r/metalearth

I found this in my metalworking drawer, but I can't remember what I bought it for. Bending metal? I think I got it on Temu or AliExpress.

Any help would be welcome!

Robots in disguise

This was a very fun build and, surprisingly, much easier than I expected. It's rated 7/10 for difficulty, but compared to the other 7-rated Metal Earth models I've completed, this one felt more like a 5/10. It's a fairly large model, but it's not overly complicated.

The only frustrating part was inserting the chest piece (89) into the slots on the side chest pieces (86 and 88) while also aligning the hands (56 and 67). That step took the most patience.

I did break the folding tab on leg part 18, so I decided to remove the matching tab on part 38 as well. Fortunately, it didn't affect the final build.

I also think I found a quality control error. Parts 49 and 64 are shown with the hook piece inverted in both the instructions and the 360° view on the Metal Earth website, exposing the silver side. However, the image on the packaging shows the blue-painted side facing outward. Personally, I think the blue side looks much better on the outside.

Overall, this was an enjoyable build with a great final result, and I'd definitely recommend it to anyone looking for a larger model that's easier than its difficulty rating suggests.

Took two days and is the first build I’ve finished my past ones were years ago and I gave up. A few parts did stab me but overall I think I’m okay with how it turned out but I think the back is a little rough/crooked. I have a piececool Sagrada Família coming so hopefully not too much of a difficulty jump.

I just finished my first ME the emperor penguin and have a piececool Sagrada Família coming. I’m wondering if this jump in difficulty is too large. I’m considering getting another building like the piececool notre dame or a different piececool building. I struggled to push the tabs against a surface with my toolset and ended up using my finger nail which didn’t always work since my finger often couldn’t fit. I just bought the piececool tools and a generic amazon kit. If anyone has some recommendations on some tools I’m missing to make the other ones easier it would help me a ton. I’m finding the pliers and even the tweezers don’t fit all the time. I also just didn’t find my tweezers too useful. I did use the biggest cylinder thing for a bit of shaping along with my fingers. I also struggled to see so any light or magnifying glass recommendations would help. Again any and all help is appreciated with this.

The paint on this model is really nice.

This one is turning out decent so far. May have to find a greenish brown sharpie for some touch up. But other than that I'm fairly pleased thus far.

Found it on TEMU

Looked like a lot of parts initially when first saw the sheets. This came out well. No issues with it at all, was actually a really nice fun little build. Everything went together perfectly, instructions were spot on etc etc. The hardest part was the final pieces that go on top of the shoulders. Took me about 7 hours.

Need to buy a display case now…

Built a few difficult ones lately so I figured I'd go a bit easier this time. Glad I did. Didn't spend half the build cursing LMFAO

Man, if there's one word I can use to describe assembling the Y-Wing, it's pedantic. So many tiny pieces that you'll never see. So many zero margin for error multiple simultsneous connections, some of them completely blind, being blocked by other parts and you're just farting around with the tweezers trying to make it through. I get that the point of these is the fun of assembly but, to quote Family Guy, it insists upon itself. Not for the faint of heart, thought I was going to have an aneurysm getting the engines in. Took me two weeks working an hour or so an evening, with a few off days.

On the opposite end, the snow speeder was fun and just challenging enough in my opinion. Took me about 3 days.

I hadn’t realised quite how mad I’d gone. Full set ofMU transformers other than (shockwave and frenzy, hoping I get lucky on eBay), plus the MU StarCraft and metal Earth ones I just had to have. Need a 12 step program for metal models!!!

This build was decent. Cylinders are always annoying.

Parts 19 and 32 are very frustrating to round into the proper shape. My suggestion is to use a AA battery (or something of a similar size) to shape them. This size gives you enough room to insert and twist the tabs for the rudders and stabilizer.

DO NOT ignore any of the TWIST 90° and Blend tabs. Forgetting even one will affect the ability to move the wings between slow and fast mode. I was lucky that the tabs I forgot were still accessible.

The cockpit, canopy, and nose cone turned out better than I could have imagined.

The end pieces of the thrusters were not difficult to attach. I honestly thought they would be because of their shape. I rounded the thrusters first, then bent the tabs into a hook shape and attached them one at a time. I didn't bother bending the tabs after all three were inserted into their slots. They were securely held in place by the hooked shape I gave them initially.

My only issue with the model was the forward landing gear. It is too thin and bent accidentally several times. I managed to get it back into shape.

Total build time: A little over 3 hours.

I assembled the scorpio yesterday and praying mantis 2 months ago, both have about 1100 parts. Praying mantis took 27 hours because ot was my first time doing it and the model itself is more complex than scorpio which took about 16 hours.

This may be the last Metal Earth model I put together. I thought Boba Fett was difficult. Then I made the Trooper. At least Boba Fett's armor already has battle scars on it. The Trooper ended up with battle scars I created. And then Vader, all black metal was definitely difficult to deal with.

Thought I'd share my collection. This isn't all of them. The X-Wing I made is missing.

Picture 5 😈: the most dangerous enemy the Empire has ever faced. 😁

We went to war and she has the battle scars to prove it. In the end, I won. But there were mistakes and casualties along the way. This is probably the most challenging one I've done so far. That front windshield and side door are not for the faint of heart. I'd love to revisit this one when I've got about 20 more models worth of experience. Don't look too close, you'll see her bruises.

Just added to the coming soon section. Very cool model.

“Man I just love blowing things up!”

My very first MU model and the first of the StarCraft 2 ones I managed to snaffle up off the internet.

Took about 10 hours I’d say. Was actually pretty easy in the end. The only bit that was a bit sketchy was putting the bottom and top bits together. Only other issue I had was it’s an adjustment for me working from the sheet rather than having the instructions up on screen.