Three issues to go. I’m not saying I’m on a countdown but… ok I am completely in countdown mode! Last time, my nine-year-old daughter – Ember – and I had received our final delivery to assemble the studio scale model of the Millennium Falcon. After almost three years, it was amazing to see what we had built but coiled with the bittersweet feeling that this was soon going to be over.
In the last instalment, we had added details, a lot of details. This in itself was not a problem, but it had been one of the very few times where the instructions in the magazine had left something to be desired. Frustration, unclear steps and steps that were frankly in the wrong order had marred what we had been doing. I was hoping that this time round would be different. Because we were going to be adding details, there was nothing left to do. The starship looked, from a distance just like the Falcon: the shape, the major details, everything was there. But there were small holes ready for details that I could see, details that these last few magazines would surely have us complete. Not only that, but the very first magazine we had ever done had been creating a quad laser. In fact, we had two that needed fitting. I was just very aware that I needed to do a bit more studying of the instructions before rushing headlong into it.
One thing I did forget to mention in my last review, and to be honest, in several of them, is how Ember is enjoying the details. For a nine-year-old, she can see the Falcon, she can see that it looks like the film she has watched a few times. But all the extra details don’t mean much to her. Today, we don’t rewatch films quite as much as I did when growing up, where I feel I could tell you about every rivet that is missing. She has seen Star Wars a fair few times and recognises the Falcon, but not to the depth I can. So why is she enjoying the details? Light and Magic. We watched this documentary together and she knows that the Falcon, well most of the ships, are made up of old model kits. Three years ago, I got to go to the Archive X studios, where Guy Cowen took the time to show me the different model kits he has assembled for building replicas, pointing out the different parts – a wheel here, a spanner there. Feeding this back to Ember, she loves trying to identify what the parts on the Falcon could be. Some are clearly wheels, we had a rope coil in the other magazine. It keeps her very focused on what we are doing and adds a whole different layer to our building.
The previous issue had been long, very long, and I was hoping this one would be a tad shorter. As is customary, I looked through the magazine to give myself an idea of what we were facing and if I needed to prepare anything. Now while I doubted I would need to prepare anything, I did want to take a careful look at the instructions to hopefully avoid any frustration when Ember and I sat down to complete this. Looking at the instructions, it was more plant on details, exactly what we had been doing the previous installment. Thankfully these were sizable pieces that I knew Ember would have no problem clipping and filing. There were also a lot less. We would only be fitting twenty-four pieces as opposed to over fifty. Scanning the instructions, I couldn’t see anything that seemed to be in the wrong order, I hoped I was right.
There was a second part to the build instructions: choosing the mount. This was where the magazine explained that you had to pick where you would be displaying the Falcon. I mean, surely anyone who has done the project will have figured that out before even starting, but hey, this is where the ultimate decision needs to be made. If you are having the Falcon standing, then there are more instructions to follow, to build the legs. I had already decided where the Falcon was going – on my wall. As much as I would love to have the Falcon standing, to have a pad from Cloud City standing somewhere in my house, I simply just do not have the room. Mounting it is far easier. It meant that we didn’t have to do some of the assembly. The bracket I had actually brought off eBay as the subscription had not come with one, so I was ready to go as soon as the Falcon was complete. One thing that did worry me was that the magazine said that the landing lights would not come on if the feet were fitted. I kind of wanted to see them turned on! But as the magazine correctly said, they wouldn’t be on if the Falcon was flying. In either case, there was nothing more to do, than sit down with Ember and make a start.
We began our usual routine. Ember clipped the pieces and filed them down, while I glued them. Only before too long, Ember wanted to be the one to actually find the pieces, so she left me to the filing so she could figure out where everything would go. It was good to see her so engrossed in the project. I could tell that she was also aware of the end looming, as she started to ask me what my favourite parts of the project were. The instructions – having been checked – should have caused no problem, until we got to step six, showing that the two pins needed gluing fifteen centimeters apart. The piece was only a couple of centimeters long. Step eleven didn’t even have an arrow of where the piece should go! All these errors were thankfully corrected by the end photo, showing exactly where everything went and in what orientation. I am very surprised with just how sloppy the last couple of magazines have been in terms of instructions. With only twenty-four pieces to glue, we neared the end fairly quickly.
I thought we were home dry until we had to fit the stabilizers. All was well for the first three, so much so that I did not even try dry fitting them towards the end. That was a mistake. The last one, the slot for it was nowhere near big enough for the stabilizer to fit. It was also not big enough to get a file in to make it bigger. Instead, I filed the insert to make it shorter and thinner. After a couple of tries, it then fit perfectly.
With that, we were done. It was a short issue, but if we had been having the Falcon standing, then there would have been much more for us to do. Ember and I had actually spoken during this magazine about the legs. We both wanted to see the lights – and ramp – in all their glory. We decided that once the Falcon was complete, something we both wanted to see, we would make up the legs, just so we could see the Falcon in all its glory. That was another one down, two more to go.
