SnapHouse Architectural Scale Model Building Kit (452 Piece), Architecture Model Kit for Adults and Kids Ages 15+

I’ve been enjoying experimenting with different house designs with my kit and I think the whole SnapHouse system and concept is a smart idea and well thought out, as are all the different components included in the kit. Building a custom scale model of your own house design could be a very complicated undertaking, which I guess is why some professionals can make a living doing it! But they’ve done a nice job distilling it down to as simple a process as I imagine is possible. The kit includes 28 different shapes (plus two special parts for A-Frame houses available on their website), and each can be used for different purposes and in different configurations. I would suggest if you buy a kit to build the sample modern Barn House model included as a tutorial in the helpful Builder Guide that comes with the kit. It’s a great starting point for understanding how each unique shape in the system can be used. Their website also has lots of sample cool house designs and drawings of them you can download, as well as interesting design ideas for things like zig-zag roofs and tilted windows.

I learned about SnapHouse through a friend into home design and real estate like me who was given a kit as a gift. I enjoyed playing with hers so I bought one for myself (she wanted hers back!). So far I’ve mainly been using it for laying out rooms and walls for an apartment renovation I’m planning (see my current plan in attached photo), but I know you can do a lot more with it. The thing I like most is I can make changes as I’m assembling and working through my design because the parts come apart and can be reused. The only reason I gave it 4 and not 5 stars is I wish it had more parts so I could build another model without taking this one apart because I’m really liking this design and want to keep it!

Sent me a used box with missing pieces.

We bought Snap House to build scale model for a home in the Catskills Mountains of upstate NY - There were less expensive models, but they seems a tad untrustworthy (cheap Temu like?) but our goals was we wanted to be able to make design changes on the model with our builder - In addition to this kit they also sell special parts FOR A-FRAMES - this was amazing as you can download a drawing of your model & about ten other sample houses they feature on the website (which can show you how the Snap House is assembled). Rarely am taken aback by anything we buy on Amazon as being cool - but SnapHouse is! We're giving one to my niece and nephew who just bought a houses as house warming gifts - I'm sure they would have fun building it and displaying in their home - and I look forward to having ours in our finished home - thanks whoever owns this - love it.

I’m not an architect but I’ve always loved architecture and design, so I purchased a SnapHouse kit so I could try building small models of the houses I sketch in my free time.I would not have had the confidence to do this with raw materials like balsa wood and foam board. I really like the tactile feel of being able to see and touch the parts of my models as opposed to just seeing them in 3D on a computer screen. I can visualize living in them much better, and I like that it’s relatively easy to use and I can make changes to the arrangements of walls, etc as I experiment with different designs as I assemble them.I was inspired by the zig-zag roof idea featured on their website and I got really creative and created these two models that I used as dining table centerpieces for a dinner party that were a big hit!Added bonuses for those looking to get off screen time, working with my hands was honestly the best of being therapeutic and creative!

I've worked with 3D CAD and modeling software as a technical writer, and there are amazing things that can be done with those tools, AR, and VR, but this model kit is great for people who like to work things out in the reality space with their hands. The parts in the box were in a bit of a mess following their travels, but a card is included in the kit that shows what parts go in what bins--and their names. The kit also comes with an excellent manual that describes the parts and follows up with an example build. The build is a good place to start because how things go together may or may not be obvious to you.There's a white grid you can use and a green grid printed on the inside box cover for helping lay out your architectural masterpiece. The way the parts go together makes sense if you play with the parts long enough (though maybe I'm just slow to put things together and you're a whiz).Given the number of parts, there are a lot of ways you can build a floorplan and shell. More parts are available through the vendor online.Cons:* I broke a piece that's used for doorways and windows while removing a splice piece from one of its grooves. It didn't seem like I put that much force into it, but maybe that's on me--just be aware that some of these pieces take some force to go together and come apart. Particularly the straight panel connectors that don't offer any kind of finger-hold and sometimes require the use of a knife or something to gently pry the parts apart.* Lining up the parts is harder than it ought to be. My approach was to lay the parts down on a hard table surface to keep the bottoms aligned while snapping them together. The problem with that approach is that, invariably, you'll want to rearrange things in situ--and that can be very hard to do without messing up adjoining pieces of the build.* One part, a panel, was malformed. With this many parts, I'd almost expect a piece or two to be a problem, but it's worth noting.* The vendor does not have any more pieces on their site than there are available in the kit, as far as I could tell. 1/48th, I've read, is a common size--so maybe there's places where I can get drop-in stuff like cabinets and furniture, but there ought to be links. Otherwise, what we get in the end is a general floorplan--which can certainly be fun to dream up and put together, but a few baseline interior items would really make designs pop.To recap:+ Great concept+ Nice manual+ A fun way to spend some time doing something other than watching TV- Connections are often difficult, though the manual says parts can snap in or slide in, many parts need a lot of persuasion to snap in- Expect a part or two to be misshapen or rather easily broken- There is no inherent alignment mechanism between parts, you just have to eyeball it.- I'd like to be able to add more than structural elements to the model, but there's no link to where I can find elements like furniture, cabinets, appliances, etc of the proper size.

This limits the ability to create models because of piece sizing. Waste of money