Creating a moving 4-Cylinder Engine with Machine Works | Review

[Ad- gifted product] Earlier this week I built a moving 4-Cylinder Engine, part of the Machine Works range with my eldest son. It’s a fascinating kit, perfect for those who are mechanically minded, or who really enjoy building models. There are a lot of different people out there, and as such there’s a lot of different hobbies out there. I’m not actually very mechanically minded; I struggle with instruction booklets and normally ‘process of elimination’ my way through troubleshooting things. However, I’m really like seeing how things work, from microchips through electronics to machines. The 4-Cylinder Engine kit is a safe, accessible way to learn the core of how an engine works, and comes complete with a manual full of extra information, as well as an AR-based App.

The kit features just over 100 pieces, although many of these are fixings, that fit together through about 50 different steps to create a series of moving pistons, a fan, belt and more. You end up with a creation that resembles a 4-cylinder engine but built transparent so that you can peek inside and see the moving parts. This is built on massively with the AR app. This shows the engine working, and can also have it appear in exploded view which shows greater detail.

For the most part the instructions were really intuitive, some pieces were even marked with their part number. However, you are best to leave all of the pieces on their part sheets until required – even though few of the pieces look similar. Although, that said, there are few tricky parts when assembling. I did put a row of pieces onto a bar wrong at first, but this was easily remedied. As a matter of fact, there was only one point where I needed to double back and adjust things (tightening screws that I’d been instructed to keep loose) in order to get it all to work.

What you end up with is a very cool, moving-part assembly which includes quite a few connected pieces. It’s actually a really, really nice display piece, and it looks really good alongside other models. In our case, it’s next to some completed Lego models in Kai’s room now. We actually built the model together, and Kai found it at least as cool as I found it. I certainly wouldn’t have expected him to have read through the instructions on his own though, even though the model’s instructions booklet contains a glossary. As a little to work on together though, it was absolutely perfect.

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44 thoughts on “Creating a moving 4-Cylinder Engine with Machine Works | Review

  1. proseccobefore7 says:

    Wow! I’ve never seen something like this before. In my time getting access to something this sophisticated was incredibly expensive, but now I will seriously look into it for when my daughter is older. Thanks for sharing! Enginiering looks like a lot of fun from here.

  2. Aimee AMALA says:

    Oh wow these sets look amazing! My neice is getting into science and engineering, this would bea wonderful gift for her. Thanks for sharing.

  3. Rhian Westbury says:

    This looks like such a good set to really understand how an engine works and something to work on. I don’t know if I’d have the patience for something like this though haha x

  4. Melissa Dixon says:

    That sounds like a fun project that the whole family could enjoy. I am always on the lookout for things like this to do, what a fun idea.

  5. Catherine says:

    Oh wow what a fantastic and exciting project! It’s great to get the younger ones involved and interested in technology like this. Very cool!

  6. MELANIE EDJOURIAN says:

    That sounds like a project my husband might enjoy doing with my son. It’s nice to have activities they will enjoy doing and find interesting.

  7. MELANIE EDJOURIAN says:

    This looks like it would be suitable for my eldest. It would be a great way to give them an idea of how things fit together to make something like an engine work.

  8. Jess Howliston says:

    Oh wow what a fantastic kit that looks both educational and fun! I think my son who is 11 would love something like this, especially seeing it working after his hard work putting it together!

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