UGEARS V-Express Steam Train with Tender 3D Wooden Puzzles for Adults - Wooden Model Kits for Adults Model Train Steam Engine Kit Brain Teaser, Hobby Set Home Decoration

I got the UGears train (with over 500 pieces) for my 16-year-old son this xmas. He was so enthralled by it that he spent almost two uninterrupted days putting it all together, and the results are visible in the attached video. It was very cool when started explaining how the transmission (that allows him to switch between Forward, Reverse, and Neutral) works. He commented: "If I didn't put it together, it wouldn't make sense." As a result, it not only occupied his time enhancing his fine motor skills, it also taught him a ton about gears, levers and much more. The craftsmanship resulting from laser-cut thin sheets of plywood was incredible. (There is a down-side to so many tiny parts... which I'll mention in a second). I was amazed for instance, when I saw that they crafted tiny (wooden!) roller-bearings, that were held in place by a circular (wooden!) race, when they knew the (rubber band) motor would have otherwise encountered a ton of friction as the lower plate tried to spin. It was also incredible that the whole train was assembled without any glue, using only wood, plus a set of rubber bands for the "motor" and "springs." (He broke one tiny part fairly ancillary part, that I glued back together before he installed it, but glue was not required.) On the downside, the parts were VERY small at times, which made it painful to push small things together, since it was friction that would keep them in place. For instance, toothpicks were routinely cut to 10 or 20 mm with a tiny jig-tool to get the sizes perfect (you do need to have a razor-knife to cut the supplied toothpicks). The "problem" came when pressing those toothpicks, or toothpick-fragments, into holes that were deliberately cut to be a VERY TIGHT friction fit with the toothpick. Worse yet, many times you needed to stand up a 10 mm fragment above a tiny hole, then THEN push it into place with notable force, which is really where "fine motor skills" were called for... until he discovered the following pro-tip. (Pro-tip that he discovered half way through assembly: The tiny "measuring jig" has two extra holes on it, that are "not documented." One hole is cut a tad larger than the toothpick diameter, for friction-free-holding of a fragment vertically, when you need to press it into a piece! The other hole is cut sufficiently smaller than the diameter of a toothpick so that it can be used to press on the "still pointy end" of the toothpick, without sliding! When you need to press a rather full-length toothpick through 6-7 stacked pieces with tremendous friction, this jig means that you don't have to grab the toothpick on its side and push. He also found it useful to have thimble (from our sewing kit) to press on these fragments. Lastly, I eventually lent him some small trigger clamps (see https://smile.amazon.com/DEWALT-DWHT83148-Small-Trigger-Clamp/dp/B0195UG2VG) which he used as a sort-of-hand-held-press, and they helped him as his fingers began to struggle. YMMV).

I've been working on this for the past two days and just completed the locomotive. I can't express enough how amazed I am about this product. It is so much fun to put together, though it can be frustrating at times. My fingers are so sore right now. This product is certainly not for kids. It is very meticulous and requires a lot of attention to detail. A few take aways that I found to be helpful: 1. Grab a pair of wire cutters and needle nose pliers to help you cut the toothpicks and affix them to the tiny parts of the train. 2. Get a wax burner. The nub of wax that is provided does not do a good enough job, especially when waxing the small parts and gears. Using a wax burner and a toothpick has worked wonders for me. 3. Look over the instructions very carefully before putting the pieces together. Pay very close attention to the photos to be sure you're installing the parts in the proper direction. I've had to take a few pieces apart because something was installed backwards. 4. Have some superglue hand. You can try to be as gentle as possible, but many of the pieces are difficult to remove from the sheet and if you accidentally apply too much force, you're bound to break a few pieces. 5. Test test test as you go. If you wait until everything is complete, it might be too late to find out what went wrong without having to take the whole thing apart. Overall, this has been a very exciting project. There are so many moving parts and details. There are little surprises along the way which makes it that much more exciting to put together.

This kit takes lots of concentration and patience. You need lots of accessories around you to be successful and need to devote a large table just for this kit and its needs. There are delicate parts that just cannot be manhandled or you will break them. Directions need to be followed to the letter and all relative views and cautionary details. Take a break, don't devote more than perhaps 90 minutes per assembly session. When it says to sand something you do it, wax something you do it. Make sure to orient parts according to the diagram before dealing with them in any way, pay attention to the little dots, holes and lines depicted in the diagrams. They are shown for a reason. There are no words for directions therefore the pictures mean everything, you need to look and look again prior to doing something. The toothpicks are tricky and you will be using lots of them in very tiny lengths and holes need to be lined up perfectly in most cases. I made a point of cutting them a tad longer than required and then sanding them afterwards. I have even used a small magnifying glass to analyze critical orientation of certain parts prior to assembling them and let me tell you it has paid off, I caught myself a few times needing to "adjust" the orientation of a part or parts that were crucial to things. I look at it this way, even if the train doesn't move after building it, who cares, as long as it looks good and you learned from it as you perhaps venture on the other kits that you may purchase.

I purchased this as a Christmas gift for my husband and he loved it! Very detailed and time consuming, perfect for a challenge driven person. He did break one part and requested the free replacement, which we are still waiting on a few weeks later, but other than that, this was a win!

First of all, I must admit this has been very joyful experience for me. The kit is very high quality indeed and the level of details is great. At the end one gets not exactly accurate copy, but rather artistic representation of passenger steam locomotive with quite a bit of functionality. It is a toy and an art display. The model does require substantial number of hours for assembly, and sensible amount of patience. The precision laser cut parts and the scent of wood certainly contribute to the joy during the hours of assembly. However, one must be careful as small and tight fit plywood parts can split. I had to use superglue to fix a couple of mistakes without any fatal damage. Furthermore, to assure locomotive's rubber band motor is functioning at the end, one need to carefully note all the instructions on the application of lubricating candle and use of polishing paper in critical locations. Luckily the assembly booklet is detailed and well illustrated. A word of caution - do not expect the end results quickly, this is not one evening type of project. I would recommend this to people with great attention to details who enjoys the process as much as the end result.

A very intricately detailed model with many operating features! One of Ugears best kits! Assembly is slightly difficult and requires patience, but the end result is a stunning and beautiful piece! The model is a fully functional locomotive that runs forward and backwards, and even couples up with the tender. The tender itself has opening sides to store items. I gave the completed model to my manager for Christmas and he was blown away! It even comes with several feet of straight track!

I have put together many wooden model kits, and this one was the most challenging. I do love a challenge! My three star rating is because of having to cut and tie the many rubber bands needed for the train. I wish they would have given you ones that were the correct size instead of requiring the user to make them. They also gave you toothpicks instead of just supplying you with the needed "posts" to secure certain pieces together. That was not a big deal, because you can be very precise in the measurements. The wax that was supplied was very soft, and I ran out of it about 1/3 of the way through. Good thing I kept the wax from previous kits. All said and done, my train does not move, and I even took apart the "engine", and the best I got was the gears kind of moving. I do like how it looks, and I never intended on "playing" with it, but it would of been nice to actually see it move.

Overall I enjoyed assembling the whole train. I finished the assembling in four days. There were multiple parts which you have to push really hard to put together. I pushed them so hard that my fingers were in burning pain every day. But I love assembling stuff, so I still came back at it the next day. The skins on my fingers (mainly thumbs and index fingers) started to peel after a week. Also I broke 3 parts so I had to use shoe glue to hold them together. I was really mad at myself for breaking them. Make sure the sticks used to put the wheels together not pointing out, otherwise they will add a lot of frictions, then the wheels wouldn’t move. What I did was cut the toothpick a bit shorter than needed, thus both ends can hind in the wheels. But I probably will not assemble this another time, I can’t stand that pain again...

La calidad de los materiales es excelente, hace posible montar todo sin romper las piezas, con esfuerzo pero con seguridad. El buen diseño de las piezas, la confianza en que el resultado final será excelente, hace que la maqueta terminada sea una obra de ingeniería. El corte láser, perfecto. Quizá, el sistema de gomas elásticas se hace complicado, que giren con suavidad los ejes es difícil. Cuando se termina todo... ¡la máquina, el vagón, la vía del tren... quedan espléndidas!

細部まで精巧に作られていて楽しめます。 窯やドアが開いたり、はしごや連結器がちゃんと動くのが楽しいです。 木でできているので、木の堅さにむらがあるのか、パーツを綺麗に取るのが難しい場所があります。 一つも欠けないようにするのが難しいです。 逆転レバーの強度が弱くて折れたのですが、木工用ボンドでつけて使っています。 中の機構の滑りが悪くて折れた気がしたので、中に蝋を塗ったら、滑りがよくて、強度が弱いレバーでも動きやすくなりました。蝋を塗るのはお勧めです。 はまりにくいパーツは蝋を塗るとはめやすくなります。力づくではめなくてよくなるので、パーツが壊れにくくなると思うので、蝋を塗るのを勧めます。 作るのはとても楽しいので、こういう工作が好きな人にはお勧めできます。

Il modello è molto bello e ricco di particolari, richiede molta attenzione e delicatezza sia al momento di rimuovere i singoli componenti dai fogli pre'tagliati che nel momenti di assembleggio. Non un singolo goccio di colla è previsto e dal punto di vista progettuale è fenomenale, ma non concede errori, se rompete qualcosa non ci sono ricambi se non pochissimi pezzi. Incredibile che il sistema di ingranaggi consenta sia la marcia avanti che indietro come il "neutral" per spostarsi senza far presa di forza. Carteggiare e lubrificare con la cera tutte le parti che sfregano tra loro è determinante, non siate pigri. Bisogna altresì valutare dove mettere il modello finito che ha un certo ingombre, la locomotiva con il carrello sono lunghi 55 Cm e larghi 10Cm. I difetti sono pochi secondo me e sono i seguenti: 1) L'intricato sistema di accumulo di energia (elastici in torsione) fornisce forza di spinta solo per pochi centimetri. 2) Molte connessioni una volta fatte sono irreversibili, ovvero se si cerca di smontare qualcosa probabilmente lo si rompe e questo su componenti come i binari che non possono essere sempre assemblati per ingombro è un problema. 3) Probabilmente adatto a un ragazzo sopra i 14 anni ma non al primo approccio con articoli di questo tipo il montaggio richiede attenzione, calma ed anche esperienza per non far danni.

Mooie kwaliteit. Zeer fijne onderdelen. Kant en klare onderdelen. Zeer hoge kwaliteit. Ga hier echt van genieten

J'ai vraiment été émerveillé par la précision des pièces et le résultat remarquable obtenu. La patience et la dextérité est de mise et la cire est votre meilleur ami. Certaine sont fragile et il faut être prudent avec les mécanisme articulé. Un merveilleux produit et je prévoie acheter d'autre modèles fabriqué par cette entreprise