Last week we went to my sister’s house for vacation. It was time for us to kick back next to her pool and just enjoy ourselves.

Although we don’t have children, I always have to prepare activities ahead of time to keep Jay occupied while he’s away from his work bench. This includes finding audiobooks to listen to in the car (topics that he will enjoy… no Jane Austen 😦 ), and this year I prepared for evening down time and possible rain days by purchasing more of the 3D wooden puzzles. My main criteria for choosing these were to get ones that a) he hadn’t already assembled b) would be interesting enough for Jay to want to put together and c) had as many pieces as possible.

One of the puzzles that Jay had been wanting was the Wood Trick Assault Gun AR-T.

It was the first one that he chose to assemble. The first night we were there. This is why I had to keep it hidden before we left on vacation.

Even if you’re not a fan of guns I sure hope you can appreciate the detail that this company puts into their puzzles. Not only do you build the gun, but you also assemble the magazine that holds 12 rounds and the 44 bullets that they include in the kit.

They actually do shoot out of the gun, but at a very anemic rate. I seriously think the only way you could get hurt by one of these bullets is if you stepped on it bare-footed after it fell out of the gun’s barrel. Jay has plans to see if he can increase the tension on something or another to get it to shoot the bullets a little farther.

No matter which kit you’re looking at, I really love the detail that goes into the pieces.

Here you can see the safety plus the warning to wear eye protection. “You’ll shoot your eye out!”

On the other side you can see the magazine ejection button, plus the door that flips down for the cartridges to be ejected (although, there aren’t any ejected cartridges on this model).

It also has a scope mounted on the top with a charging handle that actually moves to advance the bullet into the chamber (please forgive me if I am using incorrect terminology… I’ve only heard these terms used a few times).

If that wasn’t enough, the butt stock actually pulls out, too.

I think this is one of Jay’s favorite puzzles so far. When I asked him what his favorite part of this puzzle was, he replied that it looks and acts just like a real AR-15 (except for the velocity of the bullets as they are fired, of course). His least favorite part was all of the toothpicks. There were a LOT of them.

The next puzzle he assembled was the UGEARS 3D Research Vessel.

This wasn’t one he had on his list, but it had a LOT of pieces. Also, I told him it reminded me of the ship that was used to locate the Titanic. It even has its own little ROV guy.

This has a working crane and a floor cavity with opening lids.

I think it’s also supposed to move when you wind it up, but Jay didn’t feel like messing with it to get it to move correctly. There was something just slightly off and he was just assembling it to keep busy at this point.

This does have a lot of neat details like the rivets on the side of the walls and other little details lasered into the wood.

Plus it included thread for railings and even little life savers that you assembled.

Jay saved the other two to work on when we got home. One of them was a Railroad Crossing Gate.

I was hoping this would be the same rail gauge as his train he got for Christmas, but after building this is looked a lot narrower. Which is too bad because the gate also comes with about 16 feet of track!

The last one that I bought Jay was a rubber band pistol. Jay actually started this one today, so I’m sure it will be done before I’ve finished this post. You’ll have to wait for pictures, though.

So that’s it! That’s how I kept Jay busy while we were at my sister’s. He gets grumpy if he’s away from his work bench for too long, so this was a way to keep him busy.

If you haven’t tried any of these puzzles I highly suggest that you pick one up. There are so many different ones that you should be able to find something that fits both your tastes and skill level. You never know… you might discover a new interest/obsession!