Millennium Falcon

So, call me naive, but up until recently I didn't realize that the Millennium Falcon was based on a mass-produced design--a garden-variety freighter, you could say. Does that make the Falcon more or less a hotrodded Mitsubishi-Fuso box truck?

Probably more along the lines of a hotrodded one of these.

Or this:

It's more like the A-Team van. Sure.... it's fellow versions were boring workhorses that no one paid any attention to..... until BA made it awesome.

A-Team van so far is the best analogy.

Props to the Robot Chicken reference

Well, have you seen the options available on the average semi? You can pick chassis rating and length, several engine and transmission options, dual-wheels or super-singles, regular cab to sleeper cab, and tons of options. Then the trailers range from a flatbed, to lowboys, moving van trailers, reefers...the options are mind boggling. Then owner/operators can add and customize even more.

So I would say that while the Millennium Falcon was based on a mass-produces chassis, it was pretty custom. By his own admission, Han made several modification himself. I mean, it is the ship that made the Kessel run in less than 12 parsecs!

Never really understood the design of the ship. It's basically a big empty pie-pan that could be modified with various dividers between hull sections, and added onto the outside of the hull. The position of bridge or cockpit could be placed in any orientation. Engines were obviously always in the back.

It was cheap and easy to modify.

Ok, so the Millennium Falcon is a YT-1300 Series Corellian Freighter.

So I would agree that it would be like the A-Team van, except it was more like a semi truck to be able to be customized to the owners needs.

I believe the forward mandibles were for a specific docking port because it was a freighter so they needed to load and unload cargo quickly and easily.

Lando actually did most of the modifications to the ship before Han acquired it in a card game. Han made a few relatively minor modifications and mostly hacked it together to keep it flying.

turboswede wrote: I believe the forward mandibles were for a specific docking port because it was a freighter so they needed to load and unload cargo quickly and easily. Lando actually did most of the modifications to the ship before Han acquired it in a card game. Han made a few relatively minor modifications and mostly hacked it together to keep it flying.

Yes that's correct, I forgot that.

It was always odd to me we never actually saw the "freight" area of the Falcon...

I wonder if Josh Weldon had the same beef and that's one reason why made the cargo area of the Firefly in Serenity such a central part of the set.

That was my issue as well, it never seemed that the YT-1300 was really an ideal platform for hauling freight. Why wouldn't you just use a big floating box instead of a thin disc?

pinchvalve wrote: Well, have you seen the options available on the average semi? You can pick chassis rating and length, several engine and transmission options, dual-wheels or super-singles, regular cab to sleeper cab, and tons of options. Then the trailers range from a flatbed, to lowboys, moving van trailers, reefers...the options are mind boggling. Then owner/operators can add and customize even more. So I would say that while the Millennium Falcon was based on a mass-produces chassis, it was pretty custom. By his own admission, Han made several modification himself. I mean, it is the ship that made the Kessel run in less than 12 parsecs!

Have you seen the options for building a GM G-series van? GVW ratings all over teh place, axles, drivetrains, length, wheelbase, windows, no windows etc. You could build 100 different G-vans from the catalogs and not have two identical. 1/2T, 3/4T, 1T, gas, diesel,heavy springs, light, big block small block, V6, V8 etc etc etc....

You guys have WAY too much time on your hands.

^ Star Trek fan.

Dr. Hess wrote: You guys have WAY too much time on your hands.

Duh.

In reply to PHeller:

My thought as well. Maybe the Corellians were the "Italians of the Galaxy" - who cares about function as long as it looks cool.

Making it a disc instead of a box means it's, at its core, a flying saucer

Also, I would vote that the Falcon is the most GRM of Star Wars vehicles.

No way, the pod racers were the most GRM vehicles in Star Wars! :D Fast, fun to drive, homemade, what more could a GRMer want? A Correllian freighter? Dime a dozen. Like a Civic, some mods make it fun, but really just a Civic. X-wings? Tie fighters? There are millions of them. No the Pod Racers are the ones to have

Dear Sweet Jesus, I'm surrounded by geeks.

PHeller wrote: That was my issue as well, it never seemed that the YT-1300 was really an ideal platform for hauling freight. Why wouldn't you just use a big floating box instead of a thin disc?

Because their freight wasn't boxy?

Haynes has a manual out for the Falcon. You guys should check it out sometime.

And no, Lando did -not- do all the major modifications to the Falcon. Han took her to the Corporate Sector for her superfast hyperdrive.

Iusedtobefast wrote: No way, the pod racers were the most GRM vehicles in Star Wars! :D Fast, fun to drive, homemade, what more could a GRMer want? A Correllian freighter? Dime a dozen. Like a Civic, some mods make it fun, but really just a Civic. X-wings? Tie fighters? There are millions of them. No the Pod Racers are the ones to have

The Millenium Falcon was a vehicle that did things it should not, was modified to be much better than other models to the point of breaking all the time, and didn't look like much on the outside. That looks a lot more like the cars in our driveways than the pod racers

I'm with you guys that the Falcon is more GRM-like. Plus it even had some hanging dice:

http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Han's_dice

Streetwiseguy wrote: Dear Sweet Jesus, I'm surrounded by geeks.

Actually I think it is "dorks"

I'm betting that it has 371.3hp