Monday, 21 November 2011

Ancient Palisade

Looking through some of the Command & Colours scenarios recently it became clear that I needed several lengths of palisade.  A rummage in the terrain boxes yielded two resin cast items of considerable vintage - I think I've had them since the '80s.  As I appeared to need about 6 pieces it was out with that trusty standby - balsa wood! 
I marked out some 10cm widths and with a ballpoint pen and a ruler marked out individual 'stakes' before cutting to size and basing.  For such a quick job they've not turned out badly.
Two of my home-made palisade sections being defended by assyrian archers.
For comparison - these are the 'original' resin items which have been pressed back into service.
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10 comments:

  1. Peter Douglas21 November 2011 at 18:43

    Tim

    Looking good! I like yours better than the store bough ones. Bamboo skewers are useful for the upright stake variety of palisade (typical of early North American forts). I've still got scars from helping my daughter with her grade 10 history project - a scale model of the Jamestown settlement.

    PD

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  2. Tim Gow21 November 2011 at 18:57

    Peter Douglas
    Thanks. I did consider using skewers or the like but felt it would be too much like hard work. I hadn't realised there is a health and safety issue too!

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  3. Peter Douglas21 November 2011 at 19:24

    Tim

    Bamboo skewers are among the tamer hazards (compared to Super-glue, X-acto knives and the like).

    We were cutting skewers off short and pushing them (pointy end up and blunt end down) into a sheet of pink foam insulation covered with felt. Needle-nosed pliers helped but at 2am one's fine motor skills become well gross motor skills.

    PD

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  4. Tim Gow21 November 2011 at 20:16

    Peter Douglas
    Sounds like you did well to survive! There's a lot to be said for blunt balsa.

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  5. Peter Douglas21 November 2011 at 20:47

    Tim

    I consider any modelling project a success if I retain the use of all of my fingers!

    PD

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  6. Tim Gow21 November 2011 at 21:48

    Peter Douglas
    That's what i call a real 'rule of thumb.....'

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  7. Paul21 November 2011 at 22:13

    Classy work Tim I think balsa wood is seriously underrated and often forgotten about.

    I made something with bamboo last week but have not finished it so no pics, but I was happy with the results. Not the best to cut however.

    Good to see some honest (hard?) work that comes out a treat.

    Well done.

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  8. Tim Gow22 November 2011 at 09:19

    Paul
    I always have some balsa in stock - damn useful stuff and very easy to work with.

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  9. Peter Douglas22 November 2011 at 14:33

    I agree whole heartedly on the usefulness of balsa. On the same Jamestown project my daughter used balsa for wooden structures and the firing platform behind the palisades. A wash of raw umber and bingo weathered wood.

    Also bass wood is nice - tougher the carve/cut but doesn't dent as much.

    PD

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  10. Tim Gow22 November 2011 at 14:50

    Peter Douglas
    I've never tried bass wood - it seems to be very expensive here. One of the local model shops sells bundles of cheap balsa offcuts (less than 1ft lengths).

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