I know it’s been a while since I’ve updated the blog – but believe it or not, I’ve been too busy Falconing! Lots of updates to come for sure. Here’s an update to the simulator for the Full Scale project. All sorts of new stuff like: language translation between Aurebesh and English, new onscreen navigation widgets (including a dynamic flightpath) and probably most importantly, an on-screen help text (press ? to access).

I’ve also included they ability to power-up or power down the Falcon (press “I”) – you never know when the empire is listening in…

I started working on the other docking ring finally. It’s just about complete. I have Andre checking my work at the moment and once we think it’s good to go, I’ll post it to my grabCAD page for all.

The port-side was a bit trickier as we didn’t have as good a 3d scan of it, so I had to employ some other photo projection techniques to get the placement of the parting lines correct, but the same basic method was used as for the starboard ring. 3D mapping of the photographs to a 3D model underlay, trace out the grooves then unroll them into a flat pattern, then re-wrap them around the ring as geometry.

I’ll be posting them a few different ways: I’ll post the 3D files of the starboard and port-side rings as shown – with the armor modeled in. And then another version as a blank ring and the 2D files for laser-cutting the plates, if you want to bond the plates on traditionally.

I did re-work the starboard ring a bit once I got into the port-side. I noticed that the area where the SeaLab III struts attach varied a bit from ring to ring. they were inconsistent by a half a degree or two – so I made them consistent. The struts should land perfectly on each of the rings making a nice “X” pattern in profile view from corner-to-corner along the docking arm end-caps.

Here they are in context. So small compared to the rest of the model! These are shown on our 5′ base model…

Thank you Andre for supplying the base model for this. I’ll probably be posting versions of the “original” part and of ones that have been modified to fit the falcon dome. Also one with thicker wall section for smaller build (like my 32″ scale).

I posted this to the RPF, but not here. Not sure why…

I have a new contributor to the site – Andre (vfxsup64 on the RPF). Check out his amazing work on recreating the ANH 5′ Falcon on his thread here.

Andre and I have similar goals, and similar working styles, so it seemed a natural fit. I’m looking forward to working more with him on our respective Falcon projects!

The blog has been renamed The Falconers (plural) and we hope to attract more falcon creating enthusiasts as we continue to grow.

Cheers,
J.

Ok, so while I was waiting for my Solidworks and Alias licenses to get updated, I did a little side project. A Millennium Falcon flight sim!

Well, technically it simulates the display on the dashboard console – or my imagining of it.

It has 360+ of the known planets in the Star Wars galaxy mapped in 3D space and you can fly around and explore the whole galaxy.

The little compass thingy at the bottom always points toward the center of the galaxy (it’s easy to get lost) and the planet names appear as you fly close to them.

The read-out at the top shows current heading and and speed and a bunch of other stuff – but It’s all in Aurebesh, of course. So get to translating.

The controls are:

W – dive
S – climb
A – bank left
D – bank right
Q – hyperspace (of sorts)
E – brake

UPDATE:

Tweaked the UI quite a bit and added destination presets! Using the numbers keys (not the ones on the num pad…)

0 – Tatooine
1 – Alderaan
2 – Yavin
3 – Hoth
4 – Bespin
5 – Endor
6 – Coruscant
7 – Naboo
8 – Kamino
9 – Geonosis
minus – Utapau
equals – Mustafar
tilde – Dagobah

Enjoy!