Caravansarai or Penitentiary?

A few years ago I received an extremely kind birthday present from Richard Phillips. It was this MDF model; the Large Caravanserai from Empires at War. 

It's a real beast! It played the part of the Wali of Smut's palace in our big Woebetides game and the side modules recently saw action as part of the walls of New Pavis in a recent Christmas game.

It occurred to me, though, that it could also be of some use if I go ahead and do a Sharp Practice game based on the Siege of Puebla, 1863.

One of the large buildings in Puebla that the French are forced to assault is described as "the Penitentiary". I haven't yet researched it properly but a large structure of this type would make a great centre-piece for an urban game.

One of the factors I need to take into account is that the buildings of Puebla were heavily shelled during the siege and street-to-street fighting. There's also some indication of mines being dug by the French. It seemed like a good idea, then, to have the option of partly demolishing my Penitentiary.

Given the modular design of the model, I could build a destroyed replacement section out of foam-core and cardboard.

I needed to build a destroyed corner section too.  

Sadly, at the first attempt I built the corner section the wrong way round - with the parapet wall on the inside! I had to do a quick bit of surgery to fix it - something I couldn't do when I made a similar mistake in my O-Level Woodwork practical in 1980!

The colour matching isn't perfect and I haven't attempted to do the jointed stonework on the interior walls. We'll have to see whether I decide to repaint the whole thing as Puebla planning proceeds.

The next plan is to produce a 270-degree rubble-and-crater base to go outside the collapsed bit of wall and maybe a 90-degree bit to go inside too.