The Rise of the Saloon

Right, not to be put off for more than a little by these other problems, I'm back at the saloon. The first order of business when sliding in a floor above ground level is to make sure it doesn't fall down all the time. So the answer that struck me was Lego, that most useful of substances! You can see something of this work in the first picture, and get a much better idea of it in the second. Picture the third reveals that I've pretty much got the staircase between the first and second floors done. When I made the staircase from the ground to first floors, I was as precise as I could be, and ended up having to shave and hack bits off it, because I simply cannot achieve right angles with the foamcard. Since I can't manage finesse, I know what to do: be sloppy and leave a safety margin. So that's what I have done here. There's a perceptible gap between the staircase and the wall, and I'll just have to tolerate it. It remains a sturdy thing, the staircase, quite capable of supporting a model on the halfway-landing, as picture four shows.

The fifth and sixth pictures give you a good idea of the internal layout of this floor. The walls of the rooms don't reach the floor above. They stick up far enough to give the illusion of being that tall, but they're about 10mm short. You can see all the Lego bits I used to mould the shapes of the rooms. The shapes you see on the floor will be for - you've guessed it - beds. The second floor is mapped out, but neither have I stuck in the walls yet, nor have I quite decided what direction to take it in. I'm almost out of thinnest balsa, so I might declare the top floor the exclusive domain of high-paying clients, and carpet it. If I can figure out a scale carpet!

I might break off from the hotel for a bit so I can mull that over in my unconscious. I keep thinking lately about getting back to my 6mm Napoleonics or maybe even making a 40K superheavy (not of the standard designs; something unique). Anyway, enjoy the pics, readers!