The last issue had seen the second mandible of the Millennium Falcon coming along very nicely. Some of the side supports were done, some of the details added top and bottom and it was well on its way to being complete. It is a stark contrast when compared with the first mandible. Not having the plastic jigs for the initial one, made building and storing it a lot trickier, in fact one of the lows of this entire project. This second one, having jigs that comfortably hold the mandibles, that in essence give you a second set of hands while adding the finicky details has made all the difference.
What I also learnt from the first mandible was not to rush too many magazines in one sitting. For an adult we know our limits, but when doing it with your nine-year-old daughter, you kind of have to think a bit more like someone younger. Ember (my daughter) and I had pushed ourselves with a few installments. Rather than leaving on a high note wanting to do more, we were left exhausted and glad we had come to a stop. I know which one I would prefer to end with! While we could have completed the last magazine and this one together, I’m glad that we had left it, giving us the eagerness to dive into this installment.
As always, I scanned the magazine with anything that might need some preparation before Ember, and I sat down to do the steps. Before I even could get to the instructions, the magazine had me enthralled. I don’t pay too much attention to the magazine itself; it is good to know it is there but the main reason I’m here is to build. Yet when I looked through this magazine, there were articles on the Blade Wing Starfighter – Ember and I had only just finished watching Rebels. Not only that, but there was a reference to Ralph McQuarrie who I am a huge fan of. Then there was an article on Mustafar with references to the comics included. I have to say, the team at Fanhome had really outdone themselves with this installment!
But I digress, the build! Looking through we were going to add to the side frame and add some details to said side panel. I could see where this would go. Ember would be doing the former, the small, detailed stuff of the latter part would be done by me. Ember might surprise me but after working on this project for three years now, I have a feel for which parts she’s confident with and which she’ll shy away from. It looked like a fairly straightforward issue – with an equally small bag of parts – but I didn’t want to rush and do the last magazine from our current delivery (even though there was a part of me that most certainly did want to rush!). There was no preparation needed so it was straight to business and assembling the parts.
As we sat down, Ember was already ahead of me for the continuation of the side frame. There was only one piece to add – two screws worth – and she had already sorted the screws out and was ready to go. One thing I did notice with this, was that the placement was a little skewed, almost as if the plastic plate had become bent slightly. I was starting to worry that our Falcon might look a little off, but the metal frame is strong enough to hold it and I gently pushed the plastic until it lined up. Ember was done screwing the pieces together and I could see that it thankfully, shouldn’t be a problem.
With that done, it was straight onto detailing the side panels that had come with the previous issue. Ember was very happy to clip and file the pieces, leaving me to the gluing. For the most part this was fairly easy going, until we got to pieces six, seven, eight and nine, where all I heard was Ember chuckle and tell me I could do those. I looked up and saw it was some very thin and finicky pieces. While most of them were fine, the last two pieces were so small that I almost lost them to my carpet. Be very careful when clipping out, the last clip will see the part spring from the sprue – you have been warned! I was rather nervous gluing them in as I did not want to drop them and possibly lose them.
When the details had been added we were all done. It was a short session, I knew that it would be, and I could see that Ember would have done a bit more. But I also know that the next instalment was probably going to be a big one, one that would add too much time to this session. I could see the mandible was almost ready. If I’m honest, I’m ready for it to be done and dusted, so we can move onto something completely new, rather than just a repeat of another part. That said, I love seeing just how confident Ember has become. We’re like a well-oiled machine, making a project like this seem like a real joy.
