As a Lego designer who does commissions myself, and a big fan of JK brickwork, I can't help but to be disappointed with the quality of the design when it comes to buildability and design integrity.
I bought the set for my gf who is a newbie.
Pros:
The model looks great, as expected from Jk brickwork. The quality of parts is good. Nothing to complain about about those.
Cons:
The base is quite flimsy during construction, as it is made up of multiple small plates that aren't sandwiched on both side, which is very not user friendly.
The wall construction process is not secure, as pieces aren't alternated to ensure stability.
The prairie dog with the opening mouth has the worst structure possibly imaginable: both sides of the body were snotted on the bottom only using 2 studs, which means that it tends to peel open near to top. On top of that, the head is only attached to the snotted back using 2 studs, where the snot brick is unsecured to the rest of the head because he had to make room for the jaw.
The hinge of the jaw made me speechless. It asks you it put a 2L axle in a pin hole, and try to not make it fall out as you try to inser it into the little gap you created. Problem is, the instruction negates the existence of gravity, as it starts the build with the right side of the body, which means that the pin would fall out if you try to place it. The correct way would have to tell the builder to start with the left. The root of this part's problem is because it doesn't rely on secure connections, but rather amateur like flimsy technique of resting the axle and aligning it against the bottom of one of the stud of the side body. This is unacceptable and should have been replaced by a better solution. The other side of the bodywork has a stud to keep the axle in place, which is an amateur like solution, as it's very flimsy and not reliable nor buildable at all.
Even the placement of the arches behind the transparent panels aren't secured, as it would topple over during construction,resulting in the need to remove the front panel before fixing it, as you have to build the same thing after the panel you replaced.
Overall, good model, but big design optimisation problems.
A normal fan would need the help of someone who does mocs to complete it, not good.
Cada, you have my mail. Write me if you want to revise the model, we can talk it out. This model deserves better for the quality of concept and style.
