Engine by Ugears – Self-Propelled Modular Mechanical Model - 3D Wooden Puzzle for Self-Assembly Without Glue - Brainteaser for Kids, Teens and Adults

Good model bigger than I thought takes awhile to make and is a bit fiddly but most enjoyable afternoon and a bit more spent building it. Make good use of the candle wax and the fine sand paper. All works and it looks very good shame it does not come with a balloon, wax and sand paper. Well worth it looking forward to my next one.

superb model kit, easy to follow instructions but detailed enough for the seasoned model maker. Exactly as described and arrived on time.

Simple

Not an easy build, you will need to sand down a lot of cocktail sticks when assembling the cylinder block because they are too thick otherwise.Very clever design and it runs perfectly.

Bought this as a birthday present for my husband. He loved building it and only did one page of the instructions per night to make it last. Disappointing end result though is even though the engine turns really smoothly it fails to function when connected to the balloon. The other annoying thing is that one piece broke, ugears emailed to say they were sending a replacement piece but never did, did not respond to subsequent emails and we had to glue the piece together to finish the set. Get your act together ugears - won't buy again.

Purchased as a gift for my 55 years old brother. As it's a gift I can't give a proper review yet. But it was well packaged and from what I can see 8t certainly looks a high quality item.

The laser-cut components pop out easily and cleanly.And that's all the good things about this kit.Some of the assembly instructions in the later stages of the kit are impossible to follow and downright wrong.I had spent several interesting hours on the earlier stages, but later, because of the frankly misleading instruction diagrams, I binned it.A complete waste of money.

A brilliant little piece of engineering. I am genuinely astonished that a model engine made entirely out of wood actually runs when you blow (quite hard) into it. The design of the engine block is very clever, with air channels pre cut, and there is a timing rod controlling air entry and exit from both ends of the cylinder, meaning the cylinder is in fact double action.

The media could not be loaded.  I wanted to get my 9 year old son get started in diy projects and this was a good start point. I bought this with a lot of excitement but this doesn’t work as Intended a few points1. The toothpicks are too thick to fit in the holes. My son couldnt do it and my fingers still hurt frm the effort i had to apply in waxing and pushing the toothpicks. Get uour own toothpicks which fit in the holes easily.2. The guide needs to be more detailed with better text and word based illustrations esp when dealing with fitting of parts like pistons and flywheel. This is most crucial to the working of the engine. Currently the manual does not emphasise on the importance of sanding and waxing moving parts. hope ugears takes this feedback3. While the overall assemble looks good it doesnt work as shown in the video. I guess i didnt understand how the pistons and flywheel assemblies shud be finally assembled.4. They shud have better you tube videos explaining how to do it. Esp core assemblies. All they have is a short marketing video whicj defeats thepurpose.5. The parts are too small. While i understand they are proportional to the size of the engine they are also too difficult to remove from the main board. Small kids will have a hard time doing this and will lose interest.I am sure ugears has received lot of feedback about how it’s not easy to assemble the parts together due to the basic thickness of the toothpicks being more than required they should rectify this issueWish i could have some help in making this engine really work but for now i have to make do work just a good looking model s you can see in the pictures. I may have assembled a few things wrong but then i don’t even know where i went wrong.

Es un regalo muy peculiar y los pequeños detalles parecen perfectos.

Le parti da assemblare sono di una precisione estrema. Ho acquistato anche la ghironda, che è semplicemente fantastica

I give the model 5 stars because it is involved enough to hold an adults attention, but not so complicated that it could not be completed in a single evening. I believe a teen could get it assembled but would need to be mechanical minded to get it to run well. The manual could use some trouble shooting tips....I have built Ugears kits before and I build a bit different than most people and even differently than the manufacturer recommended...here is how I got it to run Very well:There are a couple critical parts of this model that need special attention, the number one issue is the spacing and tuning of the upper piston, it is the smaller one with 2 pistons and it is actually the air diverter valve the controls the air flow AND timing to the larger power piston ( lower). When you fit the piston and housing on to the lower base the slot in the bottom of the piston assembly fits over the middle rail in the base...the rail is longer than the piston assembly and this allows you to Correctly "Time" your Engine! It is crittical that the upper piston is centered in the jug as you rotate your flywheel...the pistons should travel to just sub-flush with the jug at top dead center on the left and bottom dead center on the right!...you need to remove the last plywood round ring on the left to view this correctly! Roll the engine over slowly, then if the upper piston sticks out at the end of it's travel either on the left or on the right...gently lift the entire assembly and slide it left or right until both pistons come just flush or better yet just sub flush...if the piston travels to far to the left it will tap the last ring of plywood, cause your engine not to run...if to far to the right it will leak to much air and the engine will have poor performance. The second adjustment is my piston rod (the big one that goes from flywheel to lower power piston) would touch the axle the Tachometer needle rides on if I fully seat the piston/cylinder assembly all the way down on the middle ridge...carfully observe it as you roll the engine over slowly and if it touches then slightly raise the assembly until it no longer touches! Than recheck timing in upper cylinder...if still well centered the engine should run well with just your breath, try not to get moisture in your engine! The other area I differ from manufacturer recommended assembly is rather than lubrication from wax I use graphite, just an ordinary #2 pencil, I rub both the bore and the pistons all very well with the pencil lead until they are completely silver gray, this has a burnish effect making the grain of the wood very smooth and slippery from the graphite, this is much smoother than sticky wax...I also use it on the toothpick axles and also the holes the toothpicks ride in...my engine will coast for nearly 4 seconds with only one finger flick! I do sand the little nubs off the parts but no more than the nubs! The Pistons are undersize for free running and therefore leak Some air...if you sand to much you engine will leak excessive air and have poorer performance. A final optional tip...as you build the jug out of the layers of plywood...lightly sand the flat sides with a fine sanding block, this removes the little wood fuzz and causes the engine to seal better...I went one step further and rubbed a smooth even light coat of wax on the flat sides of the layers as I assembled...the soft yellow bee's wax acts as a seal or gasket between the layers for nice air tight fit. Lastly the flywheel takes some fiddling to get it to run true and smooth, select your best toothpicks for axles!!....spin them in your fingers to be sure there straight!!...time spent here will reward you with a beautiful running engine...I wrote this review because I enjoyed this kit very much and hope it inspires others to get there Engines running well.PS: the flywheel and pistons are blurry in my photo because my engine is coasting!

Very high quality model. The pieces are precisely cut and come apart easily. The instructions were clear and easy to follow. The model was built by my 8 year old son with only occasional guidance from his Dad. This was a great STEM project. The engine runs smoothly and makes a satisfying sound as it operates. We will be buying more models from Ugears.