Up and up!

You thought you had seen it all from the mining town of Qala Debdou? Far from that!

 Just when you thought I had reached peak architectural madness, along comes the upper module to prove there’s always room for more questionable decisions!

This was always my original plan, to add a second storey. That was the reason for that sudden flat cut top of the board. 

Because what could possibly go wrong when you mix foamboard, glue, and unearned confidence?

 You can see it's way smaller than the lower module. I shaped the background in an irregular way, to show that this village isn’t just a mere jumble of adobe houses with no urban planning (although it’s that too), but is genuinely carved into the side of a mountain. The town properly nestles into the side of a cliff, so  it looks less like an accident in urban planning and more like a mining settlement that clawed its way out of solid rock. At least that's how I like to picture it.

I’ve had to include access points from the lower module to the upper one. The challenge was not being able to exceed its vertical limit (otherwise I won’t be able to put it back in the cupboard). That’s why I built these two... errrr, things.

One wrong move and your miniature will plunge with panache

Zero respect for gravity or workplace safety regulations

 OK, now to the module itself. I started with another stupidly big structure:

Seriously, designing and cutting these horseshoe arches is a nightmare

I promise it all makes sense in my mind

You can see I simply painted a big door on the background

Just to give the impression that there's access to the inner mountain

That will be a docking point for airships or something like that. Now I have to connect it to the town...

That inside is already painted and ready for the next step in madness...

Lights!

This time I’ve decided to install the LEDs before building the structures, hoping it will give the town a better lighting system...  and maybe even make me look a bit more professional in your eyes. No, yeah, I get it, it's too late for that. Anyway.

I'm combining adobe structures or straight cut buildings with more natural shapes, showing houses carved directly on the rock:

It will be fun to get acces to that house up there

You see that dark door below the starircase...?

 

This is just downstairs the airship dock

In my mind that door will lead to... well, a place. It's in my plans, but haven't built it yet. You'll see it eventually.

Now I'm about to build a rather complex piece:

Why am I doing this to myself?

A pure exercise in stubbornness

The piece from the inside, so you get an idea

Building pieces like this and adding the LEDs as you go means that you have to build (wait for it to dry),  add putty to soften corners and give texture (wait for it to dry), spray paint it (wait for it to dry), add the LEDs, glue it (this step can be sometimes inserted before). A little bit time consuming. It's driving me crazy taking the whole thing to the window just to throw a couple of bursts of spray and that's all. But there's no other way to get it done.

Don't forget opening spaces for the wires! Plan it ahead!

You can't see it, but the Saint in the icon is bearing a bolt gun

From the outside, the structure starts to make sense: it’s a mad stack of steps, arches and rock, but it’s got character. The character of a deranged madman, but character anyway.

Build, wait, putty, wait, paint, wait. Repeat

If I thought this piece had been complex, now the next one is going to be absurd. I need to provide gaming options and explore the verticality of the board, so I'm going to have different levels. You'll see:

Let's start the house from the roof. First thing is that platform, which will set the desired endstate of this part

 I want to connect the staircase coming up from the lower left with the arched staircase above. My final idea is to create three levels at different heights. Let’s see if I can pull it off.
 

Where do those stairs lead??

Oh, additional problem (which I was aware of even before it presented itself):

The edges of the modules don't line up

Of course it was evident since I was building the lower module. But that problem for Future Me has just got me!

I hope it holds up! (And that I can store it without exceeding the cupboard limit!)

From the front, the new piece finally starts to make sense: an open gallery overlooking the valley, connected by steps that seem designed by someone who’s never met a building inspector. But it’s perfect for this crazy settlement’s narrative!

Yes, I'm cheating with a toy rock

Now you can see the three levels:

It looks like I had a real plan all this time. I didn't, but it looks like so

Balconies are addictive: build one, and suddenly you need five more. Well, this is all a precarious spiderweb of platforms, but honestly, that’s exactly the vibe I wanted.

There’s a reason why I built this structure ending in that platform at the top and with that particular height.
But I’m afraid you’ll have to wait for another post for me to tell you about it. I’ll try to start building the explanation this weekend. As soon as I’ve got progress, I’ll share!