TM BUILD THE MODEL – EXPLORE THE GALAXY THE FALCON’S A VISITOR’S GUIDE QUAD LASER CANNONS TO TATOOINE STAGE 1 ASSEMBLY COCKPIT AND CANNON YOUR FIRST PARTS COMPONENTS CHECKLIST Your Millennium Falcon is easy to put together (even if you have no previous 1 Rear cockpit instrument panel modelling experience), following the simple step-by-step instructions. 2 Cockpit bulkhead he pieces include metal castings, ABS plastic mouldings, self-adhesive panels, 3 Cockpit base and electronic components – so this issue’s parts give you a great idea of the 4 Laser cannon barrels (upper pair) T 5 Laser cannon barrels (lower pair) variety of assemblies you will be working on. The pieces provided include the 6 Left mounting plate upper quad laser cannon (cast in solid metal), parts of the cockpit and its 7 Right mounting plate instrument panels, and the first pieces of the hull frame and armour plating. This 8 Mounting yoke issue, you can get the build under way by assembling the cockpit bulkhead and 9 Fixing screws (x 3, plus 1 spare) taking a look at the assembly of the Falcon’s quad laser cannon. We’ll be giving 10 Hull plating TP-1 11 Hull frame TF-1 you more instructions on using your first parts very soon, so be sure to keep all 12 Hull frame TF-2 the components you don’t use at once safely until they are needed. WHERE THE PARTS FIT INTERIOR ELEMENTS OUTER HULL PLATING 10 1 All the hull plating (such as Part 10) is screwed to 2 the Falcon’s internal metal framework, which is made from sections like Parts 11/12. The code numbers (eg TP-1) in the Components Checklist identify exactly where each part fits. 3 INTERNAL FRAMEWORK 11 12 4 6 8 METAL DETAILING Cast in metal for durability, the This shows a small quad laser cannon parts fit together area of the hull 9 as shown overleaf. Their turret structure, which you 5 7 mounting is provided with Issue 2. start to build in Issue 2. 10 11 BUILD THE FALCON ASSEMBLING THE COCKPIT BULKHEAD If you wish, you can fit the instrument 01 02 panel to the bulkhead, but you may prefer to wait until Issue 3, when you receive the communicating door that fits in the centre. The cockpit instrumentation is printed Line up the instrument panel with the on a translucent, self-adhesive sheet. side of the cockpit bulkhead which has Carefully peel off the backing paper. a smooth, flat surface. 03 04 Part 1, the rear cockpit instrument panel, has a self-adhesive backing. It has translucent areas matching the holes in the bulkhead (Part 2). In your finished model, this part will have an Make sure that the doorway and two You can test-fit the tabs on the cockpit LED backlight to create the small slots match up exactly, and then base into the two slots at the bottom, instruments’ glow. smooth the sticker into place. but do not be tempted to glue them. INSTRUMENT ‘GREEBLIES’ behind the scenes Movie special-effects The interior of the Falcon’s cockpit is departments commonly use the packed with instrumentation, switches and glowing lights, which are reproduced term ‘greeblies’ for all the details in miniature in your model. added to a model or prop to make it appear more complicated used very detailed pieces from and visually interesting. The word plastic models (a technique they is believed to have been dubbed ‘kit-bashing’). Meanwhile, dreamed up by the team working the team building the full-size on Star Wars, and when A New Falcon cockpit sourced real Hope was being filmed in Tunisia, switches and instrument panels customs officials found that parts from component suppliers and of C-3PO’s costume were scrapyards to give a convincing described as ‘assorted greebles’. impression of working systems – When the officials asked what This drawing from 6 April 1976 although this was often far from the case. shows part of the set for this meant, Lucasfilm’s what was then called On the 30th anniversary of The Empire explanation was reported to have the ‘pirate ship’. The Strikes Back, Harrison Ford gave an been ‘something that looks cool structure is wood interview in which he revealed how he but doesn’t actually do anything’. with built-in had to fake some of Han Solo’s interaction lightboxes, and with the machinery: ‘They purchased all of details were MODEL AND added by these toggle switches. Because we made SET-BUILDING sticking on the film on a budget, they hadn’t bought Greeblies appeared all over the greeblies. the ones with springs. So if in a scene you models and sets built for the Star would flip up some switches, if you didn’t Wars trilogy. To give a sense of scale, the get out of the frame quickly enough they modellers who were making the filming miniatures would go back down…’ 10 11 STAGE 1 ASSEMBLY QUAD LASER CANNON ASSEMBLY DETAILS The upper and lower halves of the quad laser cannon fit together over the mounting plates and mounting yokes as shown, held together by three screws inserted from the underside. A screwdriver is provided free with Issue 2, but if you already have a suitable one, you may want to test-fit the parts together now. We will be showing you how to finish off the cannon later. 01 Following the checklist on page 10, take the two halves of the metal laser cannon and the three parts of its mount (Parts 4, 5, 6 , 7 and 8), plus the screws provided. 02 03 Holding the mounting yoke as shown, carefully fit the left Fit the right mounting plate over the other pivot. It is a mounting plate over the gun pivot. Note the locating tab mirror image of the first, and once again the locating tab (arrowed), which needs to be uppermost on the inside. needs to be uppermost on the inside. 04 05 Carefully holding the parts together, take the lower laser cannon barrels and fit the mounting yoke over it, with the Take the upper laser cannon barrels and fit it over the pivots in the groove between the screw holes and the two mounting yoke, lining up the pivots in the mounting yoke locating tabs in the recesses beside the two rearmost holes. with the groove under the barrel assembly. 12 13 BUILD THE FALCON 06 07 Make sure the upper cannon barrels line up with the lower Carefully turn the assembly over to expose the single screw ones and that the mounting fits snugly together. hole just behind the barrels. 08 09 Insert one of the fixing screws into the hole. Use a Repeat the process with two more fixing screws. Leave a screwdriver to tighten it enough to keep the parts little slack in all three so that the mounting yoke is free to together, but do not tighten it fully yet. pivot. You will tighten this up later. 10 AUTHENTIC DETAILS rrrrrr Central to George Lucas’s vision of Star Wars was what he called a ‘used universe’. In place of the sleek look seen in most previous sci-fi movies, he wanted his ships to appear dirty, rusty and worn, like machinery does in the real world. The parts of the model have been moulded and finished so that you can assemble an authentic replica Falcon with the minimum of previous modelling expertise. However, you may wish to add your own extra scorch marks, oil smears, battle damage, and wear and tear to personalise the Falcon and bring it to life. As your model progresses, we will provide hints and tips on how to achieve the ‘used universe’ look. A detail of the cannon on the original filming miniature in the Lucasfilm That completes the assembly of the quad laser cannon for archive. Like the other props, the model was painted and then distressed to the present. The end result should look like this. Store the match George Lucas’s vision of a world in which the equipment looked used. assembly carefully until you are ready to fit it. 12 13 TM ISSUE 2 BUILD THE MODEL – EXPLORE THE GALAXY UNDERSTANDING THE A VISITOR’S GUIDE COCKPIT CONTROL LAYOUT TO HOTH BUILDING THE FALCON YOUR NEXT PARTS This issue brings you a selection of parts for your model Millennium You can also start screwing together the hull frames – including Falcon. First of all, you can continue building the dorsal quad laser the two you received with Issue 1, and the next pair, supplied this cannon, by putting the cannon itself together and fitting it to the time, together with the first of the connectors used to join them. turret. This issue includes not only the turret itself, but also the Finally, you have received the iconic hologame table seen in precision screwdriver that fits all the screws used in the assembly. Episode IV, and the pilots' control panel to fit in the cockpit. WHERE THE PARTS FIT COMPONENTS CHECKLIST QUAD LASER 1 Control desk 6, 7-R, 7-L Connecting plates TURRET 2 Pilots’ instruments 8 Fixing screws (x 7) 3 Quad laser turret 82 Hologame table 4 Hull frame 83 Dejarik game board 5 Hull frame Screwdriver HOLOGAME BOARD 3 83 INSTRUMENTS Part 2, the pilots’ instrument display, has a 82 self-adhesive backing, and T he two pieces of has holes to match the the holographic control desk (Part 1). In the table used to play finished cockpit, these will the Dejarik game be used to mount the are the first parts control yokes supplied that fit inside the with Issue 3.