Dancing Dragon Inn - Week Ten

Dancing Dragon Inn - Week Ten
Originally uploaded by Alennka

This was one of those weeks when I seemed to spend a lot of time busily working away on the Inn, but with very little to show for it at the end. My goal of the week was to make the front panels and finish off the exterior of the Inn, excluding the roof and windows. As you can see in the photo, the Inn does have front walls now, but they still need work, namely the addition of more decorative wooden strips/noggings and securing to the building. At the moment the fronts are held in place with either clamps, pins or luck. I'm not sure whether to try using hooks and eyes to hold them on or to try and find some form of magnetic catch. One would be visible on the outside while the other would be visible on the inside and neither would look very pretty.

The tavern level has a single removable front wall with a single large window (or at the moment a single black hole). It is cut from foamboard to fit between the wooden posts at either end of the opening. The panel was then given a thin coat of pollyfilla to create a rougher surface and it was painted in a pale green. Balsa wood strips were then glued to the front of the panel overhaning both sides so that they completely covered the supporting posts. These pieces cover the slightly wavering edges of the board to give a nice neat finish.

The remaining floors have three front wall sections each, one for each room and one for the hallway between them. They were made in the same fashion as the tavern panel with the exception that the wood strips on the inside edges of each of the side panels are wide enough to cover the supporting post and the edge of the centre panel. This means that the side panels hold the centre panel in place so only the side panels will need securing to the building.

Finally, I started adding thin balsa strips to decorate the fronts. I started by framing the holes for the windows and made it as far as almost finishing the fronts of the first bedroom level. I still need to work on the levels above and below this one, plus do all the sides which at this point have been painted to match the front panels. Then figure out how to permanently, but removably attach the fronts. Then made the windows. Then make the tiles for the roof. Then cover the roof. I think saying I will be ready to start working on the inside by Christmas is really quite optomistic, especially if making roof tiles is going to be as horrid and time consuming as I am expecting. Perhaps I should go back to plan A, thatch?