There goes another one...

Hold your fire, there're no life forms aboard.

maximum diameter is 7' based on a 311' Blockade Runner.

The main components of the engines were kitbashed from online model of a couple Saturn V rocket stages, but the rest is all original.

proportions and measurements of the main body were found on the The RPF

3PO model courtesy of the Sketchup Warehouse (with a few modifications)

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 Engine Block (part 2)

ughhh! so many details! It never ends!

I'm probably about 3/4 done with the back half here...

Bringing The "Linear" Falcon to Life

Early in the production of Star Wars, Joe Johnston and Ralph McQuarrie designed Han's "Pirateship" as a long bodied rocket-like vessel. Big engines on the back, a cylindrical body (underneath a lot of structural details) and a nose cockpit. This early conceptual design of the now iconic ship is sometimes referred to as the "Linear Falcon". However, concerns were raised that linear arrangement seemed too much like the Eagle transport vessel of the then airing TV show, Space 1999 (1975-1977).

A model of the ship had already been built, so rather than scrapping the 5' behemoth, they modified the cockpit into the hammer-head configuration we're now familiar with as the Leia's Blockade Runner. The old cockpit was removed, and became the cockpit of the Millennium Falcon we know and love.

Below is a work in progress model of that original design, based on Johnston's studio model, and McQuarries beautiful production paintings.

The scale is based on the 8' diameter of the movie set Falcon's cockpit (a model of which has been transplanted here from my model of the Falcon onto a model of the Blockade Runner body) Greebles were pulled straight off the Falcon as well, making a sort of mock up of what a full scale set of the ship might have looked like. I also used some virtual kitbashing to complete a few details, cutting up models of tanks and trucks to add to the exterior (which is how many of the studio-scale Falcon details were created) The ramp design is based on Joe Johnston sketches.

Millennium Falcon Exterior and Death Star Docking Bay (part 6)

This weekend I got to the plating on the mandibles, and started to fill up the maintenance access pits. These new details are referenced from the 5' studio model that was used for effects shots of the exterior. The actual full scale Falcon in A New Hope has nothing at all in the pits or on top of the mandibles, because shooting angles didn't demand detailing in those areas.

I did some virtual kitbashing in one of the pits, as well. I noticed that one part was an entire famous real-life spacecraft, so I found a low res model of it and scaled it down to fit. Saved me a lot of time, and made me feel part of a great tradition.

Virtually all sci-fi spacecraft models from this era of film-making where made by scratch building a basic body out of various materials, and then gluing miniature model parts to that. Anything from model tanks, trucks, trains, aircraft, and space industry miniatures were used. After a base coat was applied to everything, the models magically transformed into seemingly practical spacecraft.

Bonus points if you can spot the kitbashed part (best viewed in the third render).

I also got some work done on the jawbox (the last render) which so far is all referenced from the full scale set of the Falcon.