Not so long a ago, In a Galaxy far far away ( County Durham UK ), Santa (My wife and sister-in-law) delivered 51 parts (+ part 52 a couple of days later) on Christmas Day , I hear a rumor that Santa is collecting the next 48 parts for delivery later in 2016 :) !!

OMG the best xmas present since a Raleigh Chopper bike my parents got me 39 years ago.

Euphoria has now past ,and the enormity of the task is now apparent ( I was a keen modeller into my mid 20's starting off with 1/72 Airfix kits , migrating through the 1/48 Tamiya models ending up making R/C gliders and racing sailboats (don't think my Dad will ever forget the day we cast a lead keel of 10Kg ). 20 years has now past .... and i feel like a complete beginner :)

Research bought me here and wow, lots of good tips and techniques waking up brain cells that have been dormant ...

I will post my successes and failures here in the forthcoming months :)

Rj1265

Hope you get lots of fun with your build and welcome to the forum.

Welcome aboard.

You're wife kept this from you for a year! Wow! She's definitely a keeper

I am sure you have enjoyed looking and building thus hunk of junk

Thank you for the warm welcome - i have been enjoying reading the build diaries here , picking up tips and seeing the awesome builds that you all are creating, then I found Steve Dymszo's you tube video's ..... which led onto Spencer's ... productivity today at work has not been great

Brain cells that have been dormant for years have been re-energized !!

So the build started last night with the obvious change (the window frame) and what seemed like 2 hours gently filing the seams of all parts of the Quad Cannon. These will be degreased and sprayed with Tamiya Surface Primer (Light Grey) , this week.

More decisions this week , include - how much / if any customization of the interior.

Then the more practical choices - buying an airbrush , making a spray booth in the garage and start collecting the specific colours modelling paints (I will be raiding my sister-in-laws stack of acrylic pastels and oils) .

One week in to the build and moving to a bigger work space, that just shows the impressive size of the Falcon.

WTG on your progress so far and congrats on your blue medal for getting your diary underway.

Regards
delboy271155
(Derek)

Must say i am very impressed with the metal framework they are using for this model.

Looks like you are getting some good fun out of building this one.

Big milestones this week ... 4 binders arrived , all 52 magazines I have are safely filed.

Most of my spare time this week has been used building a small spray booth / protection for my rowing machine and bicycles in the garage , I don't think airbrushing in the dinning room will pass the internal approval processes !

After raiding my sister-in-laws crafting/painting supplies (some oils and pastels acquired for weathering) , a visit to a local model shop resulted in the purchase of many items , some totally unrelated to building the Falcon

Lidll UK have a cordless multitool on offer this week - I NEEDED a new one and obviously had to test it before startnig work, ! still debating if these holes are deep enough

A couple of weeks has gone past, Google and my imagination have been my downfall

I started this build with the mindset - 'I will keep the interior standard' - nobody really looks there, its the exterior paint job / weathering that will wow those who I show.

The hold was built (and glued) , and looked nice, for something that was not going to be seen very often if at all, then one evening last week it all went bad (or good if you get my meaning).
The only place I can display the Falcon is in my home office , the dining room or lounge are obviously non starters !!.

Therefore she will be just a few feet away from my Mac & PC's, in a room I 'live and work in' - I work from home ... looking at the pics posted here of the circuit board that comes with the model , I wondered if I can get a computer to control the lights / ramp . One thing leads to another ... 'I will add my own lights' show off the interior as well !! ..... ending up on Ardunio's web site, followed by Ebay , then the realisation that I had assembled the hold

Never fear Mr Dremmel was here, seats , nav computer, dejark table 'un-glued' and suitable self tapping screws found to afix the items at a later stage, Thankfully I only used a very very small spot of glue on the pads in the archway doors and they all 'pinged off' just using finger pressure.

The postman has started delivering the essentials - 'Plasticard' in various thickness, coloured 0.25mm fibre optic cables, I 'borrowed' some bass guitar strings off my nephew and my garage (full of those 'might be useful one day' bits and pieces is getting raided!

Paragrafix Corridors and Hold sets are on pre-order, the electronics components are on order - I will be building my own Arduino clone (because its fun) and adding a regulated power in / out , therefore it will be able to use the same input power as the falcon and switch 9V without getting too messy.

I am also going to try some scratch building rather than order 3d printed parts ( though if my attempts are rubbish I may resort to Shapeways )

As I said at the beginning my imagination has finally got the better of me!!

Some pictures of the hold as it is now, after modifying, painting and reassembling the rear wall:

The pipes look bright white - must be the camera flash - on the wall they look dirty white ( I can always dull them a bit more later if needs)


1st attempt at scratch building , the 1st Frame piece, having a test fit in hold



Thanks Colson for posting the Ebay link - I could not find anyone in UK selling coloured cables :) , they arrived this morning .. now to learn the art of Zen drilling 0.25mm drill bit looks awfully small lol



Finally one of the lower hull, I have stopped at this point as I need to plan how I am going to add the red 'mind you head' lights around the hull - currently I am thinking 3x.25 mm fibre cables bundled together simply because the thinner cable can have a smaller bend radius over 1x 0.75mm or 1mm cable.



Thank you for reading

Its been a little time since my last update, being 1 year behind everyone I am not going to post every time I do something since you all have seen it several times before !! - we all have seen enough pictures of wall cushions, corridor hoops .... and I have just finished painting and weathering them all !! - Doing all 9 hoops back to back was fun ? just ... I even dreamt about little square cushions !!

I have spent quite a bit of time playing with electronics / learning to programme an Arduino Board (this includes using 1 switch to control several channels that are independent of each other) , remembering the joys of Darlington Transistors v MOSFET's switching 9/12V using a 5V with a small current. I also have enough different types of led to light a fullsize runway, just waiting for some EL Tape now to complete the collection !! :)

The underside is now primed , I am still debating on how much pre-shading / lighter coloured primer / base coat I will do. I still need to practise a bit more on some test sheets.

Pictures or it didn't happen time ...
Underside with recesses temp fitted ( they look a lot less orange/rusty to the eye in daylight ) , there are holes for 1.5mm Fibre Optic, and some 1.5mm Fibre Optic is already in place protruding by approx 1mm that will be polished flush to hull after painting for the'Mind your Head' lighting.


Corridor Hoops and turret access corridor


Gunners Chair


Lighting Test on Nav Console - ParaGraphix Hold and Corridor kit arrived today, need to decide which to use.



Till the next time
Happy Modelling and May The Force be with You

Its been a long time since I posted anything .... actually did any work on my Falcon - Life / work etc kept getting in the way ...... and every time I looked at the bottom hull , I was apprehensive to start the weather process

But since the R2 announcement .... and Airfix announcing the retooling of their 1/72 B-17 Flying Fortress model ( this was last and the best finished model I built 30+ years ago) which is now sitting waiting to be built !! I have bitten the bullet and dived into weathering the bottom hull .. here it is - soo far.