Chris Lee's Full-Scale Millennium Falcon

Project T-Shirts Available

2009-09-16T19:38:00.000-07:00

Help me fund the project by getting one of these sweet t-shirts.

The front has Han's line: "Hear me baby? Hold together..."
The back has the project logo as seen above on the web site.

Shirts are black, 100% cotton.
They are $25 including shipping anywhere in the USA.

I have M, L, XL, and 2XL sizes available in limited quantities.
Email me at therealchrislee@me.com for payment information.

Falcon Project Presentation at GMX in Nashville October 3-4

2009-09-15T18:55:00.000-07:00

I will be appearing at the Geek Media Expo (GMX) in Nashville, Tennessee on Saturday and Sunday October 3-4, giving a presentation and answering questions about the Full Scale Falcon Project.

You can register for GMX online.

Come to the convention, check out my presentation, and don't hesitate to introduce yourself and say hello! (Maybe pick up a sweet t-shirt, too!)

Project Status Update April 2009

2009-04-05T14:04:00.000-07:00

Since I haven,t posted for a few months, and in light of the buzz at MTAC 2009, I thought I'd post an update.

The project is still on. However, I have had to slow down on the work since I was funding it through income generated by real estate flips. As you all know the flipping market has all but disappeared, and so has the income stream for the project.

Currently we are concentrating on getting the shipping container workshop up, and then we will reassess the possible funding sources for the Falcon. I am confident that we can at least get the Falcon's footers, foundation and landing gear up this year.

We'll have a ground-breaking ceremony, and maybe an event out on the site. Following that, we'll organize regular "build parties" where anyone can come out and help. I'll make sure to keep posting updates more regularly now.

Cool article on the original Falcon set

2008-11-14T14:41:00.000-08:00

Lord Poe from StarDestroyer.net BBS did an article on the Falcon's demise at Elstree Studios on his webpage. There's a few pictures there (Taken by Pete Briggs) than the starwars.com article.

THE FATE OF THE MILLENNIUM FALCON

Note: the original article has disappeared, so this link to the archive.org version may or may not have the images attached.

We are popping up everywhere

2008-11-14T14:22:00.001-08:00

It's fun to watch Google Analytics and see all the different places that are talking about the project.

The Miniatures Page

Club Jade

TheForce.net

StarDestroyer.net BBS

42Blips

The Last Corellian Shipyard

2008-10-24T19:55:00.001-07:00

Story from StarWars.com about the original Falcon sets.

We're mentioned on the 501st Podcast

2008-10-06T17:22:00.000-07:00

http://www.requiemoftheoutcast.com/501stpodcast/

October 2

Final Dimensions Calculated

2008-09-16T19:27:00.000-07:00

Using the recently released DK Ultimate Collection blueprints as our guide, we have calculated the final outer dimensions of the structure. The DK blueprints use the same overall length as the Robert Brown estimate. From there, we arrive at:

Length: 114 feet
Beam (docking ring to docking ring): 81.485 feet
Height to top of body (not counting quad-laser turret): 24.878 feet
Height to top of dish: 30.889 feet
Clearance: ground to landing gear bay level: 7.779 feet
Clearance: ground to outside bottom of cockpit tube: 13.081 feet

Teaser t-shirts for DragonCon 2008

2008-08-22T07:02:00.000-07:00

Front:

Back:

Select build team members and supporters will be sporting these at DragonCon this year. At this point we don't have any extras, but we may make them available in the future.

Concrete forms

2008-08-18T12:52:00.001-07:00

Re-usable plywood forms are done and ready to be put in place for the foundation footers for the workshop.

Some photos are here.

More scaling references

2008-08-07T15:59:00.000-07:00

I spent a few hours taking measurements of a few key areas of a friend's MR Falcon.

Scaling numbers will need to be adjusted based on these measurements, as well as the recent Star Wars Ultimate Blueprints. The blueprints are great in that I now have an "official" overall sizing reference.

First containers delivered for workshop

2008-07-04T14:16:00.000-07:00

The first two (of an eventual four) 40' shipping containers were delivered yesterday.

More pics can be found in the Shipping Container Workshop gallery.

Container workshop foundation and basement excavation continues

2008-06-24T14:04:00.000-07:00

Planning on having a basement under each container stack with a floor-to-ceiling height of 8 feet. There will be concrete foundation footers poured, then 8 inch block walls built up for the containers to sit on. Heavy rebar will be tied into the footers, extend up through the block wall and be welded to the rails on the bottom of the first level of containers.

Shipping container foundation dig

2008-05-13T15:01:00.000-07:00

Pictures from the first two days of excavation for the concrete foundations for the shipping container workshop are here.

Land clearing underway

2007-12-26T19:15:00.000-08:00

I've been on-site every day since Saturday the 22nd (except for Sunday) cutting the roads and working on clearing the main Falcon building site. There is so much to do.

So far I've cut a total of about half a mile of roads. Mostly access roads through the main valley and stream bed of the property from the front to about 2/3 of the way to the back line. I've cleared several smaller potential sites for the workshop and cabins. I also made it to the top of the tallest hill that sits 200 feet higher in elevation than the highway. The view from up there is incredible.

The pic above is of the main Falcon site so far. I've cleared about 1/3 of it at this point. For the Falcon site I am concentrating on doing the rough clearing and leveling this week. Afterwards I will need to spend several weeks with a chain saw to cut up and clear the felled trees. Then I will need to come back with another week-long rental of the dozer or maybe a track-hoe to finish the main site.

The land clearing image gallery is here.

Clearing the building site

2007-12-13T21:25:00.000-08:00

The bulldozer is reserved for the week of Dec 22-28. I will be out on the land during that time cutting the roads and clearing the building sites for the Falcon and the workshop. The equipment rental company will be delivering hopefully the morning of the 22nd. Fingers crossed that it doesn't rain like crazy between now and then. If it's too muddy the dozer will be useless.

After I get the site cleared and the roads navigable I will lay out the lines for foundation excavating.

Soon after that we can have a ground-breaking event.

More landing gear components

2007-11-25T21:38:00.000-08:00

Landing Gear

2007-11-20T21:26:00.000-08:00

Been working on breaking the landing gear drawings down into the component parts. These should be fairly simple to construct.

The central tube will be about a 12" diameter PVC pipe that will serve as the form for the reinforced concrete foundation pillars.

[UPDATE] After doing some more load calculation these tubes may need to be more like 18" diameter, which will be slightly out of scale, but necessary.

3D modeling

2007-02-23T07:05:00.000-08:00

I've been using Google Sketchup for about a year now, and I've started putting together some rough designs for foundation and steel framing.

I also found two excellent models of the Falcon in the 3D Warehouse, which is a part of Google Sketchup. I'm still in the process of measuring and determining how accurate they are. They're definitely useful for determining scale in reference to the foundation layout and other structures that will be near the site.

Mini-project: Navicomputer console

2007-02-16T18:14:00.000-08:00

The second of two mini-projects will be the navicomputer console from the main hold area. I'm accumulating parts for the console, such as toggle switches and other controls and displays. I've captured quite a few frames from the films for reference.

Mini-project: Radar dish assembly

2007-02-16T18:12:00.000-08:00

The first of two mini-projects will be the radar dish assembly. I already have a 10.5' aluminum c-band satellite dish as a framework for the radar dish, and can construct the base and frame from welded steel and plywood.

Exterior project components

2007-02-15T18:29:00.000-08:00

I've identified these exterior project components:

Foundation footings
Landing gear
Sub-frame
Framework
Dish antenna
Guns
Ramp
Lighting
Skin and plating
Weatherproofing
Paint and weathering

Interior project components

2007-02-15T18:27:00.000-08:00

I've identified these interior project components:

Cockpit
Main hold
Navicomputer
Djarik table
Hallways
Rings and pads
Deck plating
Quarters
Engine room
Gunner stations
Electrical

Each of these will likely have several sub-projects associated with them.

Site preparation

2007-02-10T18:25:00.000-08:00

There is an existing logging road to the proposed Falcon building site which will need to be graded and graveled. I'll need to bring power and water to the site as well. The workshop building will also need power and water and septic. The workshop will need to be close enough so that moving components and materials back and forth is practical, but far enough away so as not to interfere with any sightlines.

Site selection

2007-02-03T18:25:00.000-08:00

I own a secluded 88 acre tract of wooded land where I'll be building. A goal is to have the interior complete enough to be habitable as in a sort of guest house thing. You know, "hey come on over, you can stay in the Falcon..." I'll have a good-sized steel storage building nearby for an on-site shop. I ultimately plan to eventually build my dream house somewhere on this property, but that's a ways off. I'll start with a smaller dwelling that will end up being the pool house or another guest house. I'm rambling, but you get the idea.

I want a site on the property that is low enough so that the top of the Falcon can be seen easily. A flat area roughly 400' x 400' will need to be cleared. I already have one such site in mind.