Stewart M.
The product was well made, laser cutting was very accurate. I would have liked to see the dimensions in the advertisement as surprised how small the product was. having said this very pleased with the assembly. I would have preferred the instructions to be in paper form with the product and not on the web site. One other suggestion the single wire for soldering requires to be slightly longer to ease soldering.
Lina Marchenko
It's really fascinating to watch when you finish it, it makes almost no sound at all and the action of the steps and the track is very smooth. We had no problems at all building it.
Beryl Ford
I saw these in action at the museum and thought they were quite marvellous, I decided to buy one which my husband has put together and we are very happy with the result.
Stanley Belcher
Received as a gift after enjoying my visit to The MAD Museum (btw if you've never been, why not???). Had no issues putting this kit together and it runs nicely. The ball bearings are very small and can be a nightmare to find so make sure you have something to catch them in if one does happen to fall off the track.
AndyB
Very rewarding to build and very smooth running. The instructions were excellent, no problems at all. Even 5 years later I get much satisfaction from watching it working, very glad I went for the motorised version.
After a visit to the MAD museum it's the perfect way to remember your visit and have your own little piece at home!
Ben Jenkins
Purchased the marble machine number 1 kit after a great day out at MAD in the summer. Only just got around to building it now, it's a nice kit and I'm happy with the end result. Balls are tiny so you need to make sure you can find them in the event of them disembarking the track but I've been impressed with the reliability of this machine.
Colin Thomson
Really enjoyed making this up. I haven't made a model kit for many years and it made a very nice change from jigsaws!
Instructions were good and I liked the backup of the demo videos on the website.
A bit of fettling required to get it running smoothly, but that just adds a bit more of a challenge. Great product, not outrageously priced!
Nick T
As many others have said, this is a pretty straightforward build if you take your time, BUT...no amount of fiddling/fettling/sanding will get mine to lift from bottom to top without the ball bearings getting stuck somewhere along the line.The lifters in my kit required a shim each end to get anything like a reasonable fit, but even now there is still too much play - a second shim will be too tight a fit though.
Any suggestions?
Sebastian Willis
Nice model kit that I first saw at The MAD Museum in Stratford. Fairly straight forward to build, I had to go out and buy some sandpaper for the step bits but that was fine. It actually runs very reliably and loses very few balls, which surprised me somewhat as the ball bearings are really rather small. Runs very quietly too.
Finally, if you've never been to MAD, I beg you to go, it's absolutely bloody brilliant!!!
Frank Leavy
I enjoyed putting this kit together a lot, if you have some patience and follow the instructions step by step it's really not hard to build at all. They included some extra step spacers in case of wood thickness fluctuations, which I thought was a nice touch. I've since bought some for friends for Xmas.
Bonnie Chapman
Hubby is very pleased with this kit. We visited MAD as part of a day trip to Stratford last year and he was absolutely mesmerised by all the marble runs there, so I decided to buy him one of these models to build.
Waited a few days longer than usual for delivery due to the lockdown of course, but arrived in good condition and have no complants.
Smokey Tilford
I've spent many happy hours during lockdown building similar kits to this, such as those made by Timberkits, etc. This is the first one I've tried that's made by my favourite museum in the world, The MAD Museum!
You'll need some glue (and, note, a soldering iron) but anything like PVA works absolutely fine, and dries extremely quickly on the MDF wood, a couple of minutes and it's dry. The result is a fantastic, hypnotic ball bearing run that I can watch for hours on end!
Errol
Really enjoyed making this and the sense of achievement when you complete the machine and watch it working cant wait for #2 to arrive now!
Paul Davies
I purchased the kit as I had been fascinated watching the video. The kit arrived very quickly, bearing in mind the difficult time we have at the moment. I followed the downloaded instructions and proceeded with the build. Beware the illustration on the box may be different to the actual model... Steps rise right to left on the model but left to right on the illustration. When I checked I was informed the illustration was of a prototype model. Unfortunately purely by accident I managed to break part of the track. I sent an email and a replacement part was sent out by return. Great customer service! I completed the build and to keep dust off it have enclosed it in an acrylic display box. Once set in motion it is totally hypnotic!
Gavin Bell
Very poor instructions - suggest to hand someone a kit with instructions and observe where the problems are. Once assembled, there is total 3mm gap between the marble lifting columns and the side frames giving too much clearance between each. If the device isn't carefully levelled / tilted then a ball will eventually drop between two of the columns. Only one shim is included, if there were maybe a full set of shims it could be much better.
The unreliability of operation has tainted what would otherwise be a great kit for a child.
Kyle Overton
I must have been to The MAD Museum a dozen times over the years and have always stood and admired these little kits doing their thing, over and over again, day in day out. So I finally took the plunge last time and bought this wee beauty. Spent a happy rainy afternoon putting it together in the comfort of my workshop and after a few tweaks it runs perfectly. Go MAD!
Frank Mills
I toyed between buying the hand-cranked kit or the machine one..... but I'm really glad I went for the motorised kit. It's great and it's proudly on display in my living room now. I think MAD Factory should sell more motorised marble kits- they are brilliant
Michael Macsheffrey
Impressed with how reliably this little kit runs. When I saw the size of the steel balls provided (they are pretty tiny), I couldn't see how they could stay on the track. But they do and they are a joy to watch!
Felix Guthrie
Almost took the plunge on one of these little kits when I visited MAD last year, finally decided to buy one online and pleased that I did. You need a bit of patience but if you're prepared to be methodical and just work through the instructions step by step, you'll end up with a working, rewarding motorised marble run.
Michael Westly
My 3rd MAD kit and the best so far in my opinion. Strikes a good balance between easy and challenging, took me a couple of hours. Lovely quiet motor, much less noise than I expected. Very addictive to watch it in action too.
Owen Sutor
A good kit to build for a beginner or intermediate maker. Not too difficult at all.
Heather Johnson
Really like it, runs smoothly and had no problems following the instructions.
Jenna Falmorthan
Saw this in action at The MAD Museum and decided to buy the kit. My son and I put it together during a rainy morning and are very happy with it. The tiny little ball bearings can get lost very easily so my advice is to keep it away from anywhere where things can disappear like sofa's etc.
Walter Jacobsen
I have now successfully built all four of MAD's marble machines, with much help from my two sons along the way. Happy with all of the models, but I would have to say that this is my favourite overall. It's nice and simple to build but really provides a good deal of fun watching the finished product in action. I will buying more of these as gifts this Christmas for sure.
Helen Bielawski
Really like these kits, third one I've had and exceedingly happy with them.
Jill Chung
Having been very happy with my simple marble machine kit, bought for me a few months ago, I decided to challenge myself with the #1 motorised kit. It takes longer to build but I still had it up and running within a couple of hours max. I accidently broke one of the wooden parts but the staff at MAD sent me out a new piece straight away, free of charge. Very impressed!
Pierre Contrán
The kit was great to build, not too hard but not too easy. The end result is well worth the effort, a lovely machine to watch in action. The 2 AA batteries have lasted well over a month so far. I will be buying more of these as gifts for sure.
Freya Minchin
Most pleased with this kit, and my son is too. Saw these kits in action at The MAD Museum and we just had to have one. Now it sits in my son's bedroom and he gets many hours of joy from watching the little balls go up the stair lift and then shoot back down the track.
Clive Henderson
Love The MAD Museum which is home to loads of full size marble runs, this kit is like a little piece of the museum. Construction of the kit strikes a nice balance between challenging and not too hard, I managed it in about an hour and a half. I leave it on my mantel piece and my guests love it!
