The Millennium Falcon

The first task is dismantling the toy into it’s component parts.

I decided it would be easier to prime the hull in parts rather than doing it first, as I am going to have to scratch build several missing bits later, and I want the colours to match.

Mostly dismantling the ship is about unscrewing everything I can, and using a flat header screwdriver to lever out the snap-fit parts. There was a nice seat I wanted to reuse and cut down to be the right scale, but it was resin glued in place to I had to destroy that to remove it from the floor.

The most important tip here is to keep all the screws somewhere safe so you can find them again when you start reassembling the ship.

While it’s a bit early to think about a detailed room layout, I’m starting to think about which parts I might reuse to reinstate a bit of structural strength and hold the roof on. There’s a nice arch I want to reuse that as a bonus covers the battery compartment, so I won’t have to weaken the floor by cutting that out. There’s also a smug i.e.glers hidden compartment I’d like to save, and I have to think about how the cockpit cannopy is going to attach to the rest of the ship – there’s a hinge there already that I might as well reuse, but that does mean I’ll probably separate that from the rest of the roof and glue that in place permanently as an arched corridor leading to the cockpit.

The ramp is going to be difficult to do without weakening the floor. As nice as it would be to make it able to open and close, it is probably going to be stronger if I make it fixed in the open position.

I’ll put these vital elements in place, strip out any unneeded walls and clutter with a dremmel, and then design a floor plan around that when I see what space is left.