Alcazar de Segovia by Luis y Alvaro Carretero Bajo, Spain in 1:200 scale.

This impressive model comes in the usual style for buildings, that is in book form, with 22 pages of detail about the building, 1 page of instructions, 2 pages of photos of "in progress" stages and 38 pages of kit. This model rivals many others in it's overall size of cm 82 x 37 x 27.

I glued the base sheets to heavy card and cut out the holes for access to the inside of the building and continued with the walls by following the numbered pieces. With this type of building I use a large number of structural supports, using either existing parts or the outline on the base as a template. These are used inside buildings as strengtheners to keep the shape of the building and also as a solid area for gluing on other pieces. For example on this model there are floors that have to be glued half way up a large tower. The tower is already in place with the template inside at the same height as the markings for the floor position. Th extra support makes for a much cleaner and straighter join of the pieces. I also use similar pieces inside the circular towers. One at the base helps placement on the base and one at the top makes the roof placement much easier. Others are added if walls are to be added later.

The colour of the buildings is a bit bright when compared with the real building and the inclusion of one tree for one of the gardens is a little sad when there are many more trees printed on the base and in existence in the real gardens. For these reasons I did not include the tree.

On one side of the building there are pieces that attach to the walls and represent the stone of the hill. The joints are a little obvious so I used the finest grade of. railway model "grass" which breaks up the sharp edges. I use thinned PVA glue painted to the areas and then sprinkle on the "grass".

This kit makes up into an impressive building, the pieces fit together well. Although I had a few minor problems with the roofs and making about 50 dormer window takes a lot of patience. I enjoyed making the Alcazar and it will stand out (in size at least) at the next card model infiltration into the plastic exhibition world.

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This page was created by:
Saul H. Jacobs M.Ed.
Avionics Specialist, United States Air Force (Retired)
Microcomputer Technology, Pima Community College (Retired)
Tucson Arizona