The Ultimate Kit Guide

Component Quality: 4

(5=Highest quality) How nice are the components in terms of materials, design, fit, and other qualities? Well-made circuit boards, computer-cut plastic and metal parts, and other precision components add to the experience.

Premium Berliner Gramophone Kit

Premium Berliner Gramophone Kit

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Premium Berliner Gramophone Kit

$120

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Reviewed: November 11th, 2011

Constructed from a motor and various bits of wood, plastic, and styrofoam, this retro gramophone kit offers the allure of carving grooves into compact discs and Dixie cups with a sewing-needle-based pickup and playback assembly. Illustrated instructions in both Japanese and well-translated English are included, and the hour-long assembly only requires a screwdriver, some scotch tape, and a […]

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Water Bath Canning Kit

Water Bath Canning Kit

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Water Bath Canning Kit

$50

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There’s nothing like prying open a jar of gleaming, homemade strawberry jam in January. This kit is a classic and contains everything you need to get started. It’s worth it for the magnetic lid lifter alone! (How many times have I burned myself fishing around the pot for lost lids?) For smaller batches, I like steam […]

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Litiholo Hologram Kit

Litiholo Hologram Kit

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Litiholo Hologram Kit

$100

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Reviewed: November 8th, 2011

Making holograms became faster and easier a few years ago when Litiholo introduced its Instant Hologram film. Like old Polaroids, these film plates require no developing after exposure, which means, in about an hour, you can make your own transmission hologram of anything that will sit still next to the plate. The kit also includes […]

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Perfume Science

Perfume Science

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Perfume Science

$60

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Learn about the sense of smell with eight perfume oils and a variety of jars, mixers, and pipettes. Experiments range from fragrance extraction to composing your own perfume scents. My friend and I enjoyed one experiment where we prepared test strips of all the fragrances and then guessed which we were sniffing. I got two […]

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Eskimold Igloo Building Kit

Eskimold Igloo Building Kit

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Eskimold Igloo Building Kit

$24

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Reviewed: November 3rd, 2011

This is loads of fun — a way to get the kids out of the house during the winter, or make a cheap little ice fishing house that’s disposable. Any type of snow can be compacted into this nifty device to quickly create hundreds of perfectly formed, slanted, stackable igloo building blocks. The Eskimold differs […]

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Solar Grasshopper Kit

Solar Grasshopper Kit

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Solar Grasshopper Kit

$12

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Reviewed: October 26th, 2011

Build your own life-size grasshopper and explore solar power with this educational mini solar robot kit. The snap-together, attention-getting  Solar Frightened Grasshopper teaches how solar energy can be used to generate electricity. This easy-to-use science kit is perfect for first-time experimenters with little or no experience. Ages 10 and up.

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HD2Combo Remote Control Relay

HD2Combo Remote Control Relay

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HD2Combo Remote Control Relay

$30

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Reviewed: October 25th, 2011

Don’t tell the co-op board, but I now use this RF fun relay kit to get into my apartment building wirelessly and keylessly, by hacking into its intercom system, which lets you buzz people into the front door. The kit consist a small printed circuit board and a key fob remote. After enclosing the PCB […]

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Medabots

Metabots

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Metabots

$6-$20

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The box contains nothing more than a few sheets of die-cut foamcore, a dozen plastic ball joints, and instructions. But what they create, after some punching out and slotting together, are some of the coolest-looking posable robot action figures on the market today. Available in an all-white “prototype” version ripe for customization.

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