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1 Level
1310 Review
45 Karma

Review on ROBOTIME Dollhouse Miniature Christmas Valentine by Nathan Jones

Revainrating 3 out of 5

Project NOT for Beginners

Positives:1. The accessories were adorable - not to scale, sorry, but still cute, and there were a lot of clever ideas I didn't consider when working on this. 2. The premise was very different from other models.3. Lighting/mounting was thought of and shrink tubing was included. Cons: 1. The instructions were terrible for starters. I don't bother with written instructions when there are decent pictures, but they were fuzzy, vague and much of it unintelligible. It meant too many mistakes, things that didn't add up, and a very stressful experience. I was happy to finish it but hated the process.2. I didn't mind wiring the diodes entirely myself, but for a beginner/person unfamiliar with diode stripping there was no room for error. They included heat shrink tubing that I'd like to include in other kits, so I bought some for later use.3. The prints were on cheap matte paper and tore easily. I replaced all the paper flowers with dried ones (it looked a lot better that way). I also scanned the printouts and reprinted them on higher quality paper, which I didn't have to do. Pickling was required for almost everything - and for gliding boards where the string knife didn't fit perfectly. I had to use my #11 scalpel to remove almost every cut in the tree, broke countless blades, and grew frustrated. I ended up using markers to color the sides of most of the boards because it was very frustrating to draw. Yes. no, not again.5. Tree assembly was inefficient and frustrating. First it was necessary to include the brown wire, not paint the green wire. Second, assembling a wire tree is easy to do with a few measuring tools and a simple disconnection of the branches, rather than twisting a few short wires together hoping they'll stay in place. It was a very poor design for most of the project. Overall I liked the finished product when it was made, but the only reason it turned out that way is because I have kit building experience. The accessories are the only reason I didn't rate this kit lower. I won't be ordering another one of these, but am pleased with the experience.

Pros
  • Toys & Games
Cons
  • Concise Instructions