The media could not be loaded. My review is for the "marble squad" version of the kit.

This is a complex kit that works surprisingly well for something with 8 metal pieces and hundred of plywood bits.

The design is very thoughtful and a lot of work went in to designing something that's difficult build wrong:
* every piece has its pet number etched *on* the part so you can identify it even if you pop it out too early
* all identical pieces have the same part number making it easy to keep parts sorted
* lots of pieces either can't fit when flipped over, or are symmetrical so it doesn't matter
* subgroups have little labels etched on them so they're easy to identify when you need them
* the smallest pieces, the tiny pegs, all have spares included

My few minor tips:

* the laser cut wood can be harder to pop out with your fingers, an exacto knife might be useful here

* the included tool can be used to slip the little plastic fairings on the steel shaft. Otherwise this step is quite difficult!

* use the included wax liberally every step where it's indicated on the instructions!

*dont worry too much if the gearing doesn't look perfectly true in the first stages of assembly, the whole thing gets more rigid once it's completed and the stair stepper particularly feels quite janky until the bottom pieces go in.

"”"”-

It's a really lovely kit, I'll definitely try another ROKR kit in the near future

Takes a lot of patience, but is worth it. Fun and challenging. Easy to follow directions.

Awesome product!! My grandson and I had a blast putting it together and watching each part work an we built it!!! Thanks Amazon!!!!

I had trouble with another wooden mechanical model but I really like this company so I wanted to try again. Here are the pros and cons of this item:

Pros:
- The pieces are well cut and made.
- The model is easy to put together if you follow the instructions carefully.
- It only took me five hours to build, I did it in one sitting.
- It's very cool to have the gears work and watch what happens.
- Everything that you need is included, even wax.
- They send extra pieces just in case.
- This comes with the marbles.

Cons:
- The wood is uneven and can get warped. This is not good when you have a model that requires gravity to make the marbles move because a ramp that is supposed to be going down can end up going up when the wood gets warped. Because of this there are places that I have to push the marble along with my finger.
- I had to glue some pieces together because they didn't fit together well enough.
- The instructions have no words which can make things confusing (think IKEA instructions but less clear).

I was hoping to give this as a gift but I can't because even though all the gears work well, there are places I have to push the marble along with my finger which makes me feel like it's too defective to give as a gift. However, it looks very cool and is a great conversation piece. And after a few bumps to get the marble to go the result is very cool.

Also, something I didn't know until the very end, there are two paths that the marbles can go down and it's pretty random which path it will take. It adds variety and excitement. It's a very nice touch.

I probably won't be getting any more wooden mechanical models like this because I felt disappointed when I finished and I don't feel like I can trust the wood in future models to ensure that the model works properly. But I'm not sorry I gave this one a chance, it was fun to build.

My grandson loved putting it together