalpel-mounted mini-saw.

D7D8AA09-225F-4426-BE7B-8C1898C724FC_zps6zdx1ryo.jpg
The black circle on the wall of the bunk was a suspension piece from an old Panzer model kit. I've been stealing from that kit to do other bits of this overall build.
I also ran a bead of CA glue over the guitar string to fill in the gaps between each winding. This should fill in the caver between each winding, which should look more like corrugated ductwork/wire shrouds.

I'll leave everything to dry over the day as I have some other chores to do. Later tonight, I'll finish the final paint-work and touch-ups on this part.
 
Still no lights from Asia, nor a new shipment of parts... :'(

However, it gives me time to really dig into the little details of the parts and pieces that I do currently have.
9DE17284-F08B-4261-BA96-DE6F95032722_zpsmw2yqtxu.jpg
I scraped and chiseled away the molded-in hoses on the walls of the cargo hold above the holo-chess table. I'm pretty sure we've all seen what I'm talking about. ;) They were replaced with lead wire.
Next, the cargo hold is riddled with corrugated pipe. The kit-supplied pipe is unfortunately all smooth-walled. I had been thinking about how to replicated the corrugated look. I know that some have used fan brushes to dry-brush a wash of ink or thinned dark paint to simulate the corrugations. I wanted to try something that had occurred to me about a month ago: guitar and bass strings. In this pic, you can see a comparison of the very right-angled and smooth kit-supplied part, and my hand-bent, kinked bass guitar string. This piece of pipe has to look like it's strapped to the wall in a couple spots, hence the drooping look.

4D2F15BA-8B9D-4D30-A362-412C328C9B1E_zps4yl6og3n.jpg
The spaces between the windings are a little too deep. For this wire, i applied a couple thick coats of Mr Surfacer 1000 to fill in the gaps in the straights. The corners need a couple larger globs to fill in the winding gaps.

BFC64788-B456-4EAF-99F5-45383D1DECCC_zpsem12s7hr.jpg
I finished the pipe with some Tamiya Flat White, then a wash of Flory Models Grime. I think it adds that creamy look, but it still needs a black wash. I'll coat it with Future, then apply a Citadel Badab Black wash.
The bundled cables on the all are just some braided copper wire strands with the insulation stripped off. I painted the strands with some Humbrol flat white enamel (for durability). Next, a few strands were picked out in Tamiya clear blue and clear orange bands/stripes. They were twisted back together, then CA glued into a couple holes I drilled in the wall.
I delved into the spare parts box to get some bits of kit plastic and photo-etch, as well as the strip and sheet styrene drawer for the wall next to the holo-chess bench. There is very little photo reference for this area of the filming set, so there's a lot of liberties taken there. It of course needs paint, and it also needs a nest of cables (like a cable patch bay) on the top half to match the look of the filming set.
 
Still no lights from Hong Kong, but I am definitely inside the shipping date window now.

Regardless, I can still keep pressing on!
11A389B2-BD86-4B57-BDB8-1B1736A002FF_zpssggzhm7j.jpg
I finished detailing and painting the control panel that was just scratch built in the previous update. I used some lead wire for the cabling, and used enamels to paint them after they were installed. It was also given a couple grime washes.

10F55277-5807-4136-9225-850609B095A9_zpspjxwmldr.jpg
I cut out holes in the wall with the doorway, and filled them in with appropriate detail, as best as I could from pics of the ANH and ESB sets. By this point, my spares box was starting to run low on the good greeblies. It's down to a bunch of photo-etch tiny bits, screens, and a few sprues from a 1/72 Harrier and an old Revell Jagdpanzer kit. I am currently scrutinizing my kit stash for parts that won't be used in their builds (I'm looking at you, Academy 1/32 F-18!)

148711D5-AA86-4B49-9B5D-A38C429DB9CC_zpsmxi6kks5.jpg
I came across these in my LHS. They appear to be 1/144 Gundam HG accessory parts. They're only $3 CDN each. They look tube-y, boxy, and they have some greeblie detail. For that price, I might as well give them a go to add to the spares bin for detail parts.

5E22EBAB-CC94-41E1-92FE-A359DF43502C_zpsntp3rwlv.jpg
I hope they look the part once they're all painted and weathered.
I did away with a few of the kit-supplied parts on this wall. Kit-supplied, it's basically a blank wall with the padding around the corridor ring and a tiny bit of padding around the left doorway. It needed more, according to the reference pics. I delved into my styrene stock to detail the piping, the walls, and to fabricate a new, more accurate padded doorframe area. I do have the latest ParaGrafix cargo hold PE set in the mail as I write this. It contains a couple PE corridor ring frames which will allow for more wiring and piping inside the ring frames, and allow me to do plenty of corrugated pipework around and inside it, as seen in the reference pictures.
 
Okay guys, watch me destroy a perfectly good Cargo Hold floor! :p

19E4BFBA-95AA-401C-8EC0-4D2554CAE386_zpsmnkapcra.jpg
ParaGrafix just released their Cargo Hold photo etch set for this model. My initial plan was to cut out the square panels in the floor and have the PE supported by the thicker ribs of plastic left over, creating a grid for the PE sheet to lay on but simulating the see-through grill-like look of a grated floor. To accurately cut them out, I first taped down the PE floor, then sprayed a coat of paint to create a mask I could use as a cutting template.

B6AC7890-86FD-439C-B840-0DB69DC084F6_zpsjebmusf8.jpg
Okay, the cut lines are pretty clear. Time to cut!

87B04657-8FAC-4A66-BD30-B873EFAA59DA_zpspds7ejuv.jpg
This is my new Dremel Moto-Saw. It's a short-throat scroll saw that has an adjustable speed and is quieter than the vacuum I hook up to it for cutting. It's a permanent part of my hobby room now, and should come in useful for the next step: cutting out 30-odd panels out of the floor plate.

859023DF-70F5-4D35-97CC-B5B982AB3BF8_zpsfq8bxnen.jpg
My ambitions go the best of me, and it didn't turn out anywhere near as good as I had hoped. I went with Plan B: cut the whole thing out! :eek:

EE5DF6AB-AA18-4766-9DD6-A3FD0DAD8F12_zpscpbzoyps.jpg
It took a couple days, but I managed to hand-cut pretty much every beam brace for the floor out of some square brass stock I had in a metal grab-bag of bits and parts from my LHS. I tried to cut the repeated cross-braces on the scroll saw, but it mangles and bends the larger side of the stock.
The pieces were initially tacked in with CA glue, but I went in with some solder and flux to reinforce the joints.

A73AB931-CDE3-4E6D-8475-08B180183153_zpsc3m3hsj4.jpg
I have affixed some other brass parts for the cargo hold, as seen here. I am looking for a realistic depth (or lack thereof) for the grated cargo floor. The brass stock and access panel plates lining the floor hatches will help reinforce and stiffen the floor. It is actually very strong. I could drop this on the floor or set my cup of coffee on it with no fear of it collapsing or bending.

Mission accomplished!
 
D4CC478A-1070-4A16-8973-643F9685F50B_zpsvwskvvdo.jpg
Quick update...
I have installed the photo-etch corridor ring replacements. They will be pretty fiddly, so we'll see how they hold up throughout the build. I have been waiting for these before I do the rest of the pipe work around the corridors and walls.
The PE upgrades for the round bench have been installed too. I have also added seat belts for these seats using some leftover cargo strap PE from a Stryker M1127 armoured vehicle I did from the Big Spring Contest in 2012.
The Navicomputer on the right had all of its kit panels replaced with photo-etch upgrades. They will eventually be lit from the inside. In the meantime, I used a combo of aluminum tube, spare PE from old armour upgrade sets, and modified kit parts to detail the Navicomputer.
The floor got a coat of Tamiya Metallic Gray, then a coat of Flory Dark Grime wash, then a rub-down with gunmetal pigments and some dark dirt pigments. I applied some black enamel wash between the grilles in the areas where there is still plastic underneath the floor grid.

Cheers!
 

Latest posts

Back
Top