Use a hairdryer to soften up the holes in the body to get the pillars in. I used the high setting for 2-3 minutes and it snapped in easily. I struggled, swearing like a sailor for 20 minutes before I found out about the hairdryer trick. I also used a razor to trim the plastic seams to leave a smooth finish. Some areas were pretty sharp and had the potential to cut my boy's fingers. But my little guy loves it, and that is enough to justify the headache of putting this thing together.