After getting the ramp – with lights – working with my eight-year-old daughter Ember, I couldn’t argue that this delivery of issues was off to a flying start. I was eager to get back to building. At the start of this batch of issues, I was convinced that we would be getting the upper frame done. The ramp was an unexpected surprise. While short, it was incredible to see a lot of hours of hard work paying off. With the next installments, surely, we would be back to the upper frame.
As I always do when taking on this project, I scouted the magazine to see what trouble I might get into with Ember – and to see how many issues I think we could try and complete. Looking through part fifty-eight, it wasn’t even the frame, it was more plant-on details. Cut, file, glue; fairly straightforward. I do find it a little odd sometimes, the order of these instructions. I know there are some fans who have completely changed the order of the steps, for something that seems much more linear. I would have much preferred to sort the whole of the upper frame before worrying about the plant on details, which wouldn’t be fitted till after the frame was complete. With the issue looking fairly straightforward, I thought Ember and I would be able to do a second magazine. Looking through part fifty-nine was what I had been expecting: the top frame. Adding more frames was completely different to adding the details on, so I thought we could get it completed at the same time.
Unlike a lot of the earlier issues, where I needed to do some painting for the internal components, these latter installments have a lot less for me to worry about. It’s all the types of construction Ember and I have practised for months, and with no painting, the preparation is pretty much nil and void. With nothing to do, Ember and I could delve straight into completing the issues.
Part fifty-eight was no trouble at all. The progress and confidence Ember has made in clipping and filing was really brought home to me this time around. Every part she was checking if it was sprue or part of the piece, but every time she was correct with what she thought. Not only that, but when it came to part five, a piece that even in the magazine it says to be careful with, Ember confidently clipped it without even worrying. It really demonstrated how confident she has become with the clippers. If you had said to me a year ago that I would be happy with an eight-year-old using sharp clippers to take pieces off a sprue, I think I would have laughed! Yet the buildup of this series has really given Ember skills I wouldn’t have dreamed she could so confidentially use at her age.
We got into our familiar routine of Ember clipping and filing and me gluing. I didn’t need to check if what Ember was doing was correct; she could follow the instructions in the magazine perfectly and I had no worries. One thing I will note is that at the start of the steps, it tells you to check the completed parts on page thirteen… the magazine stops at page ten! Other than that, the issue was completed very quickly. I think if Ember and I had just done this part, I would have been a bit disappointed with how quickly it was over. However, the look and style of the pieces we added details was incredible. With all the little greeblies, it felt like a part of the Falcon. Not only that, but Ember and I were able to identify certain parts. There was one that was obviously a wheel, presumably when ILM made it, from a truck or bike from a World War Two model set. It was great to start having those conversations with her and that she understood what we were talking about.
After this, we were straight onto part fifty-nine. Ember is enthusiastic about every part of the project, but I could see her face light up a little more with this. She straightaway said that this was her favourite part: the frames. She quickly identified all the frames we needed, organised them and set to work. All I had to do was sit back and hold the frames into place as she screwed them. I mentioned earlier that her confidence had grown, and I could see that here too. If a screw wasn’t catching, she wouldn’t hand it over to me, she started to add a bit more pressure or realise that the connectors weren’t lined up. Yes, this is after sixty installments of doing this, but I’m wondering where she’ll be after we finish the whole thing! This was much more of a lengthy issue, but it never got tiresome; I’m not convinced Ember couldn’t have gone for another part after this!
With the two issues completed, we stepped back and looked. The upper hull is coming together quickly, which I’m very happy about. I want to have a model that starts to look like the Falcon, rather than just half of it. With still over forty issues to go, I’m wondering just how long it will be until everything comes together, as the upper hull I can see being completed in the next delivery (if not the next two installments). This has continued the trend with this current delivery of some great issues. Sure, fifty-eight is a bit short, but it does provide a break from the upper hull. Seeing the upper hull take shape is what I’m most excited about and I’m really hoping we can finish it soon! Fingers crossed the rest of the delivery will be frames!
The post Build the Millennium Falcon: Part 58 & 59 appeared first on Jedi News.
