In an effort to expand the available terrain for my 20mm WWII collections, I created some barbed wire entanglements. I did not want to spend much money on these.
Materials were balsa wood, white glue, vinyl tile sheets and nylon screen door material. The balsa wood is 1/4" x 1/4" strip purchased at most craft stores. The white glue I use is Elmers glue. The vinyl tile is 12" x 12" sheets purchased at a local home renovation store and the nylon screen was 36" x 18", also purchased at the home renovation store. Materials for the flocking and beautification of the entanglement are discussed later.
Start by preparing the materials for assembly. I cut the vinyl tile into 2" x 3" rectangles, yielding 24 bases for the entanglements from one tile. The tile is a little unusual for a basing material, but for 2" x 3" bases, it's not too bad to work with and it gives the entanglement a heavier base. The other materials are very lightweight, so the heavy base is of value. Using a metal edged ruler, I score the lines on one side of the tile multiple times. I use a packing knife to do this and the blade does not have to be too sharp. Once scored, I gently bend the tile along the score to gently (have I mentioned you need to be gentle here?) bend the tile material along the cut line and go up and down the score line, bending the tile a little bit at a time. Eventually, the tile integrity gives way and it cracks along the score lines. I cracked a couple of pieces before I got the hang of it, but now I use the tile bases for many terrain pieces that do not weigh much. The tile is cheap and heavy enough to keep terrain at the location you placed it.
Next, cut six 1" long sections of balsa wood. In one of these sections, drill or dig a hole to pass the single thread of screening (I'll explain this later) through. The hole should be in the middle of the section and go all the way through the balsa wood.
Cut a single thread of nylon screen by cutting along one edge of one of the screen "threads" to create a single strip with the cross strips sticking out of one side of this "thread" (see picture below). You should have a straight line of nylon with a bunch of "teeth" sticking all out of the same side of this nylon thread. I use a straight edge and razor blade, since my eye and hand coordination with a scissors is minimal. You will need one 24" long thread of nylon screen.
Glue the end of the screen thread into the hole with white glue and let this dry completely.
Glue the 6 sections of balsa wood on their ends, so they stand vertically on the 2" x 3" tile base. I recommend a "squashed" hexagon for the first piece since it is easier to wrap the screen thread around the perimeter. The section of balsa wood with the hole in it should be glued on a corner with the length of the screen thread on the inside of the base with the idea that it can be easily extended toward another corner of the base. You will be wrapping the screen thread around the balsa wood sections later, so setting this up at the beginning makes this process easier (see illustration).
Once all the balsa wood sections have dried, I paint the entire base and balsa wood sections with a black undercoat. I use acrylic hobby paint, although you can probably use any primer paint you want. I discovered, with one piece, that the water from the acrylic paint can loosen the white glue I used to mount the wood sections, so I am more careful with the in-process pieces until the base coat paint dries.
After the black base coat dries, I dry brush the balsa wood sections as weathered wood by heavy dry brushing, sometimes called "wet" dry brushing, a dark brown paint on all the wood sections. I'm not too particular about sloppiness because I will be terraining the base in dirt and mud flocking, which is also brown. Once dry, lightly dry brush the wood sections with medium gray or greenish mud gray. This gives the wood the desired weathered effect. If you prefer, just leave the wood dark brown.
Once the wood sections are to your satisfaction, wrap the screen thread around the outer perimeter of the wood sections. This is easier if you have glued them in a squashed hexagon pattern. This first outer perimeter is mounted at the middle level of the wood sections. As you complete the "circle", cut across the middle of the base a couple of times. You will need to continually keep tension on the screen thread. During one of the crossings, elevate the screen thread to the top of the wood section and start to wrap around the outer perimeter of the wood sections. The entanglement can be complex or simple. I normally have only a couple of crossings of the base, so I terrain the base after the wrapping of the screen thread. If you want to make the entanglement really complex, I recommend you terrain the base before you do the wrapping or you will have problems getting the flocking and paint under the screen thread after you've wrapped it.
Leave an inch or so at the end of the screen thread and complete your entanglement at a wood section. I then pull the screen thread across the base and tape it underneath with clear office tape (Scotch tape). You need to have enough screen thread left at the end after making the entanglement to do this. Pull the screen thread at an angle to the base to keep the tension on the screen thread that you have wrapped around the balsa wood sections. I use 24" screen threads, but if you want to make the entanglement complex, you may want to create longer screen threads so you have extra materials to cross back and forth over the base with. I usually leave about 2 inches at the end. Taping it underneath will keep the tension on the screen thread. Using your white glue, touch all the contact points between the screen thread and the wood sections, using very little glue. The white glue will dry clear. Let this dry completely. After the white glue is dry, cut the hanging piece of screen thread off that you taped underneath earlier. Cut this as close as you can to the wood section so it looks clean. Terrain your base with brown paint or whatever. I use Woodland Scenics dirt or mud with a few patches of green blend and a couple of tiny brown or white rocks. Sometimes, I will terrain the piece with mostly green blend grass and leave some paths through the entanglement to give the impression of a path a patrol would take to avoid mines, etc. Some things you may want to change. I do the entanglements with the black nylon screen unpainted. If you are motivated, you can dry brush the screen with an aluminum or pewter color then lightly dry brush with a rust brown to give the impression that the barbed wire is actually metal and rusty metal at that. Again, if you make the entanglement complex, you will probably want to terrain the base before you wrap the screen thread and use a longer screen thread. My final product has wooden stakes holding the barbed wire that are out of scale with the figures I use. I chose 1/4" balsa wood because it is wide enough to glue onto the base without having to support it while the glue dries and it is thick enough to put the hole through for the screen thread. If you desire the stakes closer to scale, I suggest the HO wooden railway ties, but you will have to glue them very carefully or do something to support them vertically while the glue dries. Also, you do not need to cut a hole in the wood support stake, as my explanation above, but can tie the screen thread in a knot around the wood support stake. As an alternative, you can just glue the screen thread to the side of one of the stakes before gluing the stake to the base. I have tried all the processes mentioned in this article and the method I describe here works for me as a trade off of time spent and desired effort on my part versus what will satisfy me on the table top. Peter Michels email address is petermichels@earthlink.net.
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© Copyright 2003 Hal Thinglum
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