MAGQOO3D Wooden Dollhouse Miniature DIY Doll House Kit with Furniture,1:24 DIY Box Theater Kit (Roaming in Paris)

Island AdventuresThe first thing you need to know, is that this is a kit that gives you the supplies and instructions for how to make the product shown. It’s up to you to assemble it. This will take quite a bit of time (for me, about 10 hours, spread across 5 days), effort, patience, and concentration, but it can be done. I have pretty much no experience in miniatures, but I was able to assemble it without too much trouble. When I did, I felt very accomplished, and I ended up with a cute and unique product that was an excellent price value.Are Miniature Kits For Me?I, personally, love these miniature kits. I find them super cute and imaginative. They’re easy to store or display. They don’t take up much room. You can give them away as gifts to kids or adults. I enjoy assembling them. The kits are challenging, but fun, and they give me something to do when I’m bored. I’ve learned new skills, like wiring. I feel a great sense of pride and accomplishment when I finish. And, at around $10 bucks, the price can’t be beat. (I mean, have you seen how much miniatures cost? You buy one tiny fairy, and it will set you back $8, easily.)That said, miniature kits are rather niche, so it might not be for you.These kits may be good for you if:* You like to be challenged* You don’t mind putting in extra time and effort to get a good value* You’re good at cutting, pasting, and following directions* You feel a sense of accomplishment when you make something cute.* You have no experience with assembling miniatures, but you want to try it out, without investing too much of your time an money.These kits may not be good for you if:* You have bad eyesight* You don’t like cutting, pasting, or following directions* You get impatient or frustrated easily* You don’t find the process of crafting fun and you just want a cute toy* You’re too young (this might be too challenging for kids under 12—if they want to do it, they will definitely need supervision)This Specific KitThis kit contained glue, batteries, and tweezers, which made it a good value. The precise glue and batteries used for these miniatures can be hard to find and expensive. Several different companies offer the same kits, and my advice is to spend a couple extra bucks on the ones that include glue and batteries. It’s cheaper and easier in the long run.“Island Adventures” is a fun design that sparks the imagination. I gave the tin box theatre to my nephew, after I’d assembled it, for his 8th birthday, and he seemed to like it. In addition, this design is one of the easier ones to assemble, as it has less of the fine-detailed furniture pieces. You spend less time fiddling with tiny chairs and tiny books and more time cutting foam, pouring sand, and arranging seaweed. The hardest part was getting the boat to float on the waves.One drawback of this design is that the electronic switch is inside the “Island Adventure” placard, so to turn it on and off, you need to fish out the switch with tweezers, exposing you to the wires. This may not be ideal for kids. If it’s really a concern, you can just skip the electronic part altogether. The lights are cute and provide a “Wow” factor, but you can enjoy it without it.Tips for Assembly* Find a YouTube video that shows someone assembling this particular piece and save the video. (The one I found is called: “Island Adventures- Cute Room- Assembly- DIY- Dollhouse miniature-Tin Box” by Sandrartes.) That way, if you get stuck or confused, you can just watch them.* Before you start on the kit, make sure you have all the tools you’ll need for assembly: tweezers (included), scissors (a good sharp pair, not nail scissors), an exacto knife (for cutting foam), a ruler that shows centimeters, a sharpie or pen that can write on foam, some small clips (for holding the template to the paper), and GLUE.* If there is one thing you need, it’s good glue. I used 3: the glue that came in the kit (good for the house, the boat, and the bunnies), Elmers Glue-All (for foam, sand, plants, and decorations), and tacky glue (for cloth). For the Glue-All and Tacky glue, I found it easier to paint it on with a brush. The Glue All took forever to dry, but it was very sturdy and clear, once it did.* Have a dedicated space to keep the small pieces while you are assembling it. I used a tray an a T.V. table. You do not want the pieces to get lost.* The supplies they give you are just enough to make the piece, with almost no spares, so be very, very careful with them. I don’t open all the bags at once, for fear of losing something.* 90% of the times I follow directions, but when something is too frustrating—or when it comes to decorating with flowers—I just go, “Forget it!” and do things my way. And that’s part of the fun, too. You’re ways of problem-solving and your artistic vision make the piece your own unique creation.

This is a fairly good little project. I’ve been doing miniatures since I was a kid (I’m in my 20s now), I’ve made several full-on miniature houses, and comparatively I’d say that this project is on the more advanced and difficult side and has quite a few pluses and minuses.First, the wiring is very difficult to set up. I almost gave up and did the project without the wiring. There is little instruction on how to actually set up the lights (I found that you have to do the lighting first and have to strip the wires of the two light lines and combine them, then attach to the battery pack. You also have to fully attach the scenery and indoor light first, then seal the battery in the platform, which is difficult and leaves little room for mistakes regarding the placement of the house, later).The other things that made this difficult was obviously the size (this was by-far the smallest project I’ve ever done and it’s really tough to do some of the parts on such a small scale, even with the little tweezers they send. The glue they send is also a bit hard to use, since it’s thick and sticky, and is bulky and stringy when using on very small pieces, and also smells very strong (and made me headachy and sick every time I used it and had to switch to a different kind of glue). The instructions overall are vague and somewhat contradictory, so you’d want to already have a general understanding of how to put things together. The only other thing is that the actual house is really flimsy. This doesn’t matter once it’s in the tin, but the instructions say to put the house together outside the tin (so you can put the snow on the roof and stuff before putting in it the tin) but it’s literally impossible to do it that way, which complicates things like putting the snow on in the end and putting in the ceiling light.There are a ton of pluses too, which is why this still got a good rating from me. First, I LOVE the idea of building into a tin. I’m still at uni and have to move around a lot, and because of that I’ve lost most of my other miniature projects. This is so wonderful because you can safely close up the tin, and just put it in a box to move. For this reason alone I really recommend this for anyone who isn’t 100% settled down yet. It’s also small, so it’s nice that it easily fits on a shelf/bookcase/etc, and can be easily put into storage.I think there a lot of value in the project for the money. I got it for only $10 and it came with glue, the tin, tweezers, all the things to finish the project, and a nice wooden stand to hold it on. I would say that even though bits of this are hard and advanced, it may still be a nice place to start if you’ve never done miniatures and want to give it a try, just for the price/what comes with it, as long as you know that not all miniatures are this difficult and small.Overall I would recommend this, just be aware of some of the shortcomings. I really love the outcome and love that I can move around with this without worrying. I also want to note that I did customize this somewhat. I didn’t add the bunny figurines (cause I prefer just the buildings when doing miniatures), I left out one of the kitchen chairs, and changed the fruit bowl on the table. I used glue to make the river look glossy/icy and added snow to the edge of the platform because it came warped and was pulling up at the edges. I also used paint to finish the inside of the lid with a forest because I didn’t fancy the text they put there, painted the inside of the roof because it was visible, and painted the ceiling light chain a gold color (the kit doesn’t come with paint at all though). Overall pleased with it!

This is my second theater box (the first was the forest bunnies in this series). It was much easier and with less steps than the other box, however I have to consider that I mastered some skills and instruction-deciphering in completing the first. The first took me about 12 hours over about 2 weeks time. This one was completed in about 6-7 hr in less than a week.The slow down with these projects is waiting for the glue to set, and because the directions are so complex you really can't work ahead or get other items prepped in order to quickly advance the next steps (seriously, don't even try).You could probably do this whole project on a TV tray, but I used a corner of the kitchen table, which I was able to leave undisturbed and spread out my materials as I worked through them. I also suggest you keep the garbage in a little bag or box and not toss it until you are done, because several times I had to dig back through for something.You will need a bright desk lamp and possibly reading glasses (even if you wouldn't normally use them-borrow a pair from your dad). This kit didn't come with tweezers but the kit before did, so I was able to reuse those. This definitely helps with the smaller items. I also found it helpful to have smaller, heavy objects to use for holding up smaller assemblies as they dry. Some things have to be dried at an angle or in an unusual way. An XActo knife is very useful for the smallest of items, but I tried to use scissors for as much as possible since I could get a more precise cut with them.Be careful with your styrofoam bases and make sure you cut them so that the tin will close. Remember you will be laying them with additional fabric or materials and that increases the thickness. In the two that I made, both only just close and I wish I had made the styro with a slightly thinner profile. Even though there is a pattern and measurements, dense styro is difficult to cut cleanly and evenly.Overall, I really enjoyed the 2 kits I've done so far and have a 3rd one purchased that I'll work on when cold weather and short days arrive. It was a nice change from jigsaw puzzles which got me through the early days of Covid.

Assembling this set was extremely tedious. Not only because you are starting from scratch for about every item (some would consider this a plus actually), but the main problem is that the materials we are provided for many items are not suitable for the task. Especially the trinkets. I do enjoy that this set has wiring for lights provided. I wish I had the music box that was an option originally.P. S. I used my own cardstock for the floor and wallpaper, and I made my own window scene. These are not included with the kit.

Since this listing has several very different models, I bought the Squirrel inside the Picture Frame one.I usually really enjoy these little mini kits, they're kind of my happy place, and I'm glad I'm very experienced with these builds, because this one is NOT for beginners. Frankly, it's not for pros either... it just plain sucks.It's possible to get a good finished product here, but it's going to take some improvisation. I'd advise the following (and your own creativity) if you want a good result:1. For most kits, when you're presented with a little teeeny tiny printed piece, that will be printed on cardstock and pre-cut. Not this kit. Nearly everything is printed and it's on poor-quality high-gloss photo paper. Yuck. Per the instructions, the background is meant to be glued down in one big piece. NOPE. The glue they give you is going to soak through the cheap photo paper and bubble and look terrible. Because the paper is high-gloss, every little imperfection will be super obvious. Ditch the stupid photo paper and paint your own background.2. The butterflies are impossible to cut without tearing even with a brand new exacto blade. Chuck them and make your own. I used a laser cutter to make mine from cardstock. Their weird stringy glue just makes a mess. Use a nice tacky glue instead.3. The plastic pieces included are SUPER flimsy. Be incredibly gentle. They will, however, glue back together alright with super-glue when you inevitably break one.4. The "inside window" piece doesn't fit in it's spot. You'll need either sand paper or preferably a Dremel tool to enlarge the groove a bit so that it'll fit.5. The felt mushrooms are very hard to cut and look weird anyway. Go for polymer clay on this one. Since I always have it on hand, I also used my polymer clay to put an actual textured façade on the fireplace, and uncolored wood pieces. (again, they just give the crappy photo paper) I used gray clay and painted it, but if you're good with tiny clay bits, you could certainly do colors.6. The lights are really strong and need diffused. Most of them are at least quasi diffused in the build per the instructions, but for the living room one, I re-routed it and put it into the fire place instead. I used tissue paper to make the flames, rather than the photopaper pic of flames they give you.7. The waterfall is TERRIBLE. It's just background photopaper with a giant crease in it. I made a little cliff façade for mine, using aquarium gravel in various sizes, then used UV resin for the water. This might be overboard, but something had to be done in that area.8. Add depth where you can. I used polymer clay for the clock, little shelf package, etc. This kit's weirdly sparse on little details, so I also made a little plate, a basket of more fruits, more mushrooms, etc. The plants are about on par with most of these kinds of kits. They're a little flat in color, though they quality on the plants is fine. I added some acrylic paint to mine to give them more depth.9. The instructions indicate that the wires should just run along the side of the box to the battery pack. I routed them nicely and made a wire-cover from painted tissue paper and glue to make it look a little nicer.