Tower Progress

So I've been having a little trouble figuring out how to make the third floor of the tower.

I wanted to have it extend outward over the main stairway tower, by about an inch on all sides, just like the cottage second floor.  But hinging that part was stumping me.

Then I figured out that I could hinge the third story by itself.  Keep the third floor stationary, which would add stability.  The lower part would hinge on one joint and the third floor on its own.  If that makes sense?  I still need to work on the roof, which I think I might make similar to the floor, just the walls hinged.

So with that in mind I made a mockup of the floor, and figured where I'd need to cut the hole for the stairs.  I had to tape my stairs into place before I could do that.  Styrofoam is slippery and kept moving around on me.  But I finally got it.

The third floor will have a casement window, one of the Houseworks ones.  I'm debating if I want to add a little offset window, like this.

I'm not sure.  I'd like to have one if only because it would be such a nice place to put a telescope.  And it would be very pretty and fairytale like.  Have to think about it.   If I bought two and cut one so joined together they made three quarters of circle it could work.

What do you think?

I also got a couple of light fixtures to go in the tower.  Figured out where to put them today.  I marked the outside of the tower with black dots so I wouldn't forget.

They're pretty looking candle sconces which will give off a decent amount of light inside the tower I think.

Since I got that figured out I decided I was safe putting up some of the finishing for inside the tower.  I got some brick paper a while back that has a good texture to it.  Since we won't be looking too hard at the inside of the tower I thought it would be perfect for the walls.

I got some cardboard cut out for the window and door frames and started making the egg carton stone to cover them.

I'm also covering the Styrofoam stairs with spackle and waiting for it to dry.  Lots of waiting for things to dry.

I'm really glad that stuff turns white when its dry or I'd be messing with it forever.  Mine is old and isn't bright pink anymore but it still works pretty well.

I got the center post for the stairs and my dremel and used a sanding head to rough it up so it would look like a tree had been cut down to use as the center post for the stairs.  It's not easy to see but here it is.

That was as far as I got on the tower.

The other think I did took up a lot of Saturday but it was worth it.

I used the Dark Walnut stain and then went over the knotwork with Ebony to make it show up a bit better.  I have a few pieces that I'll add to give it a half roof while the other half will be covered by the second floor extension.

I also cut down the balsa in the side windows so they would fit the windows properly.

I also got out my jigsaw and made more dust.  Otherwise known as cutting the MDF walls for casement window openings.

They're a bit deeper than the walls so I'll have to add some wood to the sides to level everything out but that's very doable.

The balsa filler isn't glued into place its just wedged in to the old opening while the glue holding its pieces together sets.

The last thing I did was start on the shutters.  I want to get them hinged and on the frames before I put the frames in the house.  I had to order more hinges and pulls for the windows so that they'll have some handles on the inside.

I need to make shutters for the Houseworks Casement windows too but I haven't figured out just how I want them to look yet.

It feels like I got a lot done, despite waiting for things like spackle and glue to dry.  That could just be because I've been working on it constantly the whole weekend and I feel like I've got something to show for it.

How is everyone else doing?