Sunday, 12 March 2017

Get up close with the hippogriff from the Harry Potter films in this exciting customisable book and model set. This book provides a behind-the-scenes look at how Buckbeak was imagined, designed and brought to life for the Harry Potter films. Readers will learn how the film-makers crafted Buckbeak's magnificent appearance and how Harry was able to take flight during Hagrid's first Care of Magical Creatures class. You'll even get to participate in the magic by building your own Buckbeak with the included do-it-yourself wood model and painting it any way you like! Features easy-to-assemble laser-cut wood pieces, step-by-step instructions, colouring and crafting ideas, and a character guide book featuring interviews from cast and crew of the Harry Potter films, plus film-making and special effects secrets.

Review:
This is the second of the Harry Potter Incredibuilds model sets that I've built and Buckbeak was much easier to put together than the Dobby model (not that either were particularly difficult but this one had less pieces!). I did find it a bit more fiddly popping the pieces out of the wooden board they come on, partly because there were some very thin and easy to break parts, but as long as you're careful it should be fine. Make sure you follow the included instructions and you'll have the model made in no time.

The finished model stands about 12cm tall and is about 20cm wide across the wing span. If you're going to decorate the model it would probably be easier to paint it before you put the pieces together and you'll find some painting tips at the back of the book if you want to make your model look like the original Buckbeak. I was happy to leave mine undecorated though and it's still a really nice looking model.

The hardback book it comes with is only about 30 pages long but it includes lots of fun facts about Hippogriffs in general and Buckbeak in particular. You'll find stills from the movie, pictures of the life sized models they created, quotes from the books and information on exactly how they brought Buckbeak to life including 3 different full sized models and a lot of CGI. It's not a long read but it was interesting to see how much effort went into creating just one character who doesn't even have a major role in the story really. They wanted to create a fantastical creature that was as real to life as possible and studied both birds and horses to help them work out how Buckbeak would move.

I love these sets, they're brilliant for any Harry Potter fans who will enjoy the information included in the book and love having a finished model to display on their bookshelves. I plan to collect them all eventually!

Source: Purchased

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