Entrance tower and front part

I'm determined to push forward on this project as much as I can. Now that the bazaar is done, it's time to make the entrance and to fill that ugly empty space just on the front part of the board.

If I'm going to build a gate of some kind...

...let's build a big one

The idea of a tower looked appealing to me. It adds some volume there and gives the impression of an access gate to the medina of the town.

Now it is time for a new item I got last Christmas again (even before the Christmas lights, I think!)

Lattice I got from a nativity scenes shop

I know, I know. But this project got out of hand long ago, so just another little silly addition wouldn't be that much!

While deciding how to better put the lattice, I built the general shape of the tower. I'm thinking of adding something on top of it. The idea of an astronomy observatory is appealing, but I'm not sure if it really fits in there. 

Just an idea. To be considered later

Some paint later. Note the addition of that tiny building on the front

Let's add the lattice and tissue paper:

Cautiously optimistic

The tricky part was to wire the tower. The garland came from the entrance to the mine (down left), but I wanted it to go towards the central block (to the right of the tower). I could make the wire go upwards and downwards again, but given my needings, it was more efficient if the wire went through the upper part. So I made holes on the walls and connected them with a tube, the wire going through it:

A picture speaks a thousand words

This is the final test. Will the light look good through the lattice?

Hooray!

OK. Now let's pay some attention to the gate of the tower. It has quite a large archway. It needs some decoration to fill all that awful emptiness.

More printed paper. Cheap and easy!

 

I considered the idea of adding flags and banners hanging from the ceiling, but it was kind of too much. However, I thought some additional detail was in order.

 

So I did this for the lintel

 

It's a crude sculpt indeed, but it doesn't need more detail, it's relatively hidden and maybe it was sculpted looong centuries ago and is highly eroded by the winds of the desert. It's simply an element to add "visual noise" as I call it.

While the greenstuff was curing, I built some more stuff...

 

Upwards!

You can notice that I'm trying to avoid paralell lines, I'm breaking symmetry and trying to add some more little chaos. When finished, the area looks like this:

This neighbourhood is alive

The way into the lower baazar

That tower needs something atop, but still haven't found the correct piece

 

Well, it now feels like something! I think it all looks quite ethnic and it fits the whole theme in the board.

 

Just a little bonus for this post: Next challenge was to take the lights from the central building (the newly built element) to the left again, where the final stage of the board awaits. How would I do that?? For sure I didn't want to destroy more pieces, and I found it difficult or even impossible (apart from absurdly inefficient) to take the lights again through the same way they had previously come. Then I risked it all:

On the open!

Lanterns made with gaming tokens

 

Right, I'll try to make some street lamps with the wire on the open. But that will be an issue for another day!

For the moment let's just recap:

The whole progress

This how it all looks!

And this how it all looks at night!

You see, there's so little left to do, just the sector on the left of the pic. At the time of writing this I can say I'm making some fair progress, so I feel quite optimistic.

Hopefully more updates coming soon!