Return to the BUILD

“This issue brings you the final parts for the cockpit. You also have a key part for the interior of the hold, plus the first ‘plant-on’ details.”

Contents

Parts

Materials: All of the parts in this issue are plastic.

Magazine

• Starship Fact File – The UT-60D U-Wing: A Key Ship in the Fight Against the Empire
• Secrets of Spaceflight – Hologame Tables
• Build the Falcon – Assembly Steps

Build

NOTE: The Lounge Seating Support and Hull Plant-On Details will not be needed in this issue and should be safely stored for use later on in the build:

Assembling the Cockpit Shell

“The cockpit shell will not be permanently glued together, in order to leave you access to service the lights. Before completing the interior of the cockpit, you can test-assemble the parts and see how they fit onto the passage tube leading from the cockpit to the hull.”

Step 01

Gently fit the four tabs of the Cockpit Upper Shell into the matching slots of the Cockpit Lower Shell, as shown.

Do not glue any parts in this issue as these parts will be secured in a later issue. Also, I recommend to handle the Cockpit Shell parts carefully, especially around the window openings of the Upper Shell:

Step 02

While holding these Cockpit Shells together, fit the Cockpit Link Ring to the rear edge of the Shells as shown.

There are two large lugs (red arrow) and a small lug (yellow arrow) inside the Link Ring. The small lug will be important in a later step:

The two large lugs match up to these rear notches (arrow below) between the Cockpit Shells. You can also see where the Cockpit assembly will slot into the Shells (circled below):

With this understanding, we can slide the Link Ring onto the rear of the two Cockpit Shells, as shown. It may take a bit of effort to seat the Ring:

Step 03

While still holding the Cockpit Shells together, fit the Cockpit Front Window to the front as shown.

There are small slots in the Front Window that align to these tabs inside the Cockpit Upper Shell:

Make sure this Front Window is oriented correctly, as shown. On my model, this part fit very loosely – that is OK as it will be secured later on:

Step 04

Retrieve your Passage Tube Sections from the previous issue. With the Passage Tube Sections fitted together, we can slide the Cockpit Link Ring over the front end of the Passage Tube.

The small lug I mentioned in Step 2 is designed to align the Cockpit Link Ring to this notch in the Passage Tube Lower Section. I did not fit my Cockpit Shell to the Passage Tube just yet as we still have more work to do:

Preparing the Instrument Panels

Step 01

The rear edge of the three Cockpit Instrument Panels are marked with these two ribs:

This is how these three parts will eventually fit together. Here, all of the rear edges are facing down towards my work surface:

Step 02

With the rear edge of the Upper Rear Cockpit Instrument Panel facing down, note how the two Instrument Panel stickers will be fitted:

Step 03

Test-fit the Left Instrument Display sticker to the interior of the Upper Rear Cockpit Instrument Panel, aligning it to the centerline of the Panel. When happy with the fitment, peel the backing paper from the Display sticker and adhere it to the Instrument Panel, as shown.

A section of this Display sticker will overhang the end of the Panel:

Step 04

Attach the Left Lower Rear Cockpit Instrument Panel to the exposed section of the Left Instrument Display sticker closing the gap between the Panels, as shown.

Make sure the rear edges of the Panels (with the two ribs) match up. The Instrument Display sticker will hold these parts together:

Step 05

In the same way, test-fit and then adhere the Right Instrument Display sticker to the interior of the Upper Rear Cockpit Instrument Panel, aligning it to the centerline of the Panel as shown:

Step 06

Attach the Right Lower Rear Cockpit Instrument Panel to the exposed section of the Right Instrument Display sticker closing the gap between the Panels, as shown.

Again, make sure the rear edges of the Panels (with the two ribs) match up:

Our completed Rear Cockpit Instrument Panel should look like this:

Attaching the Control Levers

“The four control levers provided plug the holes in the forward console, but as they are easily dislodged unless they are glued, you may find it safer to wait until you are gluing the rest of the interior together.”

Step 01

Carefully cut the four Control Levers from the sprue using a sharp cutting tool. Be sure to make the cuts at the points shown.

I recommend using sprue-cutters or a sharp hobby knife to cut plastic parts like these from their sprues:

You may notice I added small stripes of color to these hyperdrive Control Levers using Tamiya XF-7 Flat Red and Tamiya XF-3 Flat Yellow acrylics:

Step 02

Retrieve your Cockpit assembly from the previous issue. Push the thin pin end of each Control Lever into the four matching holes of the Control Console.

Three of these Control Levers have a angled pin, while the fourth has a straight pin. As these levers could move on the ‘real’ ship, we can technically place them in any position we want. However, I fit the angled pins in the upper three holes and the straight pin in the lower hole per the instructions. I placed the two yellow levers on the left and the two red levers on the right, as shown.

Do not glue these parts in place just yet as they will secured into place at a later point in the build. However, as they might fit loosely, you may want to store them separately (along with the Throttle Levers and Yokes) until then so we don’t lose any small bits:

Cockpit Assembly

“You can test-assemble the passage tube again to see how the Cockpit and the Rear Instrument Display Panel fit inside.”

Steps 01-02

Again, test-fit the Cockpit Bulkhead into the matching groove of the Passage Tube Lower Section. Then, slide the rear edge ribs of the Rear Instrument Display Panel assembly down into these matching grooves just in front of the Cockpit Bulkhead, as shown:

Step 03

When the Passage Tube Upper Section is eventually fitted, it will lock this Cockpit/Panel assembly in place.

We can even test-fit our Cockpit Shell assembly over the Cockpit. Again, do not glue anything together just yet:

Thoughts

Until we permanently secure these parts with glue, I have been keeping the large assemblies separated – we may need to get into these sections later on in the build. However, I do feel that we are nearly to the end of this Cockpit area of the model and I love it!

Next Up

 Issue 07 – Main Hold Floor, Lounge Seat Frame, Bunk Frame/Base/Top, Seat and Bunk Cushions (Coming Soon)