The Dark Tower - Accents and Stability

WARNING: This post may contain spoilers from Stephen King's The Dark Tower (series of books).

I've spent the last two nights working mainly enhancing (in terms of the visual) and reinforcing the frame of the Dark Tower.



For the exterior, I've completed tiling the entire first level, as well as redone the windows to create a more striking look.



The interior also has undergone a little transformation, mainly deploying black fencing along the spiral staircases. I don't intend for all the holes in the Dark Tower to be filled, but it should be such that any minifigures won't have an easy time falling through any of the cracks.



I've also started building the third flight of stairs leading to the third landing in the Dark Tower. To do that, I also had to spend some time reinforcing the base to ensure that whatever I built didn't come crashing down under the typical pressure applied to pieces while building.



Above you can get a glimpse of the unsightly inner workings of the Dark Tower that are needed just to make sure it stands the test of time. I actually find myself being proud of the fact that the tower can be tilted on its side without falling apart.



A lot of that definitely has to do with the balance between function and form. One "function" based decision I settled upon was to keep the back wall free from any decorative elements that would jut out off the wall. This not only provided more stability for the structure in general, but also allowed me to have a place to hold on to when moving or transporting the entire work.

There's still a lot to do (and yet more black bricks to buy!), but I feel like I've finally found my groove, at least for this bottom half of the Dark Tower. I should be able to finish the bottom in the next 2-3 nights of building. At that point, the challenge for me will be to create a top half that separates from the bottom and rounds off the look of the entire structure.