Photos by the author

For those of you who read part 2, the obvious difference is the colour of the numbers;- yellow is the new blue! This time I will continue this section by showing the parts for the various walls and then jumping on to the completed part.

As I found in the previous parts, following the numbers is not the way forward. Although I started with part one, which is the wall, the parts that attach to the wall are far from numeric. I attach the parts then spend time working out which is the next part. I usually go back to the start and find the first number that has not been used. In this case part 2 is the next wall.

There are no real problems, a few of the numbers on the instructions do not correspond with the numbers on the parts sheet, but this is quite obvious when you compare the numbered diagrams with the real part.

Right, another deep breath and off we go!

Pic 1 Part 1 and its windows, this is one of the smaller walls and starts section �B� giving a false sense of security!

Pic 2 Here are the same parts but now they are ready to be added to the wall. I have mentioned this before, but it may be worth repeating - I find it easier to add the parts to the outside of the wall before adding the doors and windows from the back. This method gives a flat surface and helps to ensure that the parts fit properly. Most of the walls have the typical Czech stone work and with these straight lines any window frames that are not exactly aligned really stand out.

Pic 3 One completed wall. The small piece on the left eventually attaches to the next wall, which fits at right angles to the first wall.

Pic 4 The sense of security was shattered when I started on the second wall. Not only are there 3 dimensional windows and doors there are also 3D buttresses and buildings on the front. Don�t bother to count the pieces. I lost count at 50 separate parts. As I have mentioned before there are over 1,400 numbered parts in all, but part 7 is the set of windows on the top floor and as you can see there are 10 of them. Luckily all that is needed here is to separate them and paint the edges.

Pic 5 The buttresses come in three pieces, the two sides and the front. There are various ways of handling them. One way is to make up the buttresses and add them to the wall, or attach the sides to the wall and then add the front. In either case it will be quite difficult to line up the pieces. I like to attach the sides to the main wall to ensure that the placement markings are covered. I then make a template the same shape as the front. The template is glued in place behind the tabs. It is then a simple matter of gluing the front in place. It may sound a long way round but I find it easier because a stiff template is easier to manoeuvre under the tabs.

Pic 6 So far, this is the longest wall but it is still only about 10 inches long.

Pic 7 You may remember that in part 1, some of the more detailed parts went into the tunnel that runs from the front of the building to the courtyard and that once it was in place most of the detail is almost impossible to see. A similar situation occurs here. The next section is the inner wall that looks out over the courtyard. (It may be many months till I get that far!) The parts shown here are the main archways and the parts that give depth to the pillars.

Pic 8 This shows the reverse of the completed pillars.

Pic 9 This multitude of parts make up the interior of the cloister. The piece at the back is gently bent at the top to create the wall and roof. The other parts make up the doors and windows.

Pic 10 Here is the completed cloister, hopefully you can see the amount of detail that goes into this kit. The assembly that makes up the door way on the left makes a very impressive entrance.

Pic 11 One well-manicured thumb holds one of the windows. What a pity that this level of detail will be totally hidden once the cloister is in place!

Pics 12 and 13 These pictures show the completed section. Take a good look because this will be almost invisible once the castle is completed!

Pic 14 Shows all the �B� parts put together with the exception of the roof. At this point in the build, I intend to leave off the roofs until later. I am not sure what will be the best order to add the roofs. Do I attach all the buildings at the end then add the roofs or do I add the roofs to the individual buildings? Hopefully this dilemma will be resolved as the build progresses...

Pic 15 The final picture for this part. The Dormer is made up of �only� 5 pieces. The main reason for showing a side view is to point out that the fit of the dormer roof to the front is not up to the general standard of the kit. If the roof is attached properly to the back of the front, then the side of the dormer does not come to the bottom of the front. This will result in a poor fit of the side �wall� to the main roof. To ensure that there are no gaps between the main roof and the dormer, I glued the dormer roof sides precisely to the lower corner of the dormer front. This means that the dormer roof does not fit exactly to the area at the back of the dormer front. This join will not show but the interface between the main roof and dormer sides is important for the dormer as a whole to �sit� properly on the main roof.

A great deal of explanation for such a small part�� sorry if it�s confusing!

That�s it��till next time. I now have two almost complete buildings and already I�m running out of space. Parts that make up the next building are identified as parts �C� and again, we have a change of colour for the numbers. I hope the suspense will be bearable!