Faller 232242, N-scale moated castle

I needed a small project to fill up the evenings during a winter break trip with my family. The project had to be compact, so I wouldn't have to carry too much with me. And it had to be fun, so I needed something that I would really enjoy. And one of the most enjoyable activities for me is assembling plastic building kits...

So I got myself a little N-scale structure to build. It's a "moated castle" in N-scale. Model 232242 manufactured by Faller...

The provided box is very nice and colorful. That is until you actually open the product. Then it turns out the real packaging is just a generic cardboard container and the beautiful part is simply an extra paper wrap. It really doesn't matter and I do not really care, but it caught me by surprise...

As we dig through the content, the very first parts we find are the baseplates. One for the castle itself, and one for the moat around it. It is a "moated castle" after all :)

Then we find a significant number of stone walls elements...

...as well as the roof, the windows and some small details.

A manual is included, too, and it shows the build process step by step. Not everything is however 100% self-explaining here, which led to some mistakes on my side. But overall it's very useful and there isn't much to complain about...

There are also two paper inserts with printed curtains and a sticker set included. The stickers will be used to create a flag located at the very top of the tower. Of course a Polish flag is missing - I will be forced to make my own.

The build is fun but it's very short. One could easily do it in one day. I split it into four evenings and allowed to glue to dry well between the sessions. The trickiest part for me was actually putting the paper inserts into the castle. They were a very tight fit, and for a moment I even considered re-assembling them from scratch. But with some extra force they finally went in...

Here's the complete castle. And with a Polish flag, too!

Well, that was fun... while it lasted. The model is a nice one and the provided moat-base is a great opportunity for extending the scenery in the future. Just fill it with some fake water, add shrubs around and it will look great. I like it!

As I already mentioned there are some mistakes I've made because of the slightly lacking manual. I've noticed two:

• I added the round window frame from the inside while it should have been added on the outside
• I cut the three small flag details too short and they are not attached to the roofs by their poles but directly by the globe-shaped parts

The differences are well visible in the comparison photo below:

Of course those do not matter at all and the castle is still fully usable and beautiful. Now I just need to find a layout I can put it on :)