Return to the BUILD
“This issue brings you a selection of parts to complete most of the interior of the Millennium Falcon‘s cockpit, including the seats and controls.“
Contents
Parts
Materials: The Control Yokes and Throttle Levers are metal, the Door Panel is vinyl, and the rest of these parts are plastic.
Magazine
- Starship Fact File – The Rebel Alliance’s Ultimate Fighter: Incom T-65 X_Wing Starfighter
- Secrets of Spaceflight – The Rear Cockpit Control Panels
- Build the Falcon – Assembly Steps
Build
Assembling the Cockpit Bulkhead
Steps 01-03
Peel the backing from the Cockpit Door Panel sticker and adhere it into the matching recess of the Cockpit Door, as shown:
Steps 04-05
Retrieve your Cockpit Bulkhead from Issue 01. Press this Cockpit Door into the matching center opening until flush, as shown:
Fitting the Cockpit Seats and Levers
Steps 01-02
Retrieve your Cockpit Base from Issue 01 and then lay out the two different kinds of Seats as shown:
Press one of the Passenger Seats onto the matching square post at this location of the Base, orienting it as shown.
Do not glue anything together in this stage. All of these parts are simply being test-fitted for now and will be secured at a later stage:
Step 03
Press the other Passenger Seat onto the similar post of the Base at this location, orienting it as shown:
Step 04
Press one of the Pilot’s Seat onto the Base square post at this location, orienting it as shown:
Step 05
Press the second Pilot’s Seat onto the Base square post at this location, orienting it as shown:
Steps 06-08
Fit the pins of the Throttle Levers into these two matching holes in the Cockpit Base, orienting them as shown.
These small parts will remain loose until we secure them in a later stage. Once this issue is complete, I recommend safely storing them separately:
Steps 09-11
Press the pins of the two Control Yokes into these matching holes in the Cockpit Base, orienting them as shown.
Again, these Yokes will remain loose until we secure them in a later stage. Once this issue is complete, I recommend safely storing them separately:
The Instrument Assemblies
Step 01
Slide the two rear tabs of the Cockpit Base into the matching slots of the Cockpit Bulkhead, as shown:
Step 02
Retrieve your Control Console assembly from Issue 02. Press the two pins of this Console into the matching holes of the Cockpit Base, orienting it as shown:
With the previous step finished, the build of this issue is now complete. If you so choose, you can move on to the next issue. However, the magazines frequently mention that we can add custom paint to make our model more true to the studio model. Taking this to heart, I did a bit of research and decided to spruce up my cockpit.
Welcome to my first Mod Zone – a place where we can add details to our model to make it even better! Any changes I make to the parts we receive in each issue will be documented in a dedicated section just like this. For this initial Mod Zone, I will be updating my Seats to better match what I saw on movie screen in Empire Strikes Back.
For the two rear Passenger Seats, we first applied a thin layer of Tamiya Weathering Master B powder, specifically the Sand pigment. This was added around the edges of the white seat pads to simulate the yellowing of old age. Then, using various AK Weathering Pencils – Rust & Streaking, we lightly drew crack details directly on the seat pads. Finally, we used Tamiya Weathering Master C – Silver powder to highlight the black details:
Moving on to the forward Pilot’s Seats, we first sanded the molding seams off the sides of each Seat:
Both Seats were then airbrushed with Vallejo Model Air 71.028 Sand Yellow acrylic paint. I found this to be a nice match to the tan seats on set:
Using Tamiya Weathering Master C – Orange Rust powder, we added this deeper color to areas we felt would look more worn with time:
To distress these Pilot’s Seats even further, we used Tamiya Weathering Master D – Oil Stain powder to add dirty streaks. Then, we used both the AK Rust & Streaking and AK Black & White weathering pencils to add cracks and deeper colors in the grooves. Finally, these front Seats were lightly washed with Vallejo Game Wash 73.201 Black to add even more depth to the seat surfaces:
To make our lower center console more interesting, we temporarily removed the Throttle Levers and used some Artistro Acrylic Paint Pens (in red, green, blue, and white) to add color to some of these panel buttons. Unfortunately, the green pen got away from me a bit, but it is likely I will be further detailing this area so I am OK with it:
When reinstalling the Throttle Levers, I tried reversing them 180° from the instructions to see what they look like. In my research, I have seen these levers oriented in both directions – choose the position that suits you:
After reassembling our Cockpit, this is what it looks like so far – I feel it turned out pretty good!
Thoughts
With this issue, we have completed the main structures of our Millennium Falcon cockpit! There is still more to add to this assembly in the upcoming issues, so keep the Cockpit assembly and the unused Hull Plating TP-2 nearby.
Next Up
Issue 04 – Hull Frames, Cockpit Console Front Panel, Connectors