Wandering the NEC at the Memorabilia Fair recently, I came across an amazing sight; a replica of the Millenium Falcon model of the same size and design as used in The Empire Strikes Back. The detail was astounding and when I found out that the model maker had done his best to source parts original model kits, well… I just had to know more.
Hi there – can you introduce yourself and tell us how and why did you decide to start this project?
My name’s Phil Brown and have been a Star Wars fan since 1977. I’ve been making models pretty much all my life. I’ve built a lot of 1/48th Aircraft and always been a sci fi fan, but until Fine Molds started making Star Wars kits in recent years, the kits available have been a bit hit and miss. I decided to build the Falcon because it’s always been my favourite ship, and I wanted an accurate model the same size as ILM made for The Empire Strikes Back.
How long did it take?
Well up to now the actual build has taken three years to get to this stage, it’s almost finished, but not quite. That’s not all day every day though, just when I get a few hours to spare. I also did a lot of research and planning before that, so all in all it’s been about five years I think.
What did you use for reference? Movie stills? Other models? Toys?
Yeah movie stills and books were used for reference. The “Star Wars Chronicles” is a great book with fantastic pictures, as is the “Sculpting A Galaxy” book. There’s a lot of good photo reference on the web too, such as here,
What is the model made of, and how did you source the individual parts?
The model has some tubing and wood inside to form a framework to give it support. The overall shape was cut from 2mm styrene sheet, and the main hull skin and armour plating is cut from 0.75mm styrene sheet. The armour plate on the mandibles at the front is thinner at 0.5mm thick.
The individual kit detail parts are sourced from a few places. They’re mostly from various Tamiya Tank, Battleship and Car kits, there are a few Airfix kit parts on it too. There’s a heck of a lot of pieces on there, too many to list really…
You can use this website for identifying the various kits needed to build a Falcon. The “kit scans” section is where you need to look. I’ve also had a lot of help with identifying other kits too because they’re not all on here, but this is a great place to start:
There’s some great reference here too:
Were there ever any moments when you wanted to give up? Three years is a long time!
I have got a bit stuck at times because it was a steep learning curve. I’ve never built anything from scratch on this scale before so it’s been quite difficult at times, but I never wanted to give up, this thing needed to be finished!
What do you intend to do with it, apart from share it with us grateful Star Wars fans?
It’ll be on display in my house in the spare room, where I keep all my models. I hope it’ll get a few outings though, to model shows and prop displays. It’s great to let other fans see it.
Any other projects on the horizon?
I’m thinking of building the small Probe Droid delivery pods, that are seen very briefly dropping from the Star Destroyer at the beginning of Empire Strikes Back. It’ll be nice to build something relatively easy after the Falcon. They’re a similar kind of thing though, because I’ll be using various Tamiya kit parts to make them.
Who would like to thank for their help in the construction of this beauty?
There are a lot of the guys on The Replica Props Forum that I would like to send huge thanks to, they know who they are. But I think I’ll put a list of thanks on my thread on the RPF when I’ve finished the model!
These are a couple more things I’ve built, if your readers would like to see them then click here and here.That’s pretty much it – very best regards.
Thanks, Phil, it was a pleasure, and thanks for building and sharing a wonderful piece of work. The blood, sweat and tears that went into the model, and images of the different stages, can be seen here: