A new package with five new magazines and parts to continue building the Millennium Falcon. My eight-year-old daughter – Ember – and I have been on this journey for almost a year and a half, now having half the Falcon constructed. With the last delivery, we had made a solid start to the upper hull and added the last little details to the bottom hull. With this new delivery, I was sure that we would be straight onto completing the top hull frame so we could start bringing everything together. With seeing just, the bottom half of the Falcon done for so long, I was getting impatient to get the top complete! Five issues, surely, we would get most of the ring done.
I opened the box and was greeted with the next five installments, numbers 57 through to 62. Also included was another slip case. The slipcases I really enjoy. They are hardy cases that easily fit the magazines in and the two I have fit alongside one another. Also to note, is that each one comes with numbered stickers, so you can number them to make sure you are getting out the right one. However, I only just started using my second case with the last two deliveries; these things hold a lot. I’m not even convinced I’m going to need this third one – and certainly not yet. To be fair to Fanhome, I would rather have too many of these than too few, but I am struggling to see how these are going to get filled up, unless the magazines themselves become a lot thicker.
Moving past the little extra for this shipment, I began to scout the next issue. It’s part of my routine for this build now, to help preempt any problems that might occur when doing a project of this scale with a child. I was in for a bit of a surprise. We wouldn’t actually be working on the hull, but instead, setting up some more of the electronics! I quickly looked in the box to find the parts for this part and found, to my delight, some hefty looking electronic pieces. Well, this would be interesting. I knew that Ember loved doing these parts in the Falcon as I did myself. I will admit to being slightly nervous as I’m always assuming these pieces will go wrong.
Looking through the issue, it was relatively straightforward, setting up the pieces and testing out the ramp. While I thought we could perhaps do two issues in one, I decided against it. I wanted to focus on the electronics because the next installment was as I thought – the frame for the upper hull. It didn’t flow from issue to issue. Also, and this is where my pessimistic view on electronics came over – I was sure that this wouldn’t be the simple walk in the park that it should be. Something was bound to go wrong. I mean electronics, an eight-year-old and a nervous dad… It sounds like the start of a really bad joke. I wanted to make sure that I left time for Ember and me to troubleshoot anything that might happen with this part. I would love the ramp to work perfectly but I was expecting it not to! It’s probably worth noting that I already know that the Falcon is going to be wall mounted, so the ramp won’t actually be used. But with all the time and care that we’ve put into this project, I wanted to see it work!
With nothing to really do, Ember and I sat down and got straight into part 57. The first thing we had to do was fit the circuit board. Ember couldn’t get over it, she thought it looked so cool. One thing I will say is that the board looks a little different to the one shown in the magazine. I presume this is because they’ve updated and improved the board since when the photos were taken. The sockets are the same, so use these to orientate yourself to which direction the board needs to be installed.
After this it was installing the power socket. Now I have a little issue with this and the subsequent testing of the ramp. Through these two things, you need to flip the Falcon over to get to the parts and to do the actual testing. In the back of my mind, I was trying to do this fully aware that the last installment, I had added the fine detail parts that were rather delicate. With hindsight, I would have completed this issue before adding those details on. I was panicking that I would snap something off. The power socket goes on easily enough and I love that it is hidden within some damage so you can’t see it.
With that it was connecting the wires to the board. The battery box must be removed, again with hindsight, I wouldn’t have even installed it. Ember loved finding the right sockets to place the different connectors. It was a rather impressive sight to see all the wires everywhere, like we had done some amazing work on it. With everything in place, it was time to flip the ship, while keeping hold of the battery pack close by, while making sure not to damage any of the fine detail, while also having to find button a to test the whole thing. Ember sat back and watched while I tried to juggle all of this. I’m not going to lie, I really wish they had given us the extension for the power pack, just so I wasn’t worried about pulling that out.
So, the moment of truth. I pressed the button. I really wanted Ember to do it but with it in such an awkward place, I needed to do it. Ember’s face said everything to me. The lights came on, the ramp lowered (well technically rose because we had the ship upside down) and she started humming the Star Wars theme tune. Ember looked at me beaming, “That’s so cool!” It was! I couldn’t actually believe it had worked the first time! We lowered the ramp; I gave Ember my phone so we could film it and be sure it wasn’t a fluke. It wasn’t. The time and effort that had gone into making the ramp look like the ramp, fitting it and having to be very aware of the pins sticking out all this time had been worth it.
That was the issue finished. While it is short, it is also a pivotal moment, seeing if the electronics work. Thankfully everything went without a hitch. We won’t be using the ramp, I think, for the Falcon when it is mounted on the wall. However, it is still awesome to see it working, to see Ember’s face and to hear her humming Star Wars. This is a fantastic issue and one that really is one to remember. If you are reading this before you’ve completed part fifty-six, save yourself some stress and switch the order you do them. It’s my only complaint from an installment that has both Ember and me buzzing.
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