Issue 4

Welcome to issue 4. Bit of a quick one, this. FIrst, there's another piece for the cockpit:

...shown here upside-down. *ahem* Sorry. Let's put it in place:

Next up are a couple of pieces for the frame.

For this, we'll need the skeleton we've been working on so far:

Taking out what we have so far, we grab part 5 (the one with the letter "A" lookin' bit) and attach it as shown:

Next comes the other bit, right next to it.

The nice thing is that we can now take this bit, which was just snapped on before, and fix it on more permanently (although I wouldn't: we're going to be doing some painting first).

The screws included let you secure it to the frame. Very nice.

Here's what the assembly looks like together:

And here's what happens when you add the new body part:

That'll do for Issue 4. Next up: I'm gonna break out the paints :)

Issue 3

OK, so I'm changing things around a little bit. Still doing one section a night, but now i'm not going to post on here until I have an entire issue done. Think it will help the pace a little bit.

So here's Issue 3: pretty much dealing with the cockpit some more, adding additional details. Lots of cool inside info in the magazine this time around, too.

First, let's unload the bits and pieces:

Oops, nearly forgot these little guys:

OK, first we pop off the back wall if it's on, and add the seats (trivia: the rear seats are ejector seats from fighter aircraft, and the front seats are from an old Porsche. Also, they had to lower Chewbacca's seat to make up for the height difference).

 Now it's best to pop off the console so we can add the yokes and levers, which could stand to go in a little more securely. I may go back and glue those down, once I've gone back and repainted.

Now the back and console go back into place, and we're almost done with the cockpit. Neat.

The only part left of this issue is another piece of the body, which I believe will be tackled in Issue 4. So we'll see how that fits into the big picture then.

Issue 2: Fixing an oopsie

One last thing to do with Issue 2. There are, even in this model, the occasional errors of continuity here and there. And today we're going to fix one. The top turret piece that came with this issue isn't quite correct. Observe:

Looks all right, right? Except the orange section is way too orange when compared with the shooting model. But that's not what we're here to fix. Let's zoom in a little:

See it now? Yup, the "window pane" of the turret is misaligned. You can see it's set up with one of the spokes pointing toward the middle of the turret mount, when in fact two of them should be flanking it. What a blooper, eh? Can't believe they ever let that get pa...oh, okay, I didn't notice it either.

In fact, it was pointed out on Steve Dymszo's YouTube series on painting the DeAgostini model. The series, btw, is another i highly recommend you watch, though honestly it looks like it will be of more use once the outer shell has been completed. In the meantime, there's lots of good info, including what I'm about to share (you can watch the section of the first video, where he addresses this issue, right here).

First, we trace around the inside of the "window" with a straight edge. Nice & easy is the name of this game. Remember, we're working with very thin plastic. I basically went round and round using medium pressure until I worked my way through the glue. Eventually you'll pop through at some point ,and then can ease your way around, popping it off. Again, slow and easy is the key.

Next up is to get rid of this tab. It's there to lock the window in place on the turret part, and make sure it's properly improperly installed. Or something. I found wire nippers took care of most of it, and then a little sanding did the rest.

After that, a little glue around the border (I'm gonna go ahead & recommend E-6000 because I love the stuff) and it's ready to go back in, like so:

Here's a quick shot form the other side, showing where I put the glue. Not much needed here.

Anyway, that's Issue 2 in the can. Next time, Issue 3 commenceth. 2 down, 98 to go. Rock on.

Issue 2, Part 2: schtickers

Tonight's going to be a short one, only a little bit to do. Still, there's a rather nice time sink link to drop into. Anyway, check it:

Yup, we're applying stickers. First off is the Dejarik board. Yup, they named the little chess-type game from the first movie. Hey, it's not like they came up with a complete set of rules for it or anything. Oh, wait.

Anyhow, you stick the board onto the metal holoprojector thingie, lining it up so that the black "squares" line up with the extremes of the control panel, as I've almost managed to do here:

Next up is the control panel for the cockpit. It's got a few holes in there for lights and things, but I've been watching Christopher Olson's slideshows of his custom builds here, and couldn't help but follow suit. I've ordered up a whole mess o' fiber optics, and drilled a hole where the "blue" section goes, as seen here:

Actually, I'm a little to the right of where I should be on that, but nothing a little putty can't fix. Anyway, here it is with the light shining through:

And here it snaps onto the cockpit floor. Which after watching the above video I am totally going to have to dirty up a bit.

Anyway, that's basically it for tonight. This weekend I'll be doing a little surgery on the next piece, so that should be interesting. In the meantime, go watch that video if you haven't already. Very inspiring.

Issue 2, Part 1: The frame

OK. So I started on Issue 2 tonight. First thing in there is beginning assembly of the skeleton that supports the shell. For this, we need the leftover stuff from Issue 1 & Issue 2, along with the fasteners & screws from Issue 2.

The Issue 1 pieces are the ones on top. We start with the first piece (TF-01), and screw a 2-hole and a 4-hole fastener to it, as shown below. At this stage, keep them fairly lose so they can be re-positioned as other plates are fitted.

Now, the second piece (TF-02) gets attached to those fasteners as seen below:

The second piece gets a 2 and a 4 on the other end:

To which the mirror piece (TF-03) from Issue 2 is fastened, thus:

BTW: If you haven't noticed, the skeleton pieces are all nicely labeled so you can tell which is which.

Anyway, the TF-03 gets a 2 and a 4 as well...

Last but not least, the TF-04 piece goes on just as shown.

At this point, make sure all the pieces are lined up nice, and you can tighten them down enough to keep them firm. Don't go too crazy on it, though. These are delicate parts. If you flip it over, you should have a nice, symmetrical part, like so:

Now is the time to take the last part from Issue 1, the body panel. It snaps over the skeleton as shown below, with the two pegs going into the upper holes (the other pegs will go onto other skeleton pieces later on down the line).

Tada :)

And that's that. Make sure to treat this gently; put it somewhere where it won't get bent. And just think how this is going to look when it's done!

Tomorrow night: Let the wookiee win...

Issue 1, Part 2: Top turret

OK, so it's day 2 and turret time. This is the second of the two bits that come with Issue 1, so this will close out the issue.

Here we see the bits for the top turret. Note that we get metal parts for this, which is a nice touch.

You've got top and bottom lasers, the yoke, two mounting panels, and 4 screws (you only need 3, but they kindly include a spare). The screws are Philips-head, fitted for your smaller "jeweler" style screwdrivers. You get one in Issue 2, but I already had a rather nice set for electronics work.

Anyway, first thing to do is to put the mounting panels onto the yoke, like so. Note the yoke pretty much is symmetrical, so there's no upside-down, but the panels need to be a certain way. You want the long side down, and the "tabs" inward as shown below.

Now, you need to take the two gun sets. These are actually 3 pieces each, the "barrels" are friction mounted into the base. I found a couple of mine weren't staying put, so a dab of metal-compatible superglue took care of that little problem. Your mileage may vary, of course.

Anyway, the way to tell these two apart is to look at the base. The "upper" one has that square thing mounted on it (it's the one on the bottom of the picture):

Now, take the lower (without the square) assembly, and put it as shown here, with the groove lining up with the pegs on the yoke.

Now, the upper goes on top of it, also lining up with the pegs:

Now, you carefully flip the whole thing over and put screws in the 3 holes. Don't tighten them too tight; leave enough slack that you can move the turret around on the yoke easily.

And that's it. Part 2.

Note there are still some parts left over from this issue, to wit: one body panel and two metal parts which will form part of the "skeleton" the body panels get attached to. This looks like it's going to be a very solid build.

Issue 1's parts complete:

I'm going to have to circle back and do some serious painting on these things before long, but I think I'm going to wait on the body parts until the whole "shell" is complete. Still, it would be fun to practice a little on those turrets. They're just too darned clean altogether.

In the meantime, let's wrap this issue up by putting it in its binder. You get one with your subscription, capable of holding 20 issues. The upshot is that you'll need 4 more before it's done. Well, ptt. Anyway, here's how you do that.

Inside, you'll see these kinds of ladder-things attached to the top and bottom of the spine. I suggest removing the assemblies and putting them somewhere where you can easily get to them as you add new issues. For now, pop off two of the little "rungs".

Place your issue, open to the middle, along the spine where you want it to go. Then, take a rung, and push it in pointy-end first into the little grooves along the top and bottom of the binder assemblies as shown below (notice I stuck this pin in the 2nd slot instead of the first. My mistake. I went back and opened the first slot up a bit more and was able to use it).

Do this for top and bottom both and hey presto, it's secure.

All right, that's it. Tomorrow, I crack open Issue 2. Should be an eventful one, as I'll be starting on the support skeleton, adding interior and cockpit details, and fixing a DeAgostini booboo (cue dramatic music...)

...and we're back.

So I thought it would be fun to resurrect the blog as I do the DeAgostini partwork magazine model of the Millennium Falcon. If you're not familiar with these, partworks are basically a model or collection of things you subscribe to. You get a magazine, and a different piece every so often. For example, there's one where every month you get two small model ships from the Star Trek universe. And others where they send you a new book every month.

One of the more popular partwork types is models. You get a very large, high-end model with lots of detail and cool features (electronics, moving parts, etc) over the course of a year or two, with little magazinettes each time showing you how to assemble that issue's parts. I'll be doing the Falcon, which is 100 issues over either 25 or 12 months, depending. It's a tad cheaper on the 12-month plan once you add it all up, so I'm going that route.

Anyway, I'm going to try to pace myself. I'm getting about 8 issues per month on the 1-year plan, so the equivalent of getting one every few days. I figure if I do one segment of each issue per day, that should be a good pace, not counting down days and stuff like that of course.

Anyway, let's look at the first month's goodies:


First 4 magazine issues, an overall guide, and a blueprint of the ship:

 

The blueprint really looks good, btw:

And here's the first set of four bundles.

So. The first part of issue 1 is the cockpit. If you see the top left bundle of parts, the two circles with rectangular slots in them are the back wall of the cockpit, and the black thing in the loewr left corner is the floor. Basically, you've got a solid plastic piece of the back with holes cut for lights, and a sticker that goes over it.

You have to get the sticker lined up over the plastic part just right, so the controls align with the holes (there will be lighting behind there in the finished product). I found the easiest way to do this was to get them lined up just right, then use some gator clips to clamp them together on one side while I removed the backing and secured the sticker on the other, thus:

Then you just remove the clip, and repeat on the other side. Came out perfect.

And here's what it looks like attached to the cockpit floor part. The sunlight from the window already makes it look a little "lit up":

Anyhow, I am officially off & rolling. Tomorrow night, I hit the next piece of the first issue, one of the turret guns. TTFN!