1/144 Millennium Falcon Asteroid Field Diorama

[crackerjazz]

Shelved this project for a long time as I botched the paintjob initially and I was so disappointed I didn't even want

to look at it. But I'm resurrecting it now that I'm getting the hang of airbrushing. I followed Jay Chladek's advice to start

with dark paint into the recesses of the Falcon before spraying the gray coat on sideways to bring out details. I'm amazed at

how it really works - thanks, Jay! More to do but I'm happy with the first gray tone on the fastest hunk of junk in the galaxy.

Edited April 24, 2013 by crackerjazz

[Bigasshammm]

Wow that's going to be awesome.

[Jay Chladek]

Looks like it is working rather well. I especially like the engine deck with the "solar collector" circles on the back as it has just the right shadow look.

You don't necessarily have to spray the gray on sideways, as long as it is over some sort of darker pre-shade. Just make sure the pre-shade is into the recesses nice and deep. In something like this, the shapes of the greeblies are so irregular that you'll get some good paint effects no matter what. Best part is it helps pop that detail out which in a tiny scale like this can look toy-like if one doesn't do something with it.

Since the Falcon is so detail heavy, even if you might be a little too light or dark in one spot, it all will still blend together rather nice when the entire package is completed (pre-shade, gray shade, accent colors, decals if needed, flat coat, final top weathering with pastels).

Edited April 24, 2013 by Jay Chladek

[Mark M.]

Now THAT's a great idea!

Or even have it edge-on going through the narrow asteroid canyon (where it evaded two TIE fighters) or coming out of the space worm's mouth.

Excellent thinking on your asteroids! Just... uh... don't forget to add a shoe in there somewhere... And a potato!

[crackerjazz]

Thanks, Dave! : ) Hi, Mark - I've thought about that spaceworm at some point! Hi Jay, I resprayed the gray on once again for the umptieth time. And this time I made sure I used your camo gray-light gray mix. The plain hull gray I initially used as well as the plain camo gray looked too brownish at times. But this looks superb to these eyes of mine. I have the Floquil Reefer white and grime at hand but couldn't use them as then I'll have to do the spraying outside the house because of the stink and there tend to be too many tiny stuff in the air that find their way to the wet paint.

Weathering in progress.

Edited April 28, 2013 by crackerjazz

[crackerjazz]

Some weathering progress:

[K2Pete]

Your diorama looks terrific! I've only watched the movie a couple of hundred times and I love this scene ...

And as many times as I've seen this model, I'm awestruck with the detail on it ... and you're bringing out that detail bee-yoo-tee-fully!

So far, is your weathering just airbrush, or is there some powder on it too?

Lookeen goo-o-od!

Pete

[crackerjazz]

Hi Pete, thanks! :) Airbrush only so far. I used pastel/powder on a Man from Atlantis Cetacean submarine build I did once but it seems to disappear after clearcoating. So I decided paint is the way to go. For the streaking I slit a piece of paper to use as a stencil for blowing paint through. It seems to work but is kind of scary, not knowing what's happening underneath until you lift the paper up that I had to stop - too much suspense for the heart to take. I'll muster up enough courage to continue tonight.

[Jay Chladek]

Special note on pastel powders... I almost never clearcoat over them once I get the look I want since clearcoat tends to mess it up if one isn't careful. To help keeping them from rubbing out, I make sure to ground the powder up rather fine. So the finer the sandpaper grit you use to grind up the pastel, the smaller the particles and they embed into the paint better. Grind it up fine enough (I typically use 320 grit) and a finger will not be able to rub it off. Just make sure you don't have very sweaty fingers though when you grab the model in spots.

If you do want to clearcoat, best way to do it would be to spray some in mid air and try to catch the droplets on the model as they fall onto its surface. Direct spray with too heavy a layer can result in the powder getting lifted off the low spots at worst and an altered appearance at best.

Your paint work looks excellent as the coloring and airbrushed weathering seem just right. I also like the fact that those streaks behind the "solar collectors" on the engine deck seem to appear just right. So many Falcon models I've seen have the streaks so dark and heavy that the Falcon looks like it is diesel powered and pumping out smoke through chimneys. I was a bit too chicken to airbrush those on my Falcon, so I built up layers with the pastel powders instead to get the appearance I wanted.

[crackerjazz]

Thanks, Jay! Tried the powders this afternoon - wow, it's hard for me, heheh. I decided to re-spray over them and use paint all the way instead.

Cut masks for turret.

I followed the 32-inch prop paintjob as best I could. Some more red and a few more blaster marks/scratches to do.

Edited May 3, 2013 by crackerjazz

[Caerbannog]

Cool Idea! Very nice

[crackerjazz]

Thanks, Caerbannog. Hope to get back to this soon :)

[crackerjazz]

[crackerjazz]

Some progress with wiring:

It doesn't show in the photos but it's a pretty deep pit that I managed

to dig for the battery compartment. There's about 5mm before I end up

boring my way through the top.

The battery compartment sits nicely out of the way and the turntable rotates

freely.

Asteroid-reshaping in progress.

Edited May 16, 2013 by crackerjazz

[Caerbannog]

Looks fantastic!

Cheers,

Rene

[Mark M.]

You can buy battery boxes at local hobby shops pretty cheap. Places like Michael's, or I bet even Hobby Lobby. That way you don't have to canibalize anything.

Just a tip for future projects.

[crowe-t]

Excellent job on this so far! The color and weathering look very accurate and the diorama is nicely done.

[crackerjazz]

Hi Caerbannog - thanks, man! Mark M, good info - I'll keep that in mind!

Hi Mike, thanks! I was getting close to completing the build but - I don't know what got into me - I decided to paint the asteroids a darker (closer to black) color, thinking that they would look

more ominous for a more sci-fi look. As well, I thought I saw some photo of that in the Chronicles book where they were painting the asteroids with a darker color - Big mistake! Now they look

awful -- more like floating coals and not worthy of displaying. Perhaps the ILM photo I saw was pre-shading being applied to the asteroids. I have to star over with asteroid painting. I knew I got it right before already -- I remember even spending whole nights pause-rewinding the DVD while I painted to get the colors right. Just what got into me to change the colors I don't know. I discovered one interesting thing, though, re-reading the Chronicles - they used plaster-covered styrofoam for the asteroids - I didn't know I used an authentic method of making them :)/>

Edited May 28, 2013 by crackerjazz

[crowe-t]

crackerjazz, sometimes you have to experiment to see how something will look. I'm sure you'll have the asteroids looking perfect again.

What color red did you use on for the panels on top?

[crackerjazz]

Thanks, Mike! I used the kit decals for the red markings, weathered a bit with some ground white pencil mixed in thinner to dull the red a little.

Here are the "burnt" asteroids that I'm repainting: