Indy’s Temple of the Holy Grail, Fixed

Trilogy Temple Twosome

The Tokmoc brand of (Chinese?) imitation Lego may be obscure, but Tokmoc’s Temple of the Holy Grail pairs marvelously with Lego’s Temple of the Golden Idol. Together the temple models serve as playful reminders of two of the best movies of all time, and as complementary (albeit wide) bookends in one’s bookcase as well, sharing related design elements within contrasting settings of dark, lush jungle vs. bleached, arid desert. Amusingly, they also bookend the original, pre-1990 Indiana Jones movie trilogy itself. Through interactive traps and details, Lego’s model replicates the opening scenes of Raiders of the Lost Ark, while Tokmoc’s version replays the climactic scenes of Indy’s Last Crusade.

The three enigmas that Indy faces before he finally reaches the Holy Grail are quite accurately presented by the Tokmoc temple, and the first two are especially entertaining. However, for Temple of the Holy Grail to be completely satisfying, the mechanism of the first enigma (“The Breath of God”) does require a small fix so that the whirring blades can be unleashed forcefully in both horizontal and vertical directions. The following describes how.

The Whirring Blade, Fixed

These two adjustments fix the horizontal circular “blade” (toothed gear) mechanism of Indy’s first test in “The Breath of God”, without which the blade’s spring action does not work and the blade’s path is obstructed by part of the wall opening. Given the design quality of the Grail Temple model overall, it seems highly likely that these adjustments correspond to the original intent of the designer but were misrepresented by the illustrator of the instruction manual.

Two small adjustments

The two small adjustments are as shown in the annotated BEFORE and AFTER images.

[BEFORE] Without changes (as indicated by the blue dashed lines),

• the elastic band is loose and ineffective, and
• the gear-blade is attached via its center axis.

The blue arrows indicate the two adjustments to make.

[AFTER] After adjustment,

DONE! With these two small adjustments, the gear will mimic the effect of the horizontal circular blade in “The Breath of God”, when its pathway is kept free. That is, with the wall panel open (i.e., removed) and spider webs kept clear of the path, the horizontal gear-blade will snap very satisfyingly, when triggered, all the way to the entrance of the chamber to perhaps closely shave if not behead any unpenitent man, as seen below.

• The elastic band, now ‘L’-shaped, is stretched over and around the otherwise-unused ball hitch. This fixes the spring action of the gear when it is triggered.
• The gear-blade is now attached off-centre so that it extends farther along the technic “arm” to which it is attached. This fixes the clearance of the gear as it passes through the wall opening, all the way to the chamber entrance.

Enjoy!

Note, however, that strain from the elastic band may now dislodge the mechanism from its own wall moorings. If this occurs, as it did for me, then some glue can be applied as a further optional measure described in the next section.

A close shave, no? (A 1-second video clip is shown above, and at this link if not visible here.)

Crazy glue, optional

(This might not occur with all models/kits, but did with my model. The use of glue may seem surprising, but it is done sparingly; moreover, these four parts are specialized and unlikely to be reused again differently.)

The extra strain of the bent elastic band may cause the mechanism to draw itself out of its own wall moorings, and misalign itself. To correct this, add a touch of crazy glue on each mooring post (or in each cross-shaped socket), as shown below. It is best to release the elastic from the ball hitches while allowing the glue to set.

For those truly uncomfortable with gluing, just make sure all four mooring posts are pushed flush into the wall before triggering the gear-blade traps. For me, this approach soon got out of hand as I could not do this fast enough before the posts dislodged themselves again.

Either way, enjoy!