Issue twenty-four had been a sizable issue. It had been a while since my daughter – Ember – and I had had to only complete one issue in a sitting. Thankfully it was one of her favourite parts to do, the hull. This was a very welcome change as we had been completing lots of pieces of the passage tubes recently. Although fun to do, a lot of it was glueing and clipping, and I know Ember enjoys using the screwdriver. Looking at the end of the issue though, I presumed we wouldn’t return to the hull till issue twenty-seven as in the booklet it said this would be where we would be assembling the plastic jigsaw pieces to keep the hull safe and secure.
With this being the case, I presumed that the last two issues of the current delivery (issues twenty-five and twenty-six) would return us again to the passage tube. Completing such a big project with a seven-year-old has meant that I always look at the issues ahead of time. Forewarned is forearmed as they say. I like to see how many issues I think Ember and I can complete and if there’s anything I need to do beforehand to ensure we both have a fun and relaxing time. Looking through issue twenty-five, we were working exclusively on the access walls, creating four of them by clipping, filing and sticking. This seemed straightforward. Ember and I had done enough of these types of pieces that it would be easy for us to complete this so I had a look at what issue twenty-six would entail.
Having a look at issue twenty-six, this was also very straightforward and possibly less time consuming than issue twenty-five. Certainly, ones that would work by completing them together. One thing I did notice was that there was a floor for the access tunnel. I have been painting the floors for the interior of the Falcon with Archive X paints. Although this floor was very small – and there certainly was the temptation to not worry about it – I thought I had better paint it before we started. When I actually opened the parts for the issue, I also found the port corridor floor. I didn’t need it yet but as I was painting one floor, I thought I’d get both done together. As with the other floors, I used SP Dark Lark Grey to base coat the floors, then used a black wash to fill in the gaps. After this was dry, I dry brushed them both with SP Dark Lark Grey and then added drops of Alliance White to then highlight the entire floor sections. With this done, Ember and I were ready to construct the tunnel.
Out of everything we’ve done, these two issues have been the most straightforward. Ember and I have clipping and gluing down to a fine art. We each know what the other is doing, and Ember has got so confident and sensible with identifying the parts we need, I don’t feel the need to double check anymore. The lining for the access walls is very simple, made all the easier by the clear instructions in the magazine. I never once questioned where a pad was going, and it came together very quickly.
The final issue for this delivery was even easier. This was a part that I needed to do rather than Ember, as it was lining parts up and glueing them into place. It took all of four minutes. While it was great to complete the access tunnel so quickly, it definitely left me wanting to do more as so little occurred in this part.
Overall, as a delivery, these next parts have been a joy to do. There have been a variety of skills that Ember (and me) have been able to revisit and retry. The very last part, issue twenty-six, is the only one where I wish there had been more to do. That said, I know issue twenty-seven, when it is delivered in the next batch, will be looking at the hull again and I’m sure it will provide a lot for us to do. A simple two issues this time around, which although enjoyable, have left us wanting more.
