Issue 72

Okay, it's rectenna time! First off, the base:

Add the detail parts in the following order:

There's a last piece that goes in the lower-right corner (the little slot just above the big one), but it sprung out of my tweezers and managed to get itself lost. Fortunately we can get along without it. Call it battle damage. Anyway.

Let's move on to the 'tenna itself:

Mind you, the original was a rectangle, but by ESB (which this model is based off of), they'd replaced it with the dish. So go figure. Anyway, glue the mount on it. Note in the first photo how the tabs on the mount and the impressions on the dish match up:

Now, we add this little doodad here:

Now to the mounting hardware. Take the A-frame with the holes in it, and the little piece off the small sprue as shown:

Attach part A to part B, making a note of the orientation:

Now, get parts 9, 10, and 11 and gather them together:

Glue the side covers onto the frame so they cover the opening.

Do the same with the other set of three.

Now, we'll need all 5 of these parts:

Fit the spindle through one of the frames (with the glued side of the frame facing inward):

Put the barrel over the spindle, as shown:

Now, fit the other frame over the other end of the spindle. Push them in good and hard to make sure the square ends of the spindle poke out both sides:

Take the 2 A-frames and put them on the ends of the spindle as shown (you may use a tiny bit of glue on the very tip of the spindle, but be careful because you don't want to block the rotation of the assembly):

Now, mount the whole shmeer on the base we finished earlier:

Finally, glue the other end onto the dish, on the indentations seen on the back. It may take a little finagling, just be patient and get it right before the glue dries.

You can now, if you wish, give it a test try on the frame. It should swivel back and forth and up and down.

Okay, that's that. Next up, we get kickin' on the mandibles.

Issue 71

Busy one this time. More work on the big piece we've been on, and we finally get to see how it goes onto the frame.

First off, take this little piece, and glue the two tiny magnets into it:

Then take the two metal posts, and glue them into the holes on the aft end of the big piece, as shown.

Should go on just like that.

Now, add this piece on as well.

Take the piece that came with this issue, and line it up with the big piece:

Secure it with 4 screws, as shown.

Now, a quick note: on the left, 7 magnets. On the right 7 steel posts. Don't get them mixed up (actually, the steel posts are thicker, so it shouldn't be too much of a problem).

The magnets go into the bottom of the new assembly, with 5 of them as shown on the big piece:

The last two on the new piece.

Then we glue this bit on the end.

Lots of little glue-ons now. First, this bit that goes onto the aft end:

This bit goes with it.

Now, these two pieces, one on each side.

On this side, we get this piece, oriented as shown.

Next goes in this pole. Get it so that the bend is lined up with the place where the little piece we did first goes.

This next piece goes on the other end, and the other end of the pole goes in there. I would secure one end of it just to make sure at this point.

Now this tiny little bastard goes on.

And now this pipe goes as well.

Moving to the frame, we start putting in the steel posts. First, 4 that go under (well, over, really) the battery box:

Then two here:

And the last one here.

It should magnetically snap on now, neat as you please.

And there we go. Next up is the rectanna, and after that, looks like we're ready to tackle the mandibles!

Issue 70

OK cats, strap in for this one. It's a long one. We've got this long piece that we're going to be adding a sheer buttload of details to.

We start off with this corner:

...and apply detail, so:

Other side, same deal (MOST of these are going to be mirror objects. I'll note the ones that aren't):

Next, we add this piece to the front:

Up top (aft) go the next two:

On these, make sure to note which way up they go.

This one hangs over the edge; this is by design.

Next come these two.

Now these half-cylinders. Note the tapered side is aimed forward.

Next come these two little strips (again, pay attention to orientation):

Now these details go on next to them:

Now the little "arm" detail goes on the side shown.

This part is very delicate, and can be difficult. I'd be very careful with it, and you may want to keep it in place while the glue does its thing.

This bit goes on the corner shown.

...and this detail goes on the opposite side.

Another extra-thin detail goes in the place shown:

And this bit goes so it's going into the part we added previously (there isn't one for the other side, interestingly; I can't help but suspect there might have been at one time on the original prop, but it probably got knocked off or something).

Finally, this little detail goes on in the direction shown.

Well, that's mostly it. It's looking a lot better now, but you'll notice there's at least 4 holes waiting for stuff to add on. I'm sure we'll attend to them in good time.