Note: The Fortress Walls are really dark grey, and not the colour shown in the photos below (which is the result of the camera flash). The Playmobil webshop shows the true colour, which makes the Fortress look much better than it does in my photos!
I got off to a good start in building this. Unlike with the Grand Castle of Nevermore, the tabs and slots in this tower clicked together quite easily. I spent some time trying to get the ‘ropes’ of the cave door equal when the door is closed. It is one piece of string, threaded through the top and knotted onto each side of the door.
They are equal tension when the door is opened, but one side can sag more than other when the door is closed if one isn’t careful. Though an easier approach would be to be less fussy.
Stickers. There are stickers. This one was the worst:
There is hole in the middle of the sticker, where the door knocker is fitted. I started applying the sticker at the top, and the hole then didn’t fall in the right place. So I started again at the bottom … and, what do you know, the hole then didn’t fall in the right place.
So I had to apply the sticker at the hole first, with only ‘good judgement’ to use as a guide for applying the sticker straight. Thankfully, it worked out OK. Then I had fits over those ‘grease marks’ on the sticker (hadn’t I washed my hands properly?) before realising that they are the actual colour of the sticker.
Then I noticed that moulding bump in the middle above the door knocker. It would have been better to file that down first. Now it has to stay.
Those door hinges, by the way, were horrible. I thought I was a hinge expert. I think Playmobil likes to prove me wrong. I used Tiermann’s tip: using the flat end of a system-x connector tool to push them in.
I was worried about applying this sticker:
I’d never done an indented sticker before, and this shield has slider pieces on the back, causing it to rock back and forth on the table unless held still. I had to hold it with one hand, and apply the sticker with the other hand. It wasn’t as difficult as I feared, though – I started at the bottom, and it just simply put itself into place.
Then all fun disappeared from building.
Try as I might, I could NOT get the walls to fix to the volcanic rocks.
The problem, I think, is that the plastic on the rocks is so thin that it bends inwards when one tries to push the connectors into it.
And it is very difficult – and maybe for larger hands, practically impossible – to get one’s hand inside the rocks in order to stabilise the plastic from the other side.
I battled and battled for two hours with these. In the end, I thought, it will just have to ‘do’ for now – after all, I was going to take it apart again in places to add the wall extensions, once I decided where to put them.
And, actually, when I came to add the wall extensions, I believed that I had discovered the secret to attaching the walls to the rocks...
This is what I thought was the solution: Follow the instructions as usual, but don’t actually attach the walls and rocks. Then, when the Fortress structure is complete, first attach the walls to the rocks.
This means that you can turn the rocks upside down and gain better access to apply pressure.
The rock with the tower on can be placed overhanging the table, to gain access to the inside from below.
Once all the walls are attached to the rocks, the rest of the walls can be attached also – wall connecting to wall is reasonably easy to click together.
… Or so I thought.
It wasn’t until I sat down in front of the Fortress for my evening meal (it being on the dining table) that I noticed this:
Aaargh! Not properly connected on both sides. And how did the rocks become unattached again? I know they had made a most satisfying click earlier.
Anyway: the completed Fortress before the extensions were added:
(Review continues below)
