10179 Millennium Falcon Mods

[rahservizi]

Before to order the pieces i tried a variant of your flaps using 3l bar and binocular at both ends but i'm not sure if in this way they will fit the same due to the different position of the circled parts.

https://flic.kr/p/srxAxQ

[ScottishDave]

The top variant will not work unless you pull the middle of the engine curve out by one more stud: this is what I did lately, to give a more accurate and even curve to the engines.

The middle variant will work just fine. I tried it in real bricks, and it looks great. . Now all I have to do is bricklink another fifty bar 3L...

One note: on the underside I only use two 1x1 plates with clip light per flap: the curve of the engines does not allow for four. This goes some way to explaining why it was all so fragile.

[rahservizi]

The top variant will not work unless you pull the middle of the engine curve out by one more stud: this is what I did lately, to give a more accurate and even curve to the engines.

The middle variant will work just fine. I tried it in real bricks, and it looks great. . Now all I have to do is bricklink another fifty bar 3L...

One note: on the underside I only use two 1x1 plates with clip light per flap: the curve of the engines does not allow for four. This goes some way to explaining why it was all so fragile.

You are always one step ahead of me ;-)

[Daphatty]

Hey everyone. Just wanted to share my interpretation of Pepa Quin's Millennium Falcon engine mod. I first stumbled upon this mod while browsing through ScottishDave's UCS thread. Right away, I knew I would implement this design but there were some challenges that needed to be addressed. Unlike Pepe Quin and Scottish Dave's Millennium Falcon, my MF would not be heavily modified. Therefore, I needed to find a way to implement the new engines while maintaining the structural integrity of the original design. Also, the changes needed to look seamless.

To solve this problem, I designed a custom bracket for the left and right connection points. (Here is the expanded view of the bracket.)

As you can see, on one end of the bracket, I used the original 30364 bricks which allow the brackets to connect to the existing frame. On the other end of each bracket, I used two 1x1 technic bricks (6451) with the connector holes lined up. In order to mate the new engine to the brackets, I added a 1x2 Technic brick (3700) to each end of the engines. I then used Technic connector 6558 to join the engines to the brackets themselves.

Here is what the new brackets look like mounted on the MF.

Believe it or not, the center mount point took me much longer to figure out, mostly because I tried to get too fancy with the design. Ultimately, a simplistic design won the day.

By replacing the center 2x2 plate with a 2x10 plate, I was able to attach the middle section of the engine directly to the frame of the falcon. Doing so required the removal of a 4x6 plate from black technic brick of the existing design and the addition of the 2x6 bricks and 2x3 plates you see above.

(Note: There are some color differences between the model and the photos of my actual mod.)

If you look closely, you should be able to see where the three 2x6 bricks attach to the falcon's frame. Here is another pic from further away.

The addition of the 2x6 bricks requires that you also relocate one brick from the panel that typically sits above this point. As you can see in the photo below, the 2x6 black brick has been moved back one row from its original location. This will allow the plate to sit in its original orientation as intended.

The end result is nearly identical to both Pepa Quin and ScottshDave's mod. Overall, I am very happy with the outcome.

If you'd like to look at a 3D model of the parts and mod, I took the liberty of creating them on Mecabricks.com. You can also download a parts list in .csv format on that page. Just look for the green .CSV button below the model viewer.

[Schneeds]

Very nice and very simple. I think you'll be encouraging a great many people to try this ;)

[Legocity2713]

Very cool techniques. Great work man. :thumbup:

[ScottishDave]

Excellent job! Very clean, very simple.

Do you have any plans to put lighting in your model?

[Lobot]

Hi Daphatty, that looks great! if you don't mind I'll merge this thread with '10179 Millennium Falcon Mods':

http://www.eurobricks.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=90828

Cheers, Robin

[rahservizi]

Cool solution, so any bricklinked Falcon can now have easily a new engine.

[Daphatty]

Thanks for the feedback everyone. I hope my efforts will save someone a bit of time and money. At least until Lego releases another one. :)

I don't currently have any plans to add lights as I am still trying to find the space to display the falcon. :) I'd rather keep it at home and will need to get creative so the wife will appreciate it as much as I do.

[DarthBley]

Awesome...

What bricks did you use to make your ucs sticker stand?

Looks really nice!

[sandtrooper]

Hello,

I Bricklinked the parts for the UCS Falcon a few years ago. Some life issues came up so the project got put on hold till now. I have added some of the mods shown on here. I'm wanting to add the flaps for the landing gear, but haven't found much reference material for them. The MF Owner's Manual doesn't show the flaps. I know the forward flap is split in two and the flaps are arranged one forward and one aft.

I would appreciate any advice or solutions you have used.

Thanks,

Pat

[ScottishDave]

I've made a few changes to the landing gear on mine.

I found quite a bit of reference on therpf.com, for example this thread: As you can see from the photos of the actual TESB Falcon, the landing gear flaps are NOT fore and aft but to either side of the gear. I used 2x16 plates for the the rear landing gear flaps and 2x8 plates for the forward landing gear flaps, held on by a combination of clip plates and handles.

The landing gear on the UCS Falcon is also hopelessley out of scale. I scrapped it all and started again recently.

Here are some pictures (Sorry for the quality, I only had an old iPhone to hand...)

Rear landing gear:

Forward Landing gear:

[

[Lobot]

Hi Pat

There's a dedicated thread for 10179 modifications (link here); I'll merge this thread with it in a bit.

Cheers, Robin

[Daphatty]

Awesome...

What bricks did you use to make your ucs sticker stand?

Looks really nice!

My apologies for the months late response. My UCS stand is a modified version of the stand in The Tumbler (76023). I simply made it larger so the modified stand could accommodate all five of the UCS MF minifigs. Sadly, I never took an inventory of the extra pieces that I bought because I already owned The Tumbler at the time. I simply looked at the stand and estimated how many extra pieces I would need to buy.

[rahservizi]

https://flic.kr/p/zgBrpy

About your landing gear David how did you realise this connection?

Filippo

Edited October 7, 2015 by rahservizi

[ScottishDave]

https://flic.kr/p/zgBrpy

About your landing gear David how did you realise this connection?

Filippo

LXF can be found here

[rahservizi]

LXF can be found here

Thank you!

[DarthBley]

My apologies for the months late response. My UCS stand is a modified version of the stand in The Tumbler (76023). I simply made it larger so the modified stand could accommodate all five of the UCS MF minifigs. Sadly, I never took an inventory of the extra pieces that I bought because I already owned The Tumbler at the time. I simply looked at the stand and estimated how many extra pieces I would need to buy.

Thanks, and no worries!

[ScottishDave]

I have updated the first post of my build thread with LXF files for my engine mod (including the thrust flaps and the entire rear half of the upper hull), the docking tunnels, the upper gun turret, the radar dish and the modified landing stand.

No promises, but I might add more soon.

[Janjy Giggins]

I'm rebuilding my Falcon and have a couple of questions:

Does Daphatty's engine mod work with ScottishDave's flaps mod? Looks like it would but just wanted to ask.

And do ScottishDave's rear hull modifications mostly use existing pieces from the set?

Just trying to assess how many extra pieces I'd need before I get too far into the build and need to start making changes.

Thanks!

[ScottishDave]

MY engine mod (LXF available in my build thread, link in the post above yours) definitely works with my flaps mod .

Daphatty's should also work, but you'll have to replace every other 2x2 plate on the top with tiles.

My rear hull mod uses mostly existing pieces from the set, on the "engine deck". Hoever, the port and starboard chunks use a LOT of non-set pieces.

If I were approaching this mod as a builder, I'd get hold of an LXF of the UCS Falcon (from the appropriate forum here) and delete all except the sections which are to be replaced. I'd then upload both files to rebrickable and compare the inventories...

[Janjy Giggins]

MY engine mod (LXF available in my build thread, link in the post above yours) definitely works with my flaps mod .

Of course! :) But I'm lazy and going for the path of least resistance with regard to modifying the main framework. And I couldn't work out how yours would connect to a frame that hasn't been altered to include an interior. I've been studying that LXF already - I'll see about doing as you suggest to compare the inventories.

Thanks for the advice! Much appreciated.

[kibosh]

I've made a few changes to the landing gear on mine.

I found quite a bit of reference on therpf.com, for example this thread: As you can see from the photos of the actual TESB Falcon, the landing gear flaps are NOT fore and aft but to either side of the gear. I used 2x16 plates for the the rear landing gear flaps and 2x8 plates for the forward landing gear flaps, held on by a combination of clip plates and handles.

[

Gotta love the RPF! Those guys are the definitive word on almost any prop you will ever see.

[Cyanide-Tipped]

Whoa...didn't even know people were trying to mod this beast. Excellent work and thanks for the info. It's my dream to make one of these someday...