The Medieval City (ABC)

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kenw

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The Medieval City by Richard Vyškovský, published by ABC

I have titled this thread The Medieval City because that's what its called in the catalogues. I couldn't translate the actual title, but we normally associate a city with having a cathedral, which this doesn't, so it is really a town.

This is a massive project that needs a base of at least 1.5 x 1 metres (5 x 3 feet)!
2 x 1.5 metres (6 x 4 feet) would give you a more comfortable surround.
There are 82 houses, 2 churches, 2 town halls, 1 synagogue, 1 water mill, 3 fountains, 7 town gates, 16 towers and bastions, 1 bridge, and 1 Renaissance chateau.
The scale is about 1:160 (N gauge)

Please note: This is not a conventional step-by-step building report, but comments based on the few pieces I've built so far.

What you see in the following posts is the result of 4 weeks work - just 13 pages completed.
There are another 100 pages to go.
Without breaks (and I intend to take breaks!) that would add up to about another 8 months work. Then I have the final layout to decide and the base to build, so I am guessing that it will be well over a year before I can show you the final result....

In the meantime if anyone wants to see photo's of a completed model go to the web site http://www.papermodel.cz/papermodel/modely/15/BBA20040MPR00.htm . It's in Czech, but at the right hand side there is a film strip index of photos. The text menu above allows you to see the other sections and the complete model.

Before we get to the actual model, I should perhaps add that I do not have the room to keep a large model on display.
So why am I building it??
1. I really like the graphic style of this designer.
2. I love a challenge and with this project I can see endless possibilities.
 

kenw

New Member
The book is massive (it weighs about 2.5 Kilo - over 5 lbs) and it’s a work of art in itself. A quality A4 Hardback, well bound, and beautifully printed on quality paper. Along with the book you get a set of actual-size plans and a very large poster of the City.

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The model is designed in 3 sections. Two of the sections have an outline on one side that matches the outline of one side of the third section, allowing for a bit of variation between models. In the book are sketch-plans of several suggested layouts.

But this is where I depart from the route of the book.
I intend to build the structures without the attached sections of roads, paths etc.
Three reasons:
1. It allows me to box up the buildings for storage when not on display. (Remember, I don't have the space to have it on display all the time).
2. It allows the possibility of assembling small diorama's from the various buildings (street scenes etc.) that I could display and could be changed from time to time.
3. I don't like the suggested layouts. Let me explain this one. This city is pure fantasy. The layouts show a city spanning a river with defensive walls continuing along side the river. I have yet to see an old map of any town/city that spans a river, with walls along the river edge.

I haven't planned any of this in advance. I wanted to get started and see how it develops along the way. But when I get to sections where houses are built onto the defensive walls I will look at the possibility of separating the houses from the walls to give me the flexibility to play around. There may also be the need for extra buildings for the river fronts.

But all this is in the future. In the end, I may just built it as laid out in the book. Who knows.....

The instructions consist of a sketch (or sketches) of the finished structure with parts numbered, and a written 'order of assembly'. Translating Czech turned out to be a waste of time - too many words I just could not find translations for, and those I did find had so many possible meanings.

instructions.jpg



So I went through the text highlighting the part numbers and built the structures by working through them in the sequence they were mentioned in the text.
Also look for any mention of A-A,B-B etc. These are sometimes not easy to spot on the part to be cut out. They mark where lines have to be drawn on the reverse to aid assembly.

partnumbers.jpg


One other thing became apparent on this first building - slots to be cut in the walls!

slot.jpg


(In later buildings these slots were harder to spot, so be careful. Cutting slots in a partially finished building is not easy!)

Generally, the assembly order is - make up the recessed doors and windows and any internal arcade arches etc., and fit them to the walls before folding. The same applies to any fancy top-of-wall feature as that usually includes roof supports on the inside wall.


Now on to the models...
 

kenw

New Member
Each Section is broken up into small groups...

Section 1 Group A - A City Gate and small section of wall.

P1010051.jpg


Everything went reasonably well until the roof with the corner turrets. Looking back, I don't know if I went "out of sequence" somewhere, but this was a headache. I spent 2 days experimenting with dry-assembling them, trying to work out how to do it. In the end I said "To hell with it!" and got stuck in. It worked, but don't ask me how I did it....
 

kenw

New Member
Section 1 Group B - Three buildings and a fountain.

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The plan shows 3 buildings joined together, but in fact building 1 is separate from the other two.

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This first building highlighted the fact that this designer does not waste paper.
To get all the parts to fit on the page, a section of wall that is not seen (in this case where the corner bay is) was left out so he could use the space for other parts. Clever from his point of view, but it certainly didn't help with the assembly of this building.

missingwall.jpg


The corner bay meant there were two different roof angles, with a very narrow fill-in strip between..

roofs.jpg


Again, the piece was minimal so he could fit parts around it. But very tricky from our point of view as it had to be scored and folded (one side up, the other down), and was then left floating in the breeze until the rest of that section of the roof was in place.

narrowstrip.jpg


The two other buildings were in fact joined together. The second building consisting of three and a half walls that attached to the larger building. Again, several slots were employed - this time most were (in my opinion) unnecessary.
 

kenw

New Member
Section 1 Group C - Two Towers and another section of wall.

P1010057.jpg

P1010056.jpg


Again, slots to cut in the towers and the wall for the walkway.
With the half-round tower I had to insert a former cut out from a scan of the plan to hold its shape.
The other tower puzzled me. I had just made a group of 3 buildings with hardly any recessed doors or windows, yet here the designer had included recessed door and windows in the top section that were almost impossible to see on the finished model.

P1010058.jpg
 

kenw

New Member
Section1 Group D - Three buildings.

P1010059.jpg

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Another group of three shown as a single block on the plan, but this time they are three separate models. Not only do they all have recessed windows (where visible when fitted as a block), but two of them have extra parts sticking out from the obscured sides so you could build them as separate models!

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One more group to finish off this end of Section 1 before I take a break and gather my thoughts...
 

kenw

New Member
Section 1 Group E - City Walls and Corner Tower.

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The sketches of the wall showed bracing and supports for the walkway

struts.jpg


but looking for them on the sheet all I could find was this

struts2.jpg


Searching through the instructions I spotted "2 x 2 mm" in the text near the part numbers.
I cut some 2mm wide strips out of a piece of 1mm card and then glued them together to make 2 x 2 (easier than gluing two sheets together and then cutting them out with my arthritis), coloured them and cut the required number of each using the views on the sheet as a guide.

And attached to the wall, the smallest building so far. Yet in this tiny house there are 2 doorways and 5 windows - all recessed!

P1010066.jpg
 

kenw

New Member
Here are the buildings in their intended positions on the plan.

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With the two blocks of buildings next to each other like this, you really notice the lack of recessed windows on the right hand block.

A few more views, then I'll make my final comments....

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P1010069.jpg


P1010072.jpg
 

kenw

New Member
Final comments...

Apart from some of the strange construction methods (but that may be just me - I am not an expert builder, and I have a lot of catching up to do!!), my main criticism with this model is lack of uniformity in the windows / doorways, which appears to be down to what the designer can fit on a page.
When making future buildings in this city I shall at least cut out any "just printed" windows and doorways and fit them from behind with extra thickness's of card.

On a personal level, I'm an old man with big hands, and some of the smallest parts I really struggled with.

P1010075.jpg


But I will persevere! You can't have this much fun without getting a few bumps along the way!!
For anyone making this model "as the book", enjoy it. You will have many months of work, but in the end you will finish up with a terrific display.

Finally, some people may be puzzled by some of the wall decorations, but do a search for photo's of Prague, and you can find buildings so painted. It may be a fantasy city, but the building styles do exist.
 

thewoodengraver

Active Member
Completely fantastic! I absolutely LOVE Richard's work, he really is a true artist. My favorite of his is the Thomas Flyabout, but this " book" is a must have.
Thank you for sharing this wonderful model!
 

Amazyah

Senior Member
Your doing some fantastic work, Ken!
This is going to be an awesome looking display when your done!

I would love to get this book but can't seem to find a way to do it from the US.
Oh well, it will sure be nice to watch you work on it!
Your build looks fantastic so far! Looking forward to seeing your future progress.

Russell
 

SCEtoAux

Member
That is a nice looking city to be built. It looks like you have done a good job so far. I see what you mean about the recessed and non-recessed doors and windows.

The photographs of the display on the Czech site are great. Maybe you can find a library or museum somewhere close and display your finished model.

I found a site about the city of Cork. It has some of the city plans of the medieval layout a bit down the page and seem to show some city walls along the river. Medieval Cork
Here is a drawing of Old Galway that seems to show a section of the city wall along the river. Old Galway
Perhaps they will help you out on deciding on the final look of your display. :)
 

kenw

New Member
SCEtoAux,

Many thanks for your reply and the link to the Cork site.
I knew someone would prove me wrong :wink:

I know I'm going to have fun with this trying different layouts when I get to the end.
 

Amazyah

Senior Member
Ken,
I was wondering where you obtained this book?
Where did you order it from?
I would love to get one myself.

Russell
 
C

cgutzmer

That is coming along really nicely. Thanks for sharing the pics with us and looking forward to more!
Chris
 

kenw

New Member
Amazyah said:
Kind of a hefty price, $95, but I found it, with a little guidance from Rick!

Russell

You found it before I came back and saw your message.
As you say - a hefty price - but then it is a hefty book!
And with that many buildings in it, I don't think its too much..
 

Amazyah

Senior Member
You are absolutely right Ken.
If you break the model down by price per building, it is a bargain!

Russell
 

Amazyah

Senior Member
Michiru,
Thanks for the info.
The $95 is buying it from a US merchant who already paid to have it shipped to the US and that price includes shipping.
So, all things considered, it is still a bargain for what you get.:)

Russell
 

Art Decko

Member
Beautiful build, Kenw, thanks for sharing!

Hope you are listening to some great Renaissance music while you are building. :)
 
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