Photos by the author

Frauenkirche Dresden is yet another great model from Schreiber-Bogen. Sadly, the real church was destroyed in WW2, but many documents survived to make this 1/300 kit possible. By buying the kit you contribute 1 Euro towards the reconstruction of the church. I did so with joy as it is really pretty, as well as impressive. Just look at two general views of the model � Pictures 1 and 2.

Picture 1 � Upper front view��Picture 2 - Upper rear view

Picture 3 � Curved Roofs�Picture 4 - Cupola Detail

However, for a change, I don't agree with the publisher and "3/3" is too much. The secret to building this model properly is to make card templates. They are needed to ensure that everything goes as planned by the designer. Otherwise, if something goes wrong, the next thing goes worse and the following part just doesn't go at all. I took a picture from below and a lot of information can be extracted from that one - Picture 5. Visible through the holes are some card templates and there are more which are less conspicuous. The most important are two card rings to rigidly shape the cylinder that serves as the base of the dome. The upper part of the surrounding curved roofs, made out of four separate assemblies, are to be glued there and it is really essential that the cylinder doesn't bend or deform. Also visible is the solution the designer devised for the cupola. This is made from a single main part, rectangular at the base to make a cylinder and with 16 protruding slices that must be uniformly curved and glued together. You manage this with 16 thin parts inside and they can clearly be seen in Picture 5.

Picture 5 - Underside

The method I used consists of: a) Make a circular card template for the top - plainly visible in Picture 5; b) Divide it in 16 equal parts - each of them 22.5� making a full 360� circle - to mark the exact locations where the roof slices are to be fixed; c) Glue the roof slices one by one, starting with opposite ones - 0�, 180�, then 90� and 270�. Next the intermediate slices - 45�, 225�, then 135� and 315�. Last the remaining 8 slices, to the spaces left between the 8 already in place. d) Glue the thin interior parts, 16 of them, using the same scheme. This is very important because if you do that one after the other you may well be adding small errors with the first parts that become impossible to correct with the last ones! e) Adding the outside parts - windows and joint covers are very simple, if the work is carefully done. The objective, of course, is to get a perfect symmetry. You can check it by looking from directly above the model - Picture 6.

Picture 6 - Top View

It is not "3/3" difficult, but a lot of care and some patience is needed to get the work done. The four surrounding small towers are comparatively easy to build but they have a good deal of small parts and some of them are curved as well - see Picture 7.

Picture 7 - Detail of Small Towers��

The kit has, all in all, 325 parts. The base is 27cm x 19 cm. Total height is 34cm. It is not a big model but I find it particularly attractive. This is the result of the shape and also of the printed detail, which is outstanding. The card is printed on both sides, where needed, and that is useful on the pinnacle (Picture 4). Surprisingly, everything is printed except the backside of the tab to glue, in the pinnacle. Fortunately this can readily be solved with a soft brown pencil. As always with Schreiber-Bogen the card quality is just right - not too thick nor too thin. It is funny to check that because of the cupola's shape, with (false) double curvature, it displays an incredible stiffness after gluing. The only thing I found a bit tedious to make is a large bunch of small parts above the windows and roofs. They have two faces and I decided to put a card between them. This makes the task of cutting a lot more difficult but worthwhile. Let me finish a 'visitors view' of the church. I'm hopeful that, sometime, we will again be able to visit and admire the real thing.

Picture 8 - A Visitor's View��

(Editor's note: Ricardo is going to get his wish quite soon - see below two images from the official Frauenkirche reconstruction website - a "before" and "not-quite-after", but it looks as if it won't be much longer!)