Bandai 1/144 Millennium Falcon

[jkim]

The Millennium Falcon needs no introduction. Yes, that lovable piece of junk that did the Kessel run in less than 12 parsecs and saves Luke Skywalker from the clutches of the evil Darth Vader. I'm going to TRY and build a 1/144 scale model of the iconic Falcon as she appeared in the newest Star Wars flick, The Force Awakens. I consider myself a fan but not quite a fan-atic and this will be my first Star Wars model kit since childhood. I remember building both the MPC X-Wing and Tie Fighter model kits n the 70's so this will bring back some memories.


The kit is made by Bandai. If you have not heard of Bandai, it's not because the company is small or doesn't produce many kits. It has a huge catalog of plastic models but the majority are sci-fi (Gundam, being the most well known franchise) and sold primarily to the Japanese market. Bandai's agreement with Disney to produce Star Wars models limits their sales so you may not see these kits sold in the US. Not a problem for the internet savvy and this kit is easy to obtain via Ebay or Amazon.

This is not a large model (at 1/144 scale, the Falcon is about seven inches across) and is packed into a relatively small 10"x6"x4" box. The side of the box is nicely decorated with photos from the film as well as of the built model.



The model instructions are printed on high quality, glossy paper and come as a stapled booklet.


The instructions are typical schematic type drawings to guide the builder through the various steps of construction. But... being a Japanese domestic market product, the instructions are totally in Japanese... no English.


Not to worry. Star Wars is a huge franchise (arguably the BIGGEST) and there are countless fans of which many happen to be modelers as well. An internet search of BANDAI MILLENNIUM FALCON INSTRUCTIONS yielded a set of instructions translated into English.


The parts are packed into the small box on compact sprues. Most of the sprues are individually protected in plastic bags but a few come two per bag.


I didn't realize the Millennium Falcon had ANY markings on its structure but apparently it does and a ton of them to boot. Bandai gives the builder a choice of either adhesive stickers or traditional waterslide decals for these small markings.


The last page of the instruction booklet shows the placement of these stickers/decals. The booklet itself is small so it's very difficult to make out decal placement with these 50 year old eyes. I'll probably have to scan and enlarge this when the time comes.


Let's take a closer look at the parts. The first major piece is the upper hull of the Millenium Falcon, which is molded in one piece.


Hats off to Bandai as the molding on this kit is incredible. Painting this little beast is going to be the biggest challenge by far. But then again, I could see one getting a fairly acceptable result if you simply spray-canned the completed model in grey paint and giving it a panel wash.


That circular opening in the lower right of the photo is where the radar dish is mounted. In the new movie, the radar dish is square whereas the original Falcon had a round dish. More on that later...


The bottom hull piece is similarly shaped but with additional openings for the landing gear and landing ramp. The biggest opening toward the rear is for a battery pack! You may guess what this is leading to!


Lots of surface detail has been molded integrally into the upper and lower hull, simplifying the construction process.


Here is the interior of the bottom hull. A little bit more going on here than the typical locating pins you'd find on an aircraft model. The Bandai Falcon is designed to accommodate a separate lighting kit. I've done a bit of research and have found that the Bandai kit is expensive (about the same price as the kit itself) and limited (only two bulbs and you only have two choices: light the engine output only OR light the landing ramp and cockpit). I'm in the process of getting a more elaborate lighting system that would give me the option of lighting the engine AND other parts of the Falcon.


I'm running up against the photo limit of this post so I'll stop here. Just to let everyone know, I'm not jumping into this build right away. It was started at the beginning of the year and I ran out of steam when I realized how little I knew about the Falcon. I jumped onto the Dora build and put this one on the shelf but with your help and encouragement, I hope to brush the dust off and start her up again.

I'll continue on with the sprue tour shortly...

[jkim]

Continuing on with the tour of the kit parts, here is a look at Sprue A. Bandai is the only manufacturer I know that molds different colored plastic on the same sprue tree. Sprue A has grey, clear blue and clear parts. The blue is intended to be used in conjunction with the optional lighting feature so that the back of the Falcon will glow blue as depicted in the latest movie. I am planning to incorporate lighting on this build so we'll have to wait to see how this feature works when I get to it.


The kit offers two options for the cockpit windows: clear plastic parts and empty plastic frames. The film models used empty plastic frames to avoid glare and reflection.


The kit's included figures are TINY. Less than an inch high but molded with a nice level of detail. The fact that you can easily tell who each of these figures is impressive. I'll make an attempt to paint these figures but who knows how they'll turn out. There is also a tiny BB-8 figure somewhere but I couldn't find him for these sprue shots!



Some of the fine ducting that are molded as separate pieces. Don't be surprised if you something that strikes you as being earthly or familiar. The original Millennium Falcon was essentially a giant kitbash from a collection of plastic model parts available at that time. From what I hear, one can recognize many of these model parts in the Bandai moldings.



The next sprue, D-1, contains the "mandible" or distinctive jaws of the Falcon.


Again, very fine molded features with delicate ducting. I'll have to be very careful not to break parts when assembling this kit.


D-1 has the asymmetrical cockpit tube.


During preliminary research of this kit, I've heard complaints regarding the raised details along the spine of the cockpit tube being too high. I've some builders take a saw to this strip of detail and either lower it or replace it.


Some great engineering on this kit by Bandai. These pieces stack on top of each other, three at a time to form a realistic 3-D maze of ducting, tubes and other details.


Sprue E-1 holds some exterior details and inserts including one of the docking hubs and the empty frames of the cockpit canopy.


Superbly molded detail... almost looks like resin doesn't it?




To be continued...

[Stikpusher]

Nice! That sure is a huge improvement over the old MPC Millenium Falcon. In your capable hands this should be REAL GOOD!!!

But yes, the Falcon has markings. To quote the original movie from 1977, "We've captured a freighter entering the remains of the Alderaan system. It's markings match those of a ship that blasted its' way out of Mos Eisley."

Yeah I know the original trilogy by heart... Before somebody had to go back and monkey with things...

[speedgraflex]

John, thank you for the beautiful tour of the Bandai 1/144 Falcon. As I moved through your photo documentation, I was very excited to see such beautiful quality of workmanship, simply stunning; the amount of detail amazes and delights. What a wonderful kit choice for a SWGB. Thanks so much.

I have quite a few shots of Falcons from the original trilogy, both model shots as well as interiors. Since your kit features both, and there is usually a question about interior size, shape and form, I am including two good basic shots:

Original interior

[BlackSheep214]

Oh man, I built that huge Millenium Falcon kit back in the late 70s early 80s. Fond memories building that big bird...

[jkim]

Thanks for the great interior shots Bruce! At 1/144 scale, I'm not sure I will be doing any detailing in this area. The sprue shots have been previously posted on another website when I got the kit at the beginning of the year in case any of you were wondering how I was able to post this kit so fast. Re-posting these pictures helps me get reacquainted with the kit and lets all of you see the kit in all of its unbuilt glory. So... continuing on...

Sprue E-2 has the other docking station and some detailed inserts for the sides of the Falcon, I presume. Also included is the one-piece cockpit.


The detail is great except that the inserts look to be mirror images of each other, which I doubt is accurate.



The simplified one-piece cockpit is an interesting choice here given the detail bestowed upon the other parts of the model.


Sprue F is repeated twice and each sprue has landing gear and one of the gun stations. Also note the three circular grills in the lower left corner. They have the grilling molded onto the surface but are solid pieces of plastic.


The landing gear legs are molded as a single piece.


I recollect that the gun stations had quad gun barrels. So I think this is part of the guns. The ends of the gun barrels look like unconvincing blobs of plastic. Being futuristic lasers, I'm not sure whether they have hollow barrels.


Finally, the last sprue holds the plastic base for the completed model. Based on the wavy texture and the color of the plastic, I'm assuming it is supposed to be representative of the planet Jakku.

[jkim]

Nice! That sure is a huge improvement over the old MPC Millenium Falcon. In your capable hands this should be REAL GOOD!!!

But yes, the Falcon has markings. To quote the original movie from 1977, "We've captured a freighter entering the remains of the Alderaan system. It's markings match those of a ship that blasted its' way out of Mos Eisley."

Yeah I know the original trilogy by heart... Before somebody had to go back and monkey with things...

I don't know much about the Falcon outside of watching her in the movies so I'll need lots of help on this build!

Oh man, I built that huge Millenium Falcon kit back in the late 70s early 80s. Fond memories building that big bird...

I remember that big kit! I built the X-wing and Darth's TIE back then. Hung from my ceiling using fishing line.

[jkim]

I've finished the tour of the Bandai kit but I have a couple of more goodies to share. What is a build without some aftermarket stuff eh? Damn boring is right. So I decided to spice things up with some additions. First... I previously mentioned that this kit is from The Force Awakens and includes a rectangular radar array. I thought it'd be nice to have the old skool round radar as an option so I searched around the internet and found a guy who makes a round radar dishfor the Bandai kit using 3D printing technology.



Secondly... the exhaust grills. As I showed in the sprue pics, the six circular exhaust vents on the top rear of the Falcon have some really cool detail molded into them. But Bandai inexplicably supplies solid covers to go over that nice detail (see photos of Sprue F). So I purchased some photoetched grills from a company called Green Strawberry. These have finely etched mesh patterns to allow a view of the vent fans.


The biggest addition will be LIGHTING! There is a lighting kit produced by Bandai but it is expensive with very limited capability, allowing only the option of lighting up the rear panel OR cockpit/access ramp. For about the same price, I picked up a kit from Tirydium Models in England that includes 8 LED's to light up the rear panel, access ramp, gun turret, and red and white fiber-optic strands for the cockpit in any combination that I choose.


The kit is designed as a drop-in for the Bandai Falcon kit and I shouldn't have to do any electrical work.


The lights run off two 2032 batteries, which are housed in a small plastic case with an on/off switch.


These four primary LED's will light up the blue rear panel.


The two yellow LED's are for the gun turret and access ramp. The red and white fiber-optic leads can be used to light up the cockpit.


Warren at Tirydium Models recently worked up this latest batch of lighting kits to include the "headlights" found in the Falcon's distinctive jaws or "mandibles".


The lighting kit comes with folded paper instructions, similar to what you'd find in a Eagle Editions resin kit.


Curious to see how this might look, I mounted the clear blue panel in the rear of the Falcon and put the four LED lights into place.


Switch on... oh yeah! I'm going to have to spend some more time with this lighting kit to figure out the specifics of wire routing and how the fiber-optics will be used to light the cockpit.

[Stikpusher]

You may want to look into lining certain portions of the interior with foil or something similar to eliminate light bleed thru of gaps or thru the plastic. But this looks to have some serious potential for awesomeness!

[speedgraflex]

Thank you for restoring all of your documentation photos, John! I will add back reference shots from the actual filming miniatures soon!