Keeping my brain engaged, completed this morning and have ordered another. The clear plexiglass spacers are a bit of a pita, had to ream most with my dermal to make them fit, should be a bit more clearance for the shafts to fit in!

I liked the easy snap apart pieces, I do not like the directions, which were a bit hard to understand with just a picture no explanation. And j do not like had easily the railings break.

I had a great time putting this together, but keep in mind it takes patience and quite a bit of time to get it right. I gave it 5 stars for ease of putting it together because the instructions are really good, and the pieces are incredibly precise, BUT don't think this is going together fast. Also, buy crazy glue, you will break some pieces during the process so you'll need it. Repairs are easy and fast, but they will happen!

Bought as gift for 11 yr old granddaughter. She did well with lower complexity subassemblies but needed help with the more complex subassemblies and final assembly. She broke a few parts which I was able to repair with wood glue. Kit was missing a couple of parts but we were able to work around it. After final assembly, I exercised the unit extensively to find the weak points and made several adjustments with glue and toothpicks to get reliable and consistent performance. Overall, she and I had a great time working together and she now has a unique item in her room she can enjoy and share with others.

This is a Christmas gift and I will update my reviews when we open it up. Came fast and looks good.

Part 3 not listed to key on

Some of the small parts are really difficult to not break during the build. The part layout isn't great so you have to constantly switch back and forth between the part sheets. I have built several of these type puzzles and this is the first one that was disappointing.

Careful with the pieces though. Some are fragile a difficult to manipulate. We broke a couple of pieces and that's a disappointment given the cost of the item. I would however purchase another.

Good puzzle/toy. Really good non word instructions good help with tough QR code help videos. It was VERY helpful that they gave you extra pieces knowing that I would break them some where hard to attach. The overall great laser cutting and assemble they had done amazing.

I bought this as a gift for my husband. He really enjoyed putting it together, though he had to re-do several bits. You must have patience, and good eye for detail to do the best with this item. It was really cute once he put it together. Took him about ten hours all totaled. Would buy this type of item again, in fact, I chose a different model for his birthday...shh... it is a secret...LOL

My husband has a laser machine and wants to make things like this, so this was a great way for him to learn how small, intricate pieces can fit together. Sadly, when it was all assembled, small errors in some pieces prevent it from working properly (the marble is supposed to be able to follow the tracks, and instead always gets stuck.) That said, it was still fun and informative, so we will give it 3 stars.

I really enjoyed putting this kit together , altho the pieces are very thin an fragile it definitely requires a lot of patients and care putting together . I found the use of needle nose pliers necessary to press many of the parts together to avoid breaking them . Even though they say no glue is needed , foresight tells me many of the parts will come loose before its completed , so I used small amounts of wood glue on most of the joints pressed together . Especially on the tracks an rails , wasn't necessary for the steel pins . Also needed glue on all the steps to keep the spiral track in place , once completed everything worked fine , works best on a level surface . Fun project if you take your time , but probably to fragile and complicated for younger children , some of the directions are a little vague and not quite clear .

Gave to teenage granddaughter who is almost finished building it. Assists in teaching following directions. She is an A student and was able to do without assistance

Asked for this at Christmas (just for something different) and got it. As someone who has 50 years experience building scale models, this was easy for me, but I would not recommend it for someone who has never built anything like this before, and kids will need adult supervision when building it.Aside from what's included in the kit, I'd also recommend that you have a sharp hobby knife, a good pair of tweezers (some parts are very small), and either fast-setting wood glue or a superglue that also works on wood.The main difficulty for me during the build - other than not getting fingerprints on the clear acrylic parts - were the clear plastic axle washers / spacers... clear plastic isn't very flexible, so I would defintely recommend using wax (included) on the axle pieces to put those washers in place; you will still need some muscle to get those in place.Breakages can be easy if you're not careful - this is just thin plywood for some parts. For any parts that push into the base, I'd suggest opening the holes in the base just slightly, otherwise you'll be putting a lot of pressure on a fragile part for a very tight fit. And yes, to repeat, be careful - these parts are fairly fragile just because they're thin plywood. Some parts should be carefully cut out of the sheets instead of just pushing them, and you should definitely trim / sand the parts where they were connected to the sheet.Following the instructions, the build was easy enough, and they do include QR codes in a few steps so you can see where a part goes or where it fits. The only exception - as far as doing the steps in order - would be the nameplate with its sticker (one of the last steps)... I'd suggest doing that as one of the first things before you build anything on the base, so you have easy access to the brass screws for it. Also make sure that you trim any excess from between the various sections of the spiral... follow the markings.Overall, the build was fun and easy - two (long) afternoons; I'd say that overall, assembly will take 10 hours or more. The operating machine... not bad, could be better. Make sure that you 'grease' wood pieces that rub against each other (especially the gears) with the wax included. The wedge that pushes the balls out of the acrylic gear and on to the track needs reinforcement, so crank slowly; otherwise a ball might not get pushed out, and could end up following the acrylic gear around, dropping to the ground.I would recommend this for someone who likes to build, but not necessarily as a toy that will get used often. Though you must admit that it makes a good conversation piece.

Despite following instructions carefully, it does not work when finished. The marbles get stuck, they won't ever take the second track. I just can't get it to work when I'm done. It was fun to build, though.

This was a bit of a challenge compared to the others I've built. I'm sure some of you have already run into some build/design issues. One of the major issues was of the drop-down to the placeholder 'flags'. The problem was with the lack of speed buildup once the marble drops to the second level. There's not enough force to engage the flags in order to allow the held marbles to drop. After about 6 marbles there was enough force to push the flags. It just didn't seem right for this to happen. So after much thought and ideas I used a piece of 5/8's tubing in order to allow the marble to gain enough speed/force to hit the flags (see image). I superglued the top of the tub to the bottom of the top run. There were a couple of other issues but were insignificant. The manual had a few areas that needed zoom inserts to better convey the assembly. But overall I'm glad I bought this one. Much more involved that the other Marble Runs.

Birthday gift for my grandson. He was crushed when the pieces were breaking as he was trying to take them out of their holder frame part.

Para regalo ideal algo no solo de nios sino para adultoa excelente regalo