[Philip]

As I understand it, Quebec was founded by a chap called Samuel de Champlain, who founded a small colony and trading post at a point of land along the St Lawrence river advantageous to the carryong out of trade. Look at it now, though!

I've had this L'Instant Durable kit hanging around for quite a while, and sometimes wondered what it would actually look like made up. Seeing as nobody has offered to do it for me, I got round to thinking that the time had come to have a bash at it myself. So here we are.

It's a big model, measuring 44 x 64 cm (base) x 34 cm (height). Heaven knows what I'm going to do with it now. Scale is quoted as 1/400; roughly, as some elements of the real city seem to have shifted a bit in order to squeeze them in. If you're the kind of person who loves cutting out endless, complicated trees, then this is the kit for you. The cliff face is festooned with them; layer upon layer in relief fashion. Then there's all the ornamentals. I'll never be the same again. Bottom of the cliff is the old town modeled in 3D, whereas the newer part of town at the top is in silhouette - or near silhouette - only. Some ot the buildings up here seem to lean too much from some viewpoints but look all right from others. Is it an experiment in perspective? Or is it me?

Things to look out for:
- a gun battery
- an archway in someone's back garden
- a bridge over a road
- another bridge over a different road
- a funicular railway with two ticket offices and an engine house

Hope you like it.