This delivery really seems to have come and gone in the blink of an eye. It only seems like yesterday that Ember – my eight-year-old daughter and co-pilot on this project – were getting excited about getting the ramp on the Millennium Falcon working. Here we are now, completing the last two issues of the current delivery we have been sent. While it may be over quicker than I imagined, they have been a solid few issues that have varied greatly. From the electronics of the ramp, to adding the finer details to some hull pieces to doing what I was expecting more of – completing the upper hull. It has certainly kept Ember’s interest.
The last issue had focused on the upper hull frame, which I had thought this entire delivery would do. While I was happy to be proven wrong, I also wanted to really get moving forward with that. As I do every time I sit down with Ember, I scouted ahead to try and make sure there would be no problems. With an eight-year-old, forearmed is forewarned. I looked through part sixty and it was very straight forward, shorter than the previous issue. Like that part, we would be adding to the upper hull frame. Knowing this was Ember’s favourite part of the project, I knew we could do a second installment. I glanced over issue sixty-one and realised it was more of the same. This was what I had been expecting from all the magazines this time around. They flowed so easily from one to the other, that I knew we could do the remaining two issues in one session.
Luckily, it also meant that there was really nothing for me to do in preparation. In fact, I didn’t imagine there would be much for me to do at all! As I noted in my last review, Ember’s confidence and skill has shot up, so much so that with the exception of using super glue, she can pretty much handle everything this project is throwing at her. With no gluing required, I could sit back – hopefully – and watch Ember really go to town on the hull.
Ember, true to form, was able to get herself straight into the installments. This was what she loved to do, and you could tell. Both issues are exact copies of one another: you start by adding the next part of the jig and then move onto joining more pieces to the frame. Let me start with the huge negative for all of this, the jig pieces. I had noticed that the boxes the magazines were coming in were getting smaller, and smaller, the cardboard thinner, and thinner. Opening both magazines, we were greeted with broken plastic on the jigs. Issue sixty-one certainly was the worse of the two, with huge splits along. Having done the lower hull, I knew that it wouldn’t really affect what I needed for. Still, it’s frustrating to receive them like that because of the packaging.
Once we had connected them, Ember swiftly went from frame part to frame part, adding in the screws. I had to hold the frames so she could line up the screws, but apart from that, it was very simple for her to do. In fact, both parts were finished before we really started! It was one of those rare times in this project that I wished I had a third issue to move onto, as I think we both could have kept going for a bit. Once the second magazine was complete, we had an almost complete jig and frame. My guess is that there’s one more jig piece and two issues worth of frame building.
That concluded this delivery of magazines. It has been wide and varied, nothing like I was expecting it to be. These last two issues are what I thought we’d be doing the whole way through, yet it was a pleasant surprise to have to do such different things. I feel these two parts could have easily been condensed into one and if you are building this with younger padawans, I would certainly do them in the same sitting. I am starting to get slightly impatient, wanting to get the upper hull done because I want to bring them both hulls together. Not only to save some space but also because I am sure it will look phenomenal when done. Here’s awaiting the next delivery so we can start ploughing through!
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