Strandbeests Wind-Powered Walking Kit | DIY Kinetic Beast Model with Turbine | 23-Piece STEM Assembly Toy for Ages 8+ | Automatic Bionic Sculpture (Yellow)

Great model. I enjoyed building it and it works great. The instructions are clear ... you just need to read them carefully.

The media could not be loaded. This wind powered walking beast kit surpassed my expectations. I feared that the model would be too flimsy or would not work smoothly, and upon seeing the box I was afraid that there would be no English instructions. Fortunately the instructions supplied did have English translations. At first it requires a bit of thought and careful consideration, but once you get the hang of how the design fits together the rest falls into place quickly. We had no problems assembling with the help of a pair of wire cutters. We enjoyed working out how all the mechanical parts fitted together and had fun assembling it.We were delighted to see the beast walking, it has a fascinating hypnotic rhythm that makes it seem alive! You can blow to make the windmill turn, but we found that a hairdryer fitted with a diffuser works best. You can use a hairdryer on cool setting without a diffuser but the beast will be blown backwards if the force of air is too strong. There is also a manual winding rod supplied which attaches at the back to make the beast walk if you don't have a wind source.This model is a great demonstration of how wind power can be converted into mechanical energy and I intended to donate it to our school's science department. It would be best kept as a teacher-only demonstration with careful supervision as it won't stand up to mistreatment and doesn't come with many spare parts - only a spare foot and a handful of other parts that are most likely to fall off, but they won't help if it gets broken.I recommend this model kit for any mechanically-minded teenagers or adults! It is excellent value for the price and educational too.

The media could not be loaded. This self assembly kit of a Strandbeest is very well designed, the parts have no flash and are well moulded. You could twist the parts off the sprue, but that might damage some so you will need a good set of side cutters to remove the parts. Apart from side cutters you need no other tools, all the parts are clip or push fit so no glue is required.The instructions are in both Chinese and English. The English parts are for the most part well written but can seem confusing at first, just read them through a few times and study the pictures carefully. Also make sure you have the ordination of each part as per the drawings. If you take your time you shouldn't have any issues assembling this. A lot of the assembly is repetition so once you have done it a couple of times it becomes quicker and easier.At less than £10 it makes an interesting model. I don't know if it is a direct copy of an actual Strandbeest and if it is how the copyright for something like that works, but I can't fault the clever engineering involved in it and it has a mesmeric quality in the way it moves. I found that although I could get it to move by waving a large book at the sails it was hard work. It worked far easier when I used my electric keyboard air duster on it. It can also be operated by hand.