One issue left to go from this last delivery: issue sixteen. Having completed the hold and added more to the hull plating, I was intrigued to see where my daughter (Ember) and I would be heading next. The last few issues have seen me needing to do little bits and pieces on the things we have finished, thankfully this time around, there wasn’t anything to do, so we could focus straight on with this issue.
As always, I did a quick scan of what we would be building before I started with Ember. Not only am I finding this useful to prepare me for what I might need to think about when building with a seven-year-old, I can also decide if one or two issues are going to be needed. As this was the last issue in the delivery, the latter was obvious. As for the former, we were moving onto building the corridor that connects to the hold. While a new layout, the actual construction was exactly what has been needed for the doorways to the hold. I know Ember would remember how to do these and then there would be some screwing. The other part to do was extending the frame… maybe. Reading the instructions, it says that you can extend it now, but it will need to be handled with care as it will be held by only two screws. As much as I wish I had all the room in the world, the Millenium Falcon itself is being stored in a cupboard at the moment. Handling it with care is a bit tricky, particularly when you are being aided by your young daughter. I knew this part of the build was best to wait. For subscribers who are able to leave their build out, I like the instructions are here, but I also like that they give due consideration to those of us who just don’t have that option.
At the back of the issue, it says you can also test fit the hull plating. This has been an option for several issues, but as it is only a temporary fitting, I’d rather not be pulling bits on and off. When we do bring it all together, I want to do it all. I think Ember will appreciate that more and it’ll be a lot more impactful for her.
All this meant that this would be a fairly straightforward issue for us to do. We would be starting the corridor and even the arches with those won’t be glued in. Before I rushed to get Ember, I did realise that there was something I needed to prep first: the floor. The hold floor I had painted and created some shading and highlighting to help bring it alive. I was so happy with this. The floor for the corridor follows on and would need to match. I needed to paint this floor too.
Using Archive X paints, I used SP Lark Dark Grey to base the floor before applying a black wash over the top to go into the deeper areas. Once this was dry, I then dry brushed with the Lark Dark Grey to bring the colour back, before slowly adding bits of Alliance White to add some highlighting to the floor area. Once it was all dry, it was time to assemble.
I sat down with Ember, and we started on assembling the arches. Ember looked at me and said she’d cut, I could glue. Having already done these types of arches before, it was great to see her confidence and how she was able to divide the jobs up. I loved that I was actually doing a bit more and I could leave her to the task she’d set herself. Not only that, but making three lots of arches, each with eighteen cushion pads, inevitably led her to starting to work out how many pads we were dealing with. Practising her maths skills, without any prompting from me, was really good to see; she was using these skills in a real-life context.
Once we’d finished the snipping and the glueing, it was straight onto assembling the corridor. These are the parts Ember enjoys most. She loves using the screwdriver and selecting the right colour screws. I have placed all the screws together, so the tip in the magazine to use the smaller brass ones for the corridor was immensely helpful (and saved a lot of time and tears from not using the wrong ones!). This was simple, straightforward and something Ember has really taken a liking to. After placing the arches into the slots, that was the issue done!
It might seem short, but actually this issue took us longer than I thought. It was really enjoyable and the slower pace and the repetition were perfect with Ember. We both sat back, looking at the corridor and smiled. It looks great already! I’m very pleased I painted the floor as the shine effect from the dry brushing really gives the corridor a little something, which by the time we’ve completed it, I’m sure will really enhance the whole thing.
In terms of deliveries, that’s the end of this delivery, and what a delivery. These issues have really brought together everything we’ve done so far. We have the hull plating really taking shape and the hold complete. Both look incredible and are starting to give us an idea on the size of the project. We’re almost a sixth of the way through and I couldn’t be happier. The quality time I’m spending with my daughter over my hobby is amazing and the fact that she is enjoying it as much as I am, is priceless. Now just to wait for the next delivery of issues, I’m looking at the space in my study and wondering how much bigger this project is going to get next time!
