Remote Control Machines

This toy is exceptional in educational value. It offers many different gear ratios and worm gears and other interesting parts. My 8 year old son and his friend have been working through making the many different models. They delight with each new element. The models would be interesting in themselves, but that each is a remote control vehicle with different remote features is awesome. We did have one part break on the second day of use..part #29: 90 Degree Converter-Left. It broke when trying to pry parts apart. Now, that my son has identified the part separator tool, I imagine he won't have a problem with the parts breaking as he separates them. He really loves this toy. It is tops for being "Totally Awesome." Perfect for the child who has a good attention span and does well with construction toys. We hope to buy replacement part #29 as some models require all of the four provided in the set.

I have thoroughly enjoyed building with this set! The instructions and the models have changed with this set and are a little more simplified and streamlined, which may be useful information for some purchasers. The illustrations and documentation are a little different too, but all are product improvements, in my opinion!! My only real comment is that some of the plastic blocks can apparently develop hairline cracks for no specific reason, so be careful in taking them apart. They're still useable, just a little less effective. Overall, as with their other products, the models are quite interesting and well thought-out, the remote control works well, the supporting booklet is interesting, and the set is very entertaining! This would make a great gift, in my opinion.

We initially got about 80% of this set at a garage sale when my 3 year old spotted the robot vehicle on the front of the box. Fast forward 3 months, and he's putting together basic box-shaped vehicles and has a clear 'vision' of what he wants (i.e. he screams at me if I don't put things exactly where he wants it), but I'm his peon, slaving to make robot vehicles every few days. Pros: This is an awesome set making incredibly cool toys. I make my engineer friends make vehicles for my kid, and the adults get super into it. It's fun to then play with this complex, gear-driven vehicle that you've made. This is an awesome toy to understanding basic engineering concepts and make things that go vroom. Basically I recommend this building set wholeheartedly even though there are a couple of cons. Cons: - The comments about the manual drawings being too small is right on the nose -- it's hard to see which hole to put an attachments into, details of the gears and how they should fit together, etc. It's been trial and error, assembling different components and then realizing that something had to be one hole lower, etc. - The parts break pretty easily. The 3 and 5 hole pieces have very thin edges that crack and result in loose holes for the red attachments, and we bent a wheel connecting stick and a several of the longer pieces that were attached together without any space to pry the red attachment pieces out. I am a medium sized woman, so this is not because I have super human strength. PSA/good news: they have a replacements department just for this purpose. It's not that cheap, but I think worth replacing/stocking up on parts with them if you are getting serious about the set.

This was a great purchase for my grandkids. I will be buying more of these. It can be a collection of various models that share parts. I particularly liked the fact that this particular one allowed the child to control everything using a wireless remote control to operate any of the 3 different motors included in the kit. This particular set allows building any one of ten different models with the selections intended to be done in order so the child will be successful and gain more experience before they tackle the most difficult ones. All are vehicles until the very last one which is a robotic arm which is also likely the most complex. There was a problem with this last model in that occasionally the arm would drop due to the weight of the arm itself plus it load. I fixed this with the addition shown in the accompanying picture where I added three extra left over parts to stabilize the gear. The instructions were mostly just pictures with small lines showing where the part gets inserted. There are lots of holes in these beams so it is easy for the child to choose the wrong hole if they are not careful. A little guidance will help the child to be more detail oriented to be successful. There are 3 motors and can be inserted backwards easily. I would suggest that the parent add an arrow as to the direction the motor turns using a marking pen to help the child get it right. In particular the 2nd car has two motors that need to turn in the same direction. Although an interesting exercise is to intentionally reverse one motor and notice how much more difficult it is to control the car (ergonomics training). A few more detailed pictures would have helped the child get the project built the first time but the parent can certainly help with the repair and successful conclusion if needed. This kit shows a lot of mechanical skills. Some of the more complex projects can be a bit wobbly but overall they are pretty solid. One problem is that the battery box has no power switch so you have to remove a battery when not using the toy to avoid running down the batteries quickly. LED's on the battery box and remote would have been nice to indicate they are on (there is a switch on the remote). Dale

I purchased this for my seven year old son for Christmas. We have been very happy with it. The instructions are easy to follow and each machine he builds gives him such a sense of accomplishment. He's so excited about what he's built he doesn't want to take it apart. And I have to say, Customer Service from Thames and Cosmos is absolutely wonderful. After my son built his first machine, we realized there was something wrong with the remote. I contacted the company wondering if there was something I was doing wrong. They immediately sent out a free replacement remote and we received it in a matter of days. Then, I contacted them yesterday to try and order some replacement parts - my son had lost one and one had broken. First thing this morning I had a response from Customer Service telling me they would send me new ones at no charge and I should receive them in a few days. Wait - What!? How awesome is that!? These kits can sure be expensive but in my opinion they are great value and service for the money.

Just received this and it came very quickly. I purchased it for my grandson who will be 11 in two days so I will be giving it to him on Saturday. I know he will love it because I bought a little larger one of these for Christmas and he loved it. He usually only wants Starwar Legos but since I introduced this to him at Christmas, he included this in his birthday wants. My granddaughter who is 12 was wishing she had one also. Although the first one was a bit complicated for him (basically took him a little bit longer and challenged his mind) in putting it together. But he did manage to build it on his own and didn't want to take it apart to make a different machine even though he could make various versions, he loved the one he chose first. This is a great gift and soooo much better than all the video games kids have today.

We got this set for our 11 year old son for Christmas 2011. He thourougly enjoys it. It is well made and the instructions were clear enough for him to build on his own with no help from an adult. The robots work well once constructed, with the only exception being the crane, which is too flimsly to lift much of anything but an empty paper cup. Also, the crane arm is quite heavy, which makes the gears disengage often. We soleved that problem by using a rubber band to hold the worm gear and the toothed gear together. But that is a minor complaint. All in all this is a great toy - fun to build, fun to use, and educational too.

Like others, this kit suffers from poor motor construction. Ours lasted longer than most, but after about nine months the brazing broke apart on the wires between the motor and plug. It's a pain to get these replaced. Interest in this toy is probably more of a maturity factor. We bought this for our then 5 year-old son for Christmas 2014, who is advanced for his age. His initial interest waned after a week or so, but he really got interested in building his own designs later in the summer until the motors stopped working. The kit is otherwise durable and has many opportunities to teach about gear ratios, robotics, electricity, and so on.