Marble Run 3D Wooden Puzzles Model Building Kits for Adults - Educational Project Brain Teaser, DIY Crafts for Adults (Fortress)

This was a fun project for my 13 year old grandson and me to work together. There were a few tough parts to assemble but it went together very well overall. The parts are laser cut and very precise. It is amazing how strong it is when assembled as there are no fasteners or glue used to hold it together. We had a small problem when finished as the marble run did not work as expected. We found that we had assembled one of the paddles backwards, and though this was a slight deviation it did make a difference. A little disassembly to correct this and it all works like it should. We did use a little glue to hold some of the raceways in place at an optimum angle, as they could shift slightly when moving the completed assembly. Once completed the operation is very mesmerizing as you operate the hand crank and watch the steel balls being moved around and operating various mechanisms along the way. Every now and then there is a glitch where a ball can jump the track. We found a dowel rod with a magnet glued on the end works well to pick up a ball that falls on the inside of the mechanism. There are assembly steps that have an exclamation point next to them indicating a critical step. It is important to ensure these steps are completed correctly to ensure the mechanism will work correctly. We spent 4 to 5 hours assembling and now there will be many hours of just playing with it.

I received this as a gift. The fit and precision of the parts was astonishing! It takes significant finger strength to push the pieces together. Also a lot of manual dexterity to assemble the very small parts. The kit comes with sandpaper to help too tight pieces go together. I only sanded one piece as there was interference in the assembly otherwise. Very few errors in the instructions, and all were minor and easily resolved. The instructions were 3-D drawings like IKEA, only on steroids! I finished the assembly in about 12 hours and it worked! It was a little confusing that there were about 10 pieces left over. I went back through the instructions and concluded that these were spares. This would have been a fun thing to put on display at my office. Alas, I am 66 years old and retired. Still a 14-year-old at heart!

This kit was an excellent start for me as far as building future wooden kits. Things may or may not work as promised in terms of the behavior of the steel marbles. But again very enjoyable to build and it taught me to be patient, take my time, look at the directions for proper orientation and such. I got introduced into the wonderful world of toothpicks that are much a staple in all of these kits and you have to be careful and strategic when using them.

This is one of four ROKR kits I have. They are quality-made precision cut parts that can be assembled without glue or tools, however I found that glue in some places and some tools make the assembly easier (see photo). Assemble on a hard surface to ensure the base is completely flat. A small flashlight, magnetic screw driver, needle nose files, seam ripper, etc. are helpful. A magnifying glass is needed to see the orientation of some parts in the instructions. It is VERY important to lubricate moving parts, especially those that slide. I used the wax provided and added Sewer's Aid (silicone oil). The oil enhances the wax lube and the oil is able to reach places that are difficult to wax - such as gear teeth. Check for proper assembly and free movement of moving parts during each step of assembly.

I built this in about 2 days, and it works great! It’s very fun to look at and the instructions are clear. Being as how the pieces are made out of wood, the pieces CAN break. As long as you follow the directions carefully and don’t force pieces into place then you’ll be fine. I would not recommend this to younger kids unless you are doing it with them because some pieces can be hard to places and the pieces can break. The smaller pieces come with extra parts so it’s fine if one of them breaks. Overall I really enjoyed making this and if you can follow instructions then it’s the thing for you!

Love doing regular puzzles, but decided to try something 3D this time. It was great fun! The material quality was top notch, the engineering was incredible, and the instructions were some of the best I've seen. If there's any ambiguity, I always put things together wrong way first before getting it right. I had no do overs with this. After a little fine tuning, it worked perfectly! A lot of the connections require a great bit of force. Using the provided sandpaper to knock down the edges on the male connectors is advisable to get a good start before the major pressure begins. Good luck!

Overall, this is a pretty good model. The most enjoyable part is building it which takes about 2.5-3 hours if you don't make too many mistakes. The diagrams in the instructions is a bit too small, and some of them are drawn from a bad angle which makes it difficult to see where the parts are supposed to fit. The small wax bar given with the model works great for lubricating the axles. I applied some teflon spray to the off-center discs and bottom pieces of the pistons and the mechanism seemed to operate much smoother after that. You also have to sand some moving surfaces so that they glide smoothly against each other. There is a small piece of sandpaper included which is good enough for this. After it is complete, the model almost operates as expected but there were a couple of problems. Most issues were due to the fact that the balls were somewhat smaller than what is shown in the pictures on the box, and they end up in pairs on the moving steps, which causes some problems like balls jumping out of the track. A small railing at the end of the first long run (which, really should have been part of the original design) is one easy DIY fix. Overall, very enjoyable to build, but doesn't operate as smoothly as expected.

I built this with my 2 sons, ages 10 and 12. We built it in about 2 days and it definitely requires some patience and gentleness as the pieces can be easy to break or damage if you're not careful. Definitely use the sanding tools to smooth out rough edges and lubricate where indicated.