Thursday 11 May 2017

Scratch building Gabions

To add some defence works to my 19th Century armies I decided I would have a go at scratch building some Gabions. Here are the photos of the steps.

Materials used - dowel and a flyscreen repair kit
Cut the flyscreen repair material to size (which has a sticky side) and wrap around the dowel.
Cut off the end bit which has been wrapped
First Gabion completed 
Once a few Gabions have been made they are glued together on a stand
Add some small stones to the tops of the Gabions
Cover with PVA glue
Once the PVA glue is dry they are painted with a dark brown 
Dry brush the Gabions with a light grey and a mid-brown on the tops
Ready for a varnish
In use
Meanwhile in the background while the glue and paint dries I have been playing one or two 19th Century games. The shape-eyed will notice I am trying to game using a grid tabletop. I am presently I flip-flopping between liking the grid for its speed of play and the aesthetics of free movement and measuring and not having a very regimented looking tabletop.

A game in progress


10 comments:

  1. What a relatively easy solution to excellent looking gabions! I may give your technique a try.

    Like you, I enjoy gridded games for their ease of movement, faster play, and less fiddliness. The difficulty I have is with terraining a grid with free form terrain and actually laying down the grid. Sometimes I feel like a grid, sometimes I don't!

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    1. I will be making a few more gabions this coming weekend as I try and finish off more of my 19th century miniatures.
      As to whether I play grid or not for the 19th century period, I will pause that idea and return to it after playing another period for a bit.

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  2. Peter,
    Very good solution to Gabions- cleverly- well done. Cheers. KEV.

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    1. Thanks KEV. Quick and easy too! Peter

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  3. Gabions - nicely thought out and processed.

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    1. Thank you. It was good to use up the remaining flyscreen leftover from making some medieval fences. Keeps the costs down.

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  4. I'm definitely going to give this gabion idea a try! Thanks.

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    Replies
    1. They turned out better than I expected.

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  5. These look really good! Thanks for this, Im feeling motivated to have a go myself,
    Andy

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