Notre Dame de Paris

The puzzle is great. Great detail and really challenging and fun to build. But one thing caught me off guard much too late into the process of building it. Almost built the whole thing before I realized the plastic windows were glossy on one side and flat on the other. Couldn't believe I didn't catch this at the start and how it adversely impacted the appearance of the model. I couldn't find anywhere in the instructions directing which side of the plastic windows face outward. By the time I realized it I had reflective glossy and non-reflective flat windows facing the exterior. Unfortunately most of them I placed were reflective on the exterior. To get as much uniformity as I could I had to take apart one complex section to flip one window strip. But two windows on the tower section still have the flat side out since it was too much dismantling to reverse those. There are a few sets of window strips where the end of the building curves that might have a pre-bend in them to determine what the intention was for the placement of these windows. I can't recall if that is the case. I hope this helps others to realize that the window elements are critical as to what side faces outward. Maybe there is something in the instructions I missed but I'm very meticulous and technically minded in general and if I could miss this I'm sure others can as well. Another warning. The flying buttresses are very slender and sensitive to buckling and are somewhat tricky to get in. I lightly bucked three or four of them until I figured out how to get them to slide in without imposing excessive twisting or tweaking. They require some force to get in so just treat them with extra care. Also follow the directions and color coding very closely. I took for granted some pieces were identical but they are not...the flying buttresses specifically. I also put in one piece that looked symmetrical 180 degrees off. I found out much later when putting the main building sections together that the adjoining connection to this piece did not align. Luckily is was a long flat upper floor piece that simply rotated up and slid out and then rotated horizontally and easily slid back in. I loved the final product over all and commend the people who designed it and I blame myself mostly for my errors in putting it together. I hope my trials and errors prevents others to not have to struggle in those areas I had trouble with.

This was my 5th CubicFun project and certainly the most challenging and beautiful one. The detail in the printing and the stained-glass elements are second to none. But if you’re new to CubicFun models, don’t make it your 1st, or you might get frustrated. But that said, it’s completely worth it. I do have a couple of pointers... - Get yourself a simple (and cheap) tool called a grout pick. It’s a hand-held tool with steel pointed ends. There are hundreds of foam bits to punch out and it’ll make the build go more smoothly. Plus, there are steps where you must line-up 10+ tabs and slots all at once for a firm fit. The grout pick will be very helpful to position the tabs that don’t want to cooperate. - The acetate sheet with all the stained glass elements has a protective film on it. The instructions show an illustration of this, but It’s not prominent. Remove it for brighter windows. - The instructions are IKEA-like; illustrations with no text. As you go through each step, check off the pieces in the instructions as you use them or (like me) you’ll get to the last step and find a few pieces you missed. - Take your time with the stained glass elements. They’re held on with (provided) double-stick tape, but don’t press them firmly into place until you’re happy with the alignment. - Take your time. The building of the model is immensely satisfying. The attention to detail in all these models is amazing. The pieces fit together firmly and exactly without needing any tape or glue. The pieces pop out of the pre-printed die-cut sheets easily (again, the grout pick will help with the skinny parts). I just wish the company would release a “how-it’s-made” video to show how they design a bunch of 2D pieces to fit so well together to make a 3D cathedral. I am very impressed.

I only have about one quarter of the model finished. This is my rainy day project. This is a model you want to savor and patiently assemble. At this point I can say that the directions are excellent and the diagrams are easy to understand. The pieces themselves are superb in fit and finish. They punch out easily, and organized by number on sheets. Yes, you do have to flip through the many sheets to locate the pieces, but I don’t see any way to circumvent this. The stained glass transparencies are finely detailed and adhere to the pieces using double sided tape. When finished, I plan to place some small led lights inside to illuminate this wonderful structure from within. Do some price shopping for this model as I’ve seen prices vary by about $30.00. This puzzle would make an excellent gift for the right person. Update 10/22.19: I finished the project and enjoyed every minute of it. I only found one sheet of pieces that were not printed accurately, but they didn't impact the final results very much. I added some lights and am very pleased with the results. (see video). A few tips: take time with the windows and align them carefully. They do fit the frames of the pieces accurately. Also, the mylar sheets have a protective sheet of plastic that should be removed before adhering the windows. A few drops of glue will keep some of the ornamentation on the roofs in place. This is an excellent puzzle and well-worth the money!

This is a review of the puzzle itself and does not reflect on the vendor: Interesting puzzle. Instructions overall good but given the effort of the manufacturer, they should have identified which pieces were extra. There were only a few as it turned out and given the cost they should have provided more. Another issue is that foam core joints don't handle wear of insertion and re-insertion well as you take it apart to add or fix something that you forgot to include. The drawings also don't indicate the extent to which some sliding pieces fit which makes for more stress on joints. To be fair this was my first foam core 3d puzzle but not my first 3d puzzle. I assembled two wooden ones recently which were better in all respects. That said I did buy another foam core one recently (the Coliseum) since I couldn't find a wooden version of it. Be patient, and have fun if you do purchase it!

This model of St Paul's Cathedral is smaller than you think. It's deceiving from the photos because of the incredible detailing. Many of the pieces are really, really tiny, so you will need great close-up eyesight. Punching the pieces out of the card requires as much skill and patience as assembling the model. I used tweezers to attach the tiny selfstick windows and columns. A metal nail file was an easy way to carefully punch out the tiny holes. I spot glued the major pieces on the first half as a precaution as assembling requires a lot of manhandling. The second half I pretty much glued together and the stress level went way down. If you plan on opening the model to reveal the interior more than a few times, you'll be glad you glued it together. The engineering that went into designing this model is probably equivalent to the actual structure. It is phenomenal! For the most part it fits together pretty easily. Just make sure you double and triple check the instructions as you're assembling. Use a very gentle touch and it will slip together with little effort or force. It is hypnotic. It is beautiful. It took me almost 40 hours as I wanted to savor every moment and appreciate the incredible details of this masterpiece cathedral. As I was getting to the last few pages of instructions, I became sad as I didn't want it to end. I debated about attaching the second half of the dome. I ordered Notre Dame to work on next, but that one has less than half the pieces and is not nearly as complicated to assemble.

I'm a veteran scale model maker whose eyesight is not what it used to be. So I've been looking for an alternative that lets me make models without needing to wear special lenses to focus in on the details or to paint a model. So Cubicfun's puzzles, which snap together and don't need to be painted, seemed like a good way to get what I needed. The Master Collection Notre Dame de Paris is a repackaged version with minor updates of Clever Paper's original Notre Dame model. This was the first Cubicfun puzzle I made. It took me a leisurely two weeks to complete, but it could be done far quicker. This puzzle has been created with a level of detail that really brings its subject to life, and which minimizes the unrealistic aspects which arise from the fact that it is more a "puzzle" than a traditional "model". The Master Collection Notre Dame de Paris is head and shoulders above other CubicFun puzzles, and is a great project for serious model makers who are suffering from declining eyesight, or for a parent who wants to introduce a child to serious adult-level scale model making by doing a project together. Regarding the details of the model itself, the pieces fit together perfectly, though there was one piece (the final front facade piece) that kept popping out because the tabs had to reach past 3 or 4 thicknesses of board and so were not quite long enough to go far enough into their slots. This was easily fixed with a little wood glue. Another piece was so tiny that the colored surface fell off while I was folding it - again, easily fixed with glue. These were the only problems I had. Apart from these minor flaws, the puzzle went together perfectly. In the future, I hope to see more models with this level of complexity from CubicFun. In the meantime, I'll be buying more from their World's Great Architecture range.

I had struggled with this although I had fun putting this together but I question the quality of the brand. Firstly cardbaord common this is way to flimsy why would all the other customers give this a great rating for this like 4.5 when really it a 3. I had to struggle every bit of the pieces and took me like 3 days to put every bit of it together due to the stress I had to take a timeout to not get angry at it due to how poorly this should have never been a brand to begin with. If they want to sell there brand they need to work on changing this to plastic or wood or something more sturdy not a cardboard they are not strong or long lasting and they tend to catch dust and what if you spilled water you can't keep it dry. This is why I say it poor choice of material. While I do love the idea of building this but hey they need to do better! Common customer be more honest instead of lying about how great it is!

The details are impressive, especially the interiors.

Efectivamente se realiza en una diez horas y es espectacular, le voy a poner luz para que luzcan las cristaleras. con luces está genial.

Mycket fin produkt, lite svart att bygga men det är värd att jobba med den.

Great quality, good instructions. My son loved building it!

This 3D puzzle of St Paul's Cathedral is wonderful; the level of detail is incredible for a puzzle from the interior artwork and window panes to the brickwork and roof tiling, and the construction/'architectural' design of the puzzle makes for such a marvellous and enjoyable project putting it all together one piece at a time. The pieces themselves are made of EPS and foam board, which makes them lightweight and pliable whilst still being strong enough to easily support the entire construction once fully assembled. The pieces are not 'regular puzzle pieces', instead the pieces are numbered, bespoke pieces that primarily intersect, which means each section requires something a little different. Constructing the structure is somewhat challenging compared to 'normal puzzles', but if you/the recipient has any experience with other construction models (Airfix, etc) or is simply able to follow instructions to the T, then they'll be absolutely fine, a child could put this model together (provided they had the attention span). When fully assembled the entire model, inside and out, put together or opened up, looks simply superb! I am genuinely astounded by how great it looks, somewhat because my girlfriend and I have been building it whilst getting totally hammered, but mainly because I skipped over a fair amount of the instructions, yet I still have essentially zero complaints with how it looks or feels; it is solid even when manipulating the opening section, I am just so impressed!

One of the best puzzles I’ve purchased