Blueprint of a Geek by Marco Araldi

Alas, another piece of art that I’m recording for posterity on the website. This gold leaf blueprint of the Millennium Falcon is an original piece of art by Marco Araldi and is a part of his “Blueprint of a Geek” series on the 1stDibs website.

Created in 2022, It’s acrylic on canvas and uses a blueprint of the Millennium Falcon as the basis, Marco has traced around the main walls on the left side of the images with a gold pen and placed gold leaf on the right half. I think it’s quite a striking look and were the original still available, I would’ve tried to add it to my collection.

It has an olde worlde look about it that I think is rather fetching.

The piece went for £2,800 and is 91x 66x 4 cms, and there are several other nice pieces in this series, including an AT-AT, C3-P0 and the USS Enterprise.

“Marco’s background is in engineering and architecture, making him familiar with mathematical design and the awareness of geometry. When he decided to create art, he was naturally drawn to cartography, applying traditional techniques such as multiple Cartesian coordinates and polar system coordinates to maps he draws. He is also deeply influenced by astronomy and navigation, frequently using charts for positioning at sea using star systems as well as revolution of the sun charts in his Mappa Mundi. His maps are done in ink, acrylic, watercolour and gild on canvas.”

Instagram and website

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Millennium Falcon Snow globe by Miranda Dressler

There has been a real lack of Millennium Falcon prints recently so i jumped on this snow globe by Miranda Dressler when it came up on the Gallery1988Raised by Rainbows 4eva” show.

As usual, I am very pleased this is an OT digital print. Placed in a clear box 3″ by 2″ by 1″ with small silver paper shards. I think that it’s pretty cool and the snowglobe effect is unique in my collection. It’s sold out, but i have no idea what the edition size on this is likely to be. 10?

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Han and Leia Itty Bitty from Hallmark.

Hallmark actually has quite a bit of Millennium Falcon related merchandise. This pair of Han and Leia Itty Bitty dolls comes with the background of the Millennium Falcon cockpit.

These plush toys are about 6″ tall and are very cute. I suppose they fill a niche left by Beanie Babies.

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Bryan Ono collection up for auction

For many of us, the halcyon days of Star Wars collecting was back when Master Replicas where about. Bryan Eno was a huge part of the Master Replicas (and latterly, eFX) experience and his passing last year was sad for us all. Bryan amassed quite the collection of prop replicas, which are now up for auction at the Van Eaton Galleries later this month as part of their Popular Culture auction.

For a Millennium Falcon collector such as myself, the MR Studio Scale replica is a holy grail item and I just love talking about it. I have one of their SE’s in my collection, but not enough space to display her. Among the varying items of Disneyana is Bryan’s extensive collection of over 100 pieces, were these three Millennium Falcon’s for sale.

Lot 184 is a signature edition model. Most SE’s had a signed plaque which could be displayed near the model, but this one is a little unusual in that it has been signed on the top armour plating near the rectenna dish. This version has the signed plaque and an acrylic display case. Estimates on this are between $5,000 and $7,000.

Lot 185 is this painters proof prototype by Dean Dymerski. As a prototype, this one has a unique finish that is different from the mass produced ones that you and I have. It is worth noting that the lighting features that the retail version. As well as damage that you see on the cockpit, there is also damage to the rear of the model. The estimated value is $4,000 to $6,000.

Lot 186 is this “Sculpt Master” prototype model, which I really like, as it feels like a bit of collecting history. This was used as a production model on which the final version was based on. As an early prototype, it doesn’t feature any of the lighting fetaures and is in “production-used condition”. Estimate on this is $3,000 to $5,000.

You can buy a catalogue here for $40 and the auction takes place on the 25th February 2023.

Unfortunately, these are all well outside of my meagre budget and I suspect they’ll smash their estimates. It is great to see these kinds of auctions, though. Not only will unusual and rare items appear from time to time, but these kinds of auctions appeal directly to the collector and eliminate the more random eBay auctions.

I took a quick look through the catalogue and Lot 453 caught my eye.

This is a prototype consul for the Millennium Falcon control panel used in The Smugglers Run flight simulation ride at thge Disney parks. This was manufactured by J.R. Mettitt Controls and was used to demonstrate the function and the look of the final cockpit controls. Made from metallic and rubber parts, this one features one moveable lever and the static ones and is 13.75″ by 9″ by 12.5″.

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Le Faucon Millenium Feve

I have a couple of the French porcelain feves in my collection and they’re a delight to own. This one has eluded me for quite a while and i suspect that it’s quite rare as i’ve hardly ever seen them appear anywhere.

Personally, I think that it’s the best one of the three. As you can see, it’s dated from 2008

I recently managed to pick one of these up from eBay.fr and it is really nice. As a mint in box collector, I’d love to track down a boxed set, though.

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DeAgustini Millennium Falcon build by Seppun systems.

I saw this video posted on YouTube showcasing an ultra-detailed build of the DeAgostini Millennium Falcon by Seppun Systems in France. It blew me away and is now my favourite thing on the internet.

This build took Seppun a whopping 3, 500 hours to in total, and he has made a few “special modifications” to her as well, including magnetic landing gear, sound and an extensive lighting rig.

The model used over 100 LEDs, which needed over 100 metres of fibre optic cabling. Lighting includes landing and running lights in addition to the engines and mandibles. Seppun also had to drill more than 70 times to place 0.2mm rods in the cockpit so that they look more like switches.

Taking a look at the inside. Luke is using a 3d printed the training remote (3 mm) that is firing lasers and the 3d printed Dejarik pieces (which are between 4 and 5 mm) on the table also light up. The detailing on this is exquisite and C3-P0 even has a silver leg. 🙂

I like the motorised ramp as well.

It’s also been extensively weathered and re-painted.

The model has been housed in a specially made display case which has a remote control for the lighting and sound. It is also on a mechanized stainless steel retracting arm, which enables you to display her either in flight or landed.

The remote control has been designed to look like a communicator used in the movies (Qui-Gon Jinn’s, i think.) There is also a lovely plaque for the display.

The display is 100x80x84 cms and has a UV cover and the Falcon model is 80×60 cms.

C’est magnifique, Seppun.

Check out his Instagram page and website.

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Wood WorX Star Wars model from Colorific

Wood WorX by Colorific in Australia have a wonderful range of Star Wars spaceships in their lineup, including the Millennium Falcon.

I’m an in the box collector and I think the packaging is quite nice. I also like that they’ve included the landing gear, too.

Each kit is ready to go as everything you need, (Instructions, glue, brush, paint and stickers) is all included.

The Millennium Falcon kit is made using 90+ pieces of pre-cut plywood and is around 26.5 cms long, 19.5 cms wide and 8 cms tall.

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Millennium Falcon by MYC Sculptures

I’ve been low key following MYC sculptures for a while now as they have a really nice line in sculpted figurines and model ships from the Star Wars franchise. Today they announced that they will look to release a Millennium Falcon model from A New Hope.

What is also interesting is that we well as releasing a 32″ version, there’s also going to be a smaller 1:48 version which is about 28″ (72 cms).

The 32″ “Studio Scale” will be my preferred model as it’d pair very nicely with my Master Replicas Millennium Falcon model. More information to follow, but this is wonderful news.

MYC Sculptures also tend to offer a choice of bases. For example, their AT-AT model can be bought with a plain base, a base with a couple of minimalist snowy rocks, or a Hoth diorama. This could be interesting. Will it be displayed in flight, or landed? If landed, what choices on the base design would they offer?

Some small news. rebelfire on the RS forums posted this pre-order schedule and the Falcon is up for pre-order in December.

All we need now is the Falcon as we see her in Solo.

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Micro Galaxy Squadron Millennium Falcon (Batuu) variation

I do like variations and given that there are three versions of the Millennium Falcon (four, if you count the Stellar Envoy), there is plenty of scope. This Sequel Trilogy version of the Millennium Falcon is available at the Galaxy’s Edge parks at Disney.

I like the packaging on this one. As you can see, it includes the Sequel Trilogy dish and some new figures. The play features remain the same, but i like that they’ve redone the packaging to show them off.

The new figures include Chewbacca, Vi Moradi, Hondo Ohnaka and R5-P8.

I had hoped that Ebay would be my friend in getting hold of one of these, but i haven’t seen them at all. Still, i’ll keep looking.

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Jazzinc Navi Computer Diorama

I adore Jazzinc Dioramas and I think that they are my favourite brand at the moment, so any Millennium Falcon related items from them are an instabuy as far as I am concerned. I saw today that they’re releasing the Navigation Computer as a separate diorama to be displayed in smaller display cases, such as the Ikea Detolf, or Besta.

To be fair, I recently bought their cargo hold expansion, so I have this already, but It’s quite big and I’m not likely to be able to display it for a while. I bought this especially so that I can at least display it now.

I think at $399 plus shipping, it includes the nav computer, the chair and the rear wall, so it’s reasonably priced in my opinion.

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