Polish synagogue

 I figured my 1939 model Polish village needed a focal point.

A church would be an obvious choice, but I don't do obvious, so I decided to go with a synagogue.

First obstacle: there are very, very few pics of pre-WWII Polish village synagogues.

Finally I found one that seems to have all the elements I noticed in other examples as well.

Next step: I did a simple paper model, to see if a model of this size was doable, and to get a feel of  the construction of the stairs to the wonen's entance.

Results: it was doable, I understood how things ought to go together, plus I noticed I made the roof too large, way too much overhang.

Side walls were done in the usual way: coffeestirrers on styrene, with matchstick windowframes.

The rear wall presented another conundrum: I didn't have a clue what it was supposed to look like, so I extrapolated, which is like guessing while pretending you know what you're doing.

By way of shortcut, I made a Star of David and two stairs on our 3D printer.

Front wall, with men's and women's entrances.

A sturdy attic floor to keep the walls straight. Also note I finished the corners.

Gables added, plus a roof over the women's entrance, and a central roof support.

Construction of the staircase to the women's entrance.

Roof sheets. I drew help lines to make sure I'd apply the roof planks straight(ish).

The reverse of the sheets got a few braces out of sturdy styrene to prevent warping.

The original seems to have had an overlapping planks roof, so even though it was a lot more wurruk, I used that for my model.

Basic construction done.

The 3D-printed Star of David temporarily added, plus a grill for the balcony.

Primed the whole thing with my usual chalk paint.

Washed, and the 3D details added permanently.

I'm rather happy for having constructed a unique wargames building based on an absolute minimum of info.