I happened across a half pallet of these the first time they sold and
clearanced. It was quite a find since I wanted to wait until the
prices dropped on these. Apparently price as well as size kept a lot of
these out of collector hands in their first incarnation.
So
on to the business. A long time ago I took this model and dusted it in
black an accented some areas that needed some life. I never thought I'd
get back around to my full intentions but yesterday I ran the entire
trilogy through the old Xbox and got cracking.
First I
completely disassembled the falcon into top bottom and interior... Bye
Bye electronics... You will be missed. I took all the interior pieces
and gave then a deep black wash. Then I got to trimming out pieces.
This was such a huge playset but you really only had half of the
interior to interact with. I wanted to remedy this to justify the size
of this beast. So with only my exacto I started to score away at these
obstructions. One being the door to the cockpit as well as the corridor
entry. I adds padding with this thick rubbery adhesive rubber sheeting
and sliced into panels on location. I blacked out the inner walls of the
cockpit while I applied decals. (Stickers loose their glue when they
sit in a box in the garage for 5 years) and I found the wet paint to be a
good substitute for the missing adhesive.
Then I went beyond the sick
bay doors and knocked that wall out as well. The compartment that housed
the escape pod was a molded non functioning door so I scored it through
as well to remove if but then I had another wall... So I continued to
score away at it. With access to both sides relieved I now had this
empty space with just the inner shell showing. I took a Jedi council
floor panel and grafted it onto the existing platforms and painted it
over for an approximate match. I still had some empty space and figured
I would make this the engine room. With fodder parts and other Star
Wars accessories I started to fill in with "machinery" to give this new
space purpose. So now I have a completed interior with new detailing
and added space! I also removed the single turret gun seat in the middle
and replaced it with a ladder (not pictured).
The outside was
worked over with several layers of massive wet wash and dry brush. Once
all the pieces had been treated I reassembled it and continued to
detail the landing gear and artillery in black & oily steel.
The circle is now complete!!!
