Purchase from:  http://www.lego.com

A fun build, plus so much more

My rating:  5 out of 5

I have always been intrigued to watch the ISS (International Space Station) fly over my house, so when I saw this Lego Idea in a magazine, it was an impulse buy.  I have not played with Lego for more years than I will admit to, so had no idea what I was letting myself in for. 

It arrived in a beautiful box, full of pictures of the finished product, and inside were 6 plastic bags, each full of a multitude of tiny LEGO parts in all shapes and sizes.  Plus a nearly A4 sized booklet with 100 pages of instructions!   The box says 16+ (referring to age).

There are 6 stages of completion, so I did one each day.   It certainly took concentration to ensure I was adding the pieces correctly, and was fun to see it grow.  Finger dexterity and a steady hand are required to add some of the fiddly parts.  Rectifying  a mistake was a bit tricky if there was much to take apart.  I soon learnt to really be careful to ensure I was getting it right!

The model stands on its own stand, though needs careful handling to ensure bits don’t fall off!

I loved this.  Having read Endurance by Scott Kelly, about his year in space, my interest in the ISS has grown, so putting this together was fun and informative.  As a result of this LEGO project I have now started a free MOOC (Massive Open Online Courses) on An Introduction to Human Space Flight.  I am keen to know more about the model I have built – like where the living quarters are, what the various parts purpose are etc, so I anticipate spending hours on the NASA site finding out more.   

5* from me, as by following the instructions carefully it assembled well and relatively simply.  All the parts were present (thank goodness), and the instructions were clear and concise.  Great value as building it has sparked my interest to know more about the ISS.