Collection: Tiny Miniatures House Series
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Gorgeous piece and lots of fun to build
Such an awesome little bicycle puzzle. Great quality. I can't wait for my friend to open it for Christmas. I would definitely purchase more items from this seller in the future.
I purchased this because it was so cute and had to look up Kuromi. Kuromi is apparently Hello Kitties naughty friend!This particular Book Nook was listed as a Halloween theme Book Nook but would be a great addition to any Hello Kitty lovers collection at any time of year.I had hoped to have this built and include a photo of the finished Book Nook next to my other Official Sanrio Hello Kitty one, but I broke my hand and it's taking a while to heal up enough for this type of craft work. So this is a pre-build review based on my experience with the other Hello Kitty theme kit and over 100 book nook and miniature house builds.First for those purchasing holiday gifts, this book nook will present beautifully as soon as the wrapping is off.The boards are thick and the printing is clear with highly saturated bright colors as shown in the listing.The kit comes with a small file for any attachment tags and to adjust tabs that might be a bit tight or the slots. Also included are glue that is in a sealed plastic bag to prevent any damage to the rest of the kit should it leak during it's travels to you, and a dust cover. I do recommend substituting the clear formula of Aleene's Tacky Glue as it is non-toxic and safe around children as well as pets especially birds.This kit includes stickers. You will need to provide batteries for the lighting (standard for these kits as batteries cannot be shipped by air), scissors (you will need them to cut out a few strips from the stickers sheet (do not remove the sticker from the backing for parts indicating they should be cut out with scissors) to make some of the little details).Lighting is touch activated, and the kit includes clear sticker tape to secure the lighting wires out of sight.I do recommend reading through all the instruction before getting started, then reading ahead a few steps. There are going to be some steps that you will want to do out of order for better access to what will be tight spots if you do them in order. There are some clear plastic elements that are always a bit frustrating to get to settle into place and stay put in all these kits. Small parts should be held and pressed close to the base when attaching them to avoid breakage. And go slow with small delicate parts when removing them from the boards. Always press back to front and you may need a craft knife to help release some of the smaller pieces. An offset pair of craft tweezers is helpful for handling smaller parts, but not included in the kit.The instructions are easy to follow color pictures.The kit requires patience and manual dexterity (small pieces in tight spaces) but is definitely beginner friendly. 14+ is a good "guess-timate" for age appropriateness but a younger teen that is good with crafts could do this one.At the current price of $59.99 it's about what I expect for a brand official Sanrio Hello Kitty theme kit. The finished kit will give hours of crafting fun and results in a beautiful decorative item for the book shelf, desk, etc..If you or someone you need a gift for loves Hello Kitty this would make a wonderful addition to their collection at holiday time.
Really fun to work on. No gluing. High quality kit.
The closest thing to a book nook kit I'd ever put together before this was a plastic car (down to engine parts) back in the 80s. Prior to putting this together I can't say I would have spent this kind of money on this kind of thing, but after putting it together I would say it was well worth the price being asked. With a very few flaws in the instruction manual (a failure to note to peel film off of parts, a couple times, or that you had to cut something out, rather than peel it off of a sheet), I appreciated the thoroughness of the instructions. I have to say it's almost spoiled me on future projects. I got another 3-D wooden kit to put together after this and it pales in comparison, both in appearance, instructions, and price point. I wasn't familiar with this character but my husband looped me in as to her being a Hello Kitty villain. I like it even more as a result! It took several days to put together, largely because I wasn't just sitting down and doing it all in one go. I highly recommend this kit. One word of caution - be careful when putting together the chandelier. The pieces are fragile and one started to snap when I was fitting it together with other pieces. Happily there is a round piece that all the chandelier pieces connect to that stabilized it, so the partial fracture should hold.
This is probably my 30th or so booknook, so I consider myself an expert at this point. What I look for in kits like this is are the book cover stickers or do you have to glue them - these were stickers. And I look to see if it comes with a dust cover. This one came with dust covers for the top sides and also for the front. (remember to remove the film off the front and the back by using two pieces of tape at one corner and then pull the tape apart. It will remove the film from both sides automatically.)All of the parts were included in the kit, however I do recommend using some b7000 glue and also having a small hammer. The kit does come with glue but I found it not as easy to work with as the b7000 glue.With that said, this kit took me about 3 days with working on it a few hours each evening. I found that most of the pieces are friction fit but I still used glue to hold some of the pieces together.Where I struggled was the wiring at the end, I had to wrap it with the included clear stickers, but then noticed that I didn't leave enough room for the longest wire so I had to tinker with that a bit so it would come all the way to the front.The part that the front light hooks into seems like it's backwards, because the print faces the inside instead of the outside, but there is a mirror in the back of the book nook so you eventually can kind of see it. ( I thought it was an error but it was intentional).My favorite part was putting together the books and the book shelves. I always test all of the lighting before I begin - and I always make sure to have extra batteries on hand.Overall, this is a good value and a fun build. I can't wait to do another!
