Eiffel Tower 3D Metal Model Kit Fascinations

God I adore these. This was my fourth Metal Earth model kit and by far the easiest! I would absolutely recommend it as a starter kit for anyone unfamiliar with these models to get an idea of what they involve, if you have the correct tools of course (needle nose pliers, duckbill pliers, flush cutters, and tweezers at the least, though this particular kit needs precision tweezers). Be sure to check the dimensions and images of these first: they are SMALL and meant to be that way! Don't blame a product because you didn't research it beforehand, although I do think Metal Earth would benefit from offering product images that reflected scale. On top of having the necessary tools, understand that these kits take TIME and a lot of patience! This particular kit was pretty easy and only requires simple bends. Below I'll detail some notes and things to keep in mind for this build. The frames around the platforms can be a little tricky to bend at a perfect 90 degree angle without warping. Use the full length of your pliers to bend the entire part straight on two opposite sides first. Then just take the other two sides real slow with the duckbill pliers and move in small increments across the entire length of the fencing. The other thing to note is that twisting the tabs to attach the pieces is incredible difficult with normal tweezers for the ones that come up between the lil fences and the tower itself; I had to use angled precision tweezers that I just happened to have from a soldering iron set. If you don't have these, I'm honest not sure how you'd get those tabs twisted. So if you don't have precision tweezers and don't want to get some, maybe go with the cable car if this is going to be your first kit. But besides those things, this set is amazing for beginners I feel! All the pieces are very large in comparison to other Metal Earth kits, and it is a very straightforward assembly process that's hard to mess up. Just remember to be super careful with your bends: you only get one, maybe two shots before the steel is bound to break. Err on the side of caution with your initial bends and adjust as necessary.

This is the seventh Metal Earth model I've built and by comparison it was pretty easy. Once built it looks very nice. There is about a dozen pieces and with a little patience they go together without too much difficulty. I say that knowing there are many negative reviews about ME products so please follow these guidelines: 1. Follow the age guideline of 14+ (with emphasis on the "+"). These are not toys and are not assembled in a few minutes. 2. If you do not have any experience building models, especially small ones, you might want to try something else first. These are intricate and are only about 3" in size when finished. 3. Building these requires precision and a lot of patience. Fascinations says it is easy to assemble but that is relatively speaking. I bought this for my wife who helped a little but was more interested in having the finished product. I cannot see her trying to assemble the whole thing as she would get frustrated. She has many great skills but they do not apply here. If you do have the skills though then you will be rewarded with a great looking piece. Also, the more of these you build the better you will be able do them. I did the tractor first (I later found out it is one of the hardest ones) and it was not perfect. But I used what I learned and my second one, the Sherman tank, came out much better. The Eiffel Tower came out perfect and I look forward to the next one.

I loved putting this together, it was fun to do, it looks great, and I've already ordered 3 more models. This is a relatively simple one, so it was a great first project. Be forewarned - the whole model is small, and those top two pieces are itty-bitty, but take a deep breath and hang in there. You'll need a good light and a decent pair of fine-tipped pliers. I'm using Xuron tweezer-nose pliers and they work really well to grip the tabs. I've also got a small pair of flat-nosed pliers that are useful for the pieces you need to bend. Some of the tabs fold over at 90 degrees, and some are twisted; that's indicated on the instruction sheet by small blue dots and green triangles. The ones that you twist really help lock everything together. The people at work were fascinated by the kit when I took it in to show them, and they loved the finished product. Take your time, read the instructions through completely before you start so you understand how it goes together, and don't be afraid to take a break and come back later. It's a lot of entertainment for less than the price of a movie ticket.

It took me 10 minuets to build that model. It looks pretty cool it would be good for beginner.

A little harder than my previous Metal Earth model because it is hard to hold the first completed level together as you join side 4 back to side 1. This is because you are joining long curved tower sides into a square configuration. After that, construction proceeds as expected because the two lower levels have two sides joined in each of two parts and the model hold together as you’re assembling it. As others have stated, this works best with a sharp cutter, tweezers or mini needle nosed pliers and some fine files for smoothing the tiny cut points. I am always amazed at Metal Earth’s design and engineering, especially in a detailed model that’s only 6 inches tall.

Needle nose pliers are a must! I thought that I had my own pair of pliers but I only had my boyfriends clunky old rusted set. I ended up doing without and the job would have been a million times easier with a decent pair of pliers. With that being said, the product itself is wonderful. I have been a fan of wooden 3D puzzles for years now, and I'm only sorry that it took my so long to switch to these metal ones! The pieces are much smaller and more intricate, it's true, but because they are laser cut, they are very precise. Wooden model sets often required filing and reshaping, but these are perfect. The pieces are delicate, but sturdier than you might expect when you first open the package. The photograph is slightly deceptive, so pay attention to the dimensions listed. They are very very small. Other reviews have advised getting a pair of metal cutters to remove pieces cleanly, but the pieces are anchored in only two places so you can press on an unanchored side and swing them back and forth until they pop out neatly. I don't know if this is true for other models in this series, but it definitely worked for all pieces on this one.

This model went together pretty quickly as it's only one sheet worth of pieces. The assembly is pretty straight forward but you MUST pay attention to the instructions even though you know (or think you know how it goes together. You have to bend the pieces the right way and line them up properly to get things to work. This may sound like common sense and it is but there is more to it. Some of the pieces can be bent so that they LOOK like they fit together but when you go to bend or twist the tabs in the slots...the tabs and slots, don't line up. You may have tab with no slot, etc. Just look ahead a bit to see if you bend the piece the way you think it should go if everything is going to line up and follow any notes or instructions where things should go. I think it was pieces six and eight if I remember right. They form a pair of legs (four legs when folded) but if you don't bend them the right way the tabs and slots won't line up when you go to complete them or assembly adjacent pieces. The other suggestion is to make SURE to follow notes when it says to put things together in a particular order (top down for example). You may think because this is such an easy model that you'll just pop pieces out and go to town putting them together. If you do that and don't pay attention to instructions like "top down" you'll soon find out WHY those notes are there. Some pieces MUST be put together in the right order and if not you won't be able to access certain tabs to bend/twist them and secure certain pieces. It will leave you with pieces you can't attach to complete the model and you'll end up having to take things apart and redo them to fix the problem. You can only bend the metal so many times before these fragile pieces WILL break so be careful. If you follow the instructions and pay attention to what your're doing it's a pretty easy and quick model to put together.

It was easy to assemble by my eight year-old (who already has experience with metal earth) and we loved how it looked