When I was a kid, I would take apart my stuff to see how it worked. Sometiems I would put it back together in slightly different ways and make a mess of things, sometimes I made a much more playable toy.

Growing up in Keyport, NJ--don't feel bad if you never heard of it--my buddies and I each had different toys from STAR WARS; One guy had the Death STar, one guy had the AT-AT, I had the Falcon. Together, we probably had all of the stuff out there, but I always thought I was cool to have Han's ship (he was my favorite after all!)

When I got older, most of my buddies' toys wound up in my own collection, but that's another story for another time....

• Vintage Millenium Falcon (of course!)
  

First of all, thanks to Alex Tong for loaning me the digital camera for these shots. theya re not great shots, but they get the job done.

Okay, there really wasn't too much to this custom that required any other skills than knowing how to use a screwdriver, so I will just describe the pictures from top to bottom.

The first image shows Han and Chewie in the cockpit, probably flying past some TIE fighters and jumping to hyperspace. The back has been removed, and if you look past Chewie's head, you can sort of make out Leia's legs. Okay, not really...it's too fuzzy. BUT, you can see there is light back there, which also proves the point.

In the second shot, Han is coming down from the cockpit down a ramp that was made simply by folding the cardboard back. It creates a kind of tube where the crew could move around in.

The third shot shows where the other side of the cardboard was folded back, creating a "bunk" area for Han when he was tired. It is next to the chess table, where Chewie is beating 3PO at a game of Dejarik!

In the fourth shot, you can see where the bunk area becomes a second smuggler area. The blue wall is actually the back of the cockpit. It was broken off one day by mistake, but I found a use for it after all! It fits in nice and snug, so no Stormtroopers can find our heroes.

The fifth shot shows the normal smuggler compartment. really only 2-3 figures could fit down there, so you can see where the second one was really needed.

The sixth shot shows that I don't keep batteries in my ships. I used it as a storage place for the rocket packs that Han can use when he needs to fix something on the Falcon (when doesn't he?) and they cannot land to do it. These are some kind of scuba tanks from an old ADVENTURE PEOPLE toy. Two of them fit in the batery compartment.

The last shot shows Han wearing the scuba tank/rocket pack and fixing the radar dish. Maybe he should fix the guns, since they long ago broke off! You can also see the batery cover opened and the second tank/pack stored away for someone else to use if needed.

I hope you enjoyed this little blast from the past custom. Of course, this means I have been customizing toys since 1978!! Damn, I'm old!!