Dowling Magnets Science Discovery Kit: Magnet Levitation, Magnetic Levitation Train Kit (Science Experiments). Item 731100

Used for a maglev science project. Easy instructions. Fun to build with my 10 year old!

Kit saved my life lol Had a catastrophic failure on the homemade one me & my daughter constructed. Had to order this one 2days before the project was due, got her an A so it gets 5 stars from me! Haha

The idea and the concept behind the Magnets Science Discovery Kit are worthwhile exploring and potentially fun to play with. The major disappointment is the assembly part if one wants to entertain the idea of putting together the MAGLEV. The plastic corners, being 3 on each side, need to be closely aligned and properly spaced to allow for the train to move unhindered, which is a major problem. They need to be glued and aligned on the wood pieces, which also need to be aligned. These plastic corners also tend to bend and warp. A problem that could have been easily solved if, instead of 6 short corner pieces (3 for each side), the kit would include instead 2 long ones. You can mess up things with the glue quite easily since the magnetic strips also need to be glued on the train track which is made out of 4 pieces of wood. If these are not aligned (or stay aligned while mounting the rest), the all thing becomes a huge glue puddle trying to adjust all the pieces in position.

So…. we tried to build a maglev train on our own and bought this as a backup - thank goodness we did. The pieces it included were way better than we purchased on our own, and somewhat easier to do, but still a HUGE pain. Kids and adults involved all found it extremely difficult to build and the whole process was frustrating and almost led to tears and abandoning the project :( there was also no option to buy replacement parts outside of any entire new kit which was disappointing - so while it ultimately saved our project - i would not give this to someone to build unless they absolutely needed to make a maglev train and could not be talked down - that said, this seems to be the best option if you do attempt this…

Got this for my kids science project. Had to get some additional items to finish project. Wish they included everything that's needed. Two sided tape and little stronger magnets would have been helpful. Gave 4 star as it needed additional items to finish project.

I got it for my students - what it's meant for. However, the success of the experiment is dependent on too many subtle factors and is hard to achieve with this cheap design. I ended up having to build it for them. It's made of cheap materials that are borrowed from things like furniture accessories, and it doesn't include a key component- strong contact cement (not just any glue will work). In addition, the repellent force of the magnetic strips make it difficult to glue on without the strips moving out of place as it dries. In short, it's absolutely not kid-friendly.

I was having challenges collecting the contents needed for the science project for my son and I found this kit. Everything I needed was in this box. The only thing I replaced was the multiple plastic strips and I bought one long strip from ACE hardware store to replace them. We were able to glide the train smoothly on the tracks.

Item is pretty inexpensive and comes with more than what the description shows. Kit comes with the wood blocks (its not one long wood block, its multiple smaller blocks) and magnetic strips with the plastic guards as indicated in the picture.What mine came with that was not indicated in the description, is a booklet showing various types of 'experiments' to try out, additional magnets (a few round and square and one small neodymium type) , one large 'nail', and some iron filings/powder. I got this as a gift for a kid, and I am sure that they will have some fun with all that it included.Only thing that it does not include, was string for the additional experiments, and tape... Both of which most of us already have on hand.Overall, I am really happy I took a gamble on purchasing this!