Scale: 1/2750 (IF I calculated correctly)
Space: the final frontier. These are the voyages of the starship Enterprise. Its continuing mission: to explore strange new worlds. To seek out new life and new civilizations. To boldly go - to a galaxy far, far away.
Resistance is futile. You will be assimilated.
It is your destiny.
The idea to use the Millennium Falcon as the saucer of the Enterprise had been creeping around in my head for 15 years or so. This contest was just what I needed to make it happen.
I got the Revell Falcon kit on Amazon. It didn't have a scale listed in the ad (or the box, for that matter) but some previous buyers had given rough measurements in the Q&A and it was about the size I wanted. They also had the Falcon bundled with Poe's X-Wing which seemed to be just the right size to use for the center section. At this point I decided the ship should be made 100% of Star Wars ships; rebel ships if possible. Y-Wing engines & supports seemed to be ideal for the nacelles - a USS Falconstein, if you will.
I couldn't find the right size Y-Wing so I decided to scratch build the nacelles. Both kits were snap together 'build & play' models. Considering their intended use, I was pleased with the level of detail. Also, the plastic is really thick which was nice since I didn't have to treat it with kid gloves too much. (I only broke it once!) With the exception of the back half of the engines, she's built like a tank.
This is the first time I've put lighting in a model. I pirated LEDs, an on/off switch, and a battery box from a tiny toy light sabre. If I had more experience with LEDs I would have used different colors, but the little light saber only had blue so that's what I used. It took me a while to figure out, or find info on, how to overcome light leaking through the plastic where I didn't want it. I was VERY glad to find out the deadline had been moved back as this allowed me time to correct a light leak issue that had me most displeased. I didn't stop it all but it turned out okay. Now that I've used lighting, even though what I did was very basic, it's something I will likely use more often.
All three sections (saucer, center and nacelles) were built independently which allowed me to solder and test each LEDs section without having the whole model wired together. The on/off switch fit perfectly into the space for the R2 unit behind the X-Wing's canopy, while the battery box is under the canopy.
I had a few 'space ticks' that've been hanging out in my stash for about 12 years or so and finally got a chance to put them to use. They're flat on the bottom so I removed the cockpit from one, sandwiched them together, and added a ramp and landing gear. This gave me a super tiny Falcon to place in Docking Bay 2 (Tiny Falcon is 1/2"/ 13mm long, from which I calculated scale).
My intent had been to airbrush it all, but that didn't go as planned. The white base coat was airbrushed, but I couldn't achieve the look I wanted with the airbrush so everything was brush painted then covered with a clear coat. The lettering (NCC-1701 and docking bay numbers) is 1/4" dry transfer lettering.
The base was made from a dead network router, a chunk of glass rod, sheet styrene and greebles. I hadn't intended to get too involved with the base, but it gave me an opportunity to add color and weathering that I couldn't really do on the model to my satisfaction due to scale.
