Featured Company:

Jet Works

Today's shopping tips: "Be wise in purchasing ..... find best value one"

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Manufacturer: NSI
Brand: NSI
List Price: $29.99
Our Price: $24.99
You Save: $ 5.00 ( 17% )
(prices subject to change)

Average Ratings:

Jet Works


DESCRIPTION:

Amazon Maximum Age: 15
Manufacturer Maximum Age: 15
Amazon Minimum Age: 96
Batteries: 4
Binding: Toy
Brand: NSI
EAN: 0042409189306
Feature: Learn the basic principles of jet engines an dflight
Label: NSI
Manufacturer: NSI
Manufacturer Minimum Age: 96
Model: 18930
Publisher: NSI
Release Date: 2007-09-15
Studio: NSI


FEATURES:

• Learn the basic principles of jet engines an dflight
• Build your own battery operated jet engine using more than 50 parts.
• Jet works assembles easily and shows the workings of a real jet



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CUSTOMER REVIEWS:

Customer Rating:
Summary: What a pain! Please don't waste your time or money!
Comment: I am an FAA Certified Flight Instructor. I thought this would be an excellent visual tool to help students understand the inner workings of jet engine.

As a static display, this works. The motion however doesn't do this any justice. It's almost as loud as a real jet engine, not for realism!

I had my 10 year old son assist me in putting this together. The mechanical parts were interesting to him only because we had to ensure the parts were put together exactly as the directions show. If not, the engine would fail miserably! Once it came to the wiring part however, this project took a sudden and profound dive! I would like to think I'm at least basically knowledgeable in electricity. This project has me rethinking this!

Basically, don't waste your time or your hard earned money if this is something you want your children to put together. The entertainment value for the kids will last about 10 seconds as the only thing this will do is make a lot of noise and hopefully the light will activate.

Good luck!


Customer Rating:
Summary: Didn't even bother putting it together
Comment: My son received this 2 years ago, but was a little young for it so we put it away. When we attempted to put it together a few months ago, it also was missing pieces straight out of the box. The parts that were there were cheaply made and difficult to assemble. I was actually coming on line to order the missing pieces from the company, but after reading all of the reviews, I don't think I'll bother. It looked like such a neat gift. Very disappointing.

Customer Rating:
Summary: Should have listened to the reviews! Don't buy it!
Comment: Bought this for my 8 year old son for Christmas. He loves jets and engines and I thought it would be perfect. It ended up being awful. Not even my 41 year old master degree'd husband could get it together! Obviously cheaply made and not all the pieces fit where they were supposed to fit so the engine couldn't turn. It was very dissapointing and IS BEING RETURNED even though that is a hassle. DO NOT BUY IT.

Customer Rating:
Summary: Mostly frustrating
Comment: Well, I have mixed feelings on this model/toy. On a positive, it's hard to find educational toys like these, which is too bad, because an entire generation of potential engineers is likely missing out. I definitely applaud the effort here.

However, this thing does not work. First, why is there not a DVD included that shows off how a jet engine works? This would be so cheap to include, and would go a long way in making this a more educational toy.

Second, this is a toy model about a JET ENGINE, not how to wire electronics to a battery pack. I spent about two hours putting this together, and a good hour of it was just trying to wire the thing together at the end.

Third and final, it doesn't really work. This is due to a number of factors that add up to the turbine simply not spinning. The factors here are the under-powered motor driving everything, the rubber surface not contacting the turbine stack adequately, and most importantly, the fact that the little fly-wheel thing that the entire turbine stack spins around is too snug. It is causing too much resistance for the turbine to spin. I can back this claim up because I removed one of the white fly-wheel pieces, and once I did that, the turbine spun quite fast. Unfortunately, in doing that, it throws off the balance of the stack, and it begins to spin erratically. Because of this, the contact between the motor and the turbine stack becomes even less constant, and the turbines never get up a good steady spin.

Basically, this is a fantastic idea, moderately designed, but then terribly executed. Had the manufacturer simply taken the time to do this properly, and for only a bit more money, this would have been a great learning model. My recommendations for the manufacturer:

1. Use aluminum pieces for the components that receive heavy motion (namely the two plastic fly-wheels). Also, just do all of the wiring because that is not at all relevant to the engine in terms of education.

2. Add a learning DVD. Maybe pay a royalty to be allowed to use something from Modern Marvels even?

I'd love to see more of these toys! I'd definitely even be willing to pay slightly more for something that will actually work and have more of an educational value...

Customer Rating:
Summary: Disappointing construction, poor customer parts support
Comment: I purchased this last Christmas and thought it would be a great educational toy. Sadly, the quality of the parts is pretty shoddy, and due to poor fit, one part in particular relegated this entire set to being inoperable. A wire spring slides along a plastic fitting for the throttle power control...that plastic backstop is actually two pieces mated together and there is a seam that keeps the springs from moving along it cleanly. Customer service sent me a replacement part, but it too was ill-fitted. I rigged a fix of my own to get it to work, but this made the entire thing terribly frustrating. Nonetheless, the engine itself spins and is a good physical illustration if kids are patient enough to learn about it without the base being attached.

Overall, poor service, poor construction and it dampered the overall enjoyment of what SHOULD be a fine toy.

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