Millennium Falcon Side Panels too Thick?

I have a question that may have already been discussed, but Im gonna ask it any way. I have been for years wanting to tackle the MPC/AMT millennium falcon and super detail it as well. Big problem as everyone knows is that the model company made it too toy like and one of the most noticeable issues is the lack of detail on the side panels and the height of those panels. I have known about www.falconkits.com for years and have for over a year tried to order their resin correction kits, but after about 20 emails falconkits.com never answers my emails and I can never find the kit elsewhere. I once found it on ebay but it got so costly by the time the auction closed I was unable to afford to bid on it at that time. So I have decided to scratch build my own side panels and am writing to see if any other modeler out there has been successful in doing so? and if so any help would be appreciated. I was thinking about just cutting down the exsisting panels from the kit then adding a bunch of scratch built detail. I wanted to go on the forum before I started to cut up what is becoming a harder to find kit to get any reference material or help that I could. Like I said any help would be greatly appreciated.

You should check out the upgrade kit available from Starship Modeler. The first item one the page. They are out of stock right now but should get it in before long and the price is great for what you get. Down at the bottom of the page is the PE grill set for the topside.

I was going to spend the money and get the Fine Molds MF… But I decided to re-do an mpc one that I had lying around in a spares box… I had most parts, but a friend in Seattle sent me a few of the extras that I needed to get it finished, and so I have decided to build mine as the ANH version with only 3 landing gear bays, and I will cut the side walls down and use the FM MF as my reference and scratch build the extra detail…

Chris

Well, I have both the ertl and the FMMF, I know someone already made this version, but I`m gonna do it too, the ertla kit has the upgrade sidewalls and the pe, so i decieded to make mine into the episode 3 falcon and have the FMMF the episode 5&6 version.

The hard part is trying to get good pics of the early falcon with the green or blue paint scheme.

Anyway, the sidewall and pe upgrade sets are worth it!!

Awesome, I didnt even know that Starship Modeler had an upgrade kit like that. Its a lot cheaper than falcon kits. I may go that route but right now the $60.00 is still kinda out of reach for me and they maybe out of stock for months, most of that custom stuff is, after reading all the replies that I have I may just try to tackle it my self. Thank you for the reply.

Cool, thats probably what I will do is just use spare parts and cut mine down, its gonna be a big challenge but worth it in the long run.

Ill try to get the starship modeler upgrade kit , but in the mean time Ill probably attack it by myself with spare parts thank you for the reply.

How come modelmaker’s posts are locked?

Chris

I dunno, what did you do this time Chris?? J/K! But I really dont know?

Yeah, I seem to have been in a bit of trouble of late… And I really dont go looking for it! he he he… I guess, I should stop being honest with people?..[:D]

Anyways, I was just asking because I have never seen individual posts, locked like that before… Very interesting…

Cheers, Chris

I was just kidding Chris, but it is strange… but, there was another individual that, that happened to a while back and the name escapes me>

Actually it was me, i didnt realize that I had clicked that button, so its all me

Okay, its just when someone does that its usually bad news and they are gonna stay low for a while(like family problems), and we just got a little concerned thats all.

Episode 3 don’t you mean 4?[%-)] man Stipp you should stop confusing Star Wars episodes [(-D]

Nope episode 3! Right after the crash landing of the invisible hand and right before the two Jedi get off of the airtaxi, you can just make out a little Millenium falcon landing at the senate building, only like a second or two!

are you sure it wasn’t another YT-1300 all YT-1300’s look alike at a distance. Plus wasn’t the Falcon a Dirty Gray color not Orange?

Well, according to Lucas and the making of episode 3 " the Millenium Falcon makes a cameo, reverse engineered the craft, eliminating its rust colored panels and blast marks, after all its twenty years younger"

in Episode 4 wasn’t Luke 18 when he left Tatooine on the Falcon? and I can’t believe it took 18 years to build the DeathStar they must have worked pretty slowly to get the work done.

From my understanding, the Falcon was owned by someone else prior to Lando and Han, it took the empire 18 yrs due to sabotage and the rebels, in the mean time the empire was working on the death star two which was larger and more powerrful than the first.

Hey stipp, the fact that they were working on two death stars at one time, has finally put that baby to rest for me… I never could work out how they built that second one so quick?

As for the Millennium Falcon… Those rust coloured panels aren’t rust I dont think?.. I always thought that with all of the maintenance on the thing, that they were the last remaining panels with the original paint on them… I have seen the Millennium Falcon with the blue and orange markings… Just assumed that was what was left after replacement of most of the panels…

I am trying to get myself in the mood to start mine, but just cant get into it just yet…

Chris