3ITC - Bultha's Farm - Mock-Up

Once I'd decided how the ruin would look, I decided I'd build a mock-up to play around with size and shape.  If you've seen some of my previous builds (the Tavern and the Dwarf huts) you'll know I like to do this to help with any tricky or experimental pieces.  Since the ruined farm is pretty much me making it up as I go, the mock-up was a must.
I cut the drinking chocolate container into half, so I have two pieces, one for a future project.  I used corrugated cardboard for the walls.  This is simply to allow me to experiment with shape and the height of the ruined walls, and to see how practical an area of upper floor would be, there was no attempt to make a practical model (the walls on the final model will be much thicker, for example).

I first tried walls of 100mm height.  I thought this might look a bit too tall for a farmhouse (as I imagine it), and I was right.

100mm high walls - too tall

So I cut them down to 50mm high; much better.  The proportions now seem about right to me.  This pretty much matches the radius of the container, so that works nicely for the upper floor.

50mm high walls - much better

Next I sketched in the shape of the ruined walls and cut them out once I was happy with them. Despite the description stating that the walls were all about 1.5m high I kept one corner at full height.  This gives a more interesting ruin and allows me to have a small section of upper floor to give a firing platform.

Six marines fit easily inside the ruin, the sixteen given for the battle should just about do it.

A better idea of how much space is in the building.

Note the pencilled in door

Using the upper floor for better lines of sight.  

I'm pleased with the look of the mock up.  I like the shape and proportions of the building, and the placement and size of windows and doors (one at each end, just shaded in on the mock up).  That gives me a pattern to cut the walls.  

I drew a plan to help me when I come to cutting the XPS.

Very faint plan

I'll make the walls out of 10 mm thick XPS.  I'll cut the roof to shape once the rest of the ruin is built.  I'm including a 5mm 'hip' on each side of the roof, though this will only be evident on one corner of the front, the rest is missing.  This gives a base for the edge of the roof, and I imagine there was some sort of guttering to collect water.

Next, cutting and texturing the XPS, and making the basic building.