Sometimes it’s nice to get a quick, simple build in. Especially if you’ve just finishing a meticulous build, right after a long break from building (don’t worry, that post is coming, I’m just doing this slightly out of order). And this retired model satisfies that requirement… for the most part.

You probably won’t be that surprised that I haven’t included a whole lot of photos below. It is a simple model, after all. But that doesn’t mean that it lacks value, or appeal. For a model composed of a whopping nine whole parts (two of which are identical), this model is pretty faceted. Okay, sorry, that was a little bit of a dad joke, which is bad enough that I felt I needed to point it out. Nevertheless, Metal Earth crammed a lot of detail in those nine parts, even if those details are kinda repetitive.

And, with it being so few parts, you might assume it’s a pretty easy build, with nothing really to worry about. You would be mostly correct. Unfolding the nostalgically yellow instructions sheet, I was convinced this one was going to be a no-brainer – there aren’t even any curves to form (something I was glad to have a break from – you’ll understand when I finish my other post). However, there are quite a few folds in each part, and the order in which you complete those folds is more important that you might think. I know, because I didn’t think them through on part 1.

Now, in my defense, the instructions are not super clear as to what order to do the folds in (though they are still more helpful than some instructions I’ve seen from some other brands). For instance, on the very first step, there are three diagrams: a before (flat), during formation (all folds partially folded) and after (tada, this is what it should look like). What with all the folds partially folded in the middle diagram, I figured it doesn’t matter what order you folded. So I went for efficiency. All those folds across the part that are going to fold exactly the same amount, and same way? I’ll knock those out together, then fold the ends, then finish that center “tower” thing.

Survey says… Brrrnnnrnrnrrrrrnrrnnrrrnrnrnrr! (I decided to write that before I realized I had no idea how to spell the “you guessed wrong” sound from Family Feud. Oh well) So… that was a mistake. Had I stopped and thought through the process (and looked at the layering of the folded parts in the middle diagram) I would have realized that I need to form the center tower thing first, and then the side towers, otherwise the rooves of the side towers get in the way. Oh, and those little angled bits at the tops of the towers – those are not at 45 degrees (at least on my build). The build seemed to fit together much with those bit’s being a lot steeper than that (say 60-75 degrees).

These concepts are important to keep in mind throughout the build, especially the order of folds on part 2. Get those flaps that are going to be vertical tower walls folded into place first, then do the rest of the folds. Also, it took me a more brain power than expected to figure out how to wrap that up into shape. The diagram seems to be glitched out a bit, with part of the rear side of the shape detaching from the rest. I’ve made an attempt to put it back together below for anyone that might benefit.

Moving on from there, I have two embarrassing mistakes. The second mistake was simply that I got parts 3 and 4 mixed up. Not a super bad mistake, since they both form pretty similarly, but really confusing when I went to attach part “3” to part 2. However, the first mistake, while related, was both more significant and not my fault. You see, I attached part 1 to the wrong side of part 2. I didn’t notice until I went to attach it to the base. It was then that I realized that part 2 only has bottoms tabs on one side, and it was the “wrong side,” relative to parts 1 and 3. In my defense, the diagrams for attaching both parts shows tabs at the base of part 2 on the side you are attaching to.

From there on out, the build it pretty straight forward. Albeit with a lot of long folds. Man does that make you appreciate the improvements Metal Earth has made in the perforation strategy for long folds. Anyways, I do have one more thing to share, but this isn’t so much a tip or trick. Just an amusing story… I showed the model to my daughter and she asked me why I built a Minecraft tree. I was super confused until I looked down at it myself. What do you think? Javits Convention Center or Metallic Minecraft Tree?

Let’s wrap this up with the usual stuff. I finished this model in around 50 minutes, all in one session, which you can watch, for reference, in the full-length YouTube video below.