This whole experience has left me ruined. . .

Step Four -- Cut and Assemble Interior “Ruins” on Base.

This step in the townhouse modeling process can be a bit tedious since you need to get the dimensions just right, for the outer shell of the townhouse to fit snugly (but not too much so) over the ruined base. What I’d suggest is to measure the inside of your townhouse shell, and (I hate myself for suggesting this) use the METRIC side of your ruler, so you can get precise measurements down to the last millimeter. "Metric?" you sputter. I know, I know. . .

I use ¼” thick pieces of balsa wood for these interior pieces because it approximates the look of nice solid foundation walls. By the way, these inner walls measure just under 1” high, so any 25-30mm figures placed in the ruins will just be able to peak over the walls in the heat of battle. But let’s get back to constructing the ruins. Isn't that a contradiction in terms?

Anyway, cut any pieces that will form corners with 45 degree angles, using that tiny saw and its accompanying mitre box (seen in a previous post), so the pieces fit together neatly and snugly. You might have to trim a little here and there to get everything fitted just right, for the outer shell of the townhouse to slip over your ruined base without too much trouble.

When everything has been measured, cut, tried, cursed, and trimmed a bit more, you should have a nice set of ruined interior walls that you can then glue carefully to the townhouse base. Set this aside and work on something else for a while. Once the glue has dried thoroughly, take your hobby/X-acto knife and use it to shave and/or hack away at the balsa wood until your walls begin to take on the appearance of distressed, damaged piles of rubble.

How far you choose to go here is largely a matter of taste, but I usually shoot for something akin to what you see above. You can always add some small piles of crumbled cork in the corners too, but that means you’ll have less room for your figures to occupy.

We now have our finished structure. In the next post, we’ll start to paint it, so that the townhouse looks a bit more like, well, a North German/Baltic region townhouse. Ok, zurück an die Arbeit männer!