Materials and Equipment Required: Toothpicks 25 guage insulated wire or waxed thread Tan colored modeling clay Coins Scissors Ian V. Hogg defines a gabion as "an open-ended cylinder, generally of woven brushwood but sometimes of interlaced iron bands, wire netting, etc, which could be filled with earth and used to revet or reinforce the sides of excavations, especially in fieldworks, to prevent trenches or ditches caving-in during wet weather." With this in mind I find that the best way to build a miniature gabion is to construct it in the same manner as the real thing. You start by making a working base from a plug of clay. This should,be at least 1/4 inch thick and two to three inches in diameter. This base will be used only for construction and, will not be part of the finished gabion. Next place a coin on the clay to be used as a form (heads or tails up is optional). A penny, a nickel or dime will do depending on the diameter you require. The finished gabion will be approximately 1/4 inch larger in diameter than the coin. Next insert nine toothpicks in the clay arranged evenly around the coin. The number nine is important only in that it is an odd number and that it has seemed to work out the best for me. The toothpicks should be vertical and therefore parallel. If you use flat toothpicks, put the larger end in the clay for this will be the bottom. As far as the wire is concerned, I was fortunate in getting a piece of telephone cable made up of many pairs of 25 gauge insulated wire. You could use blasting type wire or waxed thread -- the kind used for stitching leather. It is usually available in most craft stores. Now, with the end on the inside, start weaving the wire in and out around the toothpicks. Try to keep it fairly tight without pulling the tops of the toothpicks together. Make sure each weave sits snugly on the last. After several circuits fill the cylinder with clay. Not only does this keep the weave in place, it also gives the piece a little weight so it won't be easily knocked about the table. Repeat this operation until a suitable height is reached. Then snip off the remaining wire and tuck the end inside the clay. Next fill it to the top covering the last weave with clay. This will help prevent the wire from unravelling. Carefully remove the gabion from the base and press it down on a flat surface to level the toothpicks. If you've used round picks, snip off the bottom points to remove some of the taper before leveling. This will give it a better appearance and make the wire less likely to slip off. The toothpicks should slide with a little force, but they should not be so loose as to fall out of the weave. In most cases the coin will remain in the bottom of the gabion. Unless you are planning to mount them on another base, it doesn't hurt to leave the coins in as it prevents the oil in the clay from staining your table. For the final touches, first cut off the tops of the toothpicks so they protrude a bit from the clay, they do not have to be even. Second, roughen up the top of the clay to simulate earth. The last step is painting; since it was originally made of brushwood or wickerwork it should be painted in natural colors such as tans, browns and greens. If you used the waxed thread or wire with such colors in the insulation you do not need to do any painting at all. Voila, you have a gabion that was built like, and in miniature looks like, the real thing. By varying heights one can make provisions for gun apertures or create a stepped depth in your field or siege works. After building the first few to get the hang of it, you will probably be able to build a dozen or so in an afternoon. Back to Table of Contents -- Courier Vol. 1 #3 To Courier List of Issues To MagWeb Master Magazine List © Copyright 1979 by The Courier Publishing Company. This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other military history articles and gaming articles are available at http://www.magweb.com