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Bandai 1/144 TFA Millennium Falcon


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Thanks Nicholas, Janman! Hi K5054NZ yeah the digital model looks very detailed. The paintjob, too looks even more detailed than the studio models. Hey, Don, thanks!

Worked on the docking ring actuators. The studio models have these as kit parts which aren't really actuators -- the feature is unique to the TFA Falcon. It seems to be a strange place to have these pistons, unless they're for opening the plates? Anyway, adding the details just to be able to depict the TFA Falcon better.

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I cut off the the four molded-on details...

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Found some 30AWG wire in the stash.

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Will paint them later. On some digital model pics the piston rod looks black and the cylinders light gray.

Thanks for looking!

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Hi, crowe-t, thanks! Thanks Nicholas, Janman, Check Six, Dekon70 -- glad you guys like what you're seeing so far! I haven't made a mess yet -- the weathering is gonna be the real test (ulp!)

I did the actuators on the other docking ring today...

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Decanted some Tamiya AS-20 Insignia White into a smaller bottle for airbrushing.

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I let it de-gas for about an hour or two.

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AS-20 basecoating done. I would've mixed in more white as this is going to darken quickly after weathering. I like this better than the Floquil 50-50, though, so I'll leave it as is. I'll see if I can use that as a wash to age the basecoat.

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Edited by crackerjazz
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Yes, you`re absolutely right, Nicholas. I`m wiping all of it away now with some mineral spirits, which, thankfully, is harmless to the Tamiya synthetic lacquer. I`ll start over with maybe a gray or black wash instead and see what that results in. The Starship Filth looks like it had some brown in it.

I picked up one of these Crayola sets just for kicks, in case I decide to build a model of the 5-footer (ANH Falcon) someday. Very nice reference for top and bottom views.

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That bare patch underneath -- it seems to be the base Floquil 50-50 color -- and it matches the Tamiya AS-20 somehow. I realize color photos like these are not really good for use as exact real-color reference. But the hues are there and it`s a very interesting painting reference guide for the 5-footer.

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Good save on the Falcon's paint :thumbsup: . Glad you didn't damage it removing the oils. I have been trying to get my hands on some of those Abteilung Oil Paints for weeks now with no luck (here in the U.S. at least). I think I will have to just pick up some Windsor Newton or something and mix my own oil colors as my patience is wearing thin waiting :(.

Speaking of Falcon references, I picked up the Haynes "Star Wars Millennium Falcon: Modified YT-1300 Corellian Freighter Owners Workshop Manual" by Windham, Reiff and Trevas off of EBAY for cheap. Its actually a pretty decent reference and an interesting read. Some good stuff, good pictures, drawings, info and renderings on variations/configurations of the YT-1300's. I don't think it's worth $25+ dollars but $15ish or less and I think its a score.

Looking forward to more progress.

Cheers!

Don.

Edited by Don
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Beautiful job on this! I can't wait to see it finished.

Just a heads up, and you probably may already be familiar with what is being said about it. But I've seen on several of the At-St builds that mineral spirit washes have been causing Bandai's plastic to crack. I would imagine the Tamiya laquar would prevent any of that to happen but you may want to keep an eye on it just in case. In some instances the cracks didn't appear for several days after the wash was applied.

Edited by niart17
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Thanks, guys! Wow, Bill, thanks for the info. I got two already and couldn't figure out what was causing them. I thought they were caused by my repeated dry fitting and dismantling of the two hull pieces. Fixed one with Tamiya thin glue and sandpaper and will do the same for the other one. Gotta examine the hull closer when i get home.

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Wow, so it has been cracking on your build too even with lacquer paint under it? Man, I can't imagine what it is in their plastic formula that is causing that. I would think someone has pointed it out to them and perhaps they could alter the formula a bit. That could be a pretty big deal especially on Star Wars kits, since so many people use mineral spirits to thin oil washes and they are meant to be dirtied up quite a bit. I am going to have to re-think how I'm going to weather my AT-ST build. Keep us informed if any other cracks arise.

Bill

Edited by niart17
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Re-tried ageing the basecoat. I didn't use the Starship filth this time but just a gray enamel --still thinned with mineral spirits, as I wanted to see if it will develop more cracks. So far other than those 2 I haven't found anything. One was along the edge of the rectenna dish quadrant. The other one was on the opposite side (it's the spot with a lighter shade as I sanded it a bit and will have to repaint the area.

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Thanks, guys! Hey, perhaps, too, Bandai should've just molded the battle damage in to save us some work : )

I'm still trying to get the right hull shade. It's a never-ending quest : ) I came across an article making reference to the ILM crew basing the digital model off of the 5-footer (http://www.wired.com/2015/11/wired-star-wars-cover-millennium-falcon/). It's nice to know that it was ILM, albeit a different generation, who created the TFA Falcon. But if they were trying to replicate the color digitally they might have been replicating the final layer over the basecoat? Anyway, I'm deferring further hull painting until I've seen the movie. For now I'm gathering more photos for reference.

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I was very curious about what colors the "55%-45%" mentioned in the Bandai color guide referred to so I numbered the colors and got some help from Katsu (Yuumi) from rpf to translate them. I'll test the 55% Matte white and 45% Gull gray and see what it looks like.

1. Light gray : Matte white(55%) + Gull gray (45%)

2. Panel part, gray, light : Aircraft gray (90%) + Matte white (10%)

3. Panel part, gray, dark : Aircraft gray (70%) + Matte black (30 %) + Blue (a little bit)

4. Panel part, yellow : Cream yellow (100%) + Wood brown (a little bit)

5. Finn face part : Wood brown (100%)

6. Finn shoes, jacket : Gold(70%) + Red brown (20%) + Matte black (10%)

7. Finn, Han Solo pants : Matte black (100%)

8. Ray, Han Solo, face : Light brown (100%)

9. Ray wear sleeve : Aircraft gray (100%)

10 Ray wear : Aircraft gray (70%) + Light brown (30%)

11.Ray belt : Red brown (100%)

12.Han Solo silver gray hair : Gray (60%) + White (40%)

13.Han Solo, jacket : Wood brown (70%) + Black (30%)

14.Han Solo, shirt : White (100%)

15.Chewbacca : RLM79 Sandy brown (100%) + Wood brown (a little bit)

For high-resolution reference images of your favorite Episode 7 ships this is the place to go: Millenniumfalcon.com. I'm anxiously waiting for IMAX images of the Falcon!

http://millenniumfalcon.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?t=9790 (under "MF VII High-Resolution Fathead Images")

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http://imgur.com/a/PJPkZ

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It looks more gray in these photos but some of those who've watched the movie are saying it has a lighter sandy shade on-screen than straight neutral gray.

Edited by crackerjazz
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I really like the way you placed a part of the picture of the area of the hull to line up the battle damage! :thumbsup:

Your battle damage is very accurate.

So the 55% Matte white and 45% Gull gray is the suggestion for the base hull color???

Mike.

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Hi, Mike -- yeah, it came from the Bandai instruction manual but I want to test it out first. I'm assuming it's either based on a color sample Bandai was given, or it's more likely estimated the from renders. The problem is -- the 5-footer, from the which the TFA Falcon is based off of, was painted in layers -- first with Floquil 50-50, then misted with other weathering layers (not including streaking). So the estimation done by the ILM VFX team or by Bandai would have been based on the final layer that they see unless the ILM VFX team had access to the info about the various layers used over the original Floquil 50-50 mix? Still, they would have done their painting digitally which would be vastly different from the way you would physically layer Floquil paint.

What I dream about is an instruction manual specifying the colors of the various weathering layers. I read somewhere that the basecoat (Floquil 50-50) on the 5-footer could hardly be seen through the final shade, but since the layers were misted on, some of it would still have shown through. The color that you see on the 5-footer would have been the weathering layers with some of the Floquil peeking through. Someday I'd like to see the 5-footer in person in one of those exhibits to verify this. One thing I'm certain is that the other layers are needed because with straight 50-50, like I initially tried, you end up with a very yellow-looking Falcon.

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Excuse the lighting but the shades look darker in the photo than they actually are. I'll try to add the Bandai-recommended color to the lineup.

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