LEGO Super Mario Nintendo Entertainment System 71374 Gameplay Building Set, Model Kits for Adults to Build, DIY Creative Activity, Collectible Gift Idea

This little beauty has been sat in my cupboard of joy for far too long and seeing as I had almost 2 weeks off work (11 days if we are being precise) I decided it was time he came out and got built. I fully expected to have to spread this over 2 days but got it done in one rather late night session. Admittedly I no longer part sort, I just tip each numbered bag in to a couple of plastic tubs for easy fishing through so that speeded things up immeasurably. I had a few issues building the internal mechanism for the cartridge return. The spring is so strong when built it kept popping the bricks out of place so I had to do a bt of one handed building whilst I held it in place. Once the layer of securing bricks goes in place though it really does stay put. Even better when built it genuinely works and feels sturdy and certainly had no breakage issues with repeated use. The booklet does say the designers tested it thousands of times to make sure it woudl keep working and that certainly paid off. For me the highlight of the build was making the scrolling screen. Then again the highlight of the modular building sets is always tiling the front of the street, so I'm weird. Took me maybe an hour to construct the screen but it was really good fun and I enjoyed watching it all come together. Even better because I have recently built the Crawler Crane the tracking was a familiar mechanism as it is the same as the one used for caterpiller tracks. The only iffy bit for me was fitting the TV to the stand. If you don't have your grey straights in the correct place on the bottom of the TV there is nowehre to secure the stand to. I simply turned the TV upside down and lined them up that way, definitely works and at no time have I felt like the TV is going to fall off it's stand. There are a couple of stickers included in the kit. Fortunately they are the large ones for the back of the TV and for the game cartridge. Everything else is preprinted. I dread to think how hard it would have been to get stickers on all the little bits and bobs on the TV screen. Really interesting build with some new to me techniques and generally gives a great all over finish. Displayed it looks wonderful. Even better is when you put the Super Mario figure on the top and then run the scroll. No need to load the Super Mario App either which is a bonus. Number Of Pieces: 2646 Approximate Price Per Piece: £0.08 Build Time: Console - 3 Hours TV - 3.5 Hours