Wood TrickWooden Marble Run Electric Motorized - 3D Wooden Puzzles for Adults and Kids to Build - 15x14 in - Roller Coaster Wooden Model Kits for Adults and Teens to Build

This is the second time I've put this marble run together. I have enjoyed it both times. The instructions were clear and easy to follow. The pieces were sturdy, sometimes to the point of having trouble getting them to pop out without losing a layer off it. That would be my only complaint, but very minor. Overall, the run was a joy to put together and very fun to watch. Wood Trick has made a great run. I'm currently working on the Gravity Run and when finished will put in a review on it, but so far, I will state the same on the instructions being very clear and easy to follow. So worth the purchase!

This is a very well designed product. Everything fit together as it is supposed to. The instructions were quite easy to follow, despite what some people have reported. The pieces are fairly easy to find and identify, especially once you realize that the picture on the page, is the board you should be looking on.I spent about 18 hours putting the whole thing together, working a few evenings part of two week-end days, and broke only two pieces. One, because I did not pay attention and fitted the piece wrong and had to remove it to correct the mistake. A little wood glue fixed that problem. The other piece broke when I tried to force it into place instead of sliding it in like instructions tell you to do. The kit included two spares for that piece.I admit that I did not do much sanding and smoothing, only on the gear teeth and a few rotating parts. Still, when I started it up the first time, everything ran smoothly and the whole system worked just as it is supposed to.All in all, it is a very satisfying project. Follow the easy instructions, clean up the rough edges on moving parts, use a little wax where necessary, and you will have a very nice, working model.I will definitely be looking at other Wood Trick projects.

I bought this project to entertain myself while recovering from back surgery. Doing a little at a time, it took me 5 days to complete. This was my 8th puzzle of this sort, and I have learned a few tricks. The instructions were good; not great, but good. There are a couple places where the instructions fail to warn you about putting the piece in upside down, or backwards. Closer examination of the illustrations showed me where my attention had not been sufficient. The instructions fail to require all of the wax lubrication that is beneficial to the movement of the pieces. Many of these pieces rotate. Any surface that rotates against another surface needs to be sanded smooth, and waxed. Maybe a quarter of the lubrication sites were pointed out. The wax and sandpaper that came with the puzzle were totally inadequate for my uses. I added half a sheet of 220 grit sandpaper, in smallish pieces over the course of the project. I used most of a tea candle to make gears work. The puzzle base appears to be some sort of fiberboard; it is very hard. I found that if I chamfered the tabs on pieces that plugged into slots on the base, my life was easier. The wealth of spares was appreciated. I actually broke 3 pieces trying to press them together; spares on the board were great. I was not as impressed with the quality of the wood. While it had few voids (how I broke one of the pieces), the surface veneer faces splintered quite easily when removing pieces from the source sheets. I had a little trouble with the big gear assembly from page 31; normal assembly and it didn't turn. I had to pry some of the spacer tabs out a bit to create a little clearance. Easy fix; make part numbers 10 and 15 a little deeper. The drive wheel for the big gear took a little tweaking too, else it would lose contact with the big wheel, because the big wheel could move up and down enough to skip off the drive gear. A spacer fixed that. I used 6 emory boards, a half sheet of 220 grit, a tea candle, a pair of needle nose pliers, and a single edge razor blade to get this done. But, it runs, and the grand-boys are intrigued. Best part.

I just finished the Wood Trick Spiral puzzle and now I’m starting this Galaxy. These are both going to be great additions to my collection of 8 marble run puzzles. The Wood Trick puzzles are my most satisfying and rewarding to build. One thing that has made the construction easier is to organize the part cards to see their number much easier and keep the parts from falling out before needing them. You can remove the top of a box (I use a large shoe box) and cut slots out on both sides (1/2 inch wide) to set the part wood cards down into the slots. You can then easily see the card numbers without having to go through your pile of cards. Hopefully this easy to make card organizer helps others. Will update this note with a review of the finished Galaxy in a few weeks.Have fun and a lot of patience.Just completed the Galaxy and it was another one of my favorite builds. Parts fit together nicely and snug. It was definitely a fun build and extremely satisfying to see it finished. It works properly with only two items needing attention unlike most of my collection’s completed puzzles. The diverter part number 225 on page 28 would not open right or left far enough when the first marble went past it. With the diverter staying pretty much in the middle the marbles would stack up behind it and not pass to one track or the other. I lengthened the side arms on this part and the diverter works perfectly allowing the marbles to move to one or the other tracks. To lengthen the sides of this part I used the small pieces from around the large gears that fall off when they are punched out of the cards. These triangular small pieces fit the side arms of this diverter piece perfectly and are a perfect length to move the diverter from side to side far enough when the marbles pass by. I attached a picture of the diverter with the extensions glued on. The other problem was the large Ferris wheel assembly and the motor box would move up from the base allowing the gears to misalign and bind up the drive line. The pressure of the motor drive gear driving the large gear would allow both to move up out of the puzzles base. I don’t like gluing pieces to the base of my puzzles as things may need work down the road after running them for awhile. A thin strong wire around part number 4 and 5 on page 33 and the base and a wire around the motor assembly holding it to the base works well.Have plenty of patients, don’t rush the assembling, have fun with it, and you to will enjoy the satisfaction of finishing a great marble run puzzle. One of the best now in my collection.