Building a Nanoblock Mini Koala
I recently knew of the existence of Nanoblock when I spotted Action City selling the Mini & Sights to See series. The size of the blocks – 4mm x 4mm – amazed me, and quickly bought one to try at home.
A bit of background on Nanoblock:
Nanoblock is a range of building block puzzles made by a company in Japan. Its website (in Japanese) is at http://www.diablock.co.jp/nanoblock/. The Mini series are mostly animals and musical instruments. Sights to See series showcase famous landmarks around the world like the Taj Mahal, Eiffel Tower, and more.
They also have a deluxe series for the serious hobbyists. We are talking about over 2000 pieces. So far they have the Neuschwanstein Castle Deluxe Edition
, Himeji Castle
Nanoblock is made by a Japanese company, so naturally, they have quite a number of Japan-themed puzzles, like temples and stuff.
Now on to the koala.
I bought a Mini Koala the other day whilst browsing in a toy store (don’t ask why), and worked on it 2 days later. They pack different size pieces separately, presumably so you don’t need to hunt the single square pieces in the midst of 3 – 4 square pieces. A full colour instructions is included, all you need to do it follow the steps shown and you will not go wrong.
The contents of the package
Closeup of the full-color instructions for mini koala
The smallest piece has a size of 4mm by 4mm, definitely not easy to hold for those with fat fingers. I have relatively chubby fingers, and had a little difficulty holding on to the 1-square piece while piecing the blocks together. But little by little the koala began to take shape, and by the end of the hour, I had finished the piece.
Mini Koala building in progress, and the results!
Don’t panic if you still have unused pieces sitting in the plastic bag. The Nanoblock people have helpfully packed extra pieces into each pack, in case you lose a few to the hungry dog/cat/toddler, or you decide to get creative (i.e. don’t like to follow instructions) and build a slightly different koala.
The husband was a little surprised I finished it in an hour. He certainly thought it was a waste of $9.90. Hmmph!
But he did find a spot in the living room to display the mini koala, so I think he secretly liked it as well.
So there! Might get another one next month.
Tags: building blocks, mini koala, nanoblock
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