[rockpaperscissor]

So I got all my castle models yesterday, despite ordering from 4 different sellers spaced out all over the country.

I'll start with the cheapest one - Usborne's Wizard's Castle. Printed in 2001, it cost me $5.07 (free shipping). Stiff shiny paper, great graphics, many parts are 2 sided with interior and exterior sides. Excellent illustrated instructions. There's a total of 84 numbered parts and another 2 dozen or so optional parts that are mostly characters - orcs, goblins and such. I'm pretty enthused about this one, and might build it first.

Next was A.G. Smith's Caernarvon Castle. Cost me $5.79, also free shipping. Printed 30 years ago in 1984, the book is in amazing shape. Heavy, shiny paper, graphics are very nice. All one sided printing including the large banners, unfortunately. Interestingly, it's a combo of glue tabs, and slot and tab construction. Illustrated and written instructions. Looks to be simpler than the Wizard's Castle.

The Crusader Castle by Usborne set me back $6.35 including postage. Printed in 1996, it's a scholastic version, only available through the school market. Of course, it's on the secondary market now, so all bets are off. Stiff, shiny paper, some parts are double sided. Graphics are simple but very nice. I would say this is the easiest of the models. Glue tab construction. Illustrated directions are very thorough. It's a big boy measuring 17.5" x 23". Only 4.5" tall, though. If I build it, I don't know where I'd put it.

The most expensive at $7.85 (free shipping) was the Castles of Scotland book. There is a pretty complete history of each of the 2 castles in the book - interesting reading. The models are printed on regular bond paper, and need to be backed with heavier card stock before building. The parts are black and white with a pen and ink look about them. With some subtle coloration, I think they would look very nice when built. Illustrated directions are pretty good. The parts pages are 17 x 11, which might make laminating a bit of a challenge. Many of the pages could be successfully cut in half to yield 2 8.5 x 11 parts pages, but some larger parts are longer than 8.5 and would have to be cut out and laminated separately.

All in all, I'm very happy with my purchases.