Petersdom in Rom

John, you embarrass me :rotwerd: :rotwerd: :rotwerd: Thanks a lot
Having two or more similar assemblies allows me to show the 'before' and 'after' in the same picture. With this model, there are some cases where it is possible to show the 'while' as well. That will come latter on
You can notice on today's pictures that I invested on a proper wooden base for this model. It is so big that it is not wise to rely only on a card base. The main building / square junction would be a very weak point...

@ John and Gianluca - I'm glad you liked the wooden base I tried several different shapes on a paper mould. The fore and aft sections are pretty obvious but it was not the case in middle section. Anyway, I'm quite happy with the result.
The best place to split the model in two should be the square - the columns with roof on one part and the remaining on the other. It would be easier to hide the joint...
Regarding the statues, well, they will come soon
Today, I show the pinnacle. It has no less than 40 parts, plus a couple of reinforcements. Pretty fun to build

The statues take up a good deal of time to cut. Shown here are the big ones...

Xeno06 - I'm no longer that far away from the end
The model has 6 interesting assemblies that will be placed on holes in the roof. The first picture shows the various assembly stages.

@ Yu - my apparent building speed is not completely honest, Yu :rotwerd: I got a healthy stock of pictures during the holydays...
@ modellschiff - I hope so, too

The base of the towers gave me a lot of trouble, as you can check by the ugly scars on the first picture. In my view, those parts are not properly drawn

@ Ernst -
@ Gianluca - You can be sure that the parts are not drawn properly ;). All 12 slices of each part have vertical axis and this means that the base and top shapes should be similar. In this case, the base is oval and the top is something like a circle. The slices are drawn with different lengths, which is correct. The two big (along the oval bigger axis) and small slices have vertical axis, which is OK, but the intermediate ones should be sloped in the direction of the smaller slices. If you draw a plan view of the desired solid (the oval base, the circular top and the slice edges) the need for sloped intermediate slices becomes clear. As it is not the case in this model, the intermediate slices have to be twisted, which is awkward and not very pretty. Fortunately, they are almost hidden

Well, moving one with some more pictures...

Thanks, John and Norman

Well, it is time to empty Yu's favorite bowl

Almost, Jens, almost
Gluing the columns is pretty easy. Keeping them vertical is another matter. I glued each 4 together and that helps. Hopefully, the method is visible on the pictures.

Good one, Yu But, now, it is no longer easy to bring them down

@ Xeno06 - well, a lost head, surely not ; a slimmer arm, maybe, but the statues are so small that I am not sure ;). Frankly, I had no nasty surprises while cutting all those 140 statues...
The last assembly is the dome. I mean, the last for me because (as usual :rotwerd: ) I didn't quite follow the proposed construction sequence. The original had only 18 parts - the 2 main ones, with 8 slices each and the exterior, painted tabs. I added a lot of parts to make the assembly stronger, as you can see in the pictures.

Thanks again for your comments
@ Gianluca - I guess that the joint is good because it went unnoticed on yesterdays last picture ;). The assembly includes a section that will be glued to the base and the moveable dome. More seriously, the hole was a bit too large. The exterior tabs on the dome have triple thickness and they are enough to avoid the dome falling inside the hole. I covered the slits between the exterior tabs with suitably painted, triple thickness, paper. They are almost impossible to spot on the pictures

Well, it is finished. Lets start with detail pictures

Some more details...

Some general views...

...and the last ones. Apart from few and minor glitches, this is an excellent model. I really praise Schreiber for publishing such fine kits. Bring me more, please

Many, many, many thanks for your very kind comments
@ John - well, it is a little pleasure to have a picture on ID site :rotwerd: Perhaps it would be wise for me to drop Schreiber a line, or a picture
@ günter - you said it : 1/700 takes less space than 1/400 But I wouldn't blame Schreiber for that
@ Ernst - greetings from Póvoa de Varzim
@ Norm - muitíssimo obrigado
@ Gianluca - Schreiber's graphic quality on their latest models continues to be tip-top. A good example is the Tower Bridge. I have it waiting, among others :rotwerd:. The not so good news is that all those models have a relatively small number of parts for my taste. I hope there is something more ambitious on their pipeline
@ froberger - The repetitive work usually has a big advantage: it is easy. The trick is to switch on the hands autopilot