A Creator's Journey: How Mecrob Products Transformed My Passion for Assembly

My experience Prior to the Purchase

I'd like to start by briefly mentioning a couple things leading up to the purchase. So for starters I personally had a long time interest in anything building and models so this is coming from someone fairly seasoned in intricate projects so I'll assure you that I'd understand what an excellent building experience looks like and promise to give an accurate summary of the building experience. For one, leading up to the purchase I had an interest in the design of the anglerfish model specifically for over a couple years. I had seen it around online before and it stood out to me as not only something creatively made but also something that would look sick on my desk after I built it. But I was a little stingy with the money and at the time didn't want to pay the listed price for what I assumed would be a 5 hour max building experience. 

So in the present, I was looking for a different building experience and got reminded of the kit. I had been looking at a lot of competitor sites up until finding Mecrob Remake and in turn discovering they were the original designers behind the kit. Something else that drew me to the site was the pricing being 10-20 dollars cheaper than competitors. At first I was a little nervous about using the site since it had only recently launched, but I decided to take the time to consult support and ask questions about some of their projects. Support went out of their way to inform me before, during, and even after my purchase fully building my confidence in the service. So I end up making the purchase. I have an issue with my payment method getting declined (at no fault of Mecrob) and support again went out of their way to right the issue regardless showing genuine care for their customers and their experience with their projects. 

The Building Experience

So my package arrives and everything looks great! I had actually received both the AnglerFish and a model from their Glass Robot series as part of a promotion. The packages arrived within a week with constant updates so I never once doubted the company. The first impressions were very good with the packaging. The first thing you see when you open is the tools which are fairly high quality compared to what most hobby companies would give you to work with. These kits feel like a more adult version of Meccano style kits, the parts are mostly metal and the finished products end up having a really nice heft to it, especially the AnglerFish.

I worked on the smaller, robot figure kit as a starter and the experience was very enjoyable. The kit took about two hours or so to build and the parts were super satisfying to hold, especially the tube bulb. It's very impressive the length Mecrob goes to reuse older styled parts, for example, the tube bulb of the Glass Series retains the intricate wiring inside of it with a metal part sneakily containing an LED shining through the bulb. It gives the figures such an interesting design with a subtle glow. The series is cool enough for me to want to collect them and they give off a nice glow when the lights are dim! 

The parts are all organized in small bags. I actually found it most efficient to lay out all the parts in alphabetical order, dividing them into categories such as screws, bolts, etc. Something that genuinely impressed me was the build time. I went into this hearing it would take around 8 hours or so to build the angler fish kit, and as an experienced kit builder I assumed it would take me maybe 6 hours max if i sat down and did it in one sitting. It took me about a week with me spending about 3-6 hours a day working on it. The assembly was very fun throughout and had some moments that were fairly challenging so I'd say it's very good for testing your patience and motor skills. 

My Final Thoughts

I cannot emphasize enough that you get a lot of bang for your buck out of these kits. They take a good amount of time to finish, they feel very enjoyable throughout, and the finished products are premium. Throughout building these kits, I could feel the amount of effort that went into making these miscellaneous pieces of hardware, glass, and LEDs into legitimate forms of art, effectively recycling what would normally be wasted parts. The only thing I think Mecrob could think about doing to further improve the building experience of their kits is maybe include the parts in a plastic tray to keep the parts separate.

Even if it made the kit a bit more expensive I think it would improve the building experience. I really like what mecrob stands for, so if you'd like to enjoy a challenging, fun, and quality build then you've come to the right site!

I'm definitely buying from Mecrob again! (i've got my eyes on Minerva's Mercy or the Steam Ornithopter)