Steampunk Chameleon Model Kit

A nice challenge especially with my large hands but completely doable.
Incredibly precise parts and very detailed. Very enjoyable build for me.

Loved it!!

This is a really great kit and the end product is awesome. I reckon on reflection there could be more advice about assembly in the instructions. One thing you often find is that crucial sections can work loose in the process of assembly ... meaning you need to pull apart the final thing to tighten bits and then reassemble, even though there are some nuts with nylon thread. Particularly challenging to get the legs to stay firm so you can pose the final piece to stay upright in a lifelike posture.

The quality is pretty solid but there were some issues. My instructions came in Chinese so I’m sure I missed important details. My biggest issue was that you sometimes don’t know when to fully tighten some parts. I found that areas needed to stay slightly loose to fit the next part but then it would block off the previous fasteners. I have the project completed but it feels loose. I can’t reposition in fear of messing it up. The legs are very fragile especially.

I had such a love / hate relationship with this build. While the difficulty is on par with what is described as being "very challenging" I do have some criticisms. The tolerances for some pieces need to be very precise in order for certain pieces to fit together. Another gripe I have is that while extras are included for some pieces in the build not every piece has at least one extra which would be nice.

That being said some of the pieces that arrived in my box were deformed and required a lot of effort to be able to get the required screw to go through the hole. Leading back to my previous point, if this specific piece would have had an extra I would not have had to spend so long squeezing it with my pliers to get it to line up.

With the tight tolerances a lot of pieces need to be loosened and retightened in order to line everything up to fit together. This causes some of the screws to become stripped out even when delicately tightening them. Over time throughout the build they become loose again, and some things are flimsy beyond repair. For example the upper portion of the front legs go on very early in the build, and once they become loose over time there is no space to tighten them again as other pieces block your ability to do so. Thus there may be issues with it supporting its own weight (about 2 lbs)

All said and done the build took about 8 hours of actual hands on to complete. I'm in awe of its beauty and I'm happy that I was determined to overcome the struggles of the build. While it likely costs about $100 to manufacture; I wouldn't say that the struggles that likely many others will encounter are worth the full $160 price tag, but that is just my opinion. I had fun, it's as advertised, and looks fantastic. Not really much else to say beyond that. Hopefully this helps your decision to buy or not buy!