(02-28-2011, 01:01 PM)Mensaboy Wrote: a 100% accurate replica is impossible with a 30 year old model - no 3D scan was performed at the completion of building for reference
you could have the actual model sitting in your room with you and be very lucky to get even 95% close to the model in its current condition
its current condition is far cry from what existed when it was built - a close study of available reference reveals that
the falcon was straight and true, clean and shiny looking when it was built - it is now twisted, scraped, broken and fixed, chipped and repainted, sagging and dirty
all that being said "close" is all you can get - we already have 95% or more of the kit parts on the falcon ID'd - the plans that I and many others have started with are also very very "close"
after more and more people make these the chances of getting a perfect one increases
but here is the hitch, when it does happen not a soul in the world will know it - because the needed reference does not exist to make it knowable
and here is the corollary - a SS falcon (plus many others) need not be accurate to be pleasing, with much respect to the fastest SS ESB falcon build ever completed, Paul Francis' rendition likely has less than 25% correct parts - and looks awesome...
I agree with you there Mensaboy, it's an impossible task trying to make a 100% accurate falcon for all the reasons you've given. Even to get 99% accurate would mean that there's only 10-20 parts you haven't found (making the assumption there's 1000-2000 parts on the falcon), I'm pretty sure we still have that many missing from one sidewall.
The studio model in its current state is really beat up. The saucers around the edges have been bent, broken and are pulling away from the body, from some angles the whole thing looks like it's sagging, and a number of parts have been knocked off. But this is all we have to try to determine the dimensions of the model, and so a lot of finessing is required to represent the symmetrical and true model as it was first constructed.
In terms of kitparts, putting aside the fact that there are numerous well documented parts we still can't find, I doubt we'll ever be able to ID some of the areas like between the jawboxes or in the various access wells, because reference just isn't available. So you're left trying to copy the MR falcon (being the next best reference available), but even that is probably less than 90% accurate in terms of correct kitparts, and it's anybodies guess as to whether they got those difficult areas right.
So we're in new territory, with the new finds recently all new builds from this point on have the potential to be the most accurate replica ever. But at the end of the day, as you say, it doesn't even need to be totally accurate to look amazing. The MR falcon and others are certainly a testament to that.