Timberkits The Magician Automata

Having stumbled on these while looking for an xmas present i bought one for a gift, after see the reaction christmas day i bought one for myself.Some skill and patience needed, but a fun little project that can last for a few days.Early stages need you to wait 15mins for the glue to dry. If you set the goal of a few days to make it and do it bit by bit im sure it will end up being a great project.

This kit is a good quality with fairly clear instructions andante end result is excellent

My daughter was happy with it.

The instructions need reading a few times the quality of the puzzle is excellent

This was the first kit I have done, I really enjoyed it, the instructions were clear and the result was amazing. Just deciding whether to paint it

Brought the kit as it looks like a good way to waste a few hours, and I have to say it really is. The idea is great, and mechanically a brilliant kit, but there are a few parts that I am less than happy with.The instructions do a fairly good job of showing what to do, but there were parts that were a mystery to me based purely on instructions. I am mechanically minded, so taking the odd guess paid off. There are photos in the book, but you can see there is suddenly another part glued on, then in the next picture its gone, to then be glued back later on. This is just a quirk of the kit.For putting the cams on the shafts, I personally would have designed the kit differently with square shafts to take some of the stress off the glue joints, but also aided assembly as everything is then locked at fixed angles. The glue provided is great, it bites hard, but most of my tube I had to empty into the bin as it had gone solid in the bottle.Gap fitment is terrible in places, which is where dry assembly would help. I found I have massive gaps between the shoulders and arms, which I can't do anything about with cutting 3mm from the bottom of two parts. This will be difficult as it tells you to glue these bits on quite early on (but almost the last bit to be fitted to the model) and the glue is really quite good.Dry assembly would be ideal before completing the kit, but due to most of it being held together by glue, this is not possible.I may attach some pictures when I get a chance.

I have done several of these kits and they are wonderful. This one is particularly challenging - definitely not for beginners. Do look at the instructional videos on the Website, they are extremely useful. And read the instructions VERY carefully. It is so easy to attach a piece upside down or using the wrong length dowel.

I bought this for my 92 year old neighbour. He was totally engrossed and loved doing it.It gave his the chance to think it through, follow the directions and end up with such a lovely model.Thank you design team