This should finish this installment...

If you have any questions, please feel free to ask.  This is a long going subscribtion model and I am not even half way yet.  It is getting built as parts I need for knowing what fits and how a number of part will need to be modified and still fit as good or better.

The ramp area is going to go through a big rework at some point.  That huge amount of frame covering the ramp opening is going to be removed and then rebuilt.

Time for bed I am falling asleep here in mid sentance.  Night all

Not much suspense there I agree.  Should wait a bit and post that the cat jumped on it.  (I don't have a cat "yet" anyway)

On with the show.

Yup that isn't any hobby paint.  Why spend an insane amount for hobby paint for this application.  This is some really well working primer.  The silver gives a quite nicely shiney surface as shown by the inside of the cockpit corridor behind the can.

But we are not done yet.  I have some reference for you to ponder with modding 4 light locations and prepping to add a bunch more.

Yes, yes I am continuing, keep your shirt on.    Definitely KEEP YOUR SHIRT ON!

To be continued  (again)

Hey everyone!  You get some surprise photos tonight!  Quite a few and some good informative ones that you really should consider if you are not planning on painting your Falcon.

As they say pictures are worth a thousand words so I guess that here are may thousands of words :)

Last time you remember I was short one of the support ribs.  I was asked to tell which Issue and shipment it came from.  (couldn't remember so I picked one that had the needed part.  Here is what happened:

Nope, not all yet, there is more to come just breaking up the gigantic posts to reasonably size.

To be continued. . .

Wow!  Thanks for your post Chris!  I agree that not a lot of folks really pay much attention to the Sci-Fi forum.  It isn't in their interest zone I guess.  The thing is, THIS is where there is the most scratch building and innovation for building models is.  I'm not too worried as I look at the view count and see that it keeps growing.  Most of my posting is over on a smaller more elite site where the members are not only exceptional modelers but also a class act in how they treat each other.  Fine Scale is a larger more rounded community but as you stated, don't tend to comment much.

As to accuracy of the kit, I believe (exterior wise) that this kit matches the 32" movie prop fairly close.  Most folks love the high detail of the 5 footer though so it's a crap shoot.  I personally like the shape of the 32" miniature over the shape of the bigger one.  The surface detail on the 5 foot miniature wins out mostly though. 

I say mostly because the large detail on the large prop is also kind of rough and has a lot of descrepancies like big holes for the carrying handles for example.  Back when they were built nobody could have dreamed that these 2 movie props would become some of the most popular movie miniatures ever created.  Neither of the original props was built to pass the Hairy Eyeball test at a range of 6 inches, but then we build models of them that have to pass even closer scrutenization.

So, I am building an aggregate of the two movie props with "upgrades" for plausibility and to make it pass the toughest, close in, HET.  (Hairy Eyeball Test)

Again, thanks for looking in Chris!  I noticed the 4ft X-wing thread the other day, just have not had time to check it out yet.

WOW - Uh THAT'S the understatement of the year!! I know that what you've done is only a tiny bit compared to what you'll have to do next. However when you don't get a response to your posts many people don't want to clutter up your thread with a one liner, or two. But rather they watch in utter amazement! I did for the first night I read this - that being last night. I looked at these pictures, and read every single line for over FOUR HOURS!!! I wish I had the jewelers' lathe. That would save me so many hours turning parts on a hand drill. Look at my four foot X-wing thread - only a VERY SMALL handful of people have said anything about it, but with over 20,000 + views doesn't make for a very welcomed feeling!

I know what you mean, but you're a man after my own heart in many ways - from your humour to your way of correcting other peoples' mistakes.  You would think that they would've caught all these when making it! It's bad enough when you have either a lack of references, or a lack of model kits to build it with, but when you get something that you've PAID someone else to make correctly only to have a part that you're forced to rebuild is sad indeed! I am in absolute awe of your modeling prowess! I've had to do the same thing and (I STILL am) doing the same as you're doing now, and on the same scale. At least you have something to build on - a framework with out guessing the size, or shape using model kits, and pictures!

When you buy on the internet you'll have things like this from garage kits, and the same with those who aren't as passionate as we are about accuracy. I just happened to this looking through the forums since I have a litte bit more time this week. It was buried under other threads, so it makes it a little off putting when I don't have a lot of time to devote to reading. I'm glad that I fell into this thread instead of Steve Astognis' build - yours is more accurate. I used to do machining, and now the only machining that I do is for myself at the moment. I love making things from raw materials, and breathing life into them! Which is why I hope to have something to show sometime within the next two weeks. Don't let the lack of replies from other members bring you down just keep on moving. Remember - slow and steady wins the race! We're all watching.

~ Cobra Chris

~ Cobra Chris

I understand.  Not an issue as you will see with my next set of pictures.  The entire outside will be painted as well with good reason.

As to the insides of the flaps, not concerned at the moment.   I have some concepts running through my head to either super detail them, or maybe even make them move.  Either way involves major rework of these parts.

You've got the shown side of the hull, and the frame side of the hull where the frame is screwed in. On the hull plates around the edges of the frame side, about an inch or so in, you'll either have to remove the paint or paint over it the same color you use on the hull or it will appear silver around the edges that stick out over the sidewall detail! Make sense? On those tail fins you'll have to sand out the mold holes and the part stamps too that stick out over the edges... like this:

Yup, knew about the assembly order,  that was actually quite easy to figure out.  The problem on my build was that some of the plates "overlapped" just a tad much.  Maybe .010 to .014 of an inch.  Might have been due to the fact that I fully assembled the frame first and the stresses on it evened out through the whole assembly before adding the plates.  The thing to remember is that the starting points on the plates are the raised parts for the ramp and airlocks.

I only ended up with one spot where the plate still wanted to stick up and  that was because it had a larger than normal area not held down with a screw.  It has a slight warp to it and springs up.  I am not concerned as when pressed down it fits perfectly, and the large secondary parts fit over it.

The main reason I went ahead and mounted the plates on the frame is that they are a big part of the strength on the build.  Like a stressed skin on an aircraft, the plates give the frame a lot of rigidity and strength.

Something I also did was take a file to all the sharp edges on the frame parts, worked the holes for the plastic plate posts over, and made sure it was all square and level.  Smoothing out the edges of the holes seemed to help the pins in the plates go in easier.   With any large assemblies there end up being some fit problems.  I tend to be very OCD about assembly work, so it was fully fit each part until it set fully down and flush.

I will probably end up removing all the parts around the ramp area once I figure out how I'm going to rework it.  I won't do cut-n-chop on it untill I have all the fit issues and parameters.  (that means the top frame and interior all mounted)  While there is way more frame in the ramp area than is really needed, removing it without a plan in place to redo it is a bad idea.

As to painting around the edge, I'm not sure what you are referring to Jim.  I am going to fully paint the exterior of the model.  I have some old examples of how beige ABS changes color with exposure to light, humidity, and whatever else can be found in the environment.  I will have more photos next week sometime.  I don't think anyone wants their falcon to turn orange or brown which is what will happen over time to bare ABS.

Did anyone notice that the engine flaps are not installed?  This is on purpose, though what or how I am going to do anything there, again, will depend on how everything else fits around there.

Oh you are such a cheater waiting to put all the frame together at once when the rest of us put it together while they came in and had to wait for the next issues! LOL :P... but it's looking good my friend... a couple of things you may want to take into consideration thou before you get too much further... 1) Make sure to repaint the inside edges of the hull panels about an inch all the way around because those will be seen (and I don't think silver would be desirable).  2) There is an order to how the panels went on... they do all interlock just as long as you did them in the proper order you never really had to do any trimming.  The only problems I had were the posts didn't want to fit properly a few places, but a little determined nudging with a rag and a pair of pliers and it popped in with little problem.  The order of the plates is Bp-10,9,11,12,8,7,6,4,5,3,25,26,24,22,21,19,17,20,14,15... there are a few people that reported that the overlap between 21 and 19 is a little thick but just a little sanding took care of the problem!  You got it all down, but i'm sure those that are following your build would like to know!  Thank my friend Ian Lawrence for that order! :)

Great to see you back underweigh on this. 

And seeing your laptop beside the Falcon really smacks home to me the actual size of the thing! 

This is the last for now.  I should have shipment #11 sometime next week, but am also waiting on a part.  Someone misscounted the stiffening ribs and I ended up with an extra one used on the inner part and short one that is used on the outer part.

On with the show. . .

The magnet stand off trick is neat, but since there isn't much on the top, you really can't tell much of what is going on.  I will remember it for later though as it should make things a little more interesting.

Hope you enjoyed this installment, and as always, if you have any questions please feel free to ask!  I am always glad to help out and answer questions.  It even sometimes make me think of stuff I have not thought of yet.

First some closer shots of the frame parts, then rather than building it in the manner that everyone else did, I started in the center.

Next post. . .

Some more now.  FineScale has their number of posts per page set rather high and when you add in extra long posts with pictures, the web pages are huge.  By breaking up the posts like this it makes things a little less hassle when reading them.  (also makes the e-mails smaller)

So to continue on. . 

To be continued. . . .  (again)  

All right everyone!  I have received shipment #10 and with that the bottom frame is now complete!   With this installment I will assemble the bottom with the plates that I currently have.

Enjoy!

To shorten web page lengths this will be continued. . .

I often thought the same thing... about the engine flaps!  I often thought why they don't move in the movie.  I would think they would help direct the thrust of the engine and should act like air brakes when in atmosphere.  I could see in my mind the initial start up testing to make sure they work and they all move in unison like a crowd of people in a stadium doing the wave!  Would be soooooooooo cool!

Thanks for checking in and everyone's nice comments.  Another month has gone by and another shipment has arrived.   Things aren't quite to the point where I want to start doing any major mods on the hold or hull just yet.  Am considering contacting DeAgostini and getting them to bump me up for shipments 10 and 11 (since they are already shipping those here in the states) but am quite busy and doing a lot of thinking about parts and possible modifications.

At the moment there are 2 main things that are holding me back on doing any real work on this.  One, my new computer won't work with my (considered ancient) printer so I am unable to do much in the way of printing for decals, stickers, dimensional reference drawings, etc.  If I had the power supply for the (also ancient) Viewsonic monitor I got back from my daughter I would just power up my old computer network it and print off of it.  If I can't get the power supply I will probably invest in a super tabloid sized printer to use, but again I don't want to spend the bucks at the moment.

Second I am getting quite into a 1/200 scale Trumpeter Arizona build.  Have not done much so far except work on the 2 main hull parts and the fordeck piece.  It is for a group build on another site.  I might post here, but it is a bit of a hassle with posting photos here.

Anyway, here is the next Basic installment.

That is all for now everyone,   thanks again for looking in and for all your kind comments.  If you have any questions feel free to ask and I will try and get back to you quickly.

Looking good Paul!  Keep em coming! :)

Yeah, don't have the money or space and not really a big enough SW fan to buy one but I'm enjoying watching you guys build your giant Falcons.

Holy freaking moly.....outstanding work....and dedication, considering the outlay and the timeframe.
Stuff like this makes me strive to lift my game.
Thanks, mate.....for the JOURNEY.....THAT'S what's important....the JOURNEY.
Once it's done.....it's an amazing, delicate dust collector.  Walking the path is why I make models.  You're nailing this one.....hard.
Thanks, mate.

Nice bit of forward progress, Paul.

I'm sure when you have made your decisions on the corrections, you mentioned they will be both the easiest .....

and the right one

Hey Heavens Eagle,

Thanks for the last couple of posts. I was wondering how this build was faring. I always enjoy seeing how it's coming together and your thought processes in the modifications.

Out of curiosity, how is the Ju-87 coming along? Personally, I would really enjoy seeing that coming along.

TF

Woo Hoo! Thanks for the updates, I was wondering how things were going.

Here is the continuation...

Tempted to start assembling the lower frame, but I know it will be somewhat wobbly until all the parts are assembled.  Besides I also will be looking into how the hold and corridors mount down and how they fit.  There are a number of things that seem wonky and I want to make the interior as reasonably close to the movie sets as possible.  Lots of work there.

I also still have to get the cockpit all the way up to snuff.  I am content with how the rear bulkhead looks and fits, now to get some time set aside to lay out the panels and all for the sides.  There have been some new photos in the magazines that come with the Falcon that help a lot but there will still be more hard work to do.

Thanks for checking in!

It has been a while since I have posted on this thread.  Took a break and worked on some other kits for some group builds.  At this point I will have to either get my old computer hooked back up so I can use the printer or get a new printer.  I need to print some decals out and the old printer has no drivers for Win8.1   :bangs head   Still works great, just won't work with the new machine. (UGH!)

In any case I have 2 shipments to cover this go round.  I received shipment #7 back in the beginning of December but was busy with a number of things so just set it aside.  Got #8 on monday so it was time to update this beast.  I will need 2 more shipments (through Issue #40) in order to assemble the lower part of the hull on this beast.  For now everything is fitting into 3 boxes.

On with the next basic installment.

To Be Continued......

waikong

wow, this is one nice kit and great thread. Don't visit the SciFi section much, but glad I did. This along with another sub model I've seen are the only 2 subscription model I've seen so far. Start of a new trend.  Sure helps with the cost, and it is expensive.  So I'm living it thru your log. Thanks.