Wrebbit3D Harry Potter 3D Puzzle Model of Hogwarts Astronomy Tower | Hogwarts Castle Collection | 875 Jigsaw Puzzle Pieces | Build and Journey Through The Wizarding World

These are actual jigsaw puzzles where you assemble a dozen or so small assemblies that then get mounted together into the final building. Most of your time is spent doing the puzzle -- sorting pieces and putting them together just like you would a regular jigsaw puzzle. You then use the instructions to do the 3D assembly and that actually ends up being not that difficult. Some recommendations: 1) Buy one of the smaller sets from the series and try it out and see if its really your bag before you commit to one of the monster sets. 2) First step is to go through the pieces and remove the "chads" (pieces that are attached to the real pieces in manufacturing that are to be discarded). DO NOT THROW THE CHADS AWAY but put them back in the box or in some other storage container for later (step 5). 3) Sort the pieces by color or subject, etc. I sorted basically into three major groups: walls, ground and roof. Then the walls and roof i sorted even further by window-type and so on. 4) Decide how much you want to be challenged: if you are a jigsaw "nut" and want the biggest challenge ever, start looking at the photos of the finished product on the box and start putting your puzzles together. If you want to make things a little bit easier, tackle each mini-puzzle one at a time by looking at the instructions which show you an outline of what the mini-puzzle should look like. It even has outlines of all the pieces (but not the colors of the piece itself) to help. If you want things to be even a bit more easy, then go to the Wrebbit website and download their pdf of the instructions. These instructions have photos of each assembly including full color and the piece outlines. 5) When are finished jigsawing you probably are going to determine that you have a couple of missing pieces like others have mentioned in the reviews. I put three of these together and each time i had two or three of the smaller pieces missing. But i went back through my box of "chad" and found each of the pieces. So don't throw your chads away until you are finished 6) When doing your puzzles be very careful about parts that are very similar to the part you need. The pieces are foam so you can inadvertently force two pieces together that don't quite fit and it will look OK but be wrong. After finishing each puzzle, I would recommend comparing it to the photo in the pdf to make sure you didn't swap two similar pieces. 7) Once you have all the puzzles finished, assemble per the instructions. It goes very quickly at that point.

Listen to the age recommendation. It took me several days, and hours to put together. I bought for my ten year old and she was over overwhelmed. The issue is the print, when you have a building with the same prints, with slightly different puzzle cuts, it's easy to put pieces together incorrectly. I initially thought I had missing pieces- but in actually I had put one or two pieces in the wrong place. Using a bright light will help to pick up on minor color/shading differences. If you think you are missing pieces, double check your puzzle. Also, don't throw away the box or the red dotted pieces because it's so easy to miss a few. I did this and had to search though the left overs and I found several pieces.The puzzle is well made, the attention to detail is amazing and it's quite large once you put it together. It's really cool to look at and definitely something you want to display.

Three dimensional puzzles are not for everyone: the only similarity they have with 2-D is the advisability of creating the "edges" first. In the 3-D world that means building the base, then heading "up". One or two puzzles down the road and you get the knack. I am having fun with this set although there are a few things "missing". The instructions are rather sparse: a better variation shows the assembled sections in color as well as the black-and-white outline, a nice touch which is missing here. (I am a veteran of assembling New York, New York which takes 3,141 pieces to complete - twice.) I would be willing to pay an extra $10 for instructions that weren't made to fit all on one sheet of paper. On the good side, the pieces are sturdy and fit well together. This puzzle might drive a novice crazy as there are LOTS of similar-looking pieces. But you still get that little lift when a section comes together. One thing about the 3-D world: there are "spacer" pieces that you need to be aware of - some of them are still attached to the working piece, which changes the shape. You can't find the piece you're looking for because it's either in your hand or has aspacer piece attached. Look again. My only problem with these puzzles is where to put the finished product.

The media could not be loaded. My daughter and I bought this as a something to do together when she is visiting. We both love puzzles and Harry Potter (Gryffindor for the win) and wanted to try a 3d puzzle. We bought the astronomy tower first. A few hours here and there throughout the week and it was completed. A bit of Mod Podge to protect and make the panels stronger and it is finished. Bigger than we thought it would be. Soooooooo much fun! Next is the Treat Hall! Do not throw away the pieces with dots, we found a few pieces still mixed in with them half way through putting it together