Did some work on the quad lasers, the seats and then primed a bunch of odds and ends. 

That Valkyrie will be awesome with lighting, I hope you show how you wire it. I for one am a newbie with lighting, I'll take all the info I can get.

Señor theres a lot of detail in that kit and the lasers look cool.

Gee, those look great guys!

Senormodeler, That Falcon is looking great. Amazed at all the detail in the kit.

Jibber, I will post pics of the wiring. However, this is my first time trying to light up anything, most likely I'll end up crahing and burning. Then I could make a cool dio. I will say this, I'm surprised at all the "engineering" that goes into the planning stages of wiring. That's where I've been spending most of my time.

Gamera, Thanks. Things are progressing slowly.

Thats what is so cool about LED's, not only are they dramatic, they take a lot of thought to every part of the process. We'll all learn together. Thanks Terry

I'm lighting my falcon as well and it will be my first attempt at lighting anything. So maybe we can compare notes.

My question at the moment is about how and when to trim the FO on the hull of the ship. After priming and painting our before? Can anyone shed light on the process?

SM: Wish I could help- I've seen people do it both ways. Seems like to me though that it would be hard to get a good flush trim job on the fibers if you cut them when done though.

I haven't done it myself so I really don't know for sure but I've seen other WIPs where guys trimmed the FO strands after painting.  I think the logic is that its alot easier to trim the strands after painting then it is to try to mask them.  They used brand new #11 blades to do it.

Well, I am planning to cut the FO after painting. I was thinking of using a pair of flush snippers (i guess that's what they are called), but I will try a sharp #11 blade also. Just to compare the two. My concern is getting a little over zealous with the #11 blade and accidentally scratching the paint job. Planning on starting the wiring this weekend and will try and get some photos up.

NucMedTech

Well, I am planning to cut the FO after painting. I was thinking of using a pair of flush snippers (i guess that's what they are called), but I will try a sharp #11 blade also. Just to compare the two. My concern is getting a little over zealous with the #11 blade and accidentally scratching the paint job. Planning on starting the wiring this weekend and will try and get some photos up.

Here's a little progress on the X-Wing.  Since they are going to be painted the same color as the main part of the ship I've attached the lasers.  First, I taped the wings together so that I could attach the lasers on at the same time and gauge their alignment.  I started with the 2 on top:

Then, using the top lasers as a guide I attached the bottom 2:

I figure if I had tried to attach them with the wings separated the lasers would have been pointing in four different directions.

Tricky move, it looks like one of this times you could've used a third hand.  

Ohhhhh very cool! Looks like this should be the hard part- hopefully the rest should be easier!

Hey fellas. 

Here's a quick update to let you know that I've been having a helluva time not screwing up my falcon. The issue is with these small little pipes that go from the hull out and over the exposed engine parts. Up close it looks kinda bad. I'm going to try to fix them up with some white putty and then, of course, some weathering when I get to that stage. I'm embarrased by these pictures, so go easy on me.

I'm glad that part is over. It was not the most enjoyable part of the build so far. But next up is creating the battle damage! I'm really looking forward to that. Gonna get out the dremel and do some damage. Need to turn this prestine falcon into a 'hunk of junk.'

No worries Senor!! Weathering is gonna take care of any issues you think you are having (none that I can see)

Señormodeler

Soon it'll time to light this sucker. Then close it up and paint it. Lately I've been reviewing fichtenfoo.com wherein Michael Fichtenmeyer has a few video tutorials on how he discolors and weathers his fine molds falcon. Vey cool.

Thanks for looking! Feedback welcome.

Nice work so far, btw!

SM: They look good to me. I've heard of some people using solder to replace stuff like that, not sure how well it works.

Yeah, I thought about that. But I just decided to stick with the kit parts. I'm gonna squeeze some white putty into the gaps and then sand it smooth.

Today though, I think I'm going to work on the battle damage! Fun!

thanks to all keeping this going while i have been absent of late. actually have a full time job thru 04NOV. as i am retired it has been an interesting week and, since i have already spent the money, i best finish it out. i see pegasus is releasing T2 ecto-skeletons in the near future (no pun intended)

I love this build. So full of problems to be solved and I'm learning a lot about lighting with LEDS.

I worked a bit on the battle damage on the underside of the kit.

I've also been working on the cockpit.

Sanded off the kit "koolshade" so that I could use the PE version from acreations.

Still need to paint Han's hands...

Then got to work on the engine lights.

Here are the resin engines, not glued in yet.

That's it for now! Thanks for looking.

Looks really good Señor!  What method did you use for the battle damage?

SM: The figures look great and love the LEDs, she's going to look fantastic lit up!

I'd be terrified to do battle damage to a kit that expensive though!

Thanks for the comments.

For the battle damage I used Dremel bit #125:

www.dremel.com/.../ToolDetail.aspx

It has such a sharp and fine point that I was able to create ridges within the battle scar, which is something that I see in the 32" reference pics. I tried not to actually break through to the other side of the hull, but I did anyway. I patched that up with some Apoxie Sculpt.

I haven't done the damage on the topside yet. Probably will today.

For the figures I used oil paints.

Looking great Senor!  The cockpit looks really convincing!  

Where did you get the clear resin engine parts?  I've been checking up with the Acreation website and they never have them.

I got it from 'haystack hair' (aka William Page) over on the RPF.com site.  PM me if you want his email addy. He does a ton of modeling and created the resin engines. This is his profile page at RPF:

www.therpf.com/.../haystack-hair

Thanks for the link, Senor!

I haven't had much time to work on this build lately because... my wife and I had a baby boy on Halloween!!! It was the most amazing experience of my life, as you might imagine. We're vey happy. And very tired.

In the few moments here and there that I've been able to work on the falcon, I ordered in the mail and rec'd these...

I know it's not accurate to have Leia and 3PO in the cockpit while the falcon is racing over the surface of the death star, but I'm okay with that. The tiles look great. The base will be 2'x1' and the falcon will be mounted to it by way of a gooseneck lamp arm like this one...

I'm getting a 6" and a 12" gooseneck because I'm not sure how high I want the falcon above the tiles.

I'm waiting on some bolts and connecting nuts for the gooseneck, and then I'll attach it to the bottom of the falcon just behind the turret. Once I have the base built and the falcon mounted, I'll install the LEDs and thread the red marker fiber optics through. Then I'll close it up and prime it. I think the base will make a nice rig f

Meanwhile I've been weathering the engine grill that covers the rear engines.

This project is one long problem solving exercise. (I can't fix my wife's problems but I can fix the millennium falcon!)

Comments welcome!

I rec'd the death star tiles in the mail and figure out the placement of them on the base board.

I drilled a hole in the bottom turret and epoxied a nut inside to attach to the gooseneck.

Drilled a hole in the base and dry fit it all together.

Also did a little work on the engine grill. Tried to make it look like it's seen a lot of heat.

That's it for now.