thanks @ Easy E and mweaver.
Ok (sorry if my post above sounded overly dramatic in any way!), but having to be a bit more sensible in terms of what constitutes a realistic propect gaming-wise, both in terms of 'stuff' and 'space' and the availability of that in time to come and, perhaps more to the point, social circumstances and connection.
This would have been a grand project but also something of a white elephant given the above considerations. And I can afford that, in every sense, rather less than some involved in this hobby, I suspect.

Maybe one fine day I'll come back to it.