Wawel Castle - Krakow, Poland

**Tomdaviesclay** · #1 10-28-2017, 02:34 PM

This past June we visited Amsterdam and Poland. Poland has several paper model companies that produce a great number of wonderful kits. I have been able to obtain over 30 of places that we visited. I have posted several already.

I recently began this GPM model of Wawel Castle in Krakow. The base of the model which represents the hill that the Castle, the cathedral and other other buildings are on measures 29" X 20". A rather large model. Building the wall was rather time consuming because the back and front of each section had to cut out and most had crenelations to be carefully cut out to match the opposite side. The first several construction photos show how the base is supported.

The instructions are all in Polish: however, GPM has recently started providing downloadable translations of the instructions on their site for some of the models. The instructions for Wawel Castle came to 10 pages. There are still several Polish words that need to be translated separately.

The kit also contains a number of diagrams of where each piece goes and ten pages of photos of the actual part in place. There are several pages of bases to be glue to heavy cardboard for each building. In order for the hill to contain all of the buildings, the buildings themselves are rather small with even smaller parts, particularly my old friends, the dormers.

The first building that I have completed is now the administration building and a restaurant. I have started working on the cathedral which is very small compared to all of the other cathedrals I have built. I plan on bringing this unfinished model to the International Paper Modeler Convention in Sterling, VA. next weekend. BTW, it is a great show and all of you are invited. This is the 20th year.

We had a great visit with a good guide. The entire hill has a very interesting history. To read about our visit and the history, please read our webpage -
CATHEDRAL QUEST: our quest to experience cathedrals in Europe.

**Don Boose** · #2 10-28-2017, 03:42 PM

It looks like a challenge.

Don

**Amccombs3** · #3 10-28-2017, 03:46 PM

I'm looking forward to seeing this work-in-progress in a week at the Convention.

**bloomohio** · #4 10-28-2017, 03:58 PM

Nice work, I like the Polish models as well!

**didibuch** · #5 10-29-2017, 12:52 AM

Hi Thomas,

I was on Wawel several times, so I will definitly watch your progress with this wonderful model. Will you add the dragon, too?

Regards
Dieter

**Mike Stamper** · #6 10-29-2017, 11:07 AM

you have certainly picked a challenging model. I made this some years ago, most of it is (as you said) small and fiddly - but wait till you get the Palace at the opposite end from the buildings you have made. The pillars for the balconies are so thin, They will take a very sharp blade and steady hands. I glued thick needlework threads along the back of each pillar -it kept them straight and covered up where I had cut through the pillars.

Cheers
Mike

**Tomdaviesclay** · #7 10-29-2017, 02:37 PM

Dieter- I am glad to hear you have visited this wonderful castle. I didn't see the dragon as he would out on a mission that day and we didn't have time to see his cave. I do have a photo of him on my webpage CATHEDRAL QUEST: our quest to experience cathedrals in Europe

Mike, When I saw that part of the palace I almost decided not to begin the kit, but I did. I keep putting that part off (see photo below). I think I will glue cardboard behind the wall before cutting out the arches. I am not as steady as I used to be, so here's hoping.

**elliott** · #8 10-29-2017, 03:31 PM

That's going to be some very close cutting Thomas. I believe you can do it. Forward!

**Isaac** · #9 10-29-2017, 05:21 PM

It was a very interesting castle when I visited it a few years ago.

Wawel Castle - Krakow, Poland-dsc08219.jpg

Wawel Castle - Krakow, Poland-dsc08201.jpg

Looking forward to your build.

Isaac

**Tomdaviesclay** · #10 01-04-2018, 04:04 PM

No, I have not given up on Wawel Castle but it has taken over two months to finish the little Cathedral. There are a lot of very, very small parts – domes on top of domes on top of the dome which are so small it is difficult to pick them up even with a tweezers. Right, Mike! I show one photo below with a 6 inch ruler. Note the cover of the kit you seen the number of buildings yet to reconstructed

I'm going to take a break from this for a while to make more Tiny Ireland models in preparation for our upcoming trip to Ireland.