Photos by the author

It seems a long time since I started this review, Christmas has gone and it�s time to start digging out the brochures for the summer holiday. With a change in the season comes a new part code (D) and a spring-like green number background.

I mentioned in the last part that this looks to be the most complicated section, read on and you will find that this section reverts to the �one building/one section letter� format. The inner wall is the most complex so far. Oh and by the way, for those of you who were wondering, I managed to get through this with very little loss of hair!

I hope your chair is comfortable, because this next section will be quite a test of your stamina!

Pic 1 Here we have the outer wall, the darker pieces inside the arches are the pillars for the corridors. At this point it may be worth cheating and having a look at picture 11, it won�t spoil the plot! The other pieces are the sides of the ground floor arches. The picture in the background is the only help I get for this section.

Pic 2 This is the same part as shown above, but the unwanted areas have been removed and I�ve started on the embellishments.

Pic 3 Here is the 'before and after' view of the roof. As I mentioned in an earlier section, these will not be seen when the castle is complete, but are needed further along in this section.

Pic 4 This is a better view of part 1 and the pieces that are removed from inside the arches; the pieces on the left are the pillars.

Pic 5 The #11 blade gives you an idea of the size we are playing with and the pieces show the three stages for making a pillar. As you will see in the lower piece, I have added a small tab to assist with the gluing. The cocktail stick at the top will give you an idea of the diameter of the pillars.

Pic 6 Oh dear ! What on earth do we do now?! The three larger pieces are the walls, roof, floor and side walls of each of the corridors. The other pieces are the doors and windows that embellish the walls.

Pic 7 This picture shows the corridors joined together using the two long pieces shown in Picture 6. Please look closely at this picture, once the castle is complete most of this will go unnoticed. Also, remember that all the doors, windows and tunnels are recessed, like all the others that I�ve mentioned throughout these reviews.

Pic 8 Here is a close up of all the tabs that will have to be glued to the outer wall.

Pic 9 Don�t panic ! This is not some sort of terrible infestation that has appeared in my work (hobby) room. It� the result of many hours of rolling up the pillars. If you read my review of Roger Pattenden's Pump Engine you will know how much I enjoy tubes! You will notice that some of the caps have notches in them, these are the pillars that fit at each end. Great care needs to be taken to ensure that they are aligned in such a way that the joins in the pillars are at the back. Here I speak from bitter experience!

Pic 10 Almost there, all the walls have been glued together, great care has to be taken to ensure that the inner walls are aligned with the outer wall. But as I have mentioned before, the fit of the parts is excellent, so careful gluing will result in parts that will fit perfectly.

Pic 11 Done at last! I hope you will agree that this is the best looking part of the building. Maybe not the best-made, but certainly the best looking!!

Pic 12 It�s back to the more mundane parts! This tower attaches to the above corridors. As you can see, this part consists of the usual walls and windows.

Pic 13 These parts make up the top floor of the tower. As you can see, part numbers 64 and 65 are both made up of 10 pieces; who said there were �just over 1,400 pieces�?!

Pic 14 Here we have the completed tower, sans roof. You can see the two pieces I have added on the roof line. I find that using pieces like this and removing the tabs from the roof makes for a much easier (and more accurate) fit.

Pics 15 These pieces make up the roof, dormers and small bell tower that complete the tower.

Pics 16 These pieces are a detail from the previous picture. They make up the bell tower roof.

Pic 17 I couldn�t resist the temptation; I had to remove the light blue areas in the bell tower, although with a light blue background it loses some of the impact! I will not add this to the tower until all the separate buildings and roofs are in place.

Pic 18 I�m such a show off. Always trying to find an excuse for a personal appearance. It�s really designed to show the size (or lack thereof) of some of the windows.

Pic 19 In this case there are just two of these tiny windows.

Pic 20 Just another wall. This is the outer wall; the tower goes at one end and the pillared wall attaches to the back of this.

The last picture for this month. It�s the roof (if you hadn�t guessed already) with the two dormers. This was attached to the two walls and tower. A bit obvious I guess!

I hope you will have noticed that I have been able to retain my sense of humour while writing this part. I hate repeating myself but I still maintain that while this kit needs a lot of concentration and time, the fit of the parts makes building a pleasure. Next time we have another change in section code (E) and a change in colour. This time it�s an autumnal yellow, although I hope it won�t take until then to have the section complete!