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! 

Star Wars 1/144 scale Millennium Falcon [WIP - Weathering Effects on the Upper Hull, Cockpit, Forward Mandibles & Laser Turret]

Key to weathering the Millennium Falcon at 1/144 scale is not to overdo it. Because there is already so much going on in terms of detail on the Upper Hull and its accompanying sections such as the Cockpit, Forward Mandibles and Laser Turret, an over-weathered effort would've resulted in a dark mess masking over said details. This issue is compounded by the 'smallish' scale I had to work with. So throughout the weathering process I had to maintain a fine balance of just enough effects to show off a battered old junk but not too much that the paint/details underneath became obscured.

Millennium Falcon Work-in-Progress: Weathering effects on the Upper Hull, Cockpit, Laser Turret, & Forward Mandibles

Both the Cockpit and Forward Mandibles had been completed much earlier i.e. nearly four years ago, and together with the recently finished Upper Hull and Laser Turret formed the main topside pieces that required the application of weathering effects. Because I had used water decals for the colored armor panels instead of painting them, I decided to use what I believe to be fairly benign weathering products to avoid damaging the decals. This came in the form of Tamiya Weathering Master sets, namely certain hues from Set A (i.e. Sand & Mud); Set B (Soot & Rust) and Set C (Orange Rust). 

Cockpit (above) and all other parts of the Millennium Falcon were weathered with Tamiya Weathering Master

As with all parts of the Falcon, subtlety was key when applying weathering effects on the Cockpit section

In order to seal in the weathering effects and prevent them from easily rubbing off from the surface, I sprayed on a light clear coat of a premium top coat product in my arsenal. A fairly new addition to Mr.Hobby's product line, the lacquer-based Mr.Super Smooth Clear spray contains fluorine which the company claims can decrease the dreaded whitening phenomenon. In addition, this high grade flat coat spray also produces an extremely smooth top coat layer that reduces scratching between moving parts. Although this top coat is lacquer-based, it doesn't affect the water decals in any way, at least in the way that I applied the protective layer, which is to spray it on in a series of light coats.    

Forward Mandibles (Topside) of the Millennium Falcon

Weathering was focused around the circular Maintenance Access Bays ...

... as well as on the frontmost area of each Forward Mandible 

Forward Mandibles (Underside) of the Millennium Falcon

Weathering on the underside of the Mandibles was less pronounced compared with the topside

Weathering on the underside also focused around the access bays and frontmost area of each Mandible

From the previous post came the recently completed Upper Laser Turret. I didn't quite like the end result of my attempted weathering on this piece but was too lazy to change it. That and the fact that I have already sprayed on the protective top coat onto the piece before it occurred to me that I could've done much better. Oh well. Hopefully it will blend in inconspicuously with the rest of the Upper Hull.

Millennium Falcon Upper Laser Turret: a flat topcoat was applied over weathering effects to seal them in   

Then it was on to the Upper Hull section. Special care was taken to be extra subtle when weathering the rear section containing the Heat Exhaust Vents. Of all the surfaces on the Millennium Falcon, this was the one area most prone to over-weathering in the scale modelling community. Meanwhile, in my version of weathering effects, the Falcon's Upper Hull contains more mud, dirt and soot effects versus the desert sand effects on the Lower Hull. In my opinion there's no right or wrong to this choice of effects. It's just a matter of personal preference, and I find this combination most pleasing.

Millennium Falcon Upper Hull: fully painted, decaled, panel lined, weathered and protected with a clear topcoat

Unpainted area above has four protruding studs onto which the Cockpit will be eventually fixed securely  

Weathering effects need to be the most subtle towards the rear section of the Millennium Falcon

Upper Hull contains more mud, dirt and soot effects versus the desert sand effects on the Lower Hull

If weathering effects are overdone on the rear section containing the Heat Exhaust Vents, a black mess will ensue

Rust effects were also included, especially near openings where the exposed innards will eventually be placed

Main weathering effects on the Upper Hull comprise dark brown mud-like and black soot-like colors

Circular socket seen above is where the Radar Dish will eventually be attached

Bulk of the work on the Bandai Star Wars 1/144 scale Millennium Falcon is now complete. Apart from some miscellaneous parts for the Upper Hull and the base, this iconic ship will be finished soon enough. In the words of the late Aryton Senna, one of the greatest F1 drivers of all time ... I have no idols. I admire work, dedication and competence. Assuming competence comes after work and dedication, here's a small toast to my fellow scale modelers and miniature painters stuck at home during this global viral pandemic ... may your hard work and dedicated practice of the hobby result in the painted model/miniature of your dreams. And with that I bid you not adieu but au revoir.

Star Wars 1/144 scale Millennium Falcon [WIP - Upper Laser Turret sans weathering]

When it came to completing the Millennium Falcon Upper Laser Turret, I had been procrastinating to a higher than usual level. Perhaps not dissimilar to the urges of an obsessive compulsive behavior, my need to paint the interior of a turret that's barely visible to the naked eye - something I wasn't too keen on in the first place - had caused me to repeatedly put off completing the turret. In the end what made me go ahead anyway was a self rationalizing compromise. What I'll do - I had convinced myself - was to paint the turret but to do so in a less detailed way. Just enough to see some indistinct details past the Quad Laser Cannon and through the Clear Viewport on the turret. 

Bandai Star Wars Millennium Falcon 1/144 scale Upper Laser Turret sans weathering

Unlike the turret on the Lower Hull which had Finn on the gunner's seat, the Upper Laser Turret's seat remained unoccupied. For The Force Awakens scene I had in mind for this Millennium Falcon project, the only other people in the ship was Rey and BB-8 and they were in the cockpit. Just to reiterate, the scene I'm trying to replicate is one in which the Falcon is in a free fall with its engines switched off in order to evade as well as target a pursuing First Order TIE Fighter.

Painted interior of the Millennium Falcon Upper Laser Turret

Unlike the Lower Laser Turret, the one on the Upper Hull doesn't have a gunner seated in it

Color scheme is based upon the Falcon interior as seen in Star Wars: A New Hope

In terms of color scheme, I used the only reference I had of the Upper Laser Turret interior i.e. the TIE Fighter Attack on the Millennium Falcon Scene in Star Wars: A New Hope. In the scene, Han Solo was operating the Laser Quad Cannon in the Upper Turret (see below) while Luke Skywalker operated the one in the Lower Turret. This was also the first time the turret interiors were being shown in the movie franchise, at least it was if my memory serves me correctly. And having decided not to spend too much time painting the interior as per my compromise, the end result isn't quite like-for-like (see above). But it's close enough that I could let go and move on with the project.   

Han Solo seated on the Upper Laser Turret in Star Wars: A New Hope

Another reason I procrastinated was the need to prime and paint sections of the clear part provided i.e. the turret viewport (see below, leftmost part). Rather than masking and airbrushing the part as I maybe should've done, I did it the old fashioned way namely by hand using a paint brush. The colored armor panels on the Upper Laser Turret are actually water decals. The chipped paint effect on the brownish red panel was a result of me scratching at the decal with a toothpick after it had dried. 

Upper Laser Turret parts (clockwise from left): Hull Armor Plating, Turret Interior, Viewport & Quad Laser Cannon

Millennium Falcon Upper Laser Turret plus interior just before the Quad Laser Cannon is attached

Upper Laser Turret will all the parts attached including the Quad Laser Cannon

Still missing from the Upper Laser Turret is any form of weathering effects. This I will do later together with the Upper Hull, Forward Mandibles, and Cockpit sections. And with that I would like to add another non-related quote from one of my all time favorite TV series Community ... "To me, religion is like Paul Rudd. I see the appeal, and I would never take it away from anyone, but I would also never stand in line for it," says Jeff Winger pseudo-leader of the show's lovable study group.

COVID-19 Lockdown Update: While the pandemic here in Malaysia is seeing consistent signs of a flattening curve and health/scientific experts predict the peak has passed, the feeling among the authorities and general populace alike is still one of caution. With that the lockdown has been extended for a third two-week period until 28 April 2020. The battle wages on ...