On Saturday (yesterday) I ordered Volume 25 of 大人の科学 magazine (Otona no Kagaku, Science for Adults).
Each volume of this amazing magazine series from Gakken comes with a DIY kit to build really cool stuff, like the Berliner Gramophone from Vol.6 or the 8mm Mini-Projector from Vol.15. If I had the money I would get those two plus Vol.26 which is a Mini Electric Guitar!!
Volume 25 is all about the Twin Lens Reflex Camera and comes with the kit to make the Gakkenflex, a TLR Camera that uses 35mm film.
Now, I can't read Japanese so I won't be able to read up on the history of the TLR and photography in general from the magazine but from the reviews and blogs I've read, the instructions are so clearly illustrated to the point that even if you don't know any Japanese you can still assemble the camera with ease.
Now, volume 25 is sold in Japan for 2500Yen which equals $29.76Cdn ($28.91US) as of the current (read: today's) exchange rate (1 August 2010).
You can get the Gakkenflex and other Gakken kits from the official North American retailer makershed.com : http://www.makershed.com/SearchResults.asp?Cat=65
The Gakkenflex TLR Camera is currently listed there for $38.99US + S&H.
With S&H to Canada I paid a total of $54.84US.
There are other US-based web-stores that have Gakkenflex so you don't have to go to makershed.com if you don't want to.
Now many blogs and reviews of the Gakkenflex online have noted that in the first production run of volume 25, that there was a misprint in the instructions where the springs A and B are mislabeled.
Gakken addressed this issue and made a correction on their website:
In the second production run of volume 25 this mistake has been corrected.
