Don't get cocky...

The composition popped into my head over lunch. I had all the models built, so I thought I'd give it a try. Not too shabby, even if I say so. 

Millennium Falcon: what might have been

The original designs of the Millennium Falcon was basically what we now know as the Rebel Blockade Runner, but with the current Falcon's cockpit for a nose. This version was slated to be Han Solo's ship for quite some time. The filming model was fully built, and blueprints exist for full scale shooting sets. But the flying saucer with mandibles we now know and love took its place. Below are some renders of what might have been, if that original version had made it into the final cut of the film.

Millennium Falcon Exterior Details

Lots of work added to my exterior model of the Millennium Falcon, but lots and lots more to do. Arriving at this point has been a matter of referencing the full scale movie set built for A New Hope, and filling in the blank spots with "DNA" from the 5' Studio Scale Model built for effects shots.

The last image, for instance, showing the rear undercarriage assembly, was detailed completed from the studio model. That area was virtually blank on the full scale set. Almost all that bulky junk was kitbashed, in the studio model, from WW2 tanks. Painted all one color, it does lend the ship a sense of a working machine. 

The phrase "Drive Safely" really was on the rear end of the effects model. It was one of many joke decals, applied by the art department, which would have been too small to be caught on the silver screen.  

Yavin exterior with the Millennium Falcon

This is a composite that shows what might have been if the full scale prop of the Falcon had been composited into the shot of the Yavin Base exterior. I found copies of all the original elements of the shot that ended up in the film, and started playing around with recreating it from scratch, adding an element of my own. To get the Falcon into the shot, I used sketchup's photomatch tools to match the perspective of the hangar shot below. Then I added some simple figures into the scene where the actors are standing, to set the scale. Next I added my replica of the full scale movie set into the scene.

Here is the final composite

Now here's the the stack of effects elements

and finally, here is the shot as it appeared originally in 1977, without the Falcon