CKB LTD Space Rail Perpetual Rollercoaster Glow in The Dark Level 4 - Marble Roller Coaster Run DIY Track Build Kit Space Rail Track Run Construction Gadget

I got this, constructed it and have it working properly. Sounds simple; it wasn't! But it was thoroughly enjoyable from start to finish.The kit comes as a variety of separate plastic pieces, separated into bags of identical pieces. First off is to connect several pieces together to make the supporting arms. All 54 of them. No problem, a bit tedious but acts as an intro. Then you put the base together, assemble the elevator, and start the challenge.You do have instructions, and for the most part they're as useful as they need to be. The one exception is when building the track that splits into two, as for this it does not tell you how long you need to cut the rails. But you can roughly figure it out (I think I made it about 2 metres), and cut down once you've got it almost complete. And there is a LOT of spare rail, so don't worry. There are also ten joining pins should you need to connect two lengths together.The instructions tell you where to put the arms and in what position on the rails. They give you a 'to scale' double page of where to position them on each support strut, but to be honest I found that once I was building, I had to move them, so it's only really useful for getting them to face the right way, and a very rough idea of the spacing. It seems previously that the instructions have had incorrect lettering on the key for this part, but my product had these corrected with stickers.The hard part is getting the rails shaped and connected. I started with the triple loop-the-loop track, and it took me about 3-4 hours to get it right. I did begin to get a bit frustrated towards the end, but once I sussed it out it was well worth it. That track is by far the hardest one to do, and so once you've done it, the others are only a mild challenge, as you understand the principles much better. Also, you don't have to follow the given track shapes exactly, for example I fed the latter part of my see-saw track through the middle of the triple loop-the-loop rather than around it. In fact, if you've the mind for it, you could create your own tracks from scratch (I'll be doing this once I'm bored of the current set up, and am really look forward to it).As for the positioning of rails, the instructions give you just about enough, and the diagrams are invaluable. The photos are either very helpful or utterly useless. Once the track is assembled, you pop the ball in and watch it fail. Then you make slight adjustments to where it fell off and put the ball back on. This will probably happen quite a lot - I found myself making dozens of tiny adjustments to get it right, but there is a lot you can do:- spacers are provided to keep the rails apart, but they can also be twisted to bank around corners, or you can make the rails narrower/wider to speed up/slow down the ball- the arms move up and down, left and right, and also twist so you effectively have pitch, roll and yaw that you can adjust- the rings that make up the start and finish points can be moved, but only up and down- the base is full of holes for the struts, so you can move them if you think it'll helpThere are a couple things I've found that are problematic, but they can mostly be compensated for:- the struts fit only loosely into the holes, so they don't necessarily sit square off the base, and they can pop out while you're assembling the rails- the balls only sit on the elevator (there's no dip or anything to keep them on it), and if a ball comes in at speed and at a certain time relative to the others, it can and will knock them off- the see-saws are not firm enough and after several passes tend to sit in a 'drooped' position, which can either mean the bottom one catches on the rail below it, or it misses the rail when it tips the ball off- yes, it does glow in the dark, but not very brightly, and obviously the balls don't glow so it feels a little pointlessTo sum up, if you've the patience for things that require many tiny adjustments, don't mind spending hours and hours (it took me a total of about 12 hours to get right) constructing what feels like a small section of something, and you've an understanding of the basic related rules of gravity/physics, then you'll love it. If not, you'll hate it.

For those with the aptitude for this sort of amusement, this has the possibility to fill many hours. It has certainly filled a good few hours for me, and as I sit and look at it, and imagine alternative layouts, I see that it could keep me amused for a few hours yet.Specific comments I have are:1) I have the Level 4 - Glow in the Dark version. But to me, it doesn't glow in the dark. Turn the lights off and I can't see it. But the green "track" is nice.2) The instructions are a little limited, so some free thinking is required. That isn't really a problem once one starts using some imagination rather than slavishly trying to exactly recreate the example layout shown on the box and in the instructions. In fact, the layout in the instructions and on the box are just an example of what can be created. In practise there are endless possibilities once one lets the imagination run free.3) I was concerned while building the example layout that there would be only just enough "track". In fact there was a good 4 plus meters of the green piping unused after the example layout was completed. There were also about half a dozen of the black plastic support brackets left over.4) The weakest point for me is the battery powered motor that drives the ball elevator. It makes a grungy noise and sounds like it may quit at any moment. It also uses a C battery which is not so common these days when most everything else I have uses AA or AAA batteries. (A better motor, perhaps supplied from a 5 volt USB charger outlet would make this a better package, and encourage me to move on to a higher level.)

I've had this for 3 nights now and have just managed to get a whole rail working. It doesn't sound like much but I was very pleased with myself.This is a really fun puzzle toy and you really need to treat it like that. The instructions will show you the basics of putting together the struts, supports and smaller elements but when it comes to the track, it will only give you a guide.You will have hours of fiddling and deciphering the guide to get the tracks to run smoothly. The black and white instructions don't really help with differentiating the track from the struts and colour would have been a real bonus. Instead I had to resort to Googling hi-res images of the coaster to try and work out how elements of the track went together.Step 2 of the instructions is building the split track rail and I've yet to figure out how long that track needs to be cut to. It may be an oversight in the instructions or it may be my myopic problem. Oh yes, the track comes as one long strip that you need to cut down to the individual rails.I'm finding this quite a challenge and in spite of the less than perfect instructions I'm loving it and would wholeheartedly recommend this to someone else. Just bear it in mind that it doesn't hand hold you through the whole process. I've been at it for three evenings (approx 6-7 hours) and I've only just managed to get a single rail working and this kit has 5 (1 splits to 2).

Green track comes as one piece so only one chance to cut right for all tracks