Millennium Falcon Build Journal No. 23: Issues 81-84

A New Build?

Earlier this year, DeAgostini released their R2-D2 build, a 1:2 scale replica of the popular “Star Wars” droid. It moves (autonomously or by remote), speaks, and has spiffy digital readouts.

Today, I found out that DeAgostini is doing a trial run for a new X-Wing, a 1:18 scale replica of Luke Skywalker’s Red Five. The trial is in the UK, so we Americans will have to wait until the full run begins and it is brought to the United States.

I was hoping that my next personal build would be the “Back to the Future” Delorean (if it ever comes to the US) by Eaglemoss, but DeAgostini‘s new X-Wing looks pretty awesome. I may consider doing a Build Journal for the Disney Experience if there is enough interest. We’ll see what develops.

The Contents

The port mandible is pretty much all that gets assembled in this month’s package. Well, almost. The sides still need to be completed.

Getting Missing Parts

Over on the Model Space forum, builders have pointed out that there are many missing parts (see the full forum post for pics), mostly from the sides of the Millennium Falcon. DeAgostini has acknowledged this, and they will be releasing a set of parts as a special pack. This pack will be sent free of charge to all builders.

The parts still need to be manufactured and produced for distribution, so there currently is no release date set. Hopefully, they will come before I complete the model. Stay tuned.

Assembling the Port Mandible

There are a lot of holes in the mandible parts, and they all had to be masked by plugging them with Elmer’s glue. Then, they were masked with tape & plastic, and sprayed with gray primer to block out light leaks.

The patch of red paint on the top half of the mandible was a concern for me. I had seen other builders’ parts, and the factory paint job was not well done. Fortunately, mine was good enough that I didn’t have to touch it up.

The recesses were the most time-consuming part of the assembly, and only took an afternoon to complete. It was nice to get back to airbrushing again.

The bottom half of the port mandible needed a couple of gray panels painted. While looking through my reference photos, I discovered a missing gray panel on the underside of the starboard mandible, and I quickly painted that.

With the pipes and recesses fitted, the last bit of assembly begins the attachment of three side frames.

Tweaking the Wall Mount

Although the Millennium Falcon comes with a free wall mount, it is very limiting. When mounted properly, the Falcon can only be mounted vertically or horizontally, and then only tilted slightly. The result is a model mounted almost flush with the wall.

There are those of us who would like to display the Falcon in more of a flight position. Daz, over on the forum, came up with a way to modify the wall mount for just such a position. Check out the photos and instructions (link not available) on the forum. For me, though, I want more control over the position.

Replacing the Wall Mount

The DeAgostini wall mount is nothing more than a television wall mount. Looking online, I finally came upon an inexpensive alternative sold by Monoprice. The Monoprice wall mount has a ball-joint head that allows for tilting and rotating. Initially, I thought the joint could tilt 60° in any direction (that’s what it says in the specifications), but the reality is that it can tilt a TOTAL of 60°. That’s 30° in any direction. Although I was initially bummed about that fact, it’s still the largest tilt angle that I’ve been able to find that can also rotate 360°.

The maximum mounting size of the mount is only 100mm x 100mm. The Falcon requires 200mm x 200mm. So, I also bought a conversion plate.

Now, reading the comments, both products received high marks. But, the biggest complaint is the hardware. Many people complained that the threads on the screws stripped off very easily, and their televisions were crashing to the floor. Hearing this, I gathered a few of the screws and took them to my local hardware store to buy replacements. I certainly don’t want my Falcon falling from the wall.

While at the hardware store, I was having difficulty finding replacements for the socket cap screws. I came across a screw sizing tool, and to my surprise, the screws were metric. I had previously bought metric cap screws for the Falcon’s engine cover, so I knew exactly where to find them. Luckily, there were just enough in stock.

I’ve designed a CG version of the area where the model will be displayed. It’s not absolutely perfect, but everything is pretty much to scale. I was surprised to see just how close the CG model comes to the real world version. The CG wall mount was modeled after a different one that I was considering, but it has been tweaked to accurately represent the range of motion that the Monoprice wall mount has.

I want to do a test mount of the bottom hull, but I don’t have anything to use as spacers at the moment.

Prev Journal Entry | Next Journal Entry

Both the post author and this website have not received any compensation for writing this post. Both the post author and this website have no material connection to the third-party brands, products, or services that have been mentioned. This is being disclosed in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”