Reviewed by: John A. MacInnes – Build number: 64
Introduction:
Pull up a chair, order yourself a pint and try not to upset the landlord, because ETKVR’s The Ancient Bar looks like exactly the sort of place where every table has a story to tell. With glowing lanterns, shelves groaning under the weight of bottles, chunky timber beams and enough wooden barrels to keep a brewery in business, this is a book nook that oozes warmth and character. You can almost imagine a group of weary travellers huddled around the fire, swapping tales of dragons, lost treasure and why Dave really shouldn’t have ordered that mysterious stew.
The kit arrives in a sturdy two-piece box wrapped in a full colour glossy woodgrain-effect sleeve and, refreshingly, there’s no need to dust off Google Translate before you get started.
Here’s how John scored this kit:
ETKVR has included plenty of information in English, including the model number (YM08), the finished dimensions of 23 x 18 x 11cm and details of the materials used. There’s also a photograph of the completed build on the sleeve, which is always handy because it gives you something to aim for other than a growing pile of MDF on your workbench.
Recommended for builders aged 14 and over, The Ancient Bar sits comfortably in the high beginner to intermediate category. From that first look inside the box, there’s certainly plenty to be excited about. Between the detailed interior, atmospheric lighting and all the little accessories waiting to be installed, this promises to be less of a quick afternoon project and more of an invitation to disappear into your workshop for a few evenings.
Just don’t blame ETKVR if you suddenly find yourself craving a pint by the time you’ve finished building it!
Unboxing:
Lifting everything out of the box revealed a well-organised kit, with every component securely packed and nothing rattling around loose in transit.
The main build is spread across twelve full-size MDF sheets, while tucked underneath are two clear acrylic panels which will eventually form the front and top dust covers for the completed model.
Also included is a two-piece oil sheet, one section providing the glazing for a window and the other creating the flame effect behind the fireplace. ETKVR has also included the usual selection of modelling essentials, including a sanding stick, a pair of tweezers and a block of wax, along with adhesive cable clips to keep the lighting wires neatly routed as the build progresses. A small sheet of printed stickers is provided to decorate the tavern’s notice board, adding a few extra touches of character to the finished scene.
The electrical components are sensibly bagged separately from the main kit, while the two miniature metal teapots are individually wrapped to protect their finish. Everything feels well thought out, neatly presented and, perhaps most importantly, complete, leaving a very good first impression before the first part has even been removed from its sheet.
Instruction Manual:
ETKVR has produced a really nice instruction manual for The Ancient Bar. The full-colour A5 booklet is well printed, easy to read and, most importantly, it flows logically from one stage to the next.
There are no unexpected jumps in the build sequence or confusing diagrams that leave you scratching your head, with each section naturally leading into the next. One feature I particularly liked appears right at the front of the booklet, where the complete lighting layout is shown, identifying each of the five LED beads by the length of its cable.
As the wires themselves aren’t colour coded, I always take a minute before starting the build to mark each one with a coloured pen. It’s a tip I’ve mentioned before, but it’s one that’s served me well over the years.
On larger lighting installations it makes identifying the correct LED a matter of seconds, rather than tracing wires through a half-built model. The booklet also includes a full accessories checklist, allowing you to confirm everything is present before you begin. It’s another small touch, but one that reflects the thought ETKVR has put into making the build as straightforward and enjoyable as possible.
The Kit As Supplied:
First impressions count, and The Ancient Bar certainly gets off to a good start.
All twelve MDF sheets have been laser cut to an excellent standard, with every part popping out cleanly and, perhaps more importantly, no sign of the scorched or blackened edges that so often leave you reaching for a sanding stick before the build has even begun.
The printing is equally impressive. Yes, the colour palette is dominated by browns and natural wood tones, which is exactly what you’d expect from an ancient tavern, but there are enough subtle shades and contrasting details to stop it feeling bland or repetitive. The laser cutting is impressive as I said earlier with all cutting being within printed tolerances.
The real stars of the show, however, are the beautifully printed side panels. These create the illusion that you’re looking beyond the walls into a much larger vaulted bar, adding a surprising amount of depth to the scene. It’s a clever piece of design that gives the model a genuine three-dimensional feel long before the first wall is in place.
Lighting Kit:
The lighting system is about as straightforward as it gets, with five pre-wired LED heads, a touch sensor and a twin AAA battery box making up the entire setup.
There’s no complicated wiring or head-scratching involved, which will come as welcome news to anyone who usually approaches the electrical side of a build with a degree of caution. I was also pleased to see that ETKVR has already encapsulated the battery box connections.
Regular readers will know that my trusty hot glue gun normally gets called into action at this point to reinforce the solder joints before I even start building, but on this occasion it was given the day off. It’s only a small detail, but it shows the manufacturer has put a bit of thought into producing a lighting system that’s both neat and robust straight out of the box.
As always, before I even removed the first part from its board, I sat down with a coffee and gave the 20-page manual a quick read-through. I’m glad I did, because I spotted that one of the five LEDs was destined to sit behind the fireplace, shining through a printed oil-sheet flame effect. Now, there’s nothing wrong with the standard LED supplied, but I couldn’t resist making a small upgrade. Out came the soldering iron, off came the original LED head and in went a flickering replacement, before sealing everything up with a length of heat shrink. It only added a few minutes to the preparation, but the end result is a far more realistic fire that gently dances away in the hearth instead of giving off a constant glow. It’s certainly not essential, but if you’ve got a flickering LED in your spares box, I’d say it’s well worth the effort.
The lighting runs within the build are easy to follow, there’s nothing complicated about it, and all cut out holes are easily determined from the manual. In fact this is one of the reasons I have given this kit a suitability rating for a beginner who has already done a few kits and wants something a little more challenging.
The Build:
The build gets off to a nice slow start making the fireplace up, shelving and wine bottles, beer kegs, chairs and stools, before you make a start on the actual building structure itself.
A wee word of warning before you dive into Step 8 on Page 5. Part J8 is the shelf that carries several bottles and a candelabra, and although there is a correct way round for it to be fitted, the manual never actually tells you that.
It’s an easy mistake to make, and you’ll probably only realise something’s wrong when the bottles refuse to fit. That’s because not all of the bottle tenons are the same size, so each one has its own dedicated mortise.
The temptation is to give them a bit of persuasion, but don’t! They’re tiny, delicate little parts and could easily be damaged if you try to force them into the wrong holes. Then you’ll have the equally unenviable task of trying to get them back out again without launching one into the carpet monster. A quick check of the shelf’s orientation before reaching for the glue will save you a lot of unnecessary grief. As they say, forewarned is forearmed!
These little quirks on a build lead to the absolute golden rule: dry fit everything before you commit to sticky fingers.
Slotting the pieces together completely dry first gives you a stress-free dress rehearsal. It lets you catch any backward pieces, test the snugness of the tabs, and ensure everything lines up perfectly before you introduce the permanent point-of-no-return that is adhesive. Trust me, your sanity—and your fingertips—will thank you.
All items provided in the kit for this build are two dimensional, but given the clever use of positioning by ETKVR, it’s doesn’t come across as a flat and uninteresting kit.
Colouring:
Regular readers will already know that I suffer from a condition known as Compulsive Edge Colouring Disorder. Sadly, there’s no known cure. If there’s an exposed MDF edge, I’ll colour it.
I know it probably doubles the build time and there are plenty of people shouting at the screen, “Nobody’s ever going to notice!” Maybe they’re right, but I notice, and that’s enough for me.
Fortunately, The Ancient Bar made life easy. The laser cutting is excellent, with the parts almost falling out of the sheets under their own weight. There was virtually no splintering, no broken parts and very little sanding required before assembly. Better still, because this kit is almost entirely different shades of brown, it was a case of reaching for the furniture markers rather than rummaging through my ever-growing collection of acrylic pens.
I did briefly entertain the idea of colouring the edges of the tiny bottles as well. Then reality kicked in. Some would have needed two or even three different colours, and given they’re barely a centimetre tall, I asked myself a very important question: Is anyone ever going to inspect a miniature whisky bottle that closely? That particular bout of madness lasted all of ten seconds before common sense finally prevailed. I know…I can hardly believe it either!
Not that I’d completely abandoned my principles, of course. The fireplace still received the full VIP treatment. Some standards simply have to be maintained!
The Build Pt 2:
So far, this is turning into one of those lovely, relaxing builds where everything just seems to click into place. There have been no wrongly labelled parts, no pieces cut to the wrong size and, more importantly, no broken components lurking on the sheets waiting to spoil your day. The parts almost fall out of the master boards with very little persuasion and the tenons fit their matching mortises exactly as they should. It’s all going rather suspiciously well… but don’t let that lull you into a false sense of security.
Tip Number One:
Turn to Page 8 and you’ll be assembling the candlelit chandelier. It’s here that I have a wee word of caution. Part J15 contains the candles, and they’re held in the sheet by their tenons. Whatever you do, don’t be tempted to push them out from the unsupported candle end. They are incredibly delicate, and if you snap one off there’s no spare hiding elsewhere in the kit.
Instead, give the tenon a gentle push and they’ll pop out quite happily. The same goes when fitting them into ring G2. A couple of mine were a snug fit, but there’s absolutely no need to force them. A quick rub down each side of the tenon with a sanding stick was all it took, and they slipped into place perfectly.
Sometimes a few seconds with the sandpaper is a much better option than spending the next ten minutes inventing new swear words trying to repair a broken candle!
Tip Number Two:
Page 9 of the manual sees you building the decorative upright support sections, each one made up of 15 individual parts. They go together well enough, but I did come across one little trap that’s worth mentioning. In Step 36 you’ll be fitting part F34 into the box section assembled in the previous step.
The problem is that this box has no internal support, so as soon as you start pushing those tenons home, the sides have a nasty habit of collapsing inwards. I did try running a bead of glue down the inside corners after Step 35 to strengthen the joints, but even then the gentle pressure needed to fit F34 was enough to push the sides in.
In the end, I found a much easier solution. Before assembling parts F35, C14 and C16 into the box shown in Step 35, I fitted the curved side wings first (see image). It made the job considerably easier and saved a fair bit of frustration. Sometimes it’s the smallest change to the build sequence that makes the biggest difference.
Tip Number Three:
I also had to smile at the wording in Step 37. The manual cheerfully instructs you to apply “blue line caulking”.
Now, I don’t know about you, but I spent a good minute reading that, wondering if I’d somehow missed an entire tube of specialist sealant in the box! It was only after the third read-through that the penny finally dropped.
All the manufacturer is actually telling you to do is glue the decorative wings onto the upright pillars. It just goes to show that even the best translated manuals can occasionally produce a little gem. At least it gave me a chuckle before reaching for the glue bottle instead of a tube of imaginary blue caulking!
Tip Number Four:
When you reach Page 12 and Step 64, you’ll be assembling the bar itself. The bar top, complete with its lamp and tankard, is fitted first before four parts, D19, are attached to form the front of the bar.
There’s only one way these fit, thanks to the different-sized tenons, with the smaller one locating into the underside of the bar top, so there’s little chance of getting them the wrong way round.
What did leave me scratching my head, though, was the very next instruction. The manual asks you to glue the decorative panels E35 onto the D19 pieces after they’ve already been fitted to the bar.
Personally, I can’t see any advantage in doing it that way. I found it much easier to glue the decorative panels onto the D19 sections while they were still lying flat on the workbench, then fit the completed assemblies to the bar top afterwards.
It’s a far simpler approach, the parts are easier to line up accurately, and you’re not trying to juggle glue, tiny panels and an awkward three-dimensional assembly all at the same time. Sometimes the easiest solution is simply to ignore the order in the manual!
Why that way?
Just when I thought we’d got past the “why on earth did they do it that way?” moments, along came Page 16 and Step 90.
Here you’re building another section of the bar, with the front panels fitted first. No sooner have you finished that than Step 91 appears and asks you to glue the decorative overlays onto those same panels. Does that sound familiar? It should, because ETKVR asked us to do exactly the same thing back in Step 65.
Once again, I completely ignored the suggested sequence. I glued the decorative panels onto the front sections while they were still lying flat on the workbench and only then fitted the completed pieces to the bar. It makes life so much easier.
You’re not trying to hold an awkward assembly in one hand while lining up tiny decorative pieces with the other, and there’s no advantage whatsoever to fitting them in the order shown in the manual. It’s not as though the bar top acts as a positioning jig — it doesn’t.
Sometimes the simplest way really is the best way, even if it means politely disagreeing with the instructions.
Chandelier Time:
When you reach Page 18, Steps 105 and 106 have you building the second chandelier for the upstairs bar. It all goes together easily enough but be extremely careful when removing parts H12 from the sheet (see image).
These are incredibly fragile and wouldn’t take much to snap. In fact, I didn’t even risk using my usual craft knife or tweezers.
Instead, I gently pushed them out with my thumbnail so I wasn’t putting any unnecessary pressure on the delicate arms. They released without any drama, but I honestly think a heavy-handed approach with a tool would have ended in tears.
There are two spare parts supplied, that should tell you all you need to know about how delicate these are, so this is definitely one of those occasions where slow and steady really does win the race. And don’t think you are done after building them.
To give them a little more rigidity, I added a small drop of UV resin to the lower anchor point. Also, pay attention when fitting the tenons into the mortises on the roof piece. Mine were a little too tight for my liking when dry fitting, so I sanded them a tiny bit and they fitted in just fine.
My Thoughts:
This was an excellent build from start to finish and is certainly right up there with the very best kits I’ve built. It’s one of only a handful that I can honestly say had virtually no faults—no broken pieces, no poor fitting parts, no confusing instruction manual, and an excellent lighting kit.
I did decide to replace the standard warm white LED with a red flickering LED positioned behind the fire’s printed acetate. In truth, it probably wasn’t worth the extra effort, as once the model is fully assembled the fireplace is largely hidden from view. Still, I know it’s there, and that’s what counts!
This would make an excellent kit for beginners who are ready to move on from smaller projects and tackle something a little larger and slightly more complex. The instructions are superb, guiding you through every stage in a clear, logical sequence and virtually holding your hand throughout the build.
I have to give credit where it’s due. My reviews aren’t written to flatter manufacturers or stroke anyone’s ego. I buy every kit with my own money, build it myself, and review it exactly as I find it. In this case, and in my opinion as a pro builder, The Ancient Bar by ETKVR is about as close to perfection as a book nook kit can get.
The build quality is outstanding, the printed components are beautifully produced, and the instruction manual is up there as one of the best I’ve ever used.
I have absolutely no hesitation in giving The Ancient Bar my full recommendation. If you’re looking for a beautifully designed, frustration-free build that delivers a stunning finished model, this is one you should definitely add to your collection.
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