After finishing the previous installment with my nine-year-old Ember, I had been pondering whether I should have pushed us a little more. The last magazine had seen us have a really enjoyable time carrying on with the mandible, but it had been a very short issue. Should I have got us to do this last one of this delivery? It was too late to make amends now and as part eighty-six was the last part of the current delivery, I was certainly not going to be able to do two issues this time round either.
This entire delivery of magazines had seen us working exclusively on one of the mandibles, hopefully the last piece of the puzzle of this incredible starship before we could get to the really big showstopper: bringing everything together. Looking at the mandible in its current state, I was a bit worried that this installment wouldn’t actually finish the mandible, and it would carry on into the next shipment of magazines. I should have known better!
As I have always done since the very first magazine – over three years ago – I went through the magazine to see if there was anything I needed to prepare ahead of us actually following the steps. Any parent will tell you forewarned is forearmed and completing this project with my daughter since the very beginning has meant that certain things have had to be done slightly differently so it was as accessible and enjoyable for Ember as it would be for me. The magazine article was about the Hammerhead corvette’s, a ship I really adore. When I went to check how long the article was I found that it was the only article in the entire magazine. Why? Because the rest was instructions. Suddenly my earlier ponderings seemed very silly, and I breathed a sigh of relief that I hadn’t pushed – Ember and I were going to have to do a lot in this installment. And not finishing the mandible? Another silly notion!
I looked through the instructions, all thirty-nine steps. We’d be clipping and gluing inner panel detail, finishing assembling the mandible with the screwdriver, then adding plating and lighting before finally finishing the rest of the plating and having a finished mandible. I feel shattered just talking about it! There was a lot to do but it would be good to see a finished mandible ready to go. It also meant that the next delivery we would be doing something new. Not that I mind the mandibles, but we have been working on mandibles for over three months. That’s a long time, particularly when half of that is repeating what you did the first time around. Thankfully nothing this issue needed preparation work for, so Ember and I could get stuck in straightaway.
When Ember and I sat down to do the magazine, she asked what we were doing. When I told her I could see her sag a little, that tiny bit of fatigue, of we have already done this once coming into play. She is, after all, only nine years old. However, as soon as she started clipping all the details for the inner panel, she was transformed, finding comfort in the familiarity. What was wonderful from a parental point of view, was that she was so confident with what she was doing (not asking me to clip out any of the difficult pieces) that she started chatting to me about her day. What a change from a few years ago where I was having to guide every single clip! She was handling everything with ease: clipping and filing while letting me do the gluing. We soon had the inner panel completed and it was soon onto assembling the mandible.
Ember was quick to get the screws out and start getting the last frame into place and then we finally got to bring the two halves together. This came together perfectly, without any issues and before you knew it, we had an almost complete mandible. Ember was more than comfortable to get all the frames screwed to the top of the mandible and it felt very secure. After this, it was fitting the plating and lighting. It again mentions in the magazine about testing the lighting. I remember this from the last time and as much as I would live to test the lighting, the fact the battery pack is one side of the Falcon and the motherboard is the other, makes this such a finicky thing to do, that I am having to throw caution to the wind and risk it.
With the light in place, it just left the plating to fit into place. For the first two plates that you fix on the shorter side, it doesn’t mention in the instructions, but it is a slide and push affair. You can’t just place the plates where they need to go directly, as there is an overhang preventing it. As soon as you realise this, it is fairly straightforward, but don’t put your glue on and assume you can push it straight on. When the plates and final detail piece are on, the mandible is finally –finally- complete.
Now for a long installment, for a process that Ember and I have technically already done before, this was actually a lot of fun. Both of us were able to relax and just enjoy the hobby, the process, the fact that we were doing this together and there is a lot to be said for that. This has been perhaps one of the most enjoyable magazines we’ve done recently, which does surprise me. Am I ready to move on from the mandibles? Oh absolutely, and I’m very happy and excited to see what we will be doing next as I’m sure it won’t be a repetition like this whole delivery has been. I understand why it has had to be like that, but it has – at times – been a bit of a slog. It has all been worth it. When you look at the final shot of how the Falcon is looking now with both mandibles ready… it’s hard not to get goosebumps!
