Reviewed by Martin Seidler
Martin has over 50 years of model-building experience and has completed 30+ Book Nook kits in just a few months. He specialises in adding lighting, custom details, and storytelling elements to bring each build to life.
I was born in the 1960s and restaurants in communist Czechoslovakia looked completely different! But anyway, this kit was clearly inspired by classic American diners featuring nostalgic decors – a jukebox, soda bar, posters and a min stage for live bands. I like all of that so the choice was clear and it was really fun to build.
It follows the traditional modern style of this type of kit, with MDF sheets of parts, very good overall quality, and precise tolerances of the tabs and slots. It includes transparent plastic pieces, beads, balls and mirrors for the disco balls, a dust cover, hammer, tweezers, etc. — simply the good standard I have come to expect from Fifijoy.
On top of these usual components, the kit also includes red and white leather cutouts used to cover the seats.
The lighting kit involves three LED bulbs and three LED strings, all hard-wired to the battery box, which usually makes kits uncomfortable to work with. However, in this case the wire lengths are generous
and the placement of the battery box is logical, so working with the wiring bundle is not an issue at all.
The kit is not a difficult build. It is not exactly aimed at complete beginners, but on the other hand there is nothing too difficult in the building process that would prevent a less experienced builder from finishing it successfully. The instructions are colored, detailed enough, and guide you safely through the build.
The kit contains lots of tiny 2D bits and pieces. It is not too fiddly if you choose to use the details as they are, but it becomes considerably more fiddly if you decide to round the edges and paint them to minimize the flat 2D look. I liked the stainless-steel-style stickers used to cover the bar, upper-level tables, etc. I personally chose to use a chrome pen on some edges instead, as it was easier for me.
Installation of the lighting is fairly easy, except for the ceiling light string, which requires some patience. Using UV glue, as I did, makes the process fast and relatively easy, but using standard glue would probably require more time and care.
The design of the upper floor with the stage naturally encourages customization. I added two miniature flashing color-changing LEDs on the sides of the stage, and I like the result very much. You can judge for yourself from the video.
I already mentioned the leather pieces. They come as self-adhesive pre-cut details, which are precise in size and easy to work with. The stainless-steel-looking stickers are also a good idea. They require some precision during installation, but they tolerate repositioning surprisingly well, so there is no need to be afraid of working with them.
The upper floor construction involves placing colored beads around the stage, which is fairly easy using B-7000 glue. Producing the disco balls is rather tricky. The supplied self-adhesive mirror squares are easy to work with; however, the squares are slightly too large for the size of the balls, so the final surface coverage is not ideal. Still, nothing is perfect, and it is not a major issue here.
The kit also offers quite a lot of potential for adding your own pictures and posters. I added posters of MS Band — the band in which I play mandolin and harmonica.
Conclusion
PROs
- Unique and interesting design
- Very good overall quality and instructions
- Variety of materials used
- Can be built straight out of the box or heavily customized
CONs
- Lots of flat-looking details
- Disco balls can be frustrating to make
OVERALL: 8/10 — very good value for the money.
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