By : Luis “Xacto” Cacho

“She may not look like much, but she’s got it where it count’s kid”-Han Solo

I’d like to share the build-up of my Holy Grail of model kits. The Finemolds Millennium Falcon. When i first saw the box I thought this thing was huge! But upon opening the box i held my breath and my jaw dropped as i saw 900 parts that need to be attached!

The detail of the kit was gorgeous to the last piece. Finemolds based their kit on the 32” ILM model and I wanted to build an exact scale replica of the model that was used for the Empire Strikes Back movie. The original kit that was used on the first Starwars film was a 5 footer.

Starting with a bare hull i worked my way to gluing on the first 200pcs of the kit! It was very time consuming but i enjoyed every minute of it.

I used a number of Aftermarket parts with this kit including Jbot Decals, Photo etched grilles for the engine bay and Lightsheet from Miller Engineering.
After building all the subassemblies and gluing on everything possible on the hull I decided to add modifications to the hull and added some missing detail on the ship.

Using a LOT of reference material for my build, I started adding missing detail to the nose part in between the mandibles. I bent some old guitar strings to shape.

Just to give an idea on how the hull looks bare, a before and after shot:

Next up was adding the battle scars all throughout the ship! I really enjoyed doing this part. First was adding the Laser Canon blast marks near the radar dish. I used a combination of a soldering iron and some putty.

Then I used a dremel tool with an engraving bit to add scars on various parts of the hull. It really makes a difference when creating blast marks starting on the plastic to make the weathering more realistic after painting.

My favourite battle damage to the falcon is found underneath the hull.. It’s a huge gash/scar that might have been caused by hitting an Asteroid in deep space! I did this using the dremel technique and a soldering iron. After that I used some epoxy putty and carved it up using an xacto knife. It all blended perfectly.

I also decided to use Aftermarket decals for the cockpit as well. I got it from a friend on-line thru Starshipmodeler.com. I wanted to use decals with colour because I wanted to light both the cockpit and engine.
After priming the falcon white I did a subtle pre-shade using Neutral grey. Now the Base Colour for the Falcon has often been a thing of debate among sci-fi builders. I chose not to use the colour recommended by Finemolds that was Light Grey FS 36495,it was too dark for me. Some say the falcon was Light Grey, others say white or even beige. But upon looking at the reference shots and watching Empire, I used a simple colour that looked spot on. Gunze off white. It had just the right amount of that yellowish tinge that the falcon needed.

I decided not to use the decals that came with the kit to add the maroon, yellow and grey markings that were found all around the ship. I started by masking each area, dry it in between colors and got it ready for the Jbot decals.


The Jbot Aftermarket decals are actually details that were found on the original 5 footer scaled down to fit the Finemolds kit. It took me a long time to finish placing them but it really added character to the ship. My favourite was the “Drive Safely” decal found by the lower rear part of the ship under the engines.
I also noticed some missing detail on the falcon that was on the ILM model. The falcon had a little less than a hundred tiny lines that were hand drawn by the people at ILM, going for accurate detail I decided to add those lines on my falcon as well.
After that I installed the resin fans and photo etched grill detail for the engine fan grilles.

In case you are wondering what the stock parts look like, here is another before and after picture.

Once everything was done I placed a clear coat over the ship in preparation for my wash. I just used a very light grey just to bring out some of the details of the ship. Then I dull coated it clear for the serious part of the weathering process.
This part of my build is thus far the most important. Not only does the weathering give a sense of realism, but for me weathering defines the Millennium Falcon. I wanted my kit to be as accurate to the original ILM model as possible. This part of the build was the most time consuming of all.
I first airbrushed a neutral gray all over the falcon hull for the various dark streaks on the engine fans, and recessed areas.

Working very slowly, I carefully weathered the falcon using a combination of pastels, weathering powders, markers, cotton buds, tamiya masking tape and different sizes of paint brushes. Using extensive reference pictures I got off the net and SW books I did the weathering area by area starting on the cockpit walkway. Then I worked my way around the ship hull. It was a painstaking process but it really paid off in the end. I especially paid attention to the many number of streaks, rust marks and battle damage. The huge scar underneath and the Laser cannon marks were by far my favourite.

Since I decided to light up the falcon I wanted to assemble and disassemble the kit anytime I wanted so I could change the batteries. The two halves of the falcon were not a problem since you can screw the two halves together. Then I glued on the sidewalls on the upper hull of the falcon. I also needed a place where I could flip switches for the lighting. Thinking of a solution I decided to use a trick by sci-fi modelers using magnets. I placed magnets by the two escape pods on the sides, on the cockpit walkway, and by the two gun turrets on the top and bottom parts.
Here are some pictures of what i did:


Now it was time to light up my falcon! I bought a set called lightsheet. It’s made of the same stuff they used to illuminate digital watches. It can be cut into any shape; it produces little or no heat at all so there is no chance of a melted model kit! It’s powered by 3 AAA batteries and the lightsheet has a lifespan counting hundreds of hours. The lightsheet by the way comes in pink, but when illuminated it turns white.

I also wanted to light up the headlights of the falcon. I used two small incandescent bulbs from a pocket flashlight. The bulbs did not generate enough heat to melt plastic though. But I still experimented on it and left a lighted bulb touching a plastic part of the kit for about 2 hours. I also used aluminium tubing to place the bulb in. I did the wiring by soldering some wires together with a switch and battery pack powered by 2 AA batteries.
Some pictures of the components and wiring inside the falcon:

The lighted cockpit, headlights and engine

For the engine i placed clear acetate sprayed with clear blue over the lightsheet to give it the lightblue engine color!

There you have it. Wish you enjoyed my build-up as much as I did. Hopefully next year a lighted up Finemolds Slave 1 will be in the works. Thanks to all who were supportive of my build including IPMS-BA, my wife Rachelle together with friends and relatives!