A mismatch scene

[Newbie_wan]

Something also to consider is the sound of the spinner. Hallmark has motors for ornaments, but the sound is really annoying. I guess speed is also a factor.

You could make a small moon to hide the motor, although the proximity to Vader's ship might be distracting.
I suppose cutting a small hole in the wall for the motor is out of the question.

I got a better idea. If I mount a wee motor in the Death Star, and use a fine spring wire connected to the shaft of the motor, Vader's fighter could be attached at the rear center section, which will allow spinning. A custom Death Star / Vader getting away scene, all in one kit. HA! Only if the manufacturer thought of that as a wee add-on to promote sales. Since I modified the Death Star to run of an old 5v Phone charger, there should be plenty enough always on power, not to bother with batteries.

Its probably the simplest mod to make such an idea work. Thanks for the brain storm. Will sort out what I can dig up to make it work. Mostly the fine spring wire. Some have used electric guitar string, or piano wire. I think i can get by with jewelry wire, as the length is a wee less than a meter. Having a springy stiff wire, will allow for some curve at that distance, but rotation speed being slow, should not cause wobble if I take care in balancing its center of gravity when drilling the hole for fitting the wire. The nice thing is, that I will not be defacing much of the wee ornament. Will need to heat and pull the hanger eye loop from on top and seal and paint the hole dark grey.

At this time I changed up the X-Wing angle of it view from our seated positions. Having its new position, allows more of its details to be seen, from both top and bottom. It will require a change to the Falcon. Having it raised a wee bit and nose dipped down. May have to swap cannons, since the non-firing cannons look the best.

 

[Newbie_wan]

I had to order 32awg 304 stainless wire, as it is stiff enough to maintain its form for the distance in mounting the ornament. The Death Star already has plenty of holes to utilize, so that is not going to be an issue with were to mount the motor inside. Once the wire comes in, I will mount the ornament to a 1 meter length to see how straight the wire will stay, amd adjust my mounting to compensate any arc from the weight.

I ordered a backdrop, though backdrops are meant to be back a foot or so, which makes the pattern look out of scale. Hopefully with a black Sharpie or my paint with a masterful effort, I will be able to scale down the stars a wee bit so the Death Star looks more to scale with the backdrop stars. Its not as easy as it use to be with wallpaper. You may find galaxy images but no open space images. Back in the 70s it was much easier. At least I have a starting point to work with.

Now to adjust the Falcon. Not happy about dropping the thing on my earlier attempts, as its not as simple to so on your own, with light tension fishing line. The heavier line is noticable, even at low lighting conditions.

 

[Newbie_wan]

Here is the adjusted setup, minus changes to Vader's ship for motorization. It does have a better look over all. I was a bit scared having it drop once more, since the rear has to angle down and very little to hold against with line. I did use heaver test line, which is greyish green. You may notice the cockpit hatch a wee open. Its from the load pressure in the tilt, that warps slightly. It closes just fine under normal stress.

 

[Tulgah]

I’ve never really thought about it, but that kind of thing indeed WAS probably easier in the ‘70s! People always forget about backdrops.

 

[Newbie_wan]

Ouch! I found my Falcon's damage from its original fall. The communications dish got bent. Well its not bent or broken, just the bottom disc section got a stress line from the stress of flexing under impact. It's minor considering the fall. It probably happened when impacting with top of tv. The edge forced the dish to compress against the hull. Obviously the dish is of a lower grade plastic, as it does flex more than the hull.

I noticed it once I removed the dish to make minor enhancments on detail. Technically the Falcon needs few detail inhancements, unless you want to add battle damage or wear and tear of its age. You may see the crease as a reflectve glare line along the bottom 1/4 of the disc. If I go full out with enhancing, the stress crease will be hidden under paint. I am lucky, nothing else seems to be of any worse for wear.

One thing i do notice is this version has a cheap looking communications dish. You really need to detail it harshly to make it look close to the original. Of all things, I guess it was over looked?

Here is a picture

 

[Tulgah]

I don’t think people would notice. It still looks good!

 

[Newbie_wan]

I don’t think people would notice. It still looks good!

Well, I did a bit more fenesse work with blending in black white board marker. Along the stress mark, and re-worked the dish highlights, to be very close to the original. Just need to shadow around the inner circumference like the film version.

Made a post on the BMF section, about tweaks. I may figure out a way to make a spacer under the dish base to raise it, more like the film version as well.

Having the nose tilted downward, allows small features to be noticed more. Will do a cockpit tweak with black at the nose down at Solo's feet location. Thatxs pretty much the most noticable of the tweaks I see needed. May do a dark wash on the sides of the mandibles, to make depth more noticable with light conditions.

Right now i don't notice the stress line at all and I know exactly where it is. So its not critical, just pointed out what is clearly in the picture. Will post another once I finish up the final touches with dish and cockpit nose. I may have the height adjusted as well for the dish by then.

 

[Newbie_wan]

I did some tweaks, and found that the center cone of the dish can be removed. I may end up casting it and modify the copy to be movie accurate to some degree.

As for the base, if a 3D guru could copy the base and its cover, while adding 1/4" the base thickness and adding 1/4" to the lip depth of the cover to match, would raise proper. Though the dish its self is small by 60%. It should be a wee under the diameter of the cockpit, as seen in the movie, when captured in the Death Star hanger bay. Thus the height addition requirement. This info is for someone who is particular about such an odd oversight that should have been caught.

Here is my quicky mod, soon to get on the shadowing of the mandibles sides.

 

[Newbie_wan]

I have been bouncing back and forth between here and the Millennium Falcon thread. So if wondering where things are, I am touching up my Falcon, trial and error sort of. Discovered a few interesting things with variances on how the Falcon is shot in the film. Not many references to them outside of watching the bloody film with an eagle eye. Ha! Many have followed the original Falcon, before Lucas Touched it up for the rerelease to Blueray. I am not sure, with the lighting I have, that I will be any more happy with doing the mandibles, with added shadowing along the sides. Right now I am adjusting how much highlight between the panels I want to do, at least around the cockpit. To me they are over emphasized greatly. Luckily I can tone down the black marker laid in the panel channels, with wee rubs, until it looks not so bold as in the film shots.

I have not updated how the Falcon is being done, mostly because I have been changing ideas after application. Once I get a solid over all look I will break down with pictures the changes, as most of them are subtle and easily over looked being in small areas. Unlike the communications dish highlights, where it stands out quite easily. Possibly the most dramatic change one can make over all. They do make a difference when adding up their effect with all types of lighting.

 

[Newbie_wan]

Here is the Falcon and Red Five sound F/X together. The Falcon is 80% completed, though finished enough for my scene. I will be working on the backdrop, as it does not properly place stars in perspective... especially next to the Death Star.

 

[Tulgah]

They’re placed at a great angle from each other!

 

[Newbie_wan]

Thanks! It was a bit difficult to set them up as planned. Being that the wall is fairly close about .5 meter and the scale of the objects. There was no way other wise, but it does allow when seated to get a good over all look at both. Also lighting became a factor. Window near by and night time lighting. The black wash actually is a wee darker than planned but it is livable with all lighting. I think bay 327 on the Death Star had lousy lighting. Ha! Probably because of how white the storm troopers were for filming.

 

[Tulgah]

Lighting is the perennial collector problem. But if anyone can find the right balance, it’s you!

 

[Newbie_wan]

Ha! I admit that I try to balance more than perfect. I think that I stumbled upon the random panel grey, as a base for any further enhancements, as for colour of the buildup and detail definition. I am one to use the background to darken or lighten pigment. As I daub lightly, pigment to capture depth without paint build up. Basically dying the primer, not painting over it. Thats how i made my blue for the engine collars. Medium dark grey with a touch of blue dye.

Anyway, I figured some may find the technique I have done interesting enough, to try some time. Though only a few have done enhancements to their BMF. This sort of allows a safer way to enhance without effecting the original look, when removing the enhancements. The white board pen, is not as robust and only needs a wet ear bud or a moist finger to rub off.

Through the night, it has grown on me, as to allow richer shadows, while still reflecting light from smooth protuding areas. As for the dish side, because of being tilted down in my diorama, it's more shadowy over all. I may have slightly darkened that side more than the other, as it was done last, and had a lot of casting detail eating up the black wash. In a way making me get carried away. I rather have had both mandibles removed at the time. But, the slightly darker look gives it more of an edge as to something functional than decorative. I could have done my X-Wing engines with the same wash as a primary coat, being more ash looking when applied lightly. I guess I am saying, even though I like the effort of the close up work on the X-Wing engines, being further away now, I see that I could have used one less coat from the layering of grey wash. If it bothers me enough, I can reverse the dark look a wee bit, with a light blotting removal, since these paints can be removed with alcohol. If it washes too much away, it wont be much, to do the procedure again.

 

[Newbie_wan]

I tried to manually reduce the stars on my backdrop. The effort did not come out as well as expected. I have two options. One is to cover the whole thing in matte black and once dried, randomly place white dots using Platinum white paint and a a few random stensile patterns to create a star pattern. It will be somewhat time consuming. The other option is to order a different star pattern, and cross fingers.

Still awaiting the stainless wire delivery. As to start on the Death Star with spinning Vader's fighter mod.

In the mean time... here is a shot of my view with the Falcon, with a sunny day through window and a reading ligh, from behind to remove some shadow. There are some areas I will touch up, some of which I purposefully left alone to see how the black wash shadowed the open, less pronounced areas.

To me the 2008 version is so much easier to get things right for such a diorama, than the 2020 version. You have to clear your mind of details being perfect when far away, in perspective. Though this angle shows the nose blast mark perfectly which I assumed would be about the size of it by the bay 327 shot I posted. Also the detail of the black wash looks so much better than what was done on the 2020 version, which looks like it survived a few years vacationing on Dagobah, rather than out in space.

Just need a few wee tweaks to get the upper edge portions right. I may play with white wash with light touch of black, lightly mixed, to streak some areas. The white wash under lighting conditions can cause an negative effect, with shadowing instead of lighting up. Its an experiment idea as the streaks are to be sparingly done, as to fade in and out with lighting. Which could assist with highlights on the raised pipe and plate edges. Kind of like water stain does on chrome, up close with light, its darker than the chrome and stands out, while away with less light not so noticable, in leaving perspective and lighting to work together than against each other. Which is why I chose not to go bonkers with details other than what the movie shows in clips that are about the same scale in the shot.

 

[Newbie_wan]

Here we go... after a few days getting use to the touch ups to the Falcon, I realized there will be need to address the panel gaps that will fade in and out into oblivion. I started with mandibles on the top sides and the tunnel behind the cockpit. You may notice where the cover meets the tunnel, in previous pictures, the panel gap at the seam was too bleached out. In this photo it properly shows, and only Hasbro would have made the cover seam be part of the panel segment as to keep the two areas in question as one. Note the other picture... it has some felt pen debris from disintegration from pressure to get into the gaps and corners. Also some ink pooling. None the less will be flicked out by rubber tiped oral gum cleaner, or dotted with alcohol to break up the pigment to soften the effect.

Note the light amount of black used, as I had applied and wiped away to lift enough to make the gap highlighted more than filled. You cant get details like this out of the box with any BMF. Also I noticed the details added with light highlights, make less need to add much else. At least for me, space does not allow for streaks, other than being parked on a planet.

 

[Tulgah]

Those panel gaps are a bit of a headache!

 

[Newbie_wan]

Those panel gaps are a bit of a headache!

Yeah, but I am managing well with the pen method. Some prefer to paint from scratch or use an air brush. I replied about my findings on the Falcon thread. My pictures don't do justice, but it allows a broken line so to speak with the shadowing, depending on angle and lighting. Even at the angles I have for viewing, the mandibles have more definition with the panels without being overbaring. Having the extra pop so to speak, makes its overall apperance almost as busy as having muck run lines and panel discolouration. Seems like the bottom section gets more of that up close in movie scenes, than with the top.

Though, I am contemplating white washing lightly the grey panels, to tone them down. I think they are a wee pronounced with being bold, for standard lighting.

It all depends on which movie Falcon you have a fondness for, having many to choose from, with so many variations. From what I have seen it seems many want a small scale (compared to studio production) to look like studio. For me its just wee issues that could have been done with initial release. Especially with using panel grey around the sides. As for black highlights between panels, it's possible with computer aided application. Which seems to be the process for BMF releases.

Once I have completed the panel highlights, there will not be any more external enhancements, since they will not make much difference to me. It will be a simple and nicely enhanced version that can be reverted without any changes to originality.

I am just surprised of it's transformation, as was not difficult to do. Not being time consuming, just ended up taking time to do things in steps, to see what works and what doesn't. Mostly my own eye's getting use to the change from mono tone brain lock. Now I can't envision going back to orginal.

 

[Newbie_wan]

Here is my nose touch up... before 50% of the details would fade into nothing. Now its nicely shown in 90% detail, without being over powering.



The one below is recent, though I forgot to wipe off excess marker behind the dish on the shuttle bay panels. Note, marking shadowing around the lower edges of the retangle box protrusions, help make all the details one is use to seeing, without need to over emphasis leaks and wear marks. I may do some shadowing on the smaller pipes that run along the saucer panels. They need to break up some of the blending they fade into and make the lone grey panel not appear to be two, near the nose. All in all there is 1/3 of the top half completed with intericate minor detail work. I can get by with 50% completion, until taken down for LED mod to the engine.

 

[Newbie_wan]

I got in the 0.2mm ss spring wire. Not as stiff as I expected, so I made another order for 0.6mm ss spring wire. If that don't work, I will go out and find a pop out big greati ng card and use the spring wire out of it. Ha! Seems the right stuff is easier to find on premade products than from bulk resellers. I was hoping the small gauge would do the job, as my fitting to couple with a ratio reduction roller, to the wire is of similar hole size. I figured since I have plenty of injection needles for small animals, the wire size would fit well for centering, without a need to drill.

I figured the simplist way to make the fighter cork screw spin, is to offset the rotational counter clock wise spin on the outside panel, near the rear edge some what, and centered with horizonal, not from the rear. This way it will lift the front and flip over, part barrel roll part summersault.

Looks like it will be a few weeks, now that mail is crawling on all fours, here in the states. With xmas happening early, like everyting else with Corona. You may not hear from me for a month or more. Consider Corona making any Holiday seem like forever.

 

[Tulgah]

Any customizer who can say “part barrel roll l, part summersault” aloud is just beyond the norm. Your technical knowledge and attention to detail are amazing. This has been a fantastic project to follow!

 

[Newbie_wan]

Ah, well I have watched the scene, and did note the front left flips up and over some what diagonally. I figured carefully placing the rotation point that allows both X and Y axis to change, will give a close representation of the fighter in a spin. It also seems work well enough for the location I placed the fighter. Instead of it pointing away in a getaway, the fighter will point a little more into line of sight, as to see the front section spin similar to the movie shot. Sort of unexpected when I decided to make it happen. If I had placed the fighter on the opposite side of the Death Star, the view would be wrong for reproducing the shot. Probably the only close to accurate part of my diorama, which was just to be a background part of the scene. I guess you can say my diorama is just the recreation Vader's spin, and the big toys are just for visual flair. Ha! Quite the opposite of what I thought of.

 

[Tulgah]

It’s beautiful regardless!

 

[Newbie_wan]

Thanks! Though I really did not do any modeling heavy painting work like many of have done. I felt a bit out of place with my ideas mostly my efforts were with how everything hangs for a limited area placement.

I also have one wee mod to the Death Star. Everyone that has one of them on their wall, will note the lights are uni directional. If you site anywhere off center, you will get a quarter section of nicely bright lights. This is because the plastic being thick for the hole size.

My mod will be to add visually clear line segments to fill in the holes. So the light will travel through the clear plastic, and disperse through the smooth end that is flush to the face of the Death Star. When completed, it should have an even intensity with all the ports as long as they are in view. I will do a before and after shot when completed.

 

[Newbie_wan]

I got a roll of clear beading elastic. Its easy to cut, and not brittle like plastic rod. The largest diameter is 1.5mm. If it was 1.8mm it should fit snug, being soft and stretchy, you could force it into the hole, if it were the case.

With it being 1.5mm there is a looseness which needs a small amount of clear glue. E6000 PLUS or like glue will work. I tested with one wee segment, and noticed no loss in brightness while viewing head on. At an angled view, its brightness diminishes down to about 85%, but it was loosly placed without glue. Some adjustment will need to be done, to maximize brightness at angled viewing. Looks like my idea will correct the minor issues with the Death Star's ports when viewed off center.

An odd note... being a smaller diameter than the hole, the light transmitted at the cut end, seems to be of proper ratio to the scale of the Death Star. Once completed it will be interesting in comparing the before and after.

Now to cut a thousand wee segments. Ha!

 

[Tulgah]

Some clear glued work better than others. Continue posting…!

 

[Newbie_wan]

Some clear glued work better than others. Continue posting…!

Yes, that is why I recommended the E6000 Plus, it is like a clear silicone but will adhere to its self if a reapplication is needed. Plus you can remove it a wee easier if needed. Its a bit expensive, compared to others on the rack, but you probably could use Shoe Goo on a pinch as it is 1/3 the price, but a bit thin and is a firm silicone type of adhesive. If you mess with it as it cures it clouds up well. That is why I state to use it in a pinch. The holes and segments are close enough not to notice if using a cloudy adhesive.

I did a test run without disassembly. I recomend disassembling the shell and installing from within the back, instead of poking them in while gluing. One thing, as you get closer to the bottom or top, the holes are formed at an angle. So it may throw you off if inserting the segments straight through. Also you will need to make the bottom segements long enough to diagonal cut the ends pointing inside, with the cut angled to the light source at least at a 45° angle. The more accute the longer the segment. Segments are anywhere from 5mm to 8mm depending on how you install them.

 

[Newbie_wan]

Ok, I am here for just a wee mention on delays. Corona really has been a problem of sorts, and made this put on hold. In the time I had stopped. I had gotten myself into a wee Star Wars geek mode. Looked deeper into why so many differences and changes to the Falcon. Being that the dish was a bit distracting, and other bits as well. I decided to collect some printed upgraded to replace the two boxes where the mandibles meet, guns, dish, hydraulic arms to the engin nozzle plates, and engine towers. They are the main parts to give better details, that are less distracting, other than the oversized cockpit for action figures. I still plan on lighting mods along with removing the nose missles to give a more proper representation of the ship. Focusing on the top section is my primary concern. The bottom is way off on details to really make a difference. At least the quad gun on the bottom will give some proper look when entering the room.

I also found out the 5 foot and 32 inch ships are different. Which makes reason into why so many details are jumbled.

I may create an egg crate grill for the engine, while using some 15% tint over the clear lense. To give it some shadow, and still allow for bright light to pass. There is an image of the rear which shows how dark the engine looks when parked.

I found that a 77mm dish made for De Agostini Falcon looks more like the dish pictured in the Lucas retouch film shown in the image posted earlier.

I may add to the mods thread I started on the mods, as I progress, some time early next year.

Ps... The blast marks on the panel at the nose is not what had thought. Some time the 5 footer had a grey panel not a blast mark. I will remove the blast mark, and replace with grey fill in on the panel. Dont know how far it goes beyond the edge, so I will fill the complete panel. Seems like the markings left of the panel is unknown... no hydraulics or blast mark big enough in the image. Will remove it as well.

I have grown to be pleased with the light attention to shadow in between the plates. Most go too far for details, and make it look like it was parked on Dagobah for 20 years. Thus scaling down wear and tear come down to fine details that are not easy to notice from 6 feet away. Not that I am a perfectionist, just practical in realism. A good representation is looking over old water towers and grain mills, that have been untouched for years. The look better futher away than close up. For the scale of 1/48 or so, high contrast is not required. Things will blend naturally. Though Disney has made teen age makeup more common with imaging.

 

[Newbie_wan]

Slowly made some progress, as I have worked on customizing the Falcon. Should be receiving shapeways 308 bits parts soon. The main section I am finishing up is a custom bulkhead decal. I may post it in the Legacy Falcon thread or just create one. I found the cockpit is not exactly 1:1 scale. There is mid section stretch, so enlarging any scanned decal and fitting to the bulkead is not going to cut it. I plan on doing custom lighting with the bulkhead, so the layout should be slightly easier to add lighting than going with a pure copy of details. This way at 2 meters, you can actually make out details that seem screen accurate. Because of the stretch, I filled in the gap at the mid point of the bulkhead. The main layout is mostly ESB, to match the Falcon updates. The gap panels are ANH switches and to match I replaced the nav screen with ANH style. Will post a link to obtain or view the decal once completed. At this time its 95% done, and looks awsome, whether or not you do a custom light setup with it.

 

[Newbie_wan]

As I replied earlier about a custom decal for Legacy Millennium Falcons... here is my original thread. Minimalist Legacy Falcon Update. I will post the decal here in the Hasbro Legacy Falcon thread for people here to use if needed.
Here is what it looks like.

 

[Newbie_wan]

Seems like I can't edit my own posts on my thread anymore... here is my own final print ready image. I had no clue how much effort was placed in the layout I chose to convert to Legacy Falcon, to not be exact, but close. Again, I think small scale will require some adjustment to fit and still be noticable. Now that I have complete what I set out to do, it would have been easier to obtain 5 footer decal and work from there. I admit the custom cockpit manufacturers do make very accurate looking options, but they are too 3D ish ... a noticeable difference on my graphics of choice than what they offer.