Star Wars 1/144 scale Millennium Falcon [WIP - Miscellaneous items on the Upper Hull]

Bits and bobs consisting of the Radar Dish, Exposed Upper Hull Innards and a Front Nose piece that supposedly houses concussion missiles were all that's left to be painted for the Millennium Falcon. Although there's still a desert base to assemble and paint, all that's left to do for the ship itself after this step is the final assembly process. So in this post, it's all about the snap-fit assembly of painted bit and bobs onto the weathered Upper Hull, the last step before final assembly of the Falcon. 

Bits and bobs of the Upper Hull: Front Nose Section, Exposed Innards and Radar Dish

First up was the Front Nose piece, which actually slotted into the underside of the Upper Hull. Of all the bits and bobs, this piece was the easiest to both paint and attach onto the hull. While it came in as single molded part only, the amount of detail present in the piece was still impressive.

Front Nose piece is suppose to slot into the underside of the Upper Hull ...

... so the entire hull is first flipped upside down to expose the four round hollow studs ...

... onto which the Front Nose piece is then securely snap-fitted

Closeup view of the Front Nose section of the Millennium Falcon's Upper Hull

With the Front Nose section assembled, that left the Radar Dish and Exposed Upper Hull Innards to be worked on. Assuming you're building a flying-version of the Millennium Falcon, which is what I'm doing here, the Upper Hull has more miscellaneous items that attach to it compared with the Lower Hull. If however you opt for the landed-version, then the Lower Hull actually has equal if not more parts that fix onto it e.g. the numerous landing struts as well as a movable docking bay. 

Other bits and bobs to be attached to the Upper Hull, apart from the Front Nose piece

As mentioned many times before prior to this post, the Exposed Innards are usually molded in two separate pieces (see below). With this design choice, Bandai achieves a level of three dimensional depth that far surpasses what could've been pulled off by a single molded part.

Exposed Upper Hull Innards come in separately molded pieces which were painted individually ...

... before being snap-fit assembled into a greater whole with impressive depth and detail

Once this mini sub-assembly of Exposed Innards was complete, it could then be inserted into two trapezoid-shaped openings on the Upper Hull. Another irregularly shaped opening on the hull also received an Exposed Innards part but one that came molded in a single piece.   

Exposed Innards and Radar Dish arrayed around the Upper Hull, and awaiting assembly

Exposed Innards and Radar Dish attached securely onto the Millennium Falcon Upper Hull

Alternative view of the Exposed Innards and Radar Dish on the Millennium Falcon Upper Hull

A trapezoid shaped opening allows one to view the exposed innards of the Millennium Falcon 

More Exposed Upper Hull Innards but this one is viewed through an irregularly shaped opening

A second trapezoid shaped opening is located symmetrically opposite the first one  

A rectangular-shaped radar dish denotes that this version of the Millennium Falcon starred in Episode Seven of the Star Wars franchise i.e. The Force Awakens. The original Falcon from A New Hope has a round dish instead. For sure I'm interested in building that version of the Falcon too, but in a larger 1/72 scale found in Bandai's Perfect Grade iteration of the ship. Partly because it costs at least five times more than its 1/144 counterpart, I don't have the larger ship in my collection. Yet.

Rectangular-shaped Radar Dish is found on a version of the Millennium Falcon in The Force Awakens

Back of the Radar Dish, which is as highly detailed as its front

If you flip the Upper Hull upside down (see below), you will notice that all the parts have been securely fixed onto the slots provided. In fact, the parts are snap-fitted without any glue being used.  

Underside of the Millennium Falcon Upper Hull, after all the bits and bobs have been assembled

Slated to be the most critical yet ironically the easiest step is the one coming up namely the fitting of the Upper Hull (and its corresponding parts) onto the Lower Hull. This will complete the Millennium Falcon itself. It's an easy step because it only requires the various parts to be snap-fitted together. On the other hand, it's not a straightforward process because I've painted the said parts separately before assembly. This will give rise to critical issues like paint chipping and parts breaking as well as paint layers interfering with part/joint fitting can hinder the assembly process.

All that's on the next post. For now, here's a quote from Jeff Winters, a character on the TV series Community ... "Harrison Ford is irradiating our testicles with microwave satellite transmissions!" I know, I know. It makes no sense. This extended stay-at-home period must be getting to me. But hey, it's still related. Harrison Ford. Han Solo. Right? Right? Anyways ... stay home, stay safe!