Star Wars Millennium Falcon 3D Metal Model Kit Fascinations

This is the 8th kit from this company I've built now (5 planes, 2 tanks). Of these kits, this is my favorite based on the enjoyment in building the kit, the challenge, and the finished product (not to mention the cool subject matter). On a scale of 1-5, I would rate the difficulty as 4. Generally the most challenging part of these kits are the pieces that require rounding or shaping. The few pieces that required rounding were fairly easy/straight-forward. The most challenging piece is the cockpit. If this is your first Metal Earth kit, this piece may require some patience to mold properly. My favorite part of this kit is the detail of the finished product. The finished piece isn't simply a basic representation, but a fairly detailed one with a lot of depth and texture. I liked the recessed vents, fins, and raised areas that really added detail to this model. This kit contains more pieces than some of the simpler Metal Earth kits, and it shows in the final model. This makes the construction more enjoyable. As with other reviewers, this kit also took me 3-4 hours to complete. I would disagree with the comment on twisting of the tabs by one reviewer. Connections tend to be much stronger with a twist tab join, so these can/should be used on areas that will not be seen on the completed model. Regarding bad reviews by others: Be careful when reading the bad reviews posted by some. Some people blame their inability to complete this style kit on the kit itself. Don't be fooled, the kit itself is very high quality. The detail is superb, and the metal pieces are sturdy if you don't bend them repetitively (as you would if you made a mistake). Hence, I continue to recommend these kits to experienced builders with good manual dexterity.

I made the mistake of starting with this one without reading the other reviews here. It is challenging. If you haven't build a Metal Earth kit before and you want a display quality piece, you should buy two of these. One to do a test build and the second for perfection, they're cheap enough considering what other models cost. Tools that I found absolutely essential were the SE MH1047L Illuminated Multi-Power LED Head Magnifier, a set of stainless dental picks (~$5), and a set of fine pliers that are smooth on the inside (no serrated grip) I used the Pittsburgh Professional 6 Piece Mini Pliers Set I got at Harbor Freight for $5. If you need to press against a finished surface, it's also helpful to put a piece of electrical tape around the side of the pliers making contact to prevent marring. Other things I found useful were an ordinary pencil: the eraser is a good diameter for bending some of the circular strips (~1/4"), a marker thats a little larger than a sharpie (~1/2") for some of the other circular strips, and the eraser also can act as a rubbing tool for bending the conical sections smoothly. I wish I had started on the bottom saucer section first. The instructions have you start on top, which means your early mistakes will be most visible. The radar dish is probably the hardest to get right. Once you get familiar with this design, it will get easier to do the top.

SO COOL!!! I enjoy putting these together and have done about twenty of them, I am far from an expert and my first three ended up a wad of twisted metal, rage and profanity with a one star rating. There is a special way to assemble because these are not typical models. TIPS AND TRICKS: Don’t waste your time with the special tool sets or needle nose pliers (they didn’t work for me). I recommend getting tweezers with different tips. There are many times where you will be holding a piece with one set of tweezers and twisting/bending/inserting tabs with another and many times you have to reach tabs inside a small piece you have already made. Attempting to assemble this all by hand became impossible for me. Tweezer were needed. Buy some really small, fine point wire cutters. The package says just pop out the pieces for assembly but when they are very small they do not “pop out”. They bend and just make a mess, so snip the points where they are connected and now they will easily pop out. Get yourself some nails of various sizes to help transform flat metal pieces into cylinder shapes. I use different sized nails, cables, pens and markers of all different sizes to round some parts of these models. Whatever you use just make sure you can slide the model part off one end. Trying to round using tweezers is possible but doesn’t look as professional. Don’t get mad if you break some pieces, just keep a small bottle of quick drying, clear super glue. I’ve broken many tabs and pieces. It just happens sometimes, if you fold pieces to many times it will break, read the instructions wrong and have to undo folding and bending they can break. Use small amounts of super glue and apply with a needle and you can hardly notice you used it once it has dried. Some of the instructions are a bit unclear so look at the pictures closely and even the pictures of the next few steps. The directions are not very specific and won’t tell you exactly which way a part is meant to be bent, or engraved side in or out. Putting together a 3D model from 2D parts and directions can be confusing. Green triangle means twist tab and blue circle means to bend tab down. If you get lost using their included flow chart, just know that the parts go on in numerical order. You can see from my video that these are far from perfect but being able to complete them is a satisfying feeling. The rotating display is by Facinations and is solar powered. It works well indoors and works fine with just the lights in the room but do not work well in shady areas but it does take a battery if you want. Take your time, take breaks, have fun!

Loved it. This is my second one. I did the Black Pearl first and found that extremely difficult, maybe because it was my first one and it took some getting used to working with metal, which I've never done before. I'm almost ashamed to say The Black Pearl took me 3 months to complete, but it did. I kept getting frustrated and would put it away. I didn't want to risk breaking any pieces. Eventually I learned little tricks to overcome my obstacles. The Millenium Falcon took me all of 4 days to finish, and the pieces were much smaller. I was hoping for a little more challenge. I'm ordering a couple more because I do enjoy them. Tools I use: Tweezers - great for placing pieces, but especially for twisting the tabs and bending/creasing at the folds. Pocket knife, very sharp - the pieces are in precut sheets and need to be "snapped out". I place the sheet on a flat and firm surface and then place the blade of the knife where the tab meets the piece and then push straight down for a nice clean cut. Small File - to clean up any edges from when the piece is snapped out. Bic Pen and a golf ball - alot of the pieces need to be curled or bent. A dismantled Bic pen provided three different size "curling tools". The golf ball is good for rolling larger pieces into a uniform shape. If I planned on doing this full time, I would invest in some magnifying glasses. The tabs are the size of a medium sized freckle and the slots they fit in are about 1/4 that size. We're talking very, very tiny pieces. Excellent instructions, super easy to read - almost elementary level, and there are 360 views on the manufacturers website if you need a good visual.

Wonderful item, kinda glad as item did not arrive yet sought investment.

I'm a closet modeler. ...You know what I mean. I've always wanted a Millennium Falcon of my own, but was not committed enough to do a full sized, painty, gluey traditional model. Then I found these Fascinations metal models. They're relatively cheap, remarkably detailed, unobtrusively small, and subtly nerd-chic. This was a modest challenge - it is a small, sharp, unforgiving little model. But with patience, tweezers, and two quiet evenings I had a great little display piece. Lots of fun. Recommended.

Absolutely awsome assemble moves very smoothly

i loved building this!! as an avid star wars fan i fell in love with it when i saw that it was available i got it as soon as i saw it and it was my first metal earth model kit it took me a few hours to finished it but it was amazingly easy to build and didn't require anything besides some tweezers and a brightly lit work space the hardest part for me to assemble was the cockpit where the characters go because you're supposed to round it up and then bend it a little bit to the side but i got it just about right and it looks fine once it's set up because it was my first model i was unaware of how to securely bend or twist the little strips that go into the holes so i just bent them flat to the side and i gotta way it was an effective way to put it I LOVED HOW IT LOOKS WHEN IT'S FINISHED COMPLETELY!! it was totally worth it and i can't wait till i have more money to get the other star wars themed ones

WOW! What a great product! Saw a metal earth video on YouTube by Daniel 'Nerdcubed', and thought 'that looks like fun...' so I bought one and got it the very same day, then spent the next four hours into the early hours of the next day building it! It's such a fun build, and for anyone that is a fan of such things like: Meccano, Lego, Kinnex or Airfix, it's great fun! Be warned though, it is highly addictive and I guarrenty that you will go out and buy four more after finishing your first (just like I have done) and you need steady hands and big patience. It's not an easy thing to do, you will go wrong and there will be times when you think "How the frig am I supposed to do that?!" However, once you finish it you will be delighted and super proud. If you have any hesitations about buying it, do it! They are extremely cheap in comparison to other building projects and have loads of licensed project that appeal to everyone! Thanks for reading!

É difícil devido ao pequeno tamanho dos encaixes. Mas é muito legal! Valeu a pena o desafio e a diversão! E o resultado fica muito bonito!

Amazingly detailed for its small size. Another excellent product from the folks at metal earth/fascinations. Great fun to be had building this mini millennium falcon. Take your time, review and fully understand the instructions before starting and you are sure to end up with a great little model you and your friends will love. As far as difficulty goes, this was not to hard but like all metal earth kits, there are small parts to deal with. This kit has some spares, so that helps, I needed to use a spare on the rear, above the engine exhaust, those tiny little pieces you have to fold in half, one broke on me, but they actually give you like 4 spares, so it was all good. Liked this so much, I ordered the larger kit they have. Can’t wait to build it too.

Ci vuole un po' di pazienza a montarlo, ma poi la fatica è ripagata. Molto bello! Ha pezzi molto piccoli quindi non è adatto proprio a tutti.

Cette maquette est la première de la gamme que j'achète. Les instructions de montage sont en anglais mais cela ne gêne en rien la compréhension, les dessins sont très clairs. Il faut suivre scrupuleusement l'ordre de montage de la notice et découper les pièces 1 par 1 sous peine de ne pas pouvoir terminer la maquette. Pour toutes les pièces arrondies, il faut s'aider d'objet pour effectuer le pliage correctement (bâton de colle, stylo, etc...) quitte à s'y reprendre plusieurs fois en essayant de poser la pièce où elle doit aller et en réajustant la courbe. Il faut être vraiment très minutieux pour ce genre de maquette car les pièces sont fragiles (si vous la pliez dans le mauvais sens puis dans l'autre sens, vous avez 4 chances sur 5 qu'elle casse) et certaines vraiment très petites (moins de 5mm pour certaines). Elles me paraissent donc difficilement réalisables pour les personnes ayant de grosses papates :). Les languettes de fixation sont également très fragile, surtout quand il faut les vriller, il faut utiliser les outils adaptés pour les manipuler (outils Metal Earth en vente sur Amazon + idéalement une pince à épiler). En bref, si vous avez la patience et suffisamment de minutie, vous aurez un résultat plus que convenable si ce n'est parfait. En revanche, si la patience et la dextérité ne font pas partie de vos qualités premières, passez votre chemin :). Petit bémol cependant, il n'y a pas d'indice de difficulté ni sur la présentation Amazon ni sur l'emballage. Ce pourrait être un plus pour éviter aux débutants d'être dégoûté à la première maquette et leur permettre de se faire au fonctionnement avant d'attaquer des modèles plus complexes...