It has been an interesting delivery of issues that my eight-year-old daughter and I have had for the Millennium Falcon from Fanhome. The last four issues have had lots of repetitive parts, something my daughter has enjoyed. For me I wanted something a bit more, something that I could sink my teeth into. Of course, with a build like this, there are inevitably going to be times where you’re working on smaller pieces that will aid the final constructed model. It has just felt like that’s all we’ve had. I’ve missed working on the frame, on the sizeable model that has been taking up a large amount of space in my study.
So, we come to the final issue of this current delivery of issues. Having been working on the recesses and little components that would be attached to the hull, I was expecting more of the same. Like with all installments, I began my scouting of what we would be doing. When you are doing a construction this grand with a now eight-year-old daughter, it’s always best to be prepared.
What’s the phrase? Be careful what you wish for? On starting to open the issue I found a couple of pages on shield generators and then straight into the instructions, a mountain of them. I said I wanted something to sink my teeth into, I’d be getting that and then some. The whole issue was sorting out the plates for the lower hull! That’s five full pages of instructions, fifty-four steps, one hundred and twenty screws and twenty-four hull plates that we are going to be attaching! I think I’ll need to see my dentist after this issue!
This was going to be a seriously full issue, one that I wasn’t even sure that Ember and I would be able to complete in a single sitting. There was a lot to do. However, I was excited. I was getting that buzz again from this project that had been lacking a little the last few times Ember and I had sat down. I decided to show Ember what we’d be doing beforehand and her face lit up with the same excitement. “We’re doing all that in a single issue?” You better believe it! This was just what I think we needed, and I imagine anyone also doing the project would need. Not only would it look awesome, but it would free up some much-needed room of all the plates that we’ve been storing from all the issues. Examining the magazine closer, it even states that the hull plates come from between issues nine to forty-two. Issue nine!? That’s a lot of time to have that stored!
Although nothing needed painting or prepping, there was one big job that needed doing: finding all the plates from all those past issues. With so many steps, I wasn’t sure we’d manage all this in a single sitting, but I could help our time management by locating everything. Turns out, I wasn’t going to do this alone. Ember was straight by my side, wanting to sort the pieces out to make sure we had every plate we needed. She was loving finding them within the magazine itself and setting them all up on the floor. With it all set-up, I gazed at the sheer area these plates were taking up! This was going to be fun. With everything located and ready, I told Ember we’d begin the next day, not too sure if we’d even finish it all the next day.
Ember might have needed some sleep, but I was geared up, I was hyped, I was ready to go! Now of course I wouldn’t start the issue without her, but I did want to see how things would work with the fact that the ramp is attached to the lower frame and has some metal rods we couldn’t knock. Thankfully, the first set of instructions is adding some bolts so the whole frame can stand up and the ramp be protected. I did think, should I attach the bolts or wait for Ember, and just wanted to see how big they actually were… to not find them in the issue. I read the instructions. After all the buildup that you can start adding these plates, the bolts don’t come until issue fifty-four. I have to say, this I was not impressed by. It does tell you that if you don’t want to wait you can go and get the correct bolts from a hardware store. With the money spent on this series, why should you have to buy something that you’ll eventually get? And why would you want to wait for an amazing installment? Thankfully with how far ahead we write these reviews, I actually had issue fifty-four ready. I grabbed the bolts, so we’d be fine but for other subscribers I have to say this seems a little frustrating. In this magazine you get parts that you are not going to use for this issue, I’m not sure if you will for several issues. I don’t think it’s much to ask to switch some of these parts with the bolts, so you have them present for when you actually need them.
With one crisis averted, we were now ready to get started on this mammoth installment. Ember loved placing the big bolts in, the fact that she could do it by hand was quite a novelty for her this stage as she’s been using the screwdriver for over a year! With that done, we could start fitting the plates themselves. Ember was happy to read all the instructions, yet there was one part that made her stop and changed our whole dynamic for this installment. The instructions state not to tighten the screws too much. This put Ember on edge. Although she did a few screws, she was too nervous about splitting the plates.
So, what happened, Ember started to sort everything while I screwed every piece. She would find what plate I’d need, collect the actual plate, the number of screws I needed and refer to the blueprint from the first issue to know where it would go. We do this when building Lego together and she was very happy with this. Watching it come together was actually making her happy. I was also very pleased as this was more hands on than I’d be in quite a few issues. I kept holding the frame up for her telling her I couldn’t see, does it look right? She loved this level of involvement, a win, win situation.
A couple of things to note. Having the blueprints out on the floor, we found to be absolutely essential to our constructing of the frame and made our lives an awful lot easier. Not only for Ember but for me as well. That’s because you are going to need to continually flip the frame of the ship. First to check the plate is in the right place, but then the other side to actual screw the piece into place. Many times, I found it easier to have the Falcon on my lap then try to keep it on some solid surface. Some of the pieces need a bit of coaxing into the frame so it helped with this.
As much as I was trying to encourage Ember to have a go at screwing some more plates on, by the time we got halfway round she was telling me I needed to speed up: she was ready with the next pieces! I’ll be honest, I was shattered and realising that she probably had chosen the best job to actually do! It was incredible seeing so much of the Falcon come together so quickly. Every time I held it up, I could see Ember’s face light up and stunned and just how incredible it was looking. For so long it had just been this metal frame. Putting the first part of the shell on was helping to bring this project to life.
When it was all done, it was rather impressive to say the least! Ember was beside herself with glee (I think you can tell from the photo!). This was an amazing issue, one that could have easily been split into two, but I’m very glad that Fanhome kept it as they have done. It brings everything together and you can sit back and look with joy! As a delivery, I was about worried about these five installments, yet this issue has made it all worthwhile. It’s a great high to end on. This issue promises that we’re adding even more in issue forty-seven and I can’t wait! I feel we’re really getting somewhere with this project! Bring on the next delivery!
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