Steampunk Octopus on the Moon Light Lamp | Russell Review
As a father of four growing children, it is very common to have my attention pulled in multiple directions at the same time. Quite often I find that more than one of my children will need my help at the same time, this can be quite challenging trying to assist them effectively as the tasks that they are asking me to complete sometimes require more than two hands at a time. Because of this, it is quite common for me to find myself wishing that we could have been born with more than two arms, much like the octopus, as I would then be able to do more for my children than I am currently able. While this “Steampunk Octopus on the Moon Light” lamp will not be able to help me play computer games with my older children while also drawing puppies with my youngest, it will make for an amazingly beautiful addition to my wife's bedside table, casting a soft warm light for when she gets her chance to lay down in bed and relax with a drink of tea and her favourite book. The quote, customised to suit an individual's preference, a favourite of my wifes from Harry Potter and the Philosophers Stone.
After opening the package from the mail, I got started making sure that all the pieces had arrived correctly. The lamp itself comes in its own box, which was very quickly claimed by my two year old, separate from the octopus which comes packed neatly in a takeaway style container.
After making sure my son was happy with his newly claimed box, I took the contents of both the box and container, laying them out in order to ensure that I had all the required pieces to build the model. This is now the fifth model I have completed from Moyustore, and I have yet to find that I am missing any pieces of their models. However, I find this step very helpful before starting the build as it not only gives you the chance to check that there are no missing pieces, but also allows you the chance to familiarize yourself with all the different pieces before starting to put them together. After I had ensured that all the pieces of the model were supplied, I then took the time to go over the instructions so that I could get a feel for the order that the octopus would be put together. This proved to be very beneficial to this build, as the first thirteen steps within the instructions are dedicated to piecing together the tentacles for the octopus.
Due to the fact that I had already taken the time to go over each step of the Octopus build, and having realized that the tentacles were to be such a large part of this build (each tentacle contains 102 individual parts), I was able to think ahead and take the time to separate all the pieces needed to construct the tentacles and store them within their own separate bags. This allowed me to work on the model more easily, as I was able to take out one bag at a time and work on that whenever I was able. It should be noted that due to how many pieces there are within each tentacle, it will likely take between 30 minutes to an hour for each one, depending on how interrupted your time is while working on the model.
The construction of the tentacles is rather straightforward compared to some of the other sections of the octopus build, and after completing the first two, I found that I fell into a good rhythm while working on them. I did however notice that while the gold “pull-tab” shaped pieces seem to look the same on both sides, one side will be completely smooth and the other has a clear marking where the hole was punched through from, causing the edges of the holes to be rounded in. The tentacle as a whole seems to fit together more neatly if the rounded side of the pull-tab is orientated towards the center black washer. I also found that during this process, when tightening each nut along the length of the tentacles, it works best to make sure they are done as tight as possible as each one is added while threading the shaft of the smaller black screwdriver through the free holes at the end. This will make the process of constructing the tentacle much simpler, as not only will it mean that it will remain straight while adding each subsequent section, but it will also ensure that the holes that each bolt runs through remain aligned correctly as each segment is added.
It is quite safe to say that once the last pull-tab is connected, the overall build will speed up immensely as although the tentacles of the octopus only take up approximately one quarter of the instruction, and one half of the overall size of the octopus, they will in fact take up around three quarters of the time spent building the model. So once the two large cogs are put together to start building up the body of the octopus, it becomes very rewarding seeing the way each part is added moving forward. Before moving onto the rest of the model however, it is necessary to get the tentacles out of the way of the remainder of the pieces to be added. This can be achieved by bending the tentacles at a 90 degree angle at the second bolt down on the tentacles from the larger cogs. Once this is done, it will allow enough space around the larger cogs to attach the decorative back plates and red light that comes up in the next few steps.
The decorative back plates and red light are very straight forward, and are very simple to both piece together and attach to the larger cogs that make the base plate for the body of the octopus. As shown above, I also took this time to position the tentacles how I was hoping to have them once the build was done. This was achieved by taking a small serving bowl and gently bending the tentacles all at the same time so that they ended up with as close to a uniform shape as possible. I then left the base of the octopus sitting on the bowl moving forward so that it would hold its shape, and allowed me to visualize how the rest of the build would end up looking at the end.
Putting the lower half aside for the time being, it was now time to start building the mantle of the octopus. This process is started by taking the largest cog provided and adding five double sided brackets at evenly spaced locations around the outside. Having also completed the Halloween Spider from moyustore in the past, I quickly realized that the section used to build the mantle of the octopus is also the same as the abdomen of the spider. At this point I decided to try something different from the instructions that I felt might make it easier for me to complete the build.
Skipping over steps 36-38 for the time being, I placed the large cog with the five brackets to the side and followed steps 39-47 that would see me building the arms and hooks that would later hold the moon in place. This was due to a difficulty that I had during the spider build while taking the metal plates that make up the lamp holding arms of each build, and attaching them to the cog with the brackets. By building the arms and hooks first, this meant that I had a more stable piece to attach to the brackets. While I wouldn’t suggest deviating from the instructions of the octopus, I personally found that this change to the order of the build drastically improved how easy it was to attach the arms when the time came.
When I did come to attach the arms to the brackets on the larger cog, another slight change I made to the build was that I bent the ends of each bracket in on themselves. This is not needed to complete the model; however, what it did allow me to do was to wedge the black plastic washers between the ends of the brackets. This meant that it was no longer necessary for me to hold the washers in place while adding the arms to the brackets.
Once the arms are attached to the brackets, what I was left with was the two main sections of the build, being the tentacles and the mantle, and all that remains here is to attach the face to the mantle which will also provide the addition of the bracket to join them together. This part is single handedly the hardest stage within the whole model, and even with my previous experience I found that I struggled with this point the most. This is due to the fact that the bolt that holds the face to the mantle is only just long enough to hold it together, and if there is any misalignment between the pieces, there will not be enough thread exposed to attach the nut that holds it all together. I also found the it was very difficult to join the two halves of the octopus together due to the limited amount of space between the two sections. While I did find this section hard to complete, it does also mean that once everything is tightened, the core of the octopus is very rigid and has no issues holding the moon lamp in place.
The last thing that remained to be done at this point was to find a permanent location for the lamp, and to add the custom moon into the mantle of the octopus. Taking into account the fact that this lamp can have a custom message carved into the face of it, I went with a quote from one of my wife's favorite books, as this lamp will be placed on her side of the bed. I was pleasantly surprised at how good the message looks on the face of the moon. It is clear to read and the writing itself is very neat. I was also very happy to find that the lamp doesn’t over power the space that it is positioned in but simply casts a warm glow over the room.
As can be seen, the outcome of the Steampunk Octopus on the Moon Light Lamp is an impressive build and looks absolutely fantastic. The added bonus is that due to the nature of the tentacles, this lamp can be placed in almost any location, and can also take on whichever position is desired. I did come to the conclusion that the difficulty rating this model comes with is probably more closely related to the number of pieces involved more than the complexity of how they go together, as, with the exception of joining the mantle to the tentacles, this build is quite a relaxing process that I feel could be easily attempted by most people, especially if a previous attempt at building a model of similar type has been achieved. The amount of time required for this model can be a little daunting for some though, and the time taken for myself from start to finish was right around the seven hour mark. Though if it isn't possible to work on this model for long periods at a time, the design allows everything to be put away and restarted at another time. With all that said, I think anyone who purchases this model for themselves or receives it as a gift will be extremely pleased with the end result, and as such I feel that this product is definitely deserving of a place in any 3D model collection.
