Here is the underside of the upper saucer dome. All the pin holes are used to register the parts onto the CNC machine. I’ll also use them to register onto the main decking material.

To prep the model for machining, it needs to be broken-up into smaller chunks. Well, my original plan was to make it all one part, but that ended-up being cost prohibitive. So smaller chunks it is.

This is a quick rendering of the master model CAD file. We’ve been playing with Hypershot at work quite a bit; a phenomenally fast rendering package. I used other images from this series for my First Post and the header.

This is the base model in 3D. I’ve been using Solidworks to make the CAD data that will eventually be used for machining and for build reference.

Aside from a few unobtainable kit parts, this is as much detail as I’ll be putting into the surface model. All the armor plating and greeblies and other details will be done by hand – probably over the course of many years. Oh my!

I’ll show in a future post how this model has be “parted-out” for machining. It’ll be a mosaic of smaller chunks of ABS plastic.

Initially, I had looked at making all out of one large piece of ABS, but it would have cost a mortgage payment just to make the saucers – way out of my budget. Smaller pieces means I can be more efficient in cutting a dome out of a source material that starts off essentially square.

My approach will, hopefully, be a bit unique. While I’ve done quite a bit of traditional fine scale modeling – most of my model-making experience come from the product design prototyping arena.

For this type of prototyping we use so pretty cool tolls that I hope to apply to my own Falcon build. I’ll employ some rapid prototyping, CNC machining, casting and probably some laser or ultrasonically cut part as well.

Of course, the ‘kit bashed’ portion of the model is where all the detail comes from. This aspect will be very traditional – except in instances where kit are no longer available, to too expensive to be had – like the Entex 935 RSR Porsche.

Having a somewhat digital workflow inevitably leads to a trail of digital assets. These assets, I’ll make avail able in some form here on the Falconer site.

The first of which is my 2D layout for the 32” Studio Scale model.

I’m using this as reference for placement of detail and overall proportion. It’s my translation of Helder’s documentation but it’s still largely interpretive – and in flux. But this is it as of the beginning of March. I’ll update it as my own model evolves.

The file can be opened into Adobe Illustrator and is dimensionally accurate, so you can grab measurements as needed.