Dragon Castle 3D Wooden Puzzles for Adults to Build

This model/puzzle from Woodtrick was a pure pleasure to put together but one must have lots of patience and attention to detail for it is a very complex and time consuming work. When it is finished and works flawlessly it is a joy to look at and know you did it yourself. I don’t agree with the stated time to complete it because it took me much longer than I would have expected due to its complexity…it has a lot of moving gears and parts to assemble and they must mesh and move flawlessly. It is powered by a spring which if installed right and if all the moving parts are waxed thoroughly should be able to power this creation…the only suggestion I would make to the WoodTrick engineers is to electrify it with a battery powered motor…otherwise….5 stars

This is an awesome puzzle! Just difficult to be fun to work on. So much detail and a challenge for my husband. It is a beautiful puzzle. It also lights up! Fabulous project

It arrived relatively quickly. Thank you very much.

I am not a novice at constructing simple to complex wooden puzzles/models designed by Wood Trick and others. Among these, several that I have constructed by Wood Trick have been outstanding, and are/were my favorites. These have included their Wood Galaxy Marble Run, Wood Trick Ride Roller Coaster, Antique Lantern, Space Junk Robot, Kinetic Clock, Space Spider, Steam Tank, Lyra da Vinci, and others. Some of these are truly outstanding, such as the Kinetic Clock and the Wood Galaxy Marble Run, and I continually show them to out friends. For this reason, I was truly looking forward to working on what I recognized as their most complex and intricate design, the Dragon Castle; as reflected by the number of parts and the cost of the kit. Unfortunately, from the very beginning I realized that this was a flawed design. This was obvious from the fact that the metal spring powering mechanism was a nightmare to assemble, and the fact that such a mechanism was inadequate for driving so many intricate gears and moving components! Even with little experience, one must realize that the forces required to drive all the wooden gear components of the Dragon Castle far exceeded the capabilities of this spring "motor"! In any event, I worked and worked on the project, sanding and waxing until my fingers were sore....but, to no avail. At about the 90%+ completion phase, my first attempt at operating the machinery was a total disaster. All moving components tried to move and operate as designed, but this stopped after a very short time and the entire mechanism froze. After many attempts to explore the problem(s) and get the model working, the drive spring became "unsprung", and could not be wound. As this was at the very heart of the model, and was one of the first things assembled, I decided that trying to disassemble the entire model and fixing the problem was not an option, and was simply not worth the trouble; the design of the model was at fault!!!!! Perhaps the engineers at Wood Trick can get this model to work, but I do not believe any home builder will be successful, and, if he/she is, then the model will not work for long. I am disappointed and frustrated with this model, and am on the verge of tossing the entire mess into the trash. However, I am keeping the model in case Wood Trick/Amazon would like for me to return it to them as a requirement for refunding my purchase price. I realize this is a Ukrainian company, and would like to support them in any way possible. However, since this product is sold through Amazon, I do not feel that a request for a refund is unjustified. Now, if someone will just read this review and advise me what I need to do to get a refund........ Actually, a refund is not at the heart of this issue, I firmly believe that this product should be discontinued by both Amazon and Wood Trick; it is an ambitious but very flawed model!!!! In the meantime, I will be looking for new models by this company in the hope that they will come up with others kits that are of the design and construction quality of other kits by them that I have assembled.

The only time I've received a video of the assembly from the vendor

I love building the wooden mechanical sets. I have built 20 different ones from various companies. I'm glad to say that 19 of those projects came out beautiful & work wonderfully. They were all lots of fun to build. My 20th project was the Dragon castle by Wood Trick. This kit was a bit expensive, but I was very excited when I received it. It comes with instruction manual & YouTube video, which left a lot to be desired. The manual could have been a lot more detailed in some areas. Also included was a small piece of wax, sandpaper, & screwdriver. I would suggest that you need a lot more wax, hobby hammer & pliers to name a few tools I had to use. I found that the pieces were hard to remove from the plywood, except for the larger ones. Also the pieces do not fit together easily. My big complaint is the spring mechanism! I followed the instructions, both in the manual & YouTube & it seemed to be put together properly. At one point I wound the spring to see if gears & music box were working. For approximately 10 seconds it worked beautifully. Then the spring sprung taking off most of the teeth on gear number 102, along with my thumb nail! So now I realize I will not have any moving parts except for the drawbridge, & no music. I am giving this project a 3 out of 5 stars, only because the finished castle very impressive & beautiful. Although the spring mechanism is not working properly, I can still manually turn the center tower & hear the music box & see the the other towers moving.

This castle kit is fantastic. The wood is perfect. All of the shapes are laidout on a background piece of wood for removal. My husband received this kit from me as a gift.He hasn't strated it yet. It is not for a beginner or small child. Perhaps, a teen that enjoys this typeof hobby. I would recommend this product for its quality, quick shipping and well-made product.

Wow!! Best yet! The details are top quality with plenty of bling to go with it.