Jason McEntire Builds an Award-Winning Milenium Falcon

This is Bandai’s 1/350 scale Millennium Falcon. I love these kinds of small kits. After construction and nub cleanup, I primed it with black Stynylrez primer through my airbrush. Then, I airbrushed several coats of a light grey. The grey is still darker than the actual Falcon models, so I’ll be sure to use a lighter tone when I tackle the 1/144 scale kit I’m sitting on. The rest of the colors were done by hand, since the individual panels are so small. I used a lot of reference pictures to map out which panels I needed to color. I used red, yellow, and 2 different grey tones. I had to mix some of them by hand to get the color I wanted, and I really like how these panels turned out. These colors were all Vallejo acrylics. The cockpit glass, as well as the top and bottom turret windows, were hand painted black. I had to touch up the “sills” afterward. I used a light blue on the inside of the engine panels to mimic the glow from the engines.

After I finished painting, I washed the whole model with Citadel’s Nuln Oil, then Agrax Earthshade, wiping up excess in between washes. This worked to both panel line the model, as well as leave scuffs and streaks. The last step of weathering was on the exhaust ports. I used Tamiya’s weathering soot, dry brushed on. You’ll notice that these exhaust streaks don’t all go in the same direction, but instead follow radius lines from the center of the ship. This is accurate to the filming model, though I would think the exhaust should stain in a line straight backwards. Maybe this works differently in space? Finally, the topcoats. Citadel’s Munitorum Varnish from a spray can gives the model a great flat finish, and is the best of its kind I’ve tried so far. Then, a gloss coat of Future floor polish on the windows.

This model was awarded a gold medal at the 2024 SEMMEX model competition this past spring.