Gakkan Realstar Planetarium - recommended!

[acc]

This is a great kit and Kino has other Gakkan kits for sale too that will interest the nerds out there. :-) A bit late but Kino has a 20% discount for all customers this weekend; no Kino privilege card required.

[Airconvent]

OH no!!! CC, you informed us too late. I was at Kino a few weeks back but the 20% discount was over, so I decided not to get it.
Man...now the discount was back this weekend only? I was not feeling that well, so likely will not have gone down even if I heard about this earlier but hopefully this offer will come again soon

[acc]

Hey Rich the next 20% off offer for those w/o the Kino card is likely to be around National Day. But stocks seem to be running low at Kino Liang Court.

[Airconvent]

Thanks CC. I saw about 4-5 sets at last at Orchard Road br some weeks back hiding in an obscure corner. Not sure if they are open on 9 Aug as they have been asked by Ngee Ann to shift 1 floor higher to a smaller floor area above due to reconfiguration of the retailer mix.

[acc]

So I finally completed the kit --> less than 30 minutes for the motorised rotating base but more than an hour to assemble the sphere. It wasn't difficult, just tedious, and I managed to make do without the English instructions that the local Kino provides. And I would say the results exceeded all my expectations for this inexpensive kit. The effects in a darkened room is a good approximation of what you get in a dark sky site with a very thin layer of high clouds, i.e., the stars weren't that pin point. But the impression of the milky way was spot on and it was nice to spot all the familiar constellations lying down on the comfort of my bed :-P Brought a big smile to my face. Highly recommended! :-)

Anyway, major bookstores in Japan (e.g. Kino) has many 'nerdy' kits such as this under the Gakken Mook (M-agazine Book) series. Do keep a lookout when visiting :-)

[Airconvent]

wow...do post some photos of th completed product CC!
Yes, I did see some of the other Nerdy kits...looks interesting...almost bought it..!