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Thursday, August 16, 2012

Revisiting Vimy Again


Anyone who’s been paying attention will have noticed my interests have shifted once again to the Great War. And that’s got me thinking about the  Vimy Project  I’ve realized as I have only five years until the 100th Anniversary it’s time to pick up the pace!

As I’d noted in a Revisiting Vimy post about a year and a half ago, The terrain needs some work; The trenches needed to be widened as I’d re-based all the figures and they simple wouldn’t fit into the trenches and also I’d never really finished them up the way I’d like.


(Remember: click on the pictures for a bigger version)


I’ve started working towards that and I have to say I’m pretty happy with how it’s coming along.


This is the north east tile of the Fourth Division’s area of attack (so these are the German reserve trenches and communication trenches).


I’d thought of a couple different ways of doing the revetting, but had some balsa wood lying around and decided to experiment with that and it seems to work quite well.


This all still needs to be repainted… and I’d like to maybe add some patches of grass to this reverse slope of the ridge.


I’d also like to add a sandbag parapet – at least to the fire trenches, perhaps not the communication trenches as a way of distinguishing the two. I’m not sure how I’m going to do this – I need to do if fairly cheaply as I have a LOT of trenches to do. Casting (or buying cast) resin sandbags is out of the question. I bought some Das (a self hardening clay product) to experiment with. If anyone out there has any ideas I’d LOVE to hear them!

Stay tuned for more!


Coming soon on Tim’s Miniature Wargaming Blog:

Um… well I haven’t started those French Foreign Legionnaires… and the impetus to do them may have faded by the time I get back to painting (I’m having some fun working on this terrain at the present) 

20 comments:

  1. Really great looking terrain. Das modelling clay is probably the cheapest option. I know people have used Milliput, bought in hardware stores as it's far cheaper than gaming shops. They also gently pressed coarse fabric into the soft clay to give the impressive of the sandbag material.

    Regards,
    Matt

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    1. Thanks Matt. Milliput isn't sold in any hardware stores around here. They do have some sorts of similar two-part compounds... but that also would be a fairly expensive way to go... I will give the Das a go soon-ish!

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  2. Long time ago someone recommended dried beans can be used - kidney beans and the like.... in bulk, and painted, they might be OK...??

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    1. Beans, huh? Hmmmm.... that's an interesting idea... I think most of the dried beans I have are almost as big as 25m figures...? I'll have a look about for others. Thanks Steve!

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    2. Yeah - kidney beans would be too big, but the smaller one's might do?? Black eye/butter etc..?? I'll be interested to see the result if it works... I'd love to see the look on the shop owners face when you hold your little metal man up next to the beans to see for scale..... :o))

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  3. Blimey, that's impressive Tim!

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  4. plaster will also work, when it is mixed thick, then you can sculpt it into the bag-like shapes on the sides.

    there was a material called 'sculpy' that was similar to plasticine or Das and all you needed to do was spray the 'fixative' on it to have it harden into whatever you had sculpted.

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    1. Thanks MurdocK!

      I haven't had the best luck with plaster in the past - perhaps I just don't have the knack. Might be worth looking into again.

      I shall have a lookout for "Sculpy".

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  5. DAS can be brittle but is cheap; a quick & dirty method is to roll out a long "sausage" of the thickness you want the sandbags. Squash semi-flat then press a blunt knife part way through without cutting the "sausage" at intervals that are "sandbag length". Add texture to taste.
    Another alternative is Fimo or Sculpy which is clay like plastecene which when baked in a low temp harden like plastic.
    Neil

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    1. Yeah that was pretty much my plan with the Das. Brittle, huh? Hmmmm. Do you happen to know if it shrinks at all? I'd ind of wondered about just modeling it right on to the board. If it shrinks some I might have to do it somewhere else and glue it on after it's dried.

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  6. TIm

    I don't know if they even exist anymore but I recall an old Wargames magazine from the 1970s suggested using mini chic lets which were the right shape and approx size.
    Love the terrain

    Cheers

    PD

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    1. I haven't seen them about... but then I pretty much never buy gum or candy, so it's not like I've been LOOKING. I'll keep my eye out. Thanks!

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  7. There is a child's air-drying clay made by the fine folks at Craft (or Crayola, maybe) that works like Das but dried without becoming too brittle. I picked up at tub at Staples for about $8. It worked pretty well for the sandbags and entrenchments here: http://edmontonwargamer.blogspot.ca/2012/04/entrenchments.html

    Rolled out a wiener, flattened it, used a ruler to create the seams between the bags.

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    1. Brilliant! Found it!

      Crayola Model Magic Bucket

      Hmmmm... a bit pricier per kilo than the Das, but I'm guessing it's less dense because is says that tub makes 80 (EIGHTY!?) golf-ball sized projects!? Is that for reals!? Regardless, I'm definitely going to check that one out!

      Thanks Bob!

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  8. Hi again Tim,

    Saw this blog post and thought it may be of interest.

    http://miniaturesterrainpage.blogspot.co.uk/2012/08/sandbags-making-and-painting-tutorial.html

    Regards,
    Matt

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  9. DAS doesn't shrink that much (unless you mix in a lot of water to make a "filler" type paste).
    It is adhesive when wet but once dry breaks off surfaces very easily, so often needs remedial glue work!
    Neil

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    1. Thanks Neil! I was experimenting with Das last night with some reasonable success. Hopefully I'll get to post the results over the weekend.

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  10. Hi Tim,

    I know this may be heretical, but what about foam? Many craft stores sell large soft foam pads intended to be used for pillows and such for next to nothing. It shouldn't be too hard to cut pieces to the approximate shape and size you want, then paint as desired.

    Gordon

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