Building wooden models

So i started with a "Book Nook" a few months ago, and i got hooked. 
I now tend to build around 1 Model per week, from BookNooks to Clocks or other wooden models. 

MagicHouse_Rolife

Nautilus_Ugear

IMG_20230901_183511

SakuraDensya_Rolife

EternalLibrary

After building around 20 Models alltogether, i have to say, the Company the Kit is from makes a huuuuge difference. 

So my recommendation is basically everything from Robotime (incl. Rokr and Rolife) as far as i could tell, the Instructions are top notch, everything comes in one package (inkl. Glue, Wax or Rubberbands if needed) and the actual quality of the parts is really good. 

I had a few kits from different Makers, but while some are okay, they tend to be not as "clever" with the way the Model is set up, the Parts are broken out of the sheet, or just are repetetive. (The Eternal library still gives me nightmares with >70 Books to cut/fold/glue). Also all three of the Clocks i built are only somewhat functional at best. Granted, that might be due to me just being not proficient enough, but although i really enjoyed building them, somehow it kind of sucks if they dont run reliably. 

I have branched out into Metal Models once (damn you Facebook-Ads) but it was a rather annoying process. I thought since the parts are made out of metal, the functionality would be better than with wood, but it was super annoying to build, since some parts just plainly dont fit, (even after de-/reassembling the parts a few times) and the tiny screws and nuts are just super fiddly to mount, and seem to unwind. (I was tempted to go the Locktite-route, but that seems overkill).

So while it looks badass, the Model was so annoying to build that i dont plan to retry something like this anytime soon. 

So overall, if you are looking for a new hobby, which is (atleast for me) is quite meditative and (compared to my other Hobbies) rather inexpensive, anything that you can find on Robotime's Website is reccomendable. (i tend to go for the mechanical models and recently the musicboxes). The four Book Nooks they have are straight up the best ones i have found/built so far.