Saloon furniture

Before I start, I want to acknowledge that this is a weird time for me to be posting an update. I had a chat with a guy last night who's stuck in that teenage rut we all go through, and in the process of encouraging him to talk to people so he can understand what he wants out of life, I planted the seed of epiphany in my own head. Back in February my depression got its head lopped off, but I have of late been in a rut because I haven't known what I want. Well, that seed grew in my mind last night, and I woke up today for the first time in a while knowing precisely what I want. More on that at some later date. For now, saloon furniture!

Every good Wild West saloon needs a bar, and every bar needs a counter to slam sippin' whisky along and a load of shelves to hold bottles. All this is balsa. The length is c.150mm, but the countertop is designed to overhang slightly at one end, and the ends of the shelves are probably a bit off. I've no pictures of shelf construction, but I'll walk you through it in words. I cut four strips of thin balsa 10mm wide and 150mm long. I got twelve thicker balsa pieces, gluing them at the ends and dividing the shelves into thirds. They looked a bit rough - there's only so much control you can have over balsa with a Stanley knife! - so I cut some more thin strips of balsa and glued them over the front to hide the worst of it. I toyed with leaving the back open, decided against it, and cut a piece of balsa that covered it. Then I got a couple of other bits and blocked in the ends. Voila!

Cowboys and not-quite aliens? The bar itself is simplicity reified: a thin strip of balsa 20mm wide by about 150mm long atop a thicker chunk of balsa about 148 mm long and 14mm by 14mm in its other dimensions. Realistically, it wouldn't be all timber, as that's a waste of wood and space for storing bar stuff. But for wargaming purposes it'll do, I think! The table was pretty simple. I took the ever-useful circle-scribing tool I bought off Ebay aeons ago, and set it to 50mm. I cut out some balsa, then a slightly smaller circle of 0.5mm plasticard. I glued the plasticard disc to one side of the table. Then I took some plasticard tube and cut some 15mm lengths of it. Don't worry about absolute precision. Haven't you ever sat down at some cafe where not a single table has perfect stability? I then glued them to the plasticard disc beneath the table, one at 12 o'clock, and then at 3, 6 and 9. I chose plasticard over balsa because a) it's sturdier and b) it's going to be invisible to casual glances when gaming. Don't worry about the hole in the centre of the table. I'll cover that later on: miniature playing cards, a pistol, money, a bit of cloth - there are many options. The chair is that same on from the Perry's farmhouse.

I need to make another two or three tables, then I'm done. I am vaguely thinking about where to get more chairs, but that isn't essential at this stage of construction. As well as all this small-scale stuff I've got the back-/store-room to block off. Things are looking good. Until next time, dear reader!