I needed to distract myself while the upper hull comes together, so I completed my first kit in…20 years? And it’s another Falcon, of course - the Revell (aka Fine Moulds)1/72, and I can see how this kit got its reputation; it’s a great challenge to build (hundreds and hundreds of pieces the size of a grain of rice), beautifully crafted and a real learning experience to paint. I wanted to get an idea of how the big one might look, plus experiment with techniques I’m going to use (airbrush and oil). And several months later, I’m excited about the results. The kit came with decals, but i decided to paint the whole thing, preferring colour I can mix myself.
Now I hope my brother - who’ll be getting this as a very late birthday present - enjoys it too.
Thanks for looking!

Cheers, Mark! I've learned a lot from following your build, so thank you.

Also, while I was working on the smaller Falcon, I noticed that the DeAgo engine cover panels include a couple of pretty visible seams that won’t be hidden by greeblies later on. I tried to minimize these with lots of ABS cement and bending, but I’m still going to have to fill them. That’s one of the rare cases with this kit which otherwise has some smart design ideas to keep its construction hidden.

Some work on one of the mandibles. Painting this was fun: lots of layers, taking advantage of the translucency of Insignia White. I've moved from pre-shading to just building layer upon layer of warm and cool grays sandwiched between the base colour. Nice to see it taking shape.

I have to say that is looking rather stunning, coming together very nicely.
Mark

Yep... you've been hooked... and you're right it is addictive! Now you see what I end up doing in my spare time most of the time! Great work so far bro. Love the paint job on your FM Falcon! Nicely done!

Happy New Year, Falconers!
I've been working steadily, painting bits of the upper hull, in parts and together to get a sense of the whole. There's a long way to go, of course, but with the final shipment coming this month the end is in sight.








I've also decided to try to fix the port mandible. I'm not agonizing over accuracy, but there are some design choices on this model that don't capture the character of the original. One of the great design aspects of the Falcon is the way each separate section connects to the next, and this little area needs to connect the mandible to the hull.



I pushed the boxy greeblie back into its correct position, then built it out a bit so that it overlaps the pipes from the rectenna. I also extended the pipes on the mandible to meet the hull. In addition, I'm going to build the two little pipes that hang over the edge of the mandible and connect top to side panel. There are other missing bits around here too, but I'm trying not to get too hung up on that.

Hope it looks OK when painted.

Looking really good, love the weathering you are achieving.

Regards
Mark

Thanks for the comments and encouragement. It's certainly exciting to see it coming together - too much so, perhaps. I'm trying not to rush anything just to see it completed, but I had to post an image of the mandibles (nearly) complete and together...




...as well as the greeblies I added. Gave up on scratch building them and ordered them from Shapeways instead. Worth it? I'm in so deep now that questions like that hardly bare thinking about.

Very nice work, looking great.
Regards
Mark

You're doing a fantastic job with the paintwork, it's really bringing out all the detail