Madame Sybelle's Saloon of Affordable Love - WIP #1

I made a few sketches of terrain elements as displays for my resurrectionist crews ages ago. I was going to post them but then I forgot and the files got lost in the maze of wip-projects on my pc. I came across them while looking for something else and thought 'hell, why not?'

The main idea of these displays is to make playable terrain pieces that can be used as display (or diorama if you prefer) for the crews. As I usually play with my minis I designed these displays for standard gaming bases, but I will sink them in the terrain. This would leave a hole when the minis are not in there so there are additional pieces that fit in the hole so all terrain is playable. Some details would make gaming awkward so in the same fashion, some elements are removable. Basically I'm gonna strip the whole stuff when gaming.

All displays are themed for a crew's background story. There are four of them so far:

no.1 - Sybelles Saloon for Seamus and Co.

no.2 - Crypt for Nicodem, Vultures and Punk Zombies

no.3 - Morgue for McMourning and Co.

no.4 - A tomb with some memorials and Mausoleums around for the Necropunks

As most of Seamus' crew is kind of painted I decided on starting with the saloon. I bought balsa ages ago and started making the bases already as you could have seen on the belles, had all my tools and glues already. All I missed was foamboard so I set off to the local arty shop to buy some.

I will write a step-by-step from here; mostly as a reminder to my self rather then as a tutorial - the net is full of them already anyway. This way I can see where I go wrong (if I do and surely I will) and will be able to avoid the same mistake in the future.

Step 1

Cutting the base piece to size, drawing main details on it, cutting and carving the floor pattern into the balsa. The pattern is so faint that I had to outline it with psychedelic green to make it visible on the photo.

Step 2

Placing the minis, cutting out the holes for them.
First I cut the holes from the balsa, then I placed it on the foamboard and outlined the holes, then cut the foamboard. I did not cut the bottom layer of the board but scraped the foam out instead. This way I have support for the models already, they cannot 'fall out' or anything

Step 3

Drawing the second floor's plan, then cutting.

[I don't actually have pictures of this as I have just done it all at once, but it's important to do before the walls for the upstairs windows and doors]
Step 4

Drawing the walls on the foamcore, then cutting.

Step 5

Cutting joints, assembling the building. As I mentioned before I wanted to keep it playable and as a display I will want good visibility. For these reasons the building is going to be made of three separate parts: front and left side walls stuck on the base/floor piece; first floor, back and right side walls stuck together; roof.

At this point I called it a day as I forgot to buy adhesive paper and I need to print some tapestry before I can carry on building. I will also need more wood. Not balsa, just normal hobby sticks for the outside of the building, and some timbers to make that floor sturdy enough for heavy models.