Discovery #MINDBLOWN Model Engine Building Kit, DIY 4-Cylinder Combustion Engine, Working Pistons Fan Valves Belts LED Lights, STEM Mechanic Engineering Construction Experiment Set, Kids & Adults Gift

My son is obsessed with motors, fans, things that move, etc. so I bought this kit for him to put together and play with. We've had this kit for almost a year and he still plays with this (takes pieces off and puts them back on, tries the pieces in different spots to see what will happen, pretends to fix it like he's seen my dad do, etc.). He was 4 y/o when I bought this and he did need hand over hand help putting it together the first time. With practice, he's now capable of taking off most pieces and putting them back on himself.As long as your child knows how to use a screwdriver, can handle small pieces, and knows how to read instructions, they will be able to put this together without help. Once its assembled, I would say its appropriate for kids 3 y/o and older so long as they know NOT to put small items in their mouths.

I bought this so my kids (8 and 10) would have a basic understand of how an engine works and what the various parts we called. We spent about 2.5 hours building it and talking about what everything is and what it does. When we finally got the part where the timing belt get installed, it snapped instantly! "No problem" I thought, the model comes with a second one and we'll just use that and be a tad more careful this time. That worked, we finished up the model and let 'er rip! Everything worked great. The next morning, we went to plug the battery pack back in and the timing belt had broken overnight! On top of that, one of the connectors for the battery pack pulled out of the case when unplugged it. the Emailed the vendor, told them what happened and we had a complete replacement on our doorstep in no time at all.Honestly, it's a bummer when something new like that break instantly. Especially when you put bunch of work into it and more so when there are kids involved. However, the vendor responded to this situation VERY well and made things right immediately and that's a hard thing to find these days. On top of that, I got to teach the kids ANOTHER lesson out of this; you can get mad and leave horrid reviews of a product everytime something bad happens or something breaks, but in the end, you're probably still going to have a broken product.....or you can explain what happened and be a decent human about it and you stand a much better chance of getting what you need......and by the way, the new timing belt we received is still hanging in there!!!!!!

The media could not be loaded. Pretty cool but really hard to put together. I'm not asking for anything easy, however, the screws were difficult to actually screw in. We stripped several. They are quite tiny and would fall through areas as well. Otherwise, pretty cool

This was a birthday present for our 11 year old grandson last week… a project for grandson and dad to bond with. His initial reaction was very positive and Dad was very happy withbb by our choice.We will up date as the project gets underway and completed. 🤪

1) This is an amazingly inexpensive toy ($20) for what you get (motorized see-through IC engine model).2) It has a lot of issues that you can mitigate. Here's what you need to know:a) Most children will not have the strength and dexterity to put in the screws, and there are a LOT of screws. An adult or teenager will probably need to assemble this, and they will probably be tired with sore hands when done.b) Before starting assembly, install the batteries to make sure the lights and motor work. You'll need to insert a rod into the distributor assembly and turn it manually to check the lights.c) A lot of pieces are *nearly* symmetrical, so double check the instructions carefully. They messed up the instructions in step 7 because they list "2x" for the cylinder head covers (A10 and A11), which are not identical. It is really 1x for A10 and 1x for A11.d) Apply silicone lubricant to contact points of all moving parts, including the timing belt and pulley. This will drastically reduce the amount of force needed to turn the engine.e) Slowly turn the screws in, and literally watch the screws as they go in so that you don't overtighten. Check to see if you can wiggle the piece you are attaching. Keep tightening *slowly* until the piece isn't loose. DO NOT rely on feeling torque to judge when you need to stop.f) To repair a stripped or cracked screw bore, put a drop of crazy glue on a toothpick and drop it into the hole.g) If you don't have a magnetic screwdriver, just attach a magnet to the shaft of the screwdriver that is provided. This is critical on step 6.h) Step 13 - It might be better to pull the *other* side of the timing belt around the pully instead (ie, make the mirror image). I think this reduces the amount of force needed to turn the engine.i) Step 18 - Make sure the gears are engaged with each other before tightening the screws.i) Use a flashlight to help you see through the smoky tint of the plastic. Also, I recommend skipping step 11 (don't screw in the rocker arm cover, just let it sit on top so that you can easily remove it), and skipping step 20 (dont the exhaust manifold and carburetor). This makes it easier to see inside the engine, and reduces the amount of work to make a repair.j) Keep the engine level when running so that pieces don't lock up due to change in direction of gravity.k) Swap the lights on cylinders 2 and 3 if you prefer the more common 1-3-4-2 firing order. The altered valve timing doesn't really matter, see below.3) The toy has a few very significant problems. Here's what you need to know:a) The timing will always drift because the ratio of the gears on the timing belt is 28:15. It is supposed to be 2:1. This is why they don't bother including instructions on how to set the timing of the engine, because it is inherently wrong.b) From what I can tell, the valve timings are completely incorrect with respect to each other. The cam phases appear random and nonsensical. You can rearrange the cams (and flip them backwards) to get closer to the correct timings, but you won't be able to get them all right.c) The issues above will limit the educational value of the model. It's really a shame; the product is so close to being great. I guess this is what you get for $20.d) If you are ambitious, can probably 3D print replacement parts (a gear and new cams) to fix 3a and 3b.If you found this helpful, please upvote so that others will see it more easily in the future.

Fun to assemble and watch it run!

Built it in 4 hrs with my 14 year old daughter. Instructions were good. She did most of the work. It doesn't matter that the lights don't work, timing is off cheap parts, etc. It really teaches the inner workings of an engine even if it's not "all the way" put together. I doubt you would have much use for it beyond the 5 hrs it takes to build, run and understand. Highly recommend for any age.