The last delivery had come and gone in what felt like the blink of an eye. While I had been sure that we would have had the upper hull completed by now, there had been a variety of other things to do that prevented this. This is not to say it was a bad thing; the variety was very much welcome. But now? Now I wanted the upper hull complete. With only one jig piece left and at a guess, two issues of construction, I wanted the thing complete so we could get everything out together. I say we, because my eight-year-old daughter – Ember – has been working with me on this project since the very start. Her confidence and skill in this area has grown considerably in the year and a half that we’ve been working on the Millennium Falcon. When the project costs so much money and time, I love to think that she will have fond memories of our project together and might keep the Falcon in her own house when she’s older (much older!).
When the delivery showed up, I was surprised to find a rather compact box, even more compact than previous deliveries. Not that I minded, save on packaging is a big plus in my book. Opening the box, I got the magazines out… but there was a rather glaring issue. Or should I say there was an issue not glaring because it was not even there. I had been sent parts 62, 64 and 65. Not the standard five issues but three. Not completely unheard of and I’m sure issue 66 will be in the next delivery, but there was no 63. Surely something must have gone wrong. Messaging customer services, who were prompt with their response back, told me that they were having some supply issues and 63 – and in fact 66 – were part of those problems and they would be sent out as soon as they were able. Now to pull the curtain back a little, we get sent these copies in advance of us publishing them, so I tried not to fret. However, the more time went by, I realised that this was not going to be a quick fix. Going online and it turns out there are a lot of people waiting for these issues. Some for over six months.
So far, I have never had any problems with issue availability. They have arrived like clockwork. When there’s been missing parts, customer service has been incredible. Yet now, I have a bit of a problem. I could complete part sixty-two, but then what? Ember and I would usually do two issues back-to-back, so I ideally wanted the next installment. But more than that, I was pretty sure that the upper hull wouldn’t be complete until the missing issue. So, I now have the lower hull, sitting ready to go and an almost complete hull that I can’t do anything more with until I get that key issue. I’ve said before that space is a bit tight with all the different pieces swirling around but we were always making progress with it. But now? We were going to be completely stalled. So where does that leave subscribers? It’s an annoying situation to be in, particularly with the money involved, and the fact that it’s not even an issue you can really work around. I completely understand the frustration surrounding it and all I can hope for is that Fanhome gets it sorted quickly.
Before I let too much doom and gloom prevail, let’s get back to the actual installment Ember and I could complete number sixty-two. As always, I scouted through what was in the magazine to see if there would be any complications. It was adding more to the upper hull as I had thought but not fixing the final part of the jig. It was adding two more frames. While Ember really enjoys doing this, this would have been the perfect installment to either add to our sit down for the last two issues or combine with the next issue – if it were here. While enjoyable, this would be a very short session for us and the jig wouldn’t be complete. Thankfully though, no preparation was needed, and Ember and I could start straight away.
We got straight onto attaching the rib connector to the inner rib section, which Ember could do perfectly fine. Then, we had to attach it to the other piece that was already attached to the Falcon. I don’t remember doing it this way around before, usually we have connected both ribs before attaching it to the frame, but I thought, what’s the harm? Well that quickly became apparent. Ember really struggled to screw the screws in against the frame because the angle was so shallow. I had to take over and even I found it a struggle, even contemplating taking the rib off so I could do it the usual way. Why they changed the assembly is beyond me and if it happens again, I’ll make sure to attach the connector before attaching it to the frame.
After that it was adding two more frames, and we were done. It was over far too quickly. The magazine ended saying we’d connect everything in the next stage… whenever that may be! While the progress so far has been fantastic, I now have two halves of the Falcon. One complete, the other with an incomplete frame, an incomplete jig and no way to carry on until we get that missing installment. Hopefully we’re not waiting too long. Both Ember and I want to build more. We’ve enjoyed this construction so much so far, it would be shame to have to wait so long that we become resentful of ever starting it.
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