Falcon Rebuild Diary · Part 6

Scratch-Building the Cockpit Rear Wall

This round, I’m finally moving deeper into the DeAgostini Millennium Falcon cockpit rebuild.

I’ve already redesigned the stickers and completed the upper control panel with fibre optics (you can check that out in Part 5).

Now it’s time to tackle something bigger — the cockpit rear wall. Since the original wall no longer matches the updated panel design, I decided to scratch-build a brand new one using Tamiya 0.5mm pla-plate.

Everything looked good at the start… and then the drilling madness began.

Lighting It Up

Once the base wall was done, it was time to install the fibre optics. Inserting a 0.25mm fibre into a 0.3mm hole sounded simple… until I actually started doing it.

This was one of those “looks easy on paper, but not in real life” moments.

NG scene | NG from a Model Builder's Daily Life | When you think 0.3mm is a big hole... 😅 👇🏻

NG scene: inserting a 0.25mm fibre into a 0.3mm hole. Looks simple… until you actually try it.

For this rear wall, I planned a few blinking fibre optics as well — and that instantly made everything more complicated than the upper control panel. The process nearly drove me mad… but when the lights came on, I couldn’t help smiling.

The blinking effect isn’t obvious yet; you’ll only see the full effect once the whole cockpit is assembled and lit.

But so far, everything is under control and looking good.

Next up: scratch-building the cockpit door. Since the redesigned wall no longer fits the original door, I’ve gotta rebuild that too.

Rebuilding the Cockpit Door

One scratch-built cockpit door — done.

I cut 0.3mm pla-plate into layers, test-fitted every piece, and made sure the whole thing actually aligned with the cockpit wall. The idea wasn’t just to copy the original, but to add depth and structure.

The door is now painted and weathered. Not fully complete yet though — I still need to install the fibre optics and attach it to the wall.

Swipe to see the process below.

I should’ve built this door before installing all the fibres onto the rear wall. But I didn’t — and that made the job ten times harder.

Lesson learned. But hey, the Falcon is coming together.

Cockpit Rear Wall — Light Test Time

This part took me a while.

First, I drilled the tiny holes into the door — yes, those small buttons light up too, so each one needed a 0.25mm fibre optic. Painstaking stuff.

Then came the tricky step: attaching the door and its frame to the rear cockpit wall. That moment was super tense — one wrong move could’ve snapped the fibres.

But then… the test light.

Even without lights, the wall already looked pretty good. But once I flipped the switch — boom. The whole cockpit wall came alive. All the tiny lights, even the little buttons on the door, glowing like a scene straight out of the movie.

Wrapped it up with a quick test fit inside the Falcon body. It’s starting to feel real.

—

— Chong

DeToyz Notes · 2025.12.05

→ Read Part 5: Falcon Rebuild Diary · Part 5