Derry's walls - part 6 lifting the roof off

by Barry Hilton September 29, 2015

Raw internal view - a front face will conceal the lower floor

One of my big dilemmas building this project was deciding whether to have removable roofs on the buildings. As many of the scenarios in the book are Donnybrook scale skirmishes and involve missions which have to be completed by various factions I thought that have internals in at least some of the buildings was a necessity.

mock up with removable items in both upper rooms

The removable roof has yet to be constructed

Another view of the mock up with removable items in place

different style of interior layout with a stray GNW artillerist!

It is quite a perplexing judgment call - which to seal up and which to leave open. Sealing the building is the easiest way to go and of course makes it far more robust for transportation and storage. Having only in the last few years been turned on to the real possibilities of skirmish gaming it have never bothered me much before.

overhead view of the upper floor of the Armoury

This is the small thatched store room adjacent to the Guard room

As I had not planned to have removable levels or floors on the buildings my internal access was restricted to single storey buildings or the top floor of multi storey structures.

beam to support lifting from lower floor with chains installed

Mock up with items in place with ladder in outer room shortened and fixed

Again you wil notice the liberal use of my highly expensive buildings materials - coffee stirring sticks, foam core, pins, wood glue, plaster, sand and items such as wire mesh for the windows.

Front face of the armoury fitted - refer to the original sketches below

The shots in this post were mock ups created very late on the night before a very early long haul flight to my other place of work the Gulf.

retaining wall added to the staircase which really changes the look

I did these shots mostly to give myself something to think about on the long cold nights in the Tropics. Actually, on the plane I sketched out some ideas for the street face of the Armoury/Magazine building which I intended to complete on my return.

During the construction process and encouraged by the tremendously positive feedback I have received here on the blog and on TMP I have designed a reinforced tower house attached to the walls. It will occupy the final space on the extreme left of the six foot wall section. I am now also considering extending the walls around a corner bastion towards a second gate.

Here is where we're up to as at 300915 - one major building to construct on the far left