Photos by the author
My first real paper kit!
Like many people I built paper models when I was a child. I had the Star Wars paper model book, the Disney "Black Hole" paper model book (woeful, even for an 11 y.o.) and various others. But it wasn't until I travelled in France in 1995 that I realized there were paper kits for adults too, and what's more, they were worth having! It was on this trip that I discovered L'Instant Durable, the quality French publisher of historic architectural kits. I picked up their Mont St Michel whilst actually staying on the island, and grabbed a copy of their Palais des Papes also for good measure.
Unfortunately, though I started the Palais first, I lapsed. For no particular reason, many other kits were started and finished and the Palais languished. Eventually a house move nearly sealed the partially-completed model's fate, but I decided against scrapping it despite its battered condition. I've now dredged it out of storage and begun first restoring what's done, and finally finishing the model outright. The following is a brief rundown of work to date and what you can expect if building the kit. Next month I hope to present the completed model along with more of a regular review too.
So, what is this building? Here are a couple of interior pages from the L'Instant Durable book (my scanner has given up the ghost, hence these digital pics):
As you can see, it isn't imaginary! It's a real Papal palace, located in Avignon in southern France. Many people wouldn't be aware that the Pope has not always resided in Rome. In fact, there were nine consecutive French Popes headquartered in Avignon, from the early part of the Fourteenth Century. Seven of them were recognized by the Church, while two were contested. In a nutshell, the papacy moved to France at this time owing to political infighting and extreme instability in Italy at the time (hmmm...how times change...not!) All this and more you will learn if you purchase the L'Instant Durable kit, which as with most of their products is printed in several languages as an attractive and informative wide-format book, mostly in full colour. It has 250 parts and the actual model builds up to 48 cm long x 21 cm high. It's very impressive indeed 'in the flesh'!
Anyway, here is a rundown of the subassemblies of the model. The model builds up as a fair number of interconnected towers and halls. These then assemble into several big subassemblies which are connected by courtyards and surrounded by a landscape base.
This is the 'garderobe' tower - 'nuff said! 
This is the second-largest subassembly, comprising the east range of the building. Each subcomponent is named in the kit, and the book gives clear instructions. Parts are numbered and tabs colour-coded for folding in the usual logical L'Instant Durable style. Although I couldn't say this is a beginner's model (what was I *thinking*??) any beginner who can follow directions will be able to build it.
Here is an example of the construction of the landscape base. This is made up from eight or nine subassemblies of this type, which then join by tab to the main assemblies. Here is the main section of the building, comprising a cloister, a courtyard, and several towers and halls.
Sadly my model had definitely suffered since I first put it aside years ago. It's copped poor workmanship on my part, dust, fading from sunlight and general bashing around. It's still worth saving though! Even in its incomplete state it's received much comment from friends along the lines of "wow!!" (and latterly, "WHEN are you going to bleeding FINISH that thing!!?").
Unfortunately some parts are twisted and some joints are sprung. There's also a mountain of dust to remove. Actually, not all this work is old - I have just completed all the landscape parts, as well as the main courtyard. Luckily my skills have improved and I'm not butchering the poor kit quite as badly as during the first stages.
Here's one we made earlier. Much, much earlier! Forgive the dust - I'm hoping it will make the final result look better by comparison!
This is the north end of the main building. All of those arches are real, not printed on, and they're *everywhere*. Hard work, but the result looks great.
This end of the model isn't well supported until it's complete, so at this point it's one of the few parts of my kit to look more wonky than it really is. (The rest are the other way around!)
The horror! The horror! Too much dust to describe. Well, at least it can't get any worse! Here is what things are supposed to look like, from the book. This really is a quite superb model. All being well, the next part of this article will show what level of salvage I can achieve from the results of my own neglect - this kit deserves better treatment and if you're considering buying one, I urge you to do so. It's magnificent and will attract many oohs and aahs from your friends! See you next month.
