US Capitol Building 3D Puzzle, 132 Pieces

So I have never been a puzzle person. I don't like the guess work involved, and i don't enjoy long projects that when you're done, you ask yourself, "now what do I do with it?" Which is why I was practically shocked when I had a sudden urge to do one.I had a 4-d puzzle a while ago, and it was at most 13 pieces, and it was plastic and durable, and when assembled, looked like a toy I would have had as a child.With that memory of a "fun" puzzle, i began a search for some fun, and most likely non-existent puzzle that i could enjoy building, that didn't look cheap. This company is the poster child for people like me. Not only did i order this one, but 2 others at the same time. Just in case, you know?They were VERY well priced, so i figured, even if they stunk, i didn't waste too much money on this particular hankering to build something.Oh, if only i knew how awesome they were, I would have gotten the full set of them at the same time. I couldn't put them down.I was so very impressed with the one's i purchased, i immediately ordered several more, to set aside for a rainy day. The finished product looks wonderful. Now i do have to mention, this is more of a model, than a puzzle. They have instructions, though, some of the pieces need to go in a particular order for them to fit properly, and the instructions are basic. Place piece A here, place B there, etc etc...The board is fairly sturdy, so unless you are trying to bend it, you'll be hard pressed to ruin a piece. At first, i was confused. There appeared to be several pieces that had doubles to them, and i didn't understand why. Please remember, I don't know a thing about puzzles, let alone 3-d puzzles.When i looked closer to the duplicate pieces, i realized that there were pegs i had to poke out, and they would be an overlay for the other piece.This gave the building depth.You need a small utensil to poke the pegs out, such as a knife, pen, pencil, or perhaps even fingernails. I don't have long nails, so i just used a dried up pen. (You'd be amazed at the junk i keep just in case. *wink*)Needless to say, i now have a miniature White House on my shelf, and a new found love for puzzles. Who would have known? I highly recommend these puzzles to anyone who is like me, or even for those who are looking for nice buildings to add to their collections.

I got this as a gift, and was pretty surprised with how much I enjoyed it. I've never done any modeling or anything, but it a good little four hour project.It is more of a model than a puzzle, but is still somewhat challenging without being frustrating.I saw people complaining that it wasn't a puzzle, but the instructions are little more than "assemble pieces", and there's no specifies order or procedure. If you want a puzzle, don't use the instructions.The foam board is plenty stiff, all the pieces popped out no problem, and the print quality is great. Good detail and everything was lined up right. The finished model is pretty solid.My only complaint is the tabs stick out pretty far, and the finished product benefited quite a bit after I shaved them flush with a hobby knife. The foam core is white and is concealed against the white model.

The kit: Several sheets of the paper backed foam printed on both sides in color. The parts are sharply die cut and easy to punch out. The part numbers that correspond to those on the instructions are printed on one side of the part (the back) and near the part on the sheet. The instructions are not super detailed. They show the major steps and where the parts go but not necessarily how to best put them together. For accuracy the kit is pretty good considering the medium but one glaring omission is the port and starboard screws (propellers). This kit only depicts the one center screw.Putting it together: For the model to stay together the tabs and slots must be a tight fit . This can lead to the tab getting bent or squished if care and patience is not used. The angles of the bow and stern of the ship make putting the hull plating on there more challenging. Some careful tugging and pushing are needed to get some of the tabs to line up with the proper slot. While no glue is "required" after finishing a major step I put little dabs of white glue at some tabs and seams. I let the glue dry between major steps so things would stay together better during subsequent steps as the parts can be pulled apart while working the next step. I also used some transparent tape to close up some seams that gaped badly. I would not use regular plastic model glue as it will dissolve the foam. Super glue may work well but I would test it on some scrap first. Now that I have the kit together, I am considering trimming off some the excess tabs that are most visible and touching up over the exposed white foam a little paint.Overall, I really enjoyed building this puzzle/kit. Although I have been building model kits in various media (plastic, wood, metal, paper) for over forty years this was my first of the paper/foam variety. I do wish I had gotten a simpler (cheaper, smaller) one as my first to develop technique. I would say that this is not something to be handed to an inexperienced youngster to "rip into". This would be a good adult and youngster team learning effort or a big project for a youngster that has already put a couple of these together. This type of kit may be a good introduction to model building as no glue is absolutely required and no painting is needed. "Managed expectations" is important with the results of this kit. One could assume that the box art shows something close to the best possible result and it even shows some gaps and misalignment of parts. Taking a few hours a little at a time over a few days I came close, but not quite to the box art. When done, this is more for display and not so much for playing with. Oh, I paid ~ $23.00 including shipping from Amazon, and I am very glad that I did not pay much more than that.

My 10 year old was reluctant to do a boring old puzzle, but I had purchased this 3D White House puzzle for the long summer vacation period. One day, he pulled it out and built it in one long afternoon at the dining room table. He was proud of his final product and I could tell it had been somewhat challenging. It is a high quality and attractive creation, which is now proudly displayed in our glass breakfront cabinet to keep it out of reach of the 4 year old. I think the price was a good value for the challenge, but it's too fragile to play with, so the fun is over. Maybe he will be able to incorporate it into a school project one day.

Fácil de armar y buen material

buen producto, se tardo un poco la entrega pero todo bien

Il prodotto è arrivato nel periodo indicato dalla spedizione. Sono molto soddisfatto del prodotto. Facile da assemblare.

Super produit enfant ravi

Bien fini