“You said you wanted to be around when I made a mistake. Well, this could be it, sweetheart.”

Back in 1976, when Star Wars was filmed, Han Solo’s beloved Hunk O’ Junk was first revealed in Mos Eisley spaceport. We see her in all her glory, from the starboard side; because there was no port side to the set. All we see is half a ship, with the cockpit, loading ramp and landing gear – one set at the rear, and a single foot at the front.

Tripedal support? Well, not exactly. You’ll notice the strategically placed “refueling hose” that doesn’t hide a support post very well. But this was okay for Star Wars; after all, it’s not like there’d be a sequel or anything? So when filming was completed, the set was trashed and recycled for the next feature being filmed at Elstree.

When The Empire Strikes Back was given the go ahead, a new Millennium Falcon set had to be built; but this time it’d have both starboard and port sides, and would need to be fully self supporting. So a new design was commissioned that included an extra pair of landing gear “pods”. The new design is seen in all the sequels from Empire onward, and even slip backward in time through a plot device to appear on the “pristine” YT-1300 Millennium Falcon in Solo. Until they were “sanded off” during the Kessel run.

Because the MPC kit was based on the original “Tripedal” Falcon, any attempt to update to a newer version requires a fair amount of surgery to the lower hull.

After much consideration, I decided to use the lower hull from the spare kit, rather than the original, which had suffered a bit through the years. This allowed me to use the old lower hull as a test “buck” for the many forthcoming modifications, starting with the new landing gear pods.

Tony’s 3D-printed “YT-1300 Front Landing Bays” were chosen to make life a bit easier. They’re printed in a tough plastic that is more damage resistant that the Fine, Ultra Detail material used in other areas, and the fit to the curvature of the hull is excellent, requiring very little filler. Slight notches need to be cut into the hull aft of the existing access holes.