Simple Tricks and Nonsense 5 Foot Falcon

[Bjorn]

I've been meaning to show some work on this for some time now, but have been holding off until I had some meaningful "physical" progress.
I also wanted to get some momentum before posting, as amongst my friends I am notorious for unfinished projects. I'm trying really hard not to let this be one of those, as the sheer immense scale of this project lends itself to one.

However, I figure some will find interesting my preliminary work, research and initial findings as I prepare for my build. It may also give some scale to the project as I start to make things. 

I started tinkering with the idea of modelling the falcon from sheet styrene many years ago whilst we had the 'Science Meets Imagination' travelling exhibition here in Sydney Australia. I was able to take a bunch of mostly blury, dark and poor quality photos of the model as it was displayed.

   
Above, photo from the Science Meets Imagination exhibit in Sydney.

At the time I was doing quite a bit of CAD modelling in my work and at home with hobbies, and began drafting the model referencing photos, and drawings that had been published on the old Yahoo 'Millennium Falcon Builders Group', and my ERTL/MPC model kit. The model kit and drawings proving not to be the most reliable references, however there wasn't much else to rely upon back then. 

   
Above, my early preliminary CAD model of the falcon. 

Eventually I stumbled upon Gort's amazing ID thread on the RPF which revealed many of the original kits used on this model. I was amazed at the collective knowledge and resources that came together to map much of the outer surface. I am now indebted to all the contributors over the years.

I also found a few other pivotal threads that fired my enthusiasm for this project.

Stuart Brown's 5' Falcon ANH Build thread on the RPF was a major influence. It was pure inspiration to see that someone was brave enough to actually tackle a 5' model. And the attention to detail. I love the traditional approach that Stu took to to develop his build section by section using kit parts to guide his way. Ultimately to be later refined by the research of a dedicated group of builders.

Not long after I found photos of Lee Malone's impressive and completed Empire Strike Back 5' build. Equally impressive was the collection of kits that that he had acquired to see it through. As seen on display in the background of some of his pics.

Andre Bustanoby's RPF build thread was a major milestone in falconeering. His dedication to accuracy employing a range of new digital tools were fascinating. And through his collaboration with Joshua Maruska, realised the first really accurate CAD model, and subsequent drawings of this subject and others.
This was a massive leg up to all that aspired to model this ship to scale.

Following this, and strangely what sealed the deal was finding Joshua Maruska's 3D printing thread on the RPF. Joshua was possibly one of the first to propose modelling the donor kit parts in CAD for the purpose of 3D printing. However in 2015 this was an emerging technology, and at time not really viewed as a viable tool in the Studio Scale fraternity due to its infancy.
He suggested the creation of a digital archive of rare vintage kit pieces, through collaboration with like-minded individuals.

This ultimately appealed to me as I enjoyed working in CAD. And I could kind of see where the technology was heading.
Joshua's blog site is also a fantastic resource for info and inspiration.


I also eventually discovered Sean Sides epic build thread on the RPF which was another goldmine of reference material. Not only were his photos invaluable, but so were the snippets of info addressing various aspects of his build. Truly inspirational much in the same way as Stu's build thread. 


There are a bunch of other folk that have been extremely helpful over the years, contributing photos, ID's and other info along the way that need thanking. 

This site and its members have also proven to be an invaluable reference for information. Hence why I wanted to share my progress here first. Thank you!

And one other builder in particular who has been encouraging me along the way.

More to follow...

[Bjorn]

In September of 2018, I recall one evening pouring over pictures of Sean's impressive 5' falcon build and his kit collection. I then remembered that I had a few old kits in the garage and decided to check if I had any established 5' falcon donors. To my surprise I found I had one!
An unfinished Revell F4 Phantom that my brother started some 20 years ago.

   

It wasn't a vintage release, and nor was it rare. However upon inspection the nose and main landing gear looked identical to the vintage tooling shown here in scans.
So I decided to model it in CAD with as much fidelity as possible. And once finished I uploaded it to GrabCAD where Joshua had already started to post his work. 

   
Above, 3D CAD image of my Phantom main gear legs.

   
Above, 3D print of my Phantom gear legs on my Formlab2 printer.

I then looked to the next donor subject, initially identifying kits that were used heavily supplying lots of parts. The Tamiya 1/35 8Rad being one such kit. I soon learnt that many of the kits only offer 1-2 parts. And most of these are unfortunately very rare and expensive.

   
Above, measuring and modelling the Tamiya 8Rad. Below, collection of digital 8Rad parts.
   

   
Above, modelling the Tamiya Panther A Upper Hull. Below, digital Panther parts.
   

[Bjorn]

I found the exercise to search for ID's quite enjoyable. Much like a detective trying to solve a mystery, there are clues to be found everywhere. One just has to first learn where to look.

   

I also started to build my collection of kits, with the lofty goal of having one of everything to use as a reference for 3D modelling. Easier said than done however.

As I started to tackle modelling more kit parts I also started to consider the prospects of filling some of the gaps in the drawings provided by Andre and Joshua in 2015. And as I followed their journey through their respective build threads, I too started studying various aspects of the 5 footer, much as they did using a combination of techniques.

After countless hours of researching, measuring, modelling, checking, tweaking and redoing various elements, I now have a healthy respect for how much time goes into planning an accurate replica of this beast. I can also kind of appreciate the number of iterations that Andre and Joshua must have gone through to arrive at their current numbers.  



The first no-found part that I was able to square away was the rear mandala engine vents. Having had some exposure to photogrammetry I figure that I would apply the process to this part of the model.
Not long after I had started experimenting, GEEK1138 on the RPF started his 'Millennium Falcon 5 Foot Replica' project. As with all of his work, it was fantastic and I was amazed by his speed. The rear engine vents on his model however looked out of place, perhaps too high.

Given that I had already modelled the Panther upper hull in CAD, and using a series of photo references, I managed to pull off what I considered to be a rough but reasonable photogrammetry solve by matching the result to the Panther part as best as possible. 

   

   

The vent ring was speculated to have been turned on a lathe and is a fairly simple shape. At the time I was reasonably satisfied that I had arrived at the correct overall dimensions, despite the fairly course resolution of the photogrammetry result.



Special thanks to jangelsworthy on the RPF for assisting me with checking the mesh result and encouraging me to keep pursuing these techniques.

   

[Bjorn]

Given the reasonable success of the vent rings, I moved onto solving other areas of the ship.

   
Above, about 6 months later and a greatly reduced hard drive space, I had made some significant virtual progress in my computer.

   
Above, photogrammetry result after managing and processing over 700 images.
 
   
Above, another view of the textured mesh result.

August 2021 - 
Starting to block in surfaces using the photogrammetry result as my master reference. The surfaces are created and then floated back and fourth to match the mesh result as best as possible.

   

   

After getting much of the preliminary surfaces established, I then tried my hand at some rough photo alignments, which are far from perfect using the tools that I have, but encouraging to check the key features. 

   

I used this early ILM construction picture to validate the positions of the 16x radially placed lightening holes in the plywood core. It also helps to determine the overall thickness of the core ring and inner diameter. And it verifies the positions of the armature and holes in the upper and lower acrylic domes.

   

[Bjorn]

September 2021 - 

I used similar techniques to inspect the position of the lower hull. Again not a perfect alignment but still encouraging.

   

   

[Bjorn]

October 2021 - 

Some more progress on the underside. In this photo most things align, however more work is required on the lower rear landing box.

   

This one was fun to do but is still a work in progress. Whilst the picture isn't aligned very well, it already indicates the diameter of the hole in the side of the docking ring, though not modelled in CAD in this pic. The hole usually obscured by the detailed end cover.

   

[Bjorn]

November 2021 - 

I started playing with the Radar Pylon. Much of the geometry has been worked out however I haven't yet established how deep the pylon penetrates the outer acrylic hull.

   

   

   

During this time I discovered some issues with my photogrammetry result which meant that I needed to redo quite a bit of work, including the radar pylon.

I'm glad that I discovered the problems at this stage as I may have been a lot further down the road and having to redo a lot more.
Part and parcel of falconeering I guess.  

   
Above, the basic forms starting to reveal themselves. Unfortunately this all had to redone due to the previously mentioned issue with my photogrammetry.

[Bjorn]

After numerous adjustments or revisions to the scale using various references, I was no longer confident that I had arrived at the perfect vent ring. I decided to go back and revisit it.
What helped was to finally obtain a small piece of vintage Koolshade from a very generous friend. The Koolshade gives real world clues to the inner and outer diameter.

   

After taking physical measurements I created a basic digital model of the Koolshade. Using the refined photogrammetry result, together with the digital Koolshade model, I eventually came up with dimensions that I was overall satisfied with.

   

For the fun of it, I also split my Panther hull where it would need to be cut to surround the vent ring. I was keen to print this purely to see how it turned out.

   

   
Above, raft and support structure still attached to the upper hull print.

   
My final vent ring with the LSA Koolshade, ready for silicone molding.

[Bjorn]

December 2021 -

The following ILM photo was used to establish the size of the front mounting tubes. I'm not sure whether I will add these to my armature however I like the idea of simply having them for authenticity. 

   

I can't imagine practically needing to mount from these locations, and a substantial rig would be required if it was ever utilised.



I took the time to model a few of the key Kettenkrad parts which are used on the mandible sidewalls, amongst other locations.

   

This proved useful for verifying Andre and Joshua's Mandible sidewall core height of 2", which is before any styrene armour plating is added.

   

   



Using Joshua's awesome Sealab files from GrabCAD I was able to determine the overall width and position of the cut between the the two pieces that make up the very front of the entry ramp on the Starboard lower docking arm.

   

I can also make out the position of the other greeblies and styrene armour plating from my photogrammetry result.

[Bjorn]

January 2022 -

I was really keen to do some work on the upper gun deck as the photogrammetry result in this area was excellent, enabling me to determine the location of just about all panel lines in the armour plating, and some of the kit parts.

   

Being able to verify the size and depth or angle of the gun port window was the icing on the cake!

   

[bwayne64]

Wow, fantastic thread. I love building in 3d and real life. The combination is very satisfying. Can't wait to see more,

Joe

[Bjorn]

Thanks very much Joe, I'm really hoping to start the real life part very soon.

Like yourself I find the digital stuff rewarding, but I'm really looking forward to the tangible stuff too.

At the outset I never would have thought that it would take as long as it has to get this far. It has been all consuming for the last few years and I have found myself obsessing over trying to work out what kits are what, and ID all the greeblies, and then the dimensions, and planning how to go about it.

It's ever evolving. But hey, its just studio scale...

[Bjorn]

February 2022 -

I was always looking forward to surveying the cockpit, as I was aware that the current drawings for this show the cockpit tube diameter at the smaller original OD of 5.75", instead of the now established 6.0".

As such, I was also keen to check the cockpit cone angles and define the size and position of the window openings, capturing the wonkiness which is not immediately apparent.

There is a slight sagging of the cone from front to back which I didn't bother to capture. I suspect, as suggested to me by a veteran 5 foot builder, that the trimming of the window holes has caused the styrene to relax.

   

   

   

[star-art]

This is FANTASTIC work! Having attempted this myself on other subjects, I can truly appreciate all you have gone through on your journey. Photogrammetry definitely seems like the way of the future on these sorts of projects. Without an actual 3D scan of the original, I can't imagine a better source of reference!

[Bjorn]

Thanks very much Charles, 
Having been very focussed on this thing I've only recently started to pay attention to other topics here, and on the RPF and stumbled across some of your beautiful work, including your FB page. I need to look around a lot more but I really trying to stay on task.

Without doubt, photogrammetry is a pretty handy tool for this stuff. I have huge respect though for the traditional techniques also. But this really comes together once you have an understanding for both. It took me a while before I realised the possibilities. 

I can't wait to have the original model on display again. It would be seriously worth the trip over to photograph specifically with the view of further refining what I have. However that said, I'm pretty happy with it as it stands. 

Best regards,

Bjorn

[Bjorn]

March 2022 -

Getting the docking arms just right. Moving surfaces back and fourth until I have what I consider to be a good match for both the styrene outer armour plating and the laminated plywood understructure.

   

   

[Bjorn]

April 2022 -

After working out the basic core structure I was keen to understand what the overall dimensions of the castings around the waist are.
Specifically how long (radially) and how wide (height).

   

These castings are repeated around the waist and are also further enhanced with additional parts in certain places, presumably to add some randomness to the appearance. 

I had already modelled or sourced files for most of the parts on each plate so it wasn't too difficult to mock them in place with the photogrammetry result.

   

   

   

The King Tiger plate is complete. Just need to give the Matilda plate the same treatment.


Following the survey of the waist castings I wanted to finalise the Gunport window.
Studying other models I realised that the small T-track that is found on the window mullions appear to be the same as found on the Tie fighters.
I was able to produce the following model that is accurate to the photogrammetry.

   

   
Above, final iteration of the Gunport window.

   

[Satazius]

Um... WOW!

[Bjorn]

Thank you Satazius! It's a fun project for sure...

May 2022 - 

Here is some further check work that I did for the Mandibles. And yes, they do toe inwards per Andre and Joshua's excellent blueprints.

Each iteration making slight adjustments to the geometry of the overall length and side wall angles.

As stated previously, for a while I was going back and forth between the mandible thickness. For whatever reason I seemed to have the thickness over 2" (not including styrene armor plating), based on my initial photogrammetry solve. Again after careful scrutiny and much adjusting of my geometry I was very pleased that I came back to 2" which is essentially what everyone is currently working to. 

It reinforces comments made by other pioneering builders of this model that much of the key dimensions are cardinal measurements.


   

   

[Bjorn]

The following is a mockup design of the Upper Jaw box in either sheet styrene or acrylic. The latter probably being prefered as it will hold its shape better for the large flat surfaces.

   

This was primarily for a friend who is also working on a model of this bird.

I am yet to decide if I will go this route with my Upper and Lower Jaw boxes. From what I can tell from early ILM pictures is that the originals were carved from laminated plywood. As were the docking arms.


It seems that the popular choice for safely supporting a studio scale 5' Falcon under construction these days is to employ a mobile workshop engine stand.
I'm looking at making a bench stand that is essentially the same size as the one fabricated by ILM originally.

As a fun sidetrack, I made a very rough photo alignment to work out the approximate proportions of the original.

   

I'm not sure if I did much design work in August. I was fairly busy with other projects, however managed to still do a bit of part mapping. 

So this is essentially where I am at at the moment. Hence future updates will likely slow down to a real time pace.


There has been quite a bit of digital greeblie part design that has happened here and there since first starting on this project. I will likely share progress of this in the not too distant future, along with the rest of my build as it takes shape.

Originally I was planning to 3D print most of the greeblies. However after being inspired by what others have achieved or are working on, I too have stupidly decided to try for a largely all styrene donor build. A few of the super rare kits will likely being the exception to this rule.

More to follow, thanks for watching!

[Bjorn]

November 2022-

The last few months have seen some progress. 

I took the time to help a fellow builder with checking dimensions of the main underside landing gear box. From what I can tell it is not perfectly symmetrical but that said, not far off from being so. 

   

The circular contour at the front is the main discrepancy. 
It essentially hugs the curvature of the lower hull at that point.

Whilst working on the underside I worked on a few more digital donor parts to populate this area.

[Bjorn]

December 2022-

One of the parts that I decided to model for the underside is this guy. 

   

With pieces such as this I usually tend to do a 3D scan first to get a basis for the model. The original part was however so large that it proved difficult for my setup to scan. Hence, I figured I needed to break down the problem by cutting the part in half. 

   

This meant that I could take multiple scans from several angles and stitch them together. 

   

Then it's all about using pictures, and taking measurements to help capture all the details. 

   

The hope was to see this through to completion however it's still a work in progress. I really need to get a better scan of this part as a reference, and perhaps a better scanner. 

And since I was in styrene cutting mode I figured that I'd have a go at this piece. 

WARNING: DON'T TRY THIS AT HOME!

   

I have shown this to two other builders and they were both a bit surprised, and horrified at the same time.

A circular panel saw makes short work of this operation but I would not recommend it.
It's extremely dangerous having fingers anywhere near these things generally. And it wasn't removing the material in the cleanest manner. More like taking small chunks. Maybe it just needs a new blade, i'duno... 

The resulting pieces were also both sanded down in height to reach the final size. 

   

To be honest, I'll probably sand them a fraction more to match my references, but overall very happy with how they turned out all things considered.

As a side, 
I also took the time to try some cleanup on some original parts that a good friend had generously given me. These were caked with enamel paint and were pretty ghastly. 

I accidentally discovered a while ago that rubbing alcohol is actually good for removing the enamel paint and doesn't seem to effect the original styrene too much. If doing this yourself I'd try it on a less critical piece first. Instead of a part from a $2,000 kit.

   

The process takes a while to do, but I find it's the perfect task whilst binging on you favorite StudioScale YouTube video's.

[Bjorn]

January 2023-

Small update for January. I cranked out a few more digital kit parts, and have also made some progress on my overall measurements for the armature and core, confirming critical dimensions along the way. I was just able to finish rendering this fun image.

   

I currently find myself looking for the correct size steel tube to fabricate my armature. And I still need to circle back to the underside to finalise the landing gear box.

[Bjorn]

Figured it's time that I post a bit of an update on this project. 

Home improvements, work, family and life in general have occupied my time of late. And, another 1-2 side projects that have been all consuming which I will hopefully share in due course.

February 2023-

I'm still very much in the digital side of things with plenty of CAD work between determining subassemblies and larger areas. Here I spent a bit of time on the mandible pits, verifying thickness of material and ultimately depth of the pits and layout. As with almost everything, still more work required.

   

[Bjorn]

May 2023-

I find myself committing more donor kit parts to CAD. Many of these are used in the various pits and I felt obligated to draw them up and see how they sit within my overall geometry. 

   

   

I also spent a small amount of time verifying the dimensions of the walkway ends. 

   

   

It's interesting to see that there is asymmetry here and there, however what is also evident is the intended dimensions that our ILM model makers were working to. Which raises the question, do you build it as they would have liked to build it given the luxury of time, or do you leave it slightly wonky like the original model as it is seen today.

[Bjorn]

August 2023-

I know the most popular method to build these things on is a mechanics engine stand.

Call me old fashioned but I'm looking to use a bench. This will make it more difficult to flip however I will cross that bridge later.
Hence I drafted up a suitable bench design using hardware timber and erected it in my workspace. 

   

Very happy with how it came out.

And for something different, I also spent a bit more time reverse engineering greeblies in CAD. Some fun ones in this lot.

   

[Bjorn]

October 2023-

A fellow Falcon builder, and dear friend was in need of some Engine Vents for his project. These were printed in Black resin on my Form2. 

   

[Bjorn]

November 2023-

Trying to square away the Radar Pylon here. Still some work to do however it's getting to the point where I can start making pieces as I am confident of most dimensions.

   

The Airfix Saturn V part here getting some love.

   


Also starting to map some of the armour plating and chips around the Radar Dish.

   

And my large diameter steel tube has arrived for the armature. Aiming to get the smaller material before Christmas and fabricated.

   

[Bjorn]

December 2023-

Well, after much ruminating, back and fourth making changes to my dimensions, I have finally decided to pull the trigger and cut my plywood core pieces. 

   

Consisting of consecutively stacked circular shaped rings, I decided to save some material and make the intermediate layers in segments that I can laminate. This way I was able to nest the parts within the centre of the rings that would have otherwise been wasted. A lot easier to do on a CNC router than by hand.

   

That said, I had long planned to have at least 1-2 layers of rings complete so that I could jig the remaining smaller parts from a datum. I use 1/8" holes and wood screws to take care of the alignment. The holes are drilled by the machine prior to any profiling operations.

   

I tip my hat to my friend Read who basically did the same plywood core manually with a router for his Falcon build.

Despite being cut on a machine, it still took quite a lot of time to plan and program before pressing the button. And being in a hurry to get it done before the holidays, I made at least one mistake which I fortunately was able to recover from with some minor rework on the fly which should remain barely noticeable, if at all.

The upper and lower layers have been laminated with PVA wood glue leaving 3x more layers to laminate in the middle of the stack. Unfortunately I ran out of time to get the rest laminated prior to Christmas. I'll pick it up in the new year. 

   

Really glad to finally have some tangible progress on this project.

[Bjorn]

Over the holidays I managed to assemble the plywood pieces into something resembling the core of my falcon.

   

I also cut some simple templates or jigs to help with drilling the holes in the side of the core. I'll pilot the hole with the jig, and then burn through with a larger holesaw to create the final size.

The core already has some holes around the perimeter to reduce some of the mass, and the pocket for the rear engine lights is also already removed. Though I think need to temporarily brace that just in case it starts to warp. Not sure of the weight of this piece yet, however I'll try to capture that shortly as I'm interested in the breakup of the mass of plywood, steel armature and other elements as I go along.

   

At this point I have only cut the two forward mandible tubes. I still need to cut the larger lateral tube and fabricate. Just need to make a mental note to self to do this in-situ. And that will probably necessitate another timber jig to get everything straight.

Edit: Plywood core currently weighs 9.8kg or 21.6lbs.

[Bjorn]

Inspired by Lasse Henning's excellent videos, I decided to film the CNC cutting and assembly of the plywood core.
It hopefully illustrates my approach and will give some context into techniques and tools or methods that I use along the way.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WwQ6onuLeHM

And of course special mention to John Williams, who always makes things appear twice as good as they would otherwise without his magic.

[Bjorn]

Managed to get to my local plastic supplier earlier this month and picked up a cockpit tube and some acrylic for my mandibles.
Later that day I was able to visit my local R2 builders workshop/maker space and spent some time on the laser cutter.

   

   

I still need map out the internal pit diameters and heights however I am satisfied with the external dimensions.

[MonsieurTox]

Hello Bjorn, fantastic work so far. I'm appreciate every step because that's how I proceed, I know how much work goes into that.
I wish you all the best for your Falcon build !

[Bjorn]

Hi Julien,
Your fine work is known to me!

Thank you for your help and research with some of the original ID's on these models over the years.

cheers,