For my birthday, Kasul got me a picture of a LEGO Thunderjaw and several pounds of LEGO bricks and Technic bits. Somewhere in there, I was told, lived a Thunderjaw to help protect my (official) LEGO Tallneck from the cats.
I was dubious. Still am, to tell the truth.
I definitely wanted it; I’d seen other MOC (“my own creation”) fan Horizon builds, and if you already have a Tallneck, the Thunderjaw is the next thing you want (and after that, probably that tick-like creature with all that Blaze in a cannister on its back). Or maybe a Watcher, but I have one of those, came with the LEGO Tallneck.
Based on my experience with the Tallneck, I expected this to come together fairly smoothly. Kasul had kindly separated out a lot of the parts so that the first couple of bags would cover the first fifty steps or so.
To be fair, the body more or less came together smoothly. Sure, parts would keep dropping off, but it it was only a couple, I could put them right back on. This is before Mister T. Jaw became acquainted with Ms. S. Glue. They’ve since become closely attached to one another.
Legs came next, and that’s when the problems really kicked up. Every single thing on those legs wanted to pop right back off again. Two steps forward and one step back. And it was clear even then that the legs would never support the model. They might, if you could get them to stay under the center of gravity. Unlike the Tallneck’s legs, there is no ratchet keeping them in position; it’s just a freely rotating ball joint (several, actually) that offers no resistance to gravity. Madame Glue will have words with those once I’ve built the base and decided upon a pose.
I had a rule: pop off once, fine, that one’s on me. Pop off twice, first warning. Three times — glue time.
When building the tail, I was pretty free with the glue. If it popped off and I didn’t think I was doing anything that should have caused it to pop off — glue. This model will really be pointless if I can’t even touch it when it’s done.
Today I finished the neck, the famous jaw, the ammo belts and the disc launchers and this was the WORST BUILD DAY YET. As I went to put the ammo belts on, the neck — shattered. Just popped to pieces. I was more than a little upset. I had to disassemble it and rebuild it. With More Glue.
It’s a beautiful model. It took a considerable effort for Kasul to source all the parts for it. It should take me an equal effort to make it. I don’t know who would want to buy assembled LEGO models. I don’t. The completed model is the reward for finishing the build. The tougher the build, the better the reward. There are going to be some who say using glue is a cheat. I don’t agree. I don’t have any desire to disassemble this. Well, the thing nearly hit the wall, hard, earlier today, but I got over it. It’s safe from me now.
From the cats? I dunno.
