Photos by the author

Zámek Pardubice, drawn by Richard Vyskovsky, is certainly an outstanding kit. It comes in booklet form, 330mm x 240mm. Contains a short description of the palace�s history and seven pages of instructions. These are in Czech and German and I understand both as well as ancient Chinese or future Cylon� Fortunately it also contains four pages of very clear and accurate diagrams, as you can see in Picture 1.

Picture 1 � Diagrams

Last but not least there are nineteen pages of densely packed pieces that make up the kit. You can judge the word �densely� by taking a look at Picture 2. It represents what was left of the kit after cutting all the pieces.

Picture 2 � Pages after cutting the pieces

The kit is made of sections �a� to �f�, this final one being the floor and some minor things. Sections �c� and �e� are still divided into two and three individual assemblies. All of these can be made separately and then glued together. That seems to be the correct path. There are about 1400 individual parts. Many, when they are interchangeable (windows�) are marked with the same number. That is helpful to limit the amount of information that has to be packed into the diagrams, making them clearer. A very substantial percentage of the parts is for windows and doors. You can see, in Picture 3, that any ordinary wall has a lot of different parts that make up the windows and doors. Each wall has to be dealt with separately.



Picture 3 � Windows on an ordinary wall

The roofs, particularly those of some small towers, also take their share. Just look at Picture 4 to see how a little thing can have well over 20, many of them inside, to allow a smooth surface.



Picture 4 � 30 pieces in a single roof

The front wall is a very intricate assembly, with dozens of parts to give relief. A good deal of work but it is worthwhile, as you can see in Picture 5.



Picture 5 � The front wall

Equally worthwhile was the work I had to complete one of the inner walls � Picture 6.



Picture 6 � An inner wall

Putting together each section of the kit was time consuming but not too difficult, as the fit is usually excellent. Assembling the sections into a single model did not take long, and was easier than I expected, but I would not recommend it to a beginner. Some wrestling and minor corrections had to be made but I forgot all that by looking at the end result � Pictures 7 to 10.



Picture 7 � Aerial view 1



Picture 8 � Aerial view 2



Picture 9 � Lateral view 1



Picture 9 � Lateral view 2

There is no single base for the whole model. Just 9 individual strips of textured green parts. Odd at first to me, but it is a good solution. There are always some adjustments to be made and gluing the entire model to a single piece would be a real nightmare. I took advantage of this solution to give you a different kind of view � Picture 10.



Picture 10 � The forgotten catacombs�

Let me conclude by saying that Zámek Pardubice is not a model for a beginner. However, if you have some skill and a lot of patience and time, from this kit you can build a model that is outstanding in any collection. I definitely recommend it.

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