HEYZLASS Mini Strandbeest Model Kit (Wind Power DIY-Beast), Interesting and Creative Gift for Birthday Holiday

The parts are well molded and of very good quality. I'm very impressed by the product and it works great once finished. The instruction booklet has a both English and Chinese, but it's not the random gibberish google-translate trash. It's actually well written with decent diagrams that are very helpful. It is not comparable to Lego bricks, but it's still very impressive for the price. The only improvement I can suggest is that the plastic molding could be a bit less brittle, but it's only a small issue. I would highly recommend this as a gift for someone (even without experience building kits). I think most people over the age of 13 would be able to build it, especially with some guidance. I enjoyed the project and would buy this again as a gift. 5/5, would recommend. Difficulty age 13+

I've been mesmerized by videos of Theo Jansen's Strandbeests "walking" gracefully down beaches for years. How are the linkages put together? Now I can inspect my own. Took an hour to build from opening the box to powering it with a hair dryer (on cool). Great design - needs only a diagonal cutter (pliers) or a wire cutter or just a hobby knife to pull the pieces apart. No glue, just snaps together or press fits together. Instructions were very clear for this kind of thing. Assembly advice for those who are daunted by negative review here: There are 12 legs to assemble - all the same. They then get slotted into a frame-with-crankshaft - 6 pairs, all the same. In each case the _first_ one can be tricky - take your time, really _study_ the instruction diagrams, make sure each piece is oriented correctly _especially which side is "up"_. Then do the rest the same way. After putting the first "leg" on the first "frame" try rotating the crankshaft carefully - it should work. Then put the second "leg" on the first "frame" and again rotate the crankshaft carefully - it should work very nicely - though it is delicate at this point. In each case once you've got the first one (or first pair) done _all the rest are done the same and you've got a physical example to look at_. Surprisingly low friction for a bunch of plastic parts rubbing against each other: The thing really walks nicely. As I said above: power it with a hair dryer on cool. I was able to do it easily even with my big fat thumbs. I'm going to get a second. I think with a couple of supplementary steel wires I can easily make it double length...

Some of the instructions were confusingly worded and pictures were unclear, how ever it functions well after it's all put together. parts snap off their place holders fairly easily and once you see how the parts connect it's not too difficult to assemble. I did have to glue one part that holds the fan because it kept falling off. Overall this is a fun project to put together, it shouldn't take very long either. The movement is mesmerizing to observe, probably my favorite kits that mixes engineering with art.

If you’re an expert model / puzzle builder, this version of the Strandbeest probably won’t be a challenge for you, but for us newbies who need explicit instructions, putting this together was almost impossible. The instructions were the biggest problem I had with this kit. The first few steps were straightforward and presented no difficulties following them. Once you get to the main part of the build though, the legs, the instructions are almost completely worthless. There’s simply too much information to convey about pieces which have to come together simultaneously for paper instructions to suffice. Fortunately, I found a very helpful YouTube video demonstrating the process of putting the legs together. It does cut out at kind of a key moment, but enough was shown that I was able to get it together. Without that video though, I am confident I would have ended up tossing the whole thing in the trash out of frustration. Luckily, once you make one set of the twelve legs, the rest are a simple matter of repetition. All of the pieces fit together very well, with one exception. The rubber feet are difficult to slide into their slots without absolutely destroying the rubber. Oh! Almost forgot, be very careful when cutting apart the rubber feet. They come in one long strip and appear as though you can just rip them apart since they are scored and already cut through halfway, but if you just tear them (like I did to the first one), you’ll end up with an anusable half of a rubber foot. Fortunately, I think the makers realize this and so they provide 13 foot pads even though you just need 12, so you can mess up one time. I don’t see a need to include the link to the instructions video because it’s very easy to find on YouTube. Just type in "mini strandbeest instructions" and it’s one of the first ones to pop up. As simplistic as this model is, I would say it’s not really for anyone under 12 years old, unless they’re precocious and have a knack for mechanical processes. Having said that, it isn’t very rewarding to assemble this model and it’s fascinating to watch it in action. Blowing on it to make it move gets tiring fast though, so have a small portable fan on hand to power it when you finish putting it together. You can get a fan that plugs into your smartphone for a couple dollars on eBay or a few more dollars on amazon, but the cheap ones from eBay do take a month to arrive.

WOW! Surprised at the quality. My adult son was very impressed! We actually saw this Strandbeest on a beach in England in 2007. The model works, crawling across the surface!

I couldn’t believe the price of this toy. It’s so cheap for such an elegant, well thought design. It certainly takes some patience to assemble. Be careful and note the details in the instructions to ensure you don’t assemble it in the wrong direction. I did at first with the second half of the beast and when putting two halves together it didn’t fit. My bad. Took like 10m to disassemble one half and put everything back together. It works well. It’s made of plastic and joints so it’s not the most bulletproof in the world, hence play with it carefully (just don’t throw it around lolz). I’m sure your kids will enjoy this toy.

Evidently there are a lot of knockoffs of this model, and this is one. However, the pieces are sturdy and it works just fine. The instructions are...well...not great, but if you study the diagrams, they eventually make sense. I will point out two specific instructions that are not clear. At the bottom of Page 3 there is a diagram showing how to use a cutter to remove the plastic pieces from their injection molding spines. It clearly shows a “correct way” and an “incorrect way” and warns of cutting part F carefully. Here’s the thing: both pictures are identical... and there is no real way to cut incorrectly. So this warning is odd. When you assemble the twelve “legs” (Step 5), they will keep falling apart (where part A and C meet). You are going to be convinced you have a bad kit. Do not despair, as part F will eventually keep them together. That takes place much later in the assembly. Trust me, the kit does stay together by the end. Finally, the first step of inserting the rubber feet can be difficult. Don’t force it. Be patient. The kit is truly amazing as nothing “snaps together”, and no glue is needed. You could disassemble the beest pretty easily. If you are forcing pieces together, you are assembling it incorrectly.

This is a very cool bio-physics teaching machine. The manufacturing and materials are high quality. However it is very complex, like life itself, and the instruction manual is needed. The instruction manual is well written in multiple languages with helpful illustrations, but was missing Pages 4-7 and there is no Online Instruction Manual. We ordered a second kit hoping for a misprint, but the second kit was also missing pages 4-7.

Easy to assemble and a really nice result

Un excelente rompecabezas, interesante y una vez armado es impresionante el movimiento. Muy recomendable.

Not hard to build and works amazing!

Very cool!

I ordered three of these but one of them was defective the molds must not of filled properly but I notified Amazon and they refunded me immediately. The kits are great and fun to put together and look really cool when you let them loose