Mike Stampers Reviews Page #3

Chateau De Blois

This kit is published by L' Instant Durable and follows their usual presentation. Which means that you get a book in about A4 size, which contains information about the building including its history and pictures of the real building. Building instructions are quite brief, but are augmented with a comprehensive set of photographs of the building procedure. It is quite straight forward as it uses the usual numbering system. That is glue part 1 to part 2 etc. The neat bit is the colour of the tabs, blue tabs are folded back and yellow tabs are folded forward.

The fit is good so the parts go together easily. There is a lot of detail, especially over the windows. I noticed in that the cover picture that the maker had just cut round the details so it looked as if the part was in a white bubble. I used the same technique I have used on other models. First I cut out the pieces as on the kit cover and then used a lot of glue to build up the back of the piece. Wen the glue was dry I then carefully cut out the detail. The glue not only held the fine detail together but it added a depth to the window carving. I used a similar technique on the chimney tops. The design meant that there were only three sides to the tops, so I built up the fourth side with glue and paint.

I have mentioned in other reviews that I use quite a few templates when making models. Blois is no exception. The main round tower is a staircase and there is a lot of contour work. The main piece is folded to produce the round tower and the thin columns. I cut pieces of long thin card to fit inside the column. These made a rigid structure, which helped keep the tower symetrical, and greatly helped when adding all the other parts to the main structure.

The most complicated part was the roof of the building on the left in the picture. The instructions say that all the parts should be joined together before attaching it to the building. I decided that I knew better! WRONG. Although I managed to get the roof on properly, the same job would have been completed much more easily and quickly, had I followed the instructions..

The only criticism I have is that there are quite a few areas where the "inside" area can be seen, but no pieces are provided for the inside, so it's a matter of painting these areas. For a kit with so many parts, many of them needing intricate cutting, this is a minor problem. Overall it was a pleasure to build and it's size makes it an impressive addition to my collection. Chateau De Blois.

This kit is published by L' Instant Durable and follows their usual presentation. Which means that you get a book in about A4 size, which contains information about the building including its history and pictures of the real building. Building instructions are quite brief, but are augmented with a comprehensive set of photographs of the building procedure. It is quite straight forward as it uses the usual numbering system. That is glue part 1 to part 2 etc. The neat bit is the colour of the tabs, blue tabs are folded back and yellow tabs are folded forward.

The fit is good so the parts go together easily. There is a lot of detail, especially over the windows. I noticed in that the cover picture that the maker had just cut round the details so it looked as if the part was in a white bubble. I used the same technique I have used on other models. First I cut out the pieces as on the kit cover and then used a lot of glue to build up the back of the piece. Wen the glue was dry I then carefully cut out the detail. The glue not only held the fine detail together but it added a depth to the window carving. I used a similar technique on the chimney tops. The design meant that there were only three sides to the tops, so I built up the fourth side with glue and paint.

I have mentioned in other reviews that I use quite a few templates when making models. Blois is no exception. The main round tower is a staircase and there is a lot of contour work. The main piece is folded to produce the round tower and the thin columns. I cut pieces of long thin card to fit inside the column. These made a rigid structure, which helped keep the tower symmetrical, and greatly helped when adding all the other parts to the main structure.

The most complicated part was the roof of the building on the left in the picture. The instructions say that all the parts should be joined together before attaching it to the building. I decided that I knew better! WRONG. Although I managed to get the roof on properly, the same job would have been completed much more easily and quickly, had I followed the instructions..

The only criticism I have is that there are quite a few areas where the "inside" area can be seen, but no pieces are provided for the inside, so it's a matter of painting these areas. For a kit with so many parts, many of them needing intricate cutting, this is a minor problem. Overall it was a pleasure to build and it's size makes it an impressive addition to my collection.

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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