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Bandai 1/350 Millennium Falcon


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Just started out on another model from the Bandai's Resistance Vehicle Set which includes two 1/144 T-70 X-Wings along with this 1/350 Falcon from the Last Jedi.

 

Few parts but great detail. I'm really impressed by the pipes which run from the hull into the maintenance pits. The parts were all very clean except for the radar dish, which had a prominent mold line running down the center.

 

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I laid down a base coat of Badger Stynylrez Black Primer followed by random squiggles of Vallejo Model Air 71.119 White Gray to give some modulation to the hull color.

 

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I just received a set of Flory Washes in the mail yesterday, so I'm eager to try them out soon.

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After cleaning up the colored panels and sponging on some very subtle chipping I sealed the model with Tamiya TS-79 Semi-Gloss and let it dry. Next, I cracked open my first bottle of Flory Wash and started experimenting. I have watched a few of Phil Flory's videos on his site, so I was familiar with the technique of slathering on the clay wash, letting it dry, then rubbing it away with a slightly moistened paper towel. I have to say that it worked exactly as demonstrated and was very forgiving. I was able to move it around with a slightly moistened brush as well as apply some directional streaking quite easily.

 

I'm still getting the hang of it, but I'm quite pleased with this first coat of Dark Dirt wash and I suspect that Flory washes just might become my go to solution for weathering from now on. Below is a shot of the first application of Dark Dirt wash. The wash seems to act like a filter as well, pulling the colors together in a very natural way.

 

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Hopefully tomorrow I can experiment with some other washes as well as airbrush on the "carbonization" coming out of the dorsal exhaust ports. Looking at photo reference, it seems odd that the scorching radiates away from the exhaust ports radially rather than straight back in the direction of flight. Maybe physics behaves differently in hyperspace?

Edited by teddylindsey
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10 hours ago, teddylindsey said:

it seems odd that the scorching radiates away from the exhaust ports radially rather than straight back in the direction of flight. Maybe physics behaves differently in hyperspace?

Good to know Im not the only one whos wondered about that.

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I did some very minor clean up on the Dark Dirt wash and switched from using a moist paper towel to a small eyeshadow sponge brush. I had noticed that the moistened paper towel was snagging on the tiny greebles of the Falcon, leaving paper fibers wrapped around bits of the model which then had to be picked off using tweezers. The sponge brush didn't have this problem but it wouldn't be effective for larger surfaces.

 

Unfortunately, I may have overdone the exhaust carbonization since my Tamiya XF-85 Rubber Black sprayed out much faster than I had expected when laying down the initial scorch mark. Not much left to do at this point other than match the darkness on the other exhausts.

 

As much as I want to experiment with the Flory washes, I decided it best that I don't go overboard with the washes on this Falcon and leave further experimentation for another day/model. Thus, I'm calling this one done for now.

 

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Edited by teddylindsey
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4 hours ago, Dermo245 said:

Wowsers. That's superb :clap2:

 

Have ordered one from the Far East....I think it's on a rowing boat!

 

Dermot

Thanks, Dermot! Luckily, this boxed set is readily available at my local hobby store (in California). However, I have a TIE Advanced set that's been in transit for quite a while from Japan. Maybe it's on the same rowboat as your order? ;)

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1 hour ago, It's a disease said:

This is pretty cool!

nice paint.......

Thanks! I feel like the Flory wash did much of the heavy lifting on this model and I can't wait to experiment more. It's a huge time saver over the washes and pigments I've used before.

 

47 minutes ago, Mike said:

Good job - you'd never know it was one of the "vehicle" scale ones ^_^  I can't wait for the Tantive IV now :pray:

Thanks, Mike! I've been really impressed by the detail on these 1/144 Star Wars kits. They have almost the same level of detail as the 1/72 kits and take up much less space which makes the wife happy. ;)

And I'd also LOVE to see a 1/350 scale CR90 Corvette as well as a 1/144 Lambda Class Shuttle and B-Wing.

 

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2 hours ago, teddylindsey said:

1/144 Lambda Class Shuttle

NOW you're talking! :Tasty: I should really build the big MPC one I've been storing up since I got it a few years back though :hmmm:

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I decided to keep tinkering with this model a bit and create a landing pad display base. I've only created a diorama once before (for a Snowspeeder Hoth scene) and it was with AK Interactive Snow, which is pretty forgiving and doesn't require much in the way of detail.

 

This is probably going to be a throwaway experiment, so we'll see how it goes. I had an old 6"x5" wooden rectangle laying around which I will use for the foundation and then build up some details with styrene sheet atop it. Unfortunately, the wood rectangle is horribly askew, but since this is an experiment, I'm not that worried about it.

 

I then drew a simple grid pattern, rotated it to 20° for a little more visual interest and exported this to an SVG that I then had my Silhouette Cameo 3 scribe it on 0.01" styrene sheet. This took some experimentation since I've never scribed or cut styrene sheet with my Cameo and I've realized after some experimentation with various settings that it's not going to cut all the way through even 0.01" styrene in a single go. Since the "multiple pass cut" features of the Silhouette Studio software seems to NOT perform multiple pass cuts, I found that I can manually get the same result by resending the cutting job after it complete for another pass.

 

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Then I primed it with Minitaire Stynylrez Black and laid down some coats of Minitaire Concrete followed by Dusty Ground, building up some variations in the tones. Below is a shot of the concrete over the black. Before I primed the styrene I roughed it up with a sanding block to give it some texture which can be faintly seen below. I'm not sure if the texture and cracks it caused are the appropriate scale for the 1/350 Falcon but it certainly seemed to cause the styrene to suck up more paint than I was anticipating.

 

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Then I drew a "landing zone marker" and had the Cameo cut out a mask from vinyl transfer tape, which I discovered is not that great as a masking material since I had it lift up on me when airbrushing and had quite a bit of seepage later. I also made the mistake of trying to sponge on Microscale Liquid Mask for chipping the markings. Unfortunately, the painted styrene just seemed to absorb the liquid mask. Any suggestions on how to approach this in a better way would be appreciated.

 

Then I tried to "chip" the markings by sponging on a mix of concrete and dusty ground paints and this did not turn out so well as you can see below. :(

 

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Next, I cut a short length of 3mm metal tubing and drilled a hole in the base as a stand for the Falcon. Since the model didn't have an option for landing gear like some the 1/144 version and larger have, I'll have to depict this Falcon as hovering over the landing pad. I wish someone made 1/350 landing gear for the Falcon model!

 

Luckily, the Falcon actually hides most of the crummy chipping work and it doesn't look half bad in the light box. I'm considering making a little fueling structure with cables next. My wife looked at it and said that it needs weeds coming out of the cracks in the tarmac. At this scale, I guess I could just paint on some tiny dabs of greenish brown. Once again, suggestions on how to accomplish this are very welcome!

 

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Edited by teddylindsey
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I think this looks good, you have some nice tonal variation in the concrete and to be honest we are mainly going to be looking at your wonderful little falcon more than the base. I’m enjoying watching this come together. 

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2 hours ago, Millennium Falcon Notes said:

Someone does. :) Landing gear, boarding ramp, open cockpit, gunbay windows, round dish, replacement sidewalls and maintenance pits...

Thanks for the tip! I found a set of accurizing parts for the 1/350 Millennium Falcon on Shapeways. Looks like their Fine Detail Plastic material has improved quite a bit since the last time I used them, which was over six years ago.

 

I tried having one of my 3D models of a Traveller Type-S Scout printed as a mold master for a line of Traveller starships and the resolution was simply not fine enough back then. I'll have to give them another shot.

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