Customer Reviews

Battat Take Apart Airplane

5 star:		(46)
4 star:		(16)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

We have had the Take-A-Part Airplane (and Take-A-Part Crane Truck) for over 4 years. They are both very durable and fun for kids of many ages. My oldest son got them when he was 3 years old. He loved to take them apart and put them together (with help) and he played with them alot once they were together. At 7, he can put them together himself and he still plays with them on occasion.

My younger son started playing with them when he was two. He does the same thing...loves to take them apart and put them back together with help. He also plays with them alot once they are together, even to the point of throwing the plane through the air, so it could fly. :-) After his first attempt, we didn't let him do that, but it didn't hurt the toy at all. It is very strong and durable.

I highly recommend these toys because they are very durable and extremely entertaining. In addition, each of them come in their own durable plastic boxes which contain all the parts when they are not being played with. After 4 years and an across country move, we did lose two small parts. I called the manufacturer and they sent me the two parts free of charge. You can't ask for better service.

Oh, how my son loves this toy. He insists on bringing the drill with him to preschool, the supermarket, etc. and "fixes" things everywhere he goes.
The airplane itself is great and lots of fun to take apart and reassemble.
If you have a child who is mechanically inclined, this is an outstanding toy for him/her.

PS. Unlike the other reviewer, we have not had a problem with the drill; it has endured lots of abuse and still works OK.

This toy has provided MANY hours of entertainment for my 3 year old son. For the first week or so he needed some help to remember where all the parts went, but soon he was putting it together all by himself. Months later he still loves to put it together and take it apart. He's brought it to show and tell at preschool repeatedly b/c he's so proud of it. And it makes me smile to watch him learn how things have parts and how they go together and can come back apart. And it is very durable. Nice heavy plastic. It has been thrown around when he tries to make it fly and every single part is still in one piece and crack free! Love this toy! We have recently purchased the Take A Part Crane for Easter and have high hopes for it too.

We got this gift for our 2.5 year old and he learned how to use the drill very quickly. Since then we have given it numerous times for 3 year old birthday gifts and have gotten rave reviews!!! The only thing to note is that kids will use it to drill body parts, furniture, etc - but the drill is not strong enough to be anything but annoying. Overall, this one is a real winner!

This is a GREAT toy for teaching basic hand-eye coordination, construction skills, and memory. Our 2 year old loves it. The drill isn't the most powerful thing in the world but I believe this is by design. It has a built in clutch that will only tighten up to a certain (low) amount of torque. I find if you only tighten the bolts using the drill alone (and not hand tighten them any further) they come out with the drill just fine.

The versatility of this toy is great - it can cover a wide age range since the assembled plane is a great toy for a 2 year old, while building the entire thing from scratch is something an 8 or 9 year old could master.

All the parts are very durable, made of thick heavy gauge plastic. There are a couple of rough edges on some of the un-assembled pieces, however the assembled product has all smooth rounded edges. There are a couple of parts which require precise assembly, for example a small tab which must be aligned with a small notch in the joining part, and getting these right will likely require some adult help for younger children.

Lastly, if you ever find yourself bored you can always challenge your spouse to see who can assemble the entire thing from scratch the fastest. NOT that I've ever done that... (I won, btw ;)

We got this to keep at our house for our 3 year old grandson and he absolutely loves it. Now at 4.5 years old, he can take it apart and put it together all by himself and hasn't let us help in a long time. At first he did want to drill things, but got over that fast after some unfavorable reactions. It's a great toy for small motor skills and logical thinking. His younger brother has shown an interest in it and should start using it soon. I finally found a couple other ones I will buy. I don't think we've replaced the batteries in the drill in the 2 years we've had it.

I picked up this toy on sale from Borders and my (then) 33 month old loved it. But soon it was reduced to a bunch of parts lying all over the place and the sound of a drill whenever he happened upon it. So here are my personal experiences with it.
1. A really cool toy for kids to get familiar with tools in general and also some motor skill abilities.
2. The toy also allows for kids to explore putting things together to make something work. Very nice.
3. Where it starts becoming a pain is the number of parts that are required to meaningfully create the plane. One lost screw and the whole plane is incomplete and for toddlers, the lack of completeness can result in a lot of frustration.
4. The drill sound is very enjoyable for kids so much so they just keep running it until the battery runs out. So beware the drill sound.
5. Once the initial excitement is over and the plane has been disassembled and reassembled a few times, the fun factor starts tapering off and the toy (or rather the parts) get relegated to the bottom part of the toy bin.

I ordered this up for our (at the time) 20 month old. I don't need to repeat the praise of the other reviews; it's a hit! Even as just a toy airplane with a spinning propeller, it holds my son's interest. Simple, sturdy, interesting. He's currently content with installing and removing the prop, and prefers to do it by hand. He'd rather hold the power driver to his lips and pretend like he's brushing his teeth.

Ok...

The power driver that came with this airplane is horrible. It doesn't have the oompf required to remove the bolts. Seriously -- it's a dud. I took the recommendation of another reviewer and bought the "Design & Drill" Educational Insights Design and Drill Activity Center by Educational Insights. Design & Drill comes with a power driver that uses 3 AA batteries (instead of 2 used by Battat -- maybe that makes the difference??) and different bits, but the Educational Insight bits all fit the Battat bolts perfectly. And the Design & Drill comes with a plastic combo wrench and screwdriver handle, so the power driver can be tucked away on the shelf if you want a break from the noise or are out of batteries.

The Design & Drill driver still struggles on bolts that have been tightened too snuggly, but these fasteners aren't "tight" in the adult sense of the world an some simple finger manipulation will easily break them free.

The D&D driver is available as a separate item from Educational Insight's website for about $8, but it looks as though it doesn't come with any bits. And again, Battat's bits don't fit into EI's driver (or vice versa), but EI's bits fit Battat's bolt heads perfectly.

I imagine that more of Battat's "Take Apart" toys will eventually end up in our household. They're fun, even for us big kids. Fix the underpowered power driver and I'll give it 5 stars.

Purchased this for our son's second birthday last month. Fell in love with the concept of being able to deconstruct a vehicle bolt by bolt using a toy drill. There are so many construction sets and building blocks available on the market, but I have yet to see a toy like this. It's essentially a 3-D puzzle that truly challenges the child's mind. And when you're done putting it back together, you can play with it like regular toy airplane. The only downside is the fact that the drill is a bit weak. Though I've noticed that it works just fine after having to hand-loosen the bolts for the very first time. Only use the drill that's included to loosen and tighten the bolts and there should never be an issue. I plan on purchasing the crane very soon!

My son and his cousin both received this for Christmas. They both loved it, except for some reason the drill can put the screws in yet lacks the power to take them out without hand loostening. They both ended up using the drill from the "design and drill" that my son also has - it's much more durable and powerful enough to remove and insert the screws.