This is a review of Star Takoyaki Dollhouse kit, which is sold under many different brand names around the CAD$45 price range. For your information, I have never done a DIY miniature dollhouse kit before, so my experience (or the lack thereof) may influence this review. If you are contemplating a purchase, read on before you buy!
I got this during the first wave of the pandemic, but never got to finish it until today. The kit comes with everything you need to put it together, except for batteries and a craft knife. In addition, they have thrown in 2 different types of glue. Depending on the price point, some of these kits may not include tools and glue, so you’ll have to check the product descriptions.
Quality of Instructions
Since I bought the kit at Mind Games store in Ontario, it comes with an English manual. However, the instructions were sparse and mostly pictorial. There were several places where instructions were nonexistent and I ended up with the lighting cable sticking out of the vending machine.
However, since most of the instructions are pictures and not difficult to understand, beginners should be fine following them.
Miniature really is small!
When I started, I enlisted the help of my teenage daughter, whose hands were still small enough to help me put together the bike. However, she has since hit the growth spurt and cannot help me. The bike alone took about an hour to put together! It was not complicated, but because everything was so small, it acted as a natural obstacle.
To show you the scale of things, these are the drinks inside the vending machine, which took more than 2 hours to put together. The paper is so thin and glossy, the glue had a hard time sticking and it was difficult to fold and put the pieces together.
By the way, I have small hands and I had a hard time with making these little pieces. For reference, my shoe size is 4, so you can guess my hands are kid-sized! 😛
Of course, after struggling for an hour to put the canned sodas together, I discovered the wooden parts that I was supposed to glue the paper to form the cans. By then, I had already glued the vending machine together. Oh well!
After spending 4 hours with my daughter putting together the microwave, bike and takoyaki on the grill, I left everything in the box for 2 years before picking up again. 😛
Perseverance is the Key
As a complete newbie to miniature dollhouse kits (I’m primarily a watercolourist), I find the cartons the hardest due to the softness of the paper.
This part of the Star Takoyaki dollhouse kit is my favourite. It took relatively little time to put the sakura tree and rocks together!
What Didn’t Work
One big caveat of this kit is that the lighting did not work. In fact, as I was initially assembling it, I was considering to forgo the whole lighting thing because I feared it wouldn’t work. I have correctly connected the wires and put in brand new batteries to no avail. Just in case the translation was wrong, I even reversed the connections to the wires and still, nothing lit up. What a big disappointment to have spent 19+ hours on the kit just to arrive at this junction. If I didn’t do the lighting like I initially decided, I could have saved myself at least a good hour. However, I wanted to review this Star Takoyaki Dollhouse Kit in its entirety, so I felt it was essential to complete it.
Overall Review of Star Takoyaki Dollhouse Kit
Pros:
- All in one kit that includes everything (except batteries)
- Mostly easy to understand instructions
- Nothing missing in the kit
- Decent quality of materials for most pieces
- Finished product looks pretty good
Cons:
- Could have used thicker paper for easier assembly
- Some instructions are missing and you have to improvise
- English instructions are hard to understand at times due to poor grammar or spelling mistakes
- Some parts are incredibly small and difficult to make
- The glue, once dried, looks noticeable and is difficult to avoid due to how small the pieces are
- The lighting did not work
Total Time Used To Assemble: 19.25 hours
Some Thoughts…
This may not be the easiest miniature dollhouse kit for a beginner. I have small hands and I find it hard to create those tiny food pieces, even with the help of tweezers! In addition, a magnifying glass would help even looking at the pictorial instructions. If you are 45+, reading glasses would be essential.
Bottom line: if we enter another lockdown, you may enjoy a kit like this. I have another miniature kit I have yet to put together. I may save that for the next lockdown! 😛