Building the Tequila Mockingbird Cantina

 The Tequila Mockingbird Cantina will be the central feature of my Spanish/Mexican village.  I wanted a removable roof to allow gunfights inside, as well as a flag stone floor and stairwell for a sniper to lurk in. 

i started with the base of a cola drinks tray.  Cardboard, and kept the 19cm width.  From that I cut down the length to 24cm.  This is the internal area of the building sorted.

Next I flagstoned a drop in section of floor tiles.

just rough cut squares 1-1.5 cm of Weetabix card packet.

This received a grey wash down, mixed with PVA to give it a solid hold.

The outer walls were thicker cardboard, with the grain cut opposite to the internal.  I cut some Windows into this but others were just marked with external shutters glued in place.

I plastered the walls roughly, using filler, even covering that exposed brickwork effect.  Then a dark brown for doors and window shutters.  Corner stones are simply flaps of card to hide the joins.  Useful stuff that Weetabix card.  The 17th century musketeer is there to show scale.

The exposed brickwork on all four sides was picked out in grey.  A card roof was added using a lid flap section.  When I have collected more paper straws I will pantile the roof, but for quickness I pressed the ridges around the card down and painted it a dark terracotta.

And there it is, the Cantina.  If I added a bell tower it becomes a church, or with a second smaller building as bunkhouse it is a Ranchero.  The really clever bit though... My Peninsular buildings stack inside this big fellow, making this a storage solution rather than a problem.

The terrain for the Wild South West is slowly coming together.