Hehe you guys are trying too hard! You can actually drop down the base from teh rotating globe by using goza mats raised up (four in a square IIRC), the globe placed, and then you lower one of the mats a couple times to get the drop. I messed around with this idea a year ago on test center but never ended up doing my night sky idea that I was going to put into motion. Was also going to do some of those little wisp statue things for stars.
I might still do it, but just can't really decide how I'd want to work it into a castle or if I'd want to do it in a custom home.
Anyways, once you can get the base dropped down and seperated you can cover it pretty easily. I do not believe you can axe it as that may just chop the whole darn thing. The leftover spinny globe makes a great rotating planet, I wish those suckers were dyable, you could get quite the constellation going!