The media could not be loaded. I love wooden puzzles. Usually, I can get through them pretty easily. This one, while I love the end results, was a pain to assemble!Some of the instructions didn’t make the translation to English well, and it caused some confusion at some parts. There were parts of the instructions that didn’t apply that were also confusing. For example, I spent 15 minutes trying to “peel protective layer from both sides” of a thin plastic circle before I came to the conclusion, it had no protective plastic!The assembly itself was a bit rough. Some parts really needed to squeeze into place. It does come with a lot of spare parts for the tinier pieces, which is good, but it doesn’t say exactly WHAT parts are extras. I snapped a couple pieces during inserting, and just stuffed the broken piece into place as I didn’t know if THAT particular piece had a spare (turns out, it did).Otherwise, this thing is SOLID!!! The pieces do fit together snuggly, but this is also the only wooden puzzle I’ve assembled that requires no glue whatsoever! I’m actually really impressed with the level of engineering that went into this piece!If you have the time and patience, this is a great puzzle to own! The end results are amazing, and I highly recommend it! It’s just not for beginners or young children, in my opinion.
Brandon L. –
I enjoy building things like this and uploading each step of the build to my TikTok, these are always entertaining to me to build and have fun with and show off to friends and family.
Declan H. –
Surprisingly good quality. Thick boards with an exception of a single board that was needed for specific parts. No warping of boards at all. Metal axes and no toothpicks whatsoever. Lighting harness held up to lots of bending and twisting and never broke. All the cuts were precise and parts came off without issue.Engineering and design are also top notch. Lots of functional gearing throughout the base of the model. I really enjoy kits that have functional mechanics as this one does. The first half of the build is assembly of the mechanism with the second half being more of the aesthetics. All the lighting is nicely recessed, and the battery compartment is so over engineered it makes me smile to play with it.The use of colored parts is a welcome addition as I grow tired of all the painting I’ve been doing on other models. The final product has a high quality look to it without any customization. I highly recommend this kit.
Jayce K. –
This was for my 11 year old’s birthday. He loves it! I got him one of the other marble runs for christmas last year as well. The chocolate factory said it was advanced, and it was. He did the vast majority of the build himself. I would hang out with him and punch out pieces as he needed them.The material is very sturdy. He did break a few small pieces, but all but was had extras on the sheet and was able to recover easily. The instructions are thorough enough for an 11 year old to complete this in 2 days, maybe twice the stated time for an adult.The included wax for the gears was brilliant, I just wish that it was shaped better for handling. It was a little small and difficult to maneuver at times.I will be looking for more of these kits for both children in the future.
John E. –
I have not put this item together yet, but I will make some initial comments. First, the box is super cute and the items are well packaged. The wood pieces are sealed in plastic and the additional components that make the device move seem to be in good condition. There is an instruction manual that lays out all of the items in photographic detail which is going to be imperative because as my headline suggests, the instructions were not written in English. It was VERY clear that these instructions were written in some other language and then poorly converted to English. I will be relying VERY heavily on the images for each step (which thankfully there appear to be plenty of throughout) to put this together. I do worry about the size of the images and where each component goes, but I think I can probably take photos with my phone and enlarge anything I can’t see too well when I start constructing it. Be prepared to have sandpaper and a screwdriver on hand, based on what I noticed at first glance through the book. There is a QR code to watch the carousel in action and I highly recommend this if only for the motivation to put the thing together.Will update on difficulty of construction after I’ve had the chance to put it together.
Giovanni H. –
Not easy to assemble and make it work. I’ve been taking it apart for more than 10 times to make the mechanical part work. Thought it will do but not untill the last step, it’s stuck again. Now I only got it built but not working 😔