The Journey back to Echo Base

[cehnot]

As I begin my long journey building Hangar 7 I discovered many small details along the way. Several people have attempted to build Echo base and I congratulate each one making them quite unique and a monumental feat. When Studying production stills, movie stills, maps, layouts, and blueprints I discovered how difficult building the base was for the film crew. They only had the space available at Pinewood Studios and it forced them to create a smaller hangar than they wanted. The EA Battlefront games help shape the base in a 3d environment, staying true to the basic map, but take many creative liberties in developing the rebel base. The most troubling fact is the film didn't have space to build a gate that would fit the Millennium Falcon through it as it escapes. The film tries to use forced perspective on the hanger art and matte paintings to help with this issue. The studio hangar doors actually barely fit an X-wing through it, let alone the falcon. The film  fools the viewer into thinking its much larger as the falcon escapes. 

For more production stills to share with, check out this person's flickr page
Service Gantry Echo Base


The issues I have building an accurate Hangar 7:
1. Entrance door is way too small
2. The left side of the hanger is barely seen in the film and does not accurately follow the blueprints. They originally proposed to have 4 smaller snow speeder hangar ports, but due to budget, and the need to get film equipment in and out they chose to create 3 pillars with wider ports. The film used matte paintings to fix this when Han, Leia and C3po were escaping from the Snowtroopers.  
3. The falcon is built at only 70% of its original size making the studio layout not fit with a proportional falcon. 
4. The hangar is way too small to fit the realistic proportions for X-Wings and T-47 snow speeders.
5. How am I suppose to build a rotunda that also funnels up like a cone? 

In order to accommodate the UCS Millennium Falcon shape and size I had to extend the hangar further south, which widens the doors. 

My basic layout makes the base taller to fit the Falcon, but I also had to widen the entrance to fit the large steel doors and have the falcon slip through it. The entrances is huge, but hopefully it is not too bad. The film does show a huge hangar 7 entrance as they prep for war. The other issue is Battlefront decided to make the hangar a third longer to give it a sense to space. While I agree with many of their decisions to add the maintenance hangar and snow speeder hangar areas as seen in the cross section maps made by Lucasfilm, I feel that they went a bit overkill on the hangar size and should have widened the door. Even their door doesn't fit the Falcon. How did it get inside? 

My initial thought is to lay out the entire hangar on 48 stud baseplates. This way I can build one at a time and create a modular system. 

The floorpans:

I chose to make a creative decision to bring back the 4 smaller speeder hang ports. I  played Battlefront 2 enough to see why they made the hangar longer. If you add a 1/3, this makes the bottom 4 snow speeder ports separate. They basically kept the one closest to the falcon, then pulled the other three right about the length of the x-wing. I guess they felt that you need more of a runway?

I also looked at the cross section map, and the Battlefront 2 map and realized that in order to have a hangar for the T-47 speeders, you would need more than the layout I did based on the cross section, unless they had speeders hiding in the maintenance hangar on the top area. In the game you can walk through the top of the hangar 7 into another room where X-wings sit, there is a turbo lift to a subsection (not accessible in game) but in the Lucasfilm cross section you can see how this works. Also in Battlefront, if yo continue walking up passed the maintenance X-Wing hangar you will enter the Y-Wing Bomber hangar with a smaller hangar entrance door. This should be Hangar 6. Hangar 5 and 4 are seen in Battlefront 1. 

The green bricks at the entrance shows you how wide the falcon is. The dark gray bricks show you how wide the Metal doors come into the entrance. So, the falcon doesn't fit again. I could widen the entrance and bring the whole hangar down a bit to fit the falcon, but i feel like the whole hangar already is beginning to become too square shaped. The light gray baseplates are 5x3 (48 studs each). 

Now that I have a layout roughed in, I also did a lot of extensive equipment research. 
Based on movie stills and Battlefront I was able to build the crates, computer terminals, power generators, and even lights. 

Light Fixtures:
The 2 black ones are the same overhead lights, frankly I like the narrow ones but the bottom does not fit 4 round plates across. I did like how the new curved corners work to help arch the sides. 
The Hourglass light is seen quite easily next to the falcon, there are a dozen or so surrounding it. 
The last two are ground lights. I think I will keep the left one. 

The Service Gantry
I have never seen one try to be accurate before. This will require a lot of hose cutting and shaping to fit the top correctly. The Gantry is based on a 31 stud long by 5 studs wide platform. I based this solely on my T-65 X-Wing proportions. This is accurate to the blueprints in size, length and height. 

Power Generators:
The far left one has a more accurate proportion, but too tall, the second one fits minifies better. 
The third, fourth, and fifth generator is the same model. I tried to figure out what she and shape it should be. I prefer the two I can fit hoses inside. The only difference is the air canister build on the side. Some photos on the set show it next to it, others don't show one at all, my guess there are 2 different ones sitting around the falcon and x-wing. 
The last big bertha sits in front of the Falcon, behind the x-wing. 

Computer stations
Based on photos, they should all be sand blue, but LEGO hasn't come out with many parts I need for it, so Dark Grey will be used. 
My only complaint is the wedge terminal on the right. This should be the same height as the box. I don't know what else to do to keep the proportions and shape correct.

Personal Vertical Boom lift
After making this model, 3 parts are not available in Orange. What a drag. Looks great though. 

Shipping crates
The large shipping crate on the left is seen all over the Battlefront games. I cannot find a picture anywhere in the hangar showing it. I assume its there, but not on camera. All the rest are based on the crates sitting in photos and EA Battlefront 1 and 2 games. 

I welcome anybody else to add their own equipment ideas and designs in this thread. I know the next topic I battle is scaffolding, ceiling fixtures, and air ducts. 

[supertruper1988]

Love this topic! I think for me the hangar door fitting the falcon would be key. It looks like you could probably stretch it to the west as well to help it retain its rectangle shape. 

You mention the falcon model used was 70% sized so what about increasing all the dimensions to match the falcon at 100% and then adjusting the door area?

[TheLegoDr]

That is incredible. Kudos to you for doing the research. This is one of those passion projects I wish I could do (as in I wish I had passion enough to create a very realistic creation around something I love).

I really like how it is all coming together in digital format. I may have to borrow some of those ideas for future non-SW projects (with credit of course).

Looking at that top picture makes me really notice how small Snowspeeders actually are.

[MKJoshA]

Wow! If someone could get a degree in Star Wars locations, this would be a great start! I love all the research you've presented and I look forward to your progress.

[dvogon]

 

12 hours ago, cehnot said:

My initial thought is to lay out the entire hangar on 48 stud baseplates. This way I can build one at a time and create a modular system. 

That's a great project! Hoth is one of my favourite places in all SW. The detail you put on the Service Gantry is fantastic!.

12 hours ago, cehnot said:

The film  fools the viewer into thinking its much larger as the falcon escapes.

Yes, the floorplan seems to be smaller in scale, specially on the doors side. The final base appears considerably bigger in the film. 

 

Edited January 26, 2018 by dvogon

[Kit Bricksto]

Hi Cehnot, 

I really enjoyed reading the summary of your research. While I already knew most of it myself (I have a bit of an obsession with Hoth too) you pinpointed the problems very well and gave great visual proof of your findings. Thanks for sharing that. 

Your builds so far are looking very good. I might have to steal some of those cargo crates if I may? 

I'm really looking forward to seeing more progress on this project. Keep us posted! Have you already got the UCS Falcon or are you planning on getting it for this project? I'd imagine it would only be a fraction of the overall budget you'll need to pull this off.. 

Cheers, Kit

[Sucram]

gee this is going to be a huge project. am looking forward to seeing it grow.

[cehnot]

6 hours ago, Kit Bricksto said:

Hi Cehnot, 

I really enjoyed reading the summary of your research. While I already knew most of it myself (I have a bit of an obsession with Hoth too) you pinpointed the problems very well and gave great visual proof of your findings. Thanks for sharing that. 

Your builds so far are looking very good. I might have to steal some of those cargo crates if I may? 

I'm really looking forward to seeing more progress on this project. Keep us posted! Have you already got the UCS Falcon or are you planning on getting it for this project? I'd imagine it would only be a fraction of the overall budget you'll need to pull this off.. 

Cheers, Kit

Go ahead, I uploaded the LDD files on my brick safe account.
See link below for various LDD files in the future as well. 
Equipment LDD files and WIP LDD files

I have several other projects I need to finish first (14,000 piece ghostbusters firehouse, 89 batmobile version 2.0, 1992 animated series batmobile, BTTF value van, mach 5 version 2.0). I am working on several of them now, hoping to get the firehouse done by fall since I have all the parts. I do not own the UCS millennium falcon because originally I was going to buy parts for Marshall Banana's version, modify it with the parts from the new UCS version, but realized the ships are completely different builds. I have been watching the UCS Millennium falcon mods and seeing what people do first. I want to gut the whole ship, build an accurate interior, but maintain stability in the falcon. Looking at several other people who did their own falcon and such I am storing image files for reference. Marshal did a fantastic job on the second cornelian ship, I really wish he offered instructions or tear down images similar to Intreat. I would love that. His proportions are way more accurate to what the falcon should be and I am curious to see if anybody will ever mod his version with an interior with parts from the UCS. That would be reason enough to buy the set. I do want an interior, but the exterior needs heavy mods to get it more accurate. 

I do have one question for you: Could you tell me the proper stud width and length of your T-47 snow speeder? In order to properly build my display I been trying to figure out everybody's snow speeder dimensions. So far, I think most the people here on Eurobricks has used Larry Lars as a basis for their model. Some of the newest designs use a SNOT brick design and I believe they all maintain the 19 

stud width by 21 stud length. As much as I love these ships, I think they fall slightly 2 studs too long, but not out of proportion. 

Based on the math surrounding my x-wing (48 studs long by 41 studs wide) I need the snow speeders to be roughly 14-15 studs wide by 17 studs long. How I got this measurement is based on the fact that a snow speeder is about the same width between an X-Wing's engines. My Fuselage is 7 studs wide. The engines are 4 studs wide each. In total that makes it 15 studs wide. Based on photos and models, I estimate this to be what I need as a proper size. 
In this photo you can see how tiny they are next to the aerial image of the x-wing. 

Math: A T-47 should be 39% the size of an X-Wing
T-47
Length: 5.3 meters (17.38 feet) Snowspeeder should be 18 (18.72 studs to be exact) to 19 studs long
Width: 4.86 meters (15.94 feet) Snowspeeder should be about 17 (17.46 studs to be exact) studs wide
T-65
Length: 13.31 meters (43.66 feet) My X-wing 48 studs long
Width: 11.46 meters (37.59 feet) My X-Wing is 41 studs wide

 

16 hours ago, supertruper1988 said:

Love this topic! I think for me the hangar door fitting the falcon would be key. It looks like you could probably stretch it to the west as well to help it retain its rectangle shape. 

You mention the falcon model used was 70% sized so what about increasing all the dimensions to match the falcon at 100% and then adjusting the door area?

as you can see in the LDD hangar I already adjusted for that issue. The film would need another 12 feet or so to fit the falcon. I am glad that the Force Awakens built s full scale ship at 100% size. You can tell a slight difference in it compared to the one used in ESB. When they go into the ramp or stand under it like Rey did in The Last Jedi you can see it is much larger. 

I am, however trying to resolve this issue. As you can see in the photo I shared above you can see how they used forced perspective on the guiding landing lights leading to the falcon. 

This photo shows them preparing with Luke's X-wing not in the middle there. You can also see that they faked the port closest to the door to adjust for the "forced perspective". The X-wing has shorter wings. They wanted people to see that the gate was larger than it actually was. My blueprints are what they used but must have made on set decisions to adjust for this issue. 

The Falcon also sits further back in the hanger on set than in the blueprints, because you can see the last X-wing's nose under the right front mandible. 
 

Edited January 27, 2018 by cehnot

[cehnot]

8 hours ago, dvogon said:

 

That's a great project! Hoth is one of my favourite places in all SW. The detail you put on the Service Gantry is fantastic!.

Yes, the floorplan seems to be smaller in scale, specially on the doors side. The final base appears considerably bigger in the film. 

 

Thank you for posting that photo. When you look at this angle you could imagine that the snow outside the gates are almost a stadium long when in fact like the EA Battlefront games, should be only 20 feet long. 

And now for the brain teaser:
You can clearly see the falcon is sitting further back from the X-wing, as indicated it stopping at the center of the port. I originally began doing the Hanger based on the production blueprints. Clearly this is a terrible start. They modified the one side so much that doesn't match the snow speeder hangar ports, and clearly got rid of the corridors in the floorpans to adjust for the moving of the falcon. 

Edited January 27, 2018 by cehnot

[Kit Bricksto]

Thanks a million. I'll give you credit for your designs of course! 

My Snowspeeder is about 14-15 studs wide and 16ish studs long. I can't say exactly because of the angles of some areas but I built it according to the dimensions I found online for the Snowspeeder. I remember them being just slightly off but it is pretty much exactly minifig scale. If you'd like to use the design for your base just let me know. I must warn you though that it uses some 'illegal' techniques and is quite a delicate build. It does fit two pilots though. 

Will you be designing the whole hangar in LDD and order the specific parts then or are you just roughing out the layout and figuring out the key details in LDD before you start working with real bricks? 

EDIT: Jhaelon Edwards built his own version of Marshal Banana's Falcon with a full interior and made full instructions for it as far as I know. His model is not perfect but it's a step in the right direction and seems to be incredibly sturdy. While you might want to change some of the design choices the structural base of the model might still be of use to you? 

I've been working on my own Falcon for years now too but it is much closer to the scale of the Episode V set piece, about 70% of minifig scale, so it's probably of no use to you. 

Edited January 27, 2018 by Kit Bricksto

[cehnot]

1 hour ago, Kit Bricksto said:

Thanks a million. I'll give you credit for your designs of course! 

My Snowspeeder is about 14-15 studs wide and 16ish studs long. I can't say exactly because of the angles of some areas but I built it according to the dimensions I found online for the Snowspeeder. I remember them being just slightly off but it is pretty much exactly minifig scale. If you'd like to use the design for your base just let me know. I must warn you though that it uses some 'illegal' techniques and is quite a delicate build. It does fit two pilots though. 

Will you be designing the whole hangar in LDD and order the specific parts then or are you just roughing out the layout and figuring out the key details in LDD before you start working with real bricks? 

EDIT: Jhaelon Edwards built his own version of Marshal Banana's Falcon with a full interior and made full instructions for it as far as I know. His model is not perfect but it's a step in the right direction and seems to be incredibly sturdy. While you might want to change some of the design choices the structural base of the model might still be of use to you? 

I've been working on my own Falcon for years now too but it is much closer to the scale of the Episode V set piece, about 70% of minifig scale, so it's probably of no use to you. 

Jhaelon did a fine job, I admit. I noticed his whole interior is sitting high, probably due to the structure he built under it. I would like to somehow figure out a way to set the interior down into it.

I think I will build it in LDD. There are too many inaccuracies I am finding while I design it. This would also give people a chance to take sections of it and build their own display using parts and such. 
I do not think the build will be entirely difficult, except that rotunda part. I really wish LEGO came out with Wedge tiles for all their were plates. This would help out a lot. The cone part will need to be figured out. I think I can build the rest pretty quick in the program, then go back and etch into the smooth walls to make it look like the ice and snow crumbled. 


 

Edited January 27, 2018 by cehnot

[cehnot]

The technical issues with proportions
The first rendering is is my studio set version of the hangar with the 3 ports on the bottom based on final production photos. I used the landing light strip to help figure out lengths and such on the photos. I ignored the fact that the entrance gate should be about 12 bricks narrower. Everything looks good, except the Falcon cannot fit through it. If you look at the above photos I posted earlier you see the falcon hangs over the x-wing. This is now correct, but in no way can it fit through the gate. 

The next rendering is me messing with the entire proportions to stretch parts out to fit the Falcon through the gate without making the width too wide that it feels like a larger hangar than it needs to be. The proportions are slightly based on their cross section map Lucasfilm Echo Base Cross Section Image. 

I am unsure of being a fan of the new proportions, as it doesn't represent the film as much. I will not widen the hangar any further, frankly I would say that the falcon is just too large to sit in the hangar. I would say that the hangar doors could open further, but I am not sure if they left them showing because it looked nice or not.

This last photo is from a fan edit of The Empire Strikes Back Revisited. He spent 8 years fixing and making changes to the film. Some basically color corrected, others CGI or models to alter or fix stuff that makes sense. Check out his stuff. Anyways, the top image is what Lucasfilm showed as the Main North Entrance to Echo Base. That entrance does not even come close to the actual hangar size. That looks like an entrance for the heavy cargo freighters in South Entrance, not the North Entrance. Though the fan did shrink the entrance, he should of just shrunk the shape and use the background. I get what he did, he took the original shape of the exterior from the set and made it fit that. It fits better. More accurate proportions. 



Lastly, I will leave you with EA Battlefront 2 north entrance. 

What they did was take the movie set proportions and build the exact same door size and all. Only problem, they made the interior way too long, and widened the interior as well without resizing the door to fit the Falcon. This is what makes this project difficult. Inconsistent ideas. 
 

[Moppo]

One problem with using EA's Hoth map as a reference is that it's not actually Echo Base, but Outpost Delta. So they'll have used assets made from props used in Echo base, but made their own layout.

Edited January 27, 2018 by Moppo

[LEGO Train 12 Volts]

This is one of my favorite scene!

[cehnot]

8 hours ago, Moppo said:

One problem with using EA's Hoth map as a reference is that it's not actually Echo Base, but Outpost Delta. So they'll have used assets made from props used in Echo base, but made their own layout.

You may be correct.
If you go by Lucasfilm, Outpost Delta and Beta are exterior outposts. These places are located around Echo base. There is a map layout showing them in relationship to the base. The interior of the base is actually Echo Base. That was confirmed on Battlefront 1. They took liberties to the design and such, but corrected many mistakes on Battlefront 2. The layout in Hangar 7, where the Falcon sits wasn't there in Battlefront 1. When you look at the mountain in the game each of these areas enter the same area. Battlefront proposed that there were several hangar entrances surrounding the glacier. The main hangar is located in the North Entrance. Battlefront proposed that Hangar 6 is located to the right where they house the Y-Wings. EA tried to change their naming for Battlefront 1 claiming that that was hangar 5 not 7. This would work, except you enter the same side of the mountain from the same area near the ion cannon. Unless there are 2 entrances on that side of the map, I could be wrong. The South entrance can be seen in Battlefront 2. If you explore the map and go beyond the allowed perimeter you can see Hangar 1,2 and 3. 1 and 2 should be able to exit the south entrance via 2 hangar doors. What Battlefront 2 did was correct how corridors connect based on the cross section. You can follow the interior and go to the same directions as the cross section to get to Medical, Wampa tunnels, Tauntan storage, and the power generators for the base. I wish Battlefront would allow updates to include the maps from Battlefront 1. The Battlefront 1 maps included the base with droid run, blast and survival. Survival brings back hangar 7 and if you run outside it matches up with the same layout seen in Battlefront 2. This means that the hangar in Walker Assault is a different hangar as it enters more on the right side of the glacier. I believe that they built Hangar 6 where you see the y-wings in battlefield 2. This would make the most sense as you can travel to the control room from it and move right to the side of the mountain where outpost Beta should be. The hangar in Battlefront 2 has an access door in the back like Battlefront 1 and it goes to the control room. If you look at the cross section in my previous post link I believe that they decided to add a hangar door leading out to outpost Beta. When you play as a tie fighter or snow speeder you fly around the mountain and  you can see the hangar doors. I believe that Battlefront 2 made these design decisions to support what occurred in each game. 

The question I have is why isn't there a map layout all this out by EA games? The older games did this, I wish they did this as well. The ion cannon shouldn't even exist there. Its suppose to be over by the South Ridge where they make their final escape. The Ion cannon makes the Battlefront games completely screwed up. 

Sorry for all these edits, I keep pushing the submit instead of insert other media. 

Let's say EA decided to add interiors next to outposts Beta and Delta then this landscape would not make sense as they are suppose to be 100 to 200 meters away from Echo Base. Let us assume the Walkers are following the movie and Outpost Beta is almost accurate. The Ion Cannon should not be seen, otherwise they would have destroyed it before making their final approach. 

 

Edited January 27, 2018 by cehnot

[cehnot]

If we assume Outpost Beta and Delta are near Echo Base then we can say that the Ion Cannon is in its correct location and Battlefront decided to change the maps around. 

Outpost Delta:

You can see it near the walkers in this image. If we assume Echo Base is the mountain, outpost Delta is basically gun turrets and trenches. This is also played in Battlefront 2. The Walker Assault and Galactic Assault use the same map, yet change the landscape. Wikipedia for the game shows a few awesome maps. The layout is basically the same as Battlefront 2. You have 2 adjacent hangars, one for snow speeders, the other for the X-wing maintenance. This map was severely changed in Battlefront 2 to match the correct positioning. But they place the map on the mountain and you can see how it lines up. 

Other than the ion cannon located on the wrong side of the map this helps show where Beta is. 

Battlefront 1
Outpost Beta: You see the ion cannon pointing directly right.

 

According to the image from the film, Battlefront 1 has the shield generator correctly placed behind the battlefield. That mountain is Echo Base. 

The Battlefront 1 game matches this. The battlefield is in front of the generators. 

Battlefront 2
Outpost Delta Map:

The shot below shows South Entrance. This matches up with the official Lucasfilm map. 

But then you see this angle The North Entrance has 2 hangars in this photo. If they did not try and pretty much recreate the same landscape for the assault, two walkers coming from to ridges, I would assume this was a different base. The same taken down AT-AT walkers are the same two taken in the film. EA confirmed that there is an easter egg of Luke's snow speeder on the battlefield, but you cannot access it without glitching. The walker can be seen and you can see scotch marks where the lightsaber went in it. 


According to EA Games 
"Perimeter Outpost Delta, also known simply as Outpost Delta, was an outpost located on the planet Hoth. It was far to the northwest of Echo Base and a hundred meters outside the base's energy shield, consisting of a three-person laser turret, a hand-dug trench and a handful of light artillery emplacements."

"Outpost Beta, or Beta Outpost, was a sentry station located near the Rebel Alliance's Echo Base on the planet Hoth. The outpost consisted of several 1.4 FD P-Towers, DF.9 Turrets, and one v-150 Planet Defender with trenches over the area."
I just wish they were consistent on Echo base. I think my head will explode on this. 

My initial concern is EA decided to go against what Lucasfilm designed and make their own maps. I agree. But the fact that they were outposts should only reflect the landscape, not the base itself I wish they just used Battlefront 1 map for locations of the base and such and then modify the landscape. Or at least, make south entrance directly behind the north entrance. 

 

Edited January 27, 2018 by cehnot

[cehnot]

This is the best map we have so far. Walkers split off into 2 groups. One heads to the North Entrance and the others head to the shield generator on the right. That is where the main battle occurs, Outpost Beta is the main battlefield, the generator behind it. As seen in photos above from the film, and Battlefield 1. Outpost Delta is nowhere in sight, but mentioned far Northwest. If we assume

Though crude, the Galactic Atlas illustrated by Tim McDonagh shows the north and south entrance at 90 degrees. They have the mountain (Echo Base) on the right of the shield generators and battlefield. They also placed the south entrance the same location as the south ridge where they made their final escape. I sorta believe this more than two different areas. 

The final photo I will share is from the new Star Tours adventure. They travel to Hoth and again the ion cannon is in the photo next to the North Entrance. This time you can clearly tell its the north entrance. The shape and size of the mountain helps. They placed the ION cannon in the front, like the video games. The only difference is they placed it near the ground. That is the final assault of the AT-AT and like the battlefront games, it goes right up tot he entrance. 

As you make your approach the Walkers in front are going to the right of Echo Base. This would be where they are destroying the Shield Generator. 

This shot gives credit to Outpost Beta from Battlefront 1. It also serves as a great sample of film shot for Disney to claim this as sorta canon. 

The Star Wars Blu Ray edition of the Hoth film has a wider screen. 

If you look at the clip on the right it matches up to the Star Tours. I am a firm believer that the Ion Cannon is in the front. This would make more sense as the mountain and cross section has enough space for it. 

Why all this research? Trying to justify what decision to do for the layout. 
What do you guys think of this? I feel like there should have been somebody in charge of making sure it looks right or at least a guy to create some sort of definitive map that makes sense. 

Edited January 27, 2018 by cehnot

[Sucram]

On 27/01/2018 at 7:12 AM, cehnot said:

I have several other projects I need to finish first (14,000 piece ghostbusters firehouse, 89 batmobile version 2.0, 1992 animated series batmobile, BTTF value van, mach 5 version 2.0). I am working on several of them now, hoping to get the firehouse done by fall since I have all the parts. I do not own the UCS millennium falcon because originally I was going to buy parts for Marshall Banana's version, modify it with the parts from the new UCS version, but realized the ships are completely different builds. I have been watching the UCS Millennium falcon mods and seeing what people do first. I want to gut the whole ship, build an accurate interior, but maintain stability in the falcon. Looking at several other people who did their own falcon and such I am storing image files for reference. Marshal did a fantastic job on the second cornelian ship, I really wish he offered instructions or tear down images similar to Intreat. I would love that. His proportions are way more accurate to what the falcon should be and I am curious to see if anybody will ever mod his version with an interior with parts from the UCS. That would be reason enough to buy the set. I do want an interior, but the exterior needs heavy mods to get it more accurate. 

 

This guy on flickr remade marshalls Falcon, it looks identical from what i can tell, and he has 100s of pics showing the build process for the WHOLE THING. it might be of use to you... https://www.flickr.com/photos/technique106fm/

And you don't have to pay unlike richboyjaes falcon.

Edited January 28, 2018 by LEGODrongo01
money

[cehnot]

Wow. Thank you. If I can recall the one richboyjaes is using metal pipes right? 

4 hours ago, LEGODrongo01 said:

This guy on flickr remade marshalls Falcon, it looks identical from what i can tell, and he has 100s of pics showing the build process for the WHOLE THING. it might be of use to you... https://www.flickr.com/photos/technique106fm/

And you don't have to pay unlike richboyjaes falcon.

I think I will use this guys version as a base. I didn't know this guy you brought up had all those photos. I would almost combine marshal banana and the ICS. I really love some of the exterior part ideas from both. I need to adopt the wider cockpit from the official one. I want an interior, but that may be a whole other investigation after I build my falcon. I love how he did a similar are by step process like Inthert. I think I am going crazy trying to figure out how to do my firehouse. 

[Sucram]

Richboyjaes is all LEGO im pretty sure. he also recently modded his to add on the UCS cockpit piece and it looks much better now, so I suggest you do the same if you use TechniqueFMs instructions. imo the other cockpit looks too small on marshalls falcon.

[cehnot]

9 hours ago, LEGODrongo01 said:

Richboyjaes is all LEGO im pretty sure. he also recently modded his to add on the UCS cockpit piece and it looks much better now, so I suggest you do the same if you use TechniqueFMs instructions. imo the other cockpit looks too small on marshalls falcon.

I was thinking of somebody else. Jaelon has made a nice ship. I am not a fan of how square his cockpit hallway is now he widened it. I think I would try to use the USC build of that section and somehow merge the two.

I think my goal is a nice exterior first. Then try to guy the structure and work from there. 

[NorvernRob]

This is some intense planning and attention to detail, I’ll look forward to seeing the finished article!  I built an Echo Base/battle scene last year, it’s not to the accuracy of yours but I did make sure the doors were big enough to accommodate the Falcon - just! It doesn’t look like it fits in one of the photos below but that’s just perspective. 

 My snowspeeders were built using Larry Lars’ canopy and the rest my own design. I built a full squadron of 8.

 

 

 

 

 

Edited January 28, 2018 by NorvernRob

[Sucram]

that hoth moc is good as

[dvogon]

1 hour ago, NorvernRob said:

This is some intense planning and attention to detail, I’ll look forward to seeing the finished article!  I built an Echo Base/battle scene last year, it’s not to the accuracy of yours but I did make sure the doors were big enough to accommodate the Falcon - just! It doesn’t look like it fits in one of the photos below but that’s just perspective. 

Wow! This MOC uses the system scale MF and it seems to be quite big anyway! The Ion cannon is impressive. Very nice work!

Going back on topic...

On 27/1/2018 at 11:44 AM, cehnot said:

Anyways, the top image is what Lucasfilm showed as the Main North Entrance to Echo Base. That entrance does not even come close to the actual hangar size. That looks like an entrance for the heavy cargo freighters in South Entrance, not the North Entrance.

On the entrance side, from this shot the doors seems to be small, as it is from inside the studios. It's just a shot of a second or so. The rebels are almost running through the doors, which help to get the actual proportions in the studios.

However, this shot from Han Solo coming back with his Taun-Taun, shows the big entrance we all remember. The funny part is that there is even an image composition of the interior of the base, albeit fairly inaccurate from a perspective and dimension points of view. This kind of things are barely noticed during the film, as the eyes follow the Taun-Taun.

I think this is the impression they wanted to give, but they couldn't afford anything near that big in the studios.

[cehnot]

I will upload photos of my LED tomorrow. I decided to move forward with my design. The hangar walls on the x-wing side is done. I figured out a perfect height matching the studio set. The final ceiling height is 28 bricks tall. The doors will be 24 bricks tall. 

I am trying to solve the door design. Basically every tooth is roughly 3 bricks height. I don't want any studs or bottoms showing so SNOT techniques are what I am investigating. I wish they had a 1x4 brick inverted slope. That would be super easy to solve. Trying to figure out the gate teeth. I want the gate to correctly slide into slots like the set does. I think it will be 1 brick wide. Then I think the best way is to tile the sides. One side will be thicker than the other. In order to get the wall to be 2 bricks thick I need to use the brackets on one side and normal 1x1 bricks with a stud on one side. I am also going to make the doors functional with a crank. 

12 hours ago, NorvernRob said:

Thanks for sharing. The cannon looks great. If I designed one I think it would need to be basketball size I think. No clue how big ion cannons are.