Built & reviewed by David Richards
David is the founder of this site and has made about 35 kits to date. Whilst not a prolific builder like others in the team I alternate my time in trying to make this site The global resource for book nooks and dioramas and trying to occasionally do one of the 20 kits which are under my bed.
Summary Table
| Feature | Details |
|---|---|
| Build Name | European Melody Musical Instrument Box |
| Build Time | Approximately 5–7 hours |
| Difficulty | ⭐⭐ Advanced Beginner |
| Dust Cover | Yes |
| Lighting | Yes |
| Best Feature | Beautifully crafted musical room design with excellent build quality |
Introduction
It is quite rare these days to build a kit where there is little advice to kit as it is a beautifully crafted model with high quality wood and great instructions. It also brings a little bit of relief compensating for some of the kits where you need an electron microscope to read the instructions and some of the wood is so fragile it breaks when you sneeze.
In my reviews I will not go over anything which is straightforward and easy to follow from the instruction manual. The only tool I required was my trusty B7000 glue as there was no paper to cut out and no really tiny pieces that needed tweezers to handle them carefully or screwdriver required to deal with 0.5mm screws. The only thing that was missing from the kit (it may have dropped out as it would have been very small was the string for the harp)
The Build Process
The only slightly annoying element is you build an access door to the battery box in the very early stages which attaches to the main base. This means that every time you are pushing down to add a new instrument or piece of furniture it wobbles so I would suggest you add some stabilisers when building.
This is mainly a snap & click kit meaning that glue is only required for adding some decorative pieces. The quality of the laser cut was so precise that I did not need to sand any of the parts when detaching them from their templates.
The side of the piano is flexible so it can be clicked in the right shape so you need to be careful you do not break it (a spare piece is provided in case you do). The oil paper for the table light is a nice touch and is is relatively straightforward to wrap around the wooden frame. I had the battery container and leads attached all the time during the build so was able to test out this light at a very early stage. It is nice in the manual that when you have completed one of the main steps you are shown a finished stage photo so you can check before proceeding.
As I said I couldn’t find the included string for the harpsichord so I just used some white cotton thread. The holes are tiny so the threading takes a long time – especially when you have sausage fingers and poor eyesight like me.
There is a lot of double sides plastic protection on all the perspex so my tip is to use the blunt edge of a crafting knife to loosen it from the edge and it then peels away easily.
Slotting the walls in perfectly does take some concentration and find adjustments but it does fit perfectly when it gets into the right position.
The Chandelier
The only “challenging” step was the building of the chandelier.This is because you are doing it with the LED light dangling under the roof so you are building in mid-air. If I was making a recommendation to the manufacturer I would make this wire much longer so it can be assembled on a surface and then pulled back into the roof cavity where the extra wire can be hidden. It is also very important to note that 2 of the 6 chandelier arms are longer and have attachments – they need to be opposite each other as they fix the chandelier into the roof which is also quite tricky.
The fixing of all the front walls with the dust cover is relatively easy and the roof secures onto the walls with a satisfying click to finish the model.
Final Verdict
A beautifully pleasing model to look at with 4 separate music “rooms”. High quality and good value. I would say advanced beginner level due to a couple of tricky bits but with a couple of beginner book nooks under your belt you should be ready to tackle this.
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