So one thing I've been thinking about the last year, was how I was going to mount the Falcon to my table for display. I've always known I want it in a slight cocked flying position. Question was, how was I going to get it mounted. So I finally devised a way to securely mount it without doing any cutting of the exterior model itself.
As you know if you've followed my blogs, the skeleton of the model is an aluminum metal frame. So the most secure and strongest way to support the model would be with the interior framework. So I got some aluminum and cut it to length of the diameter of the circular center frame.
Filing down the sharp edges...
then marking where I will drill holes for securing to the frame and for the mount itself.
So with the holes drilled in the plate I position the plate over the frame and drill holes into the frame for screw attachment.
Then tap the holes for 4/40 screws
And it secures quite strongly to the frame.
Next was getting a piece of 1" diameter ABS plastic. Then cutting a chunk off to place between my plate and the window frame of the gunner port.
Then drilling a hole in the center of my disc...
and tapping for a standard 1/4" 20 camera mounting screw.
Here you can see the disc is the same diameter as the center of the window frame
And it sandwiches perfectly between my custom plate and the window frame.
So I then drill a couple of holes through the plate and into the disc to secure them together...
Tapping the holes for 4/40 screws
And the disc is now tightly screwed to my plate...
And reattached to the frame of the Falcon.
So time to screw in my camera mount through the bottom of the Falcon and into the 1/4" 20 hole I created in the center of the disc. It nicely screws in and securely pinches the window frame between the mount and disc. So there's support from the gunner port window part itself, as well as the frame of the Falcon.
This is a very non-intrusive and clean way to display the Falcon with also the most absolute amount of the model showing. Nothing is being covered in any way except the center of the window. The only other thing not being able to be added is the lower gun, but that can be seen on the top hull.
Next up I wanted to fix the door of the cockpit. Originally, from the beginning of my blog, the kit came with a sticker to put on the inside of the door. This was also buried a bit further back than the door really should be, as seen in this photo below.
So I purchased a second hand 3D printed door online.
Primed it...
Painted it...
Then added some red fiber, as the door has red numbers in the window...
And installed back into the cockpit in the appropriate position, with the illuminated window red lights.
And last up was a little bit more modification of the under flooring of the hold. In Pt. 20, I made a little area to be seen under the hold floor hatch. Not knowing how much clearance I would have under the floor, I made it with some styrene, tubing and striped parts from an old Falcon model (seen below).
Now that I've received the parts to install the hold to the model, there is quite a bit more room under the floor than I had expected. About 3/4", as you can see in this photo below.
So to make it more accurate and realistic, I took the old one apart....
Added some styrene side walls to extend the depth...
Added another horizontal pipe along the length (screen accurate), stuck some wires through the sides and bent downward to make some pipes coming into the area (lower right and upper left), and cut out more greeblies from an old kit and glued to the side walls...
Painted and detailed...
And because of it being a deeper recess area, I cut out a little hole in the forefront side wall to add an LED for add'l lighting.
You can see in this first photo that much more depth is added and the light helps illuminate the bottom and sides of the area.
So that's it for now. Still working on the red caution lights around various areas of the bottom of the Falcon doing little minor details here and there.
So stay tuned. MUCH MORE TO COME....
