Digging in with bandage barricades

British artillery opening fire from within their gabion redoubt 

It has been ages since I have done any terrain. For my AWI project I decide to make some Gabions. Gabions are the 18th century equivalent on the sandbag. Basically they were cylindrical baskets filled with rubble stacked together.  Most armies of the era there were static for any length of time would have used them in temporary fortifications before either building something more permanent or moving.

Assistant gunner Jones checking the Gabions are the regulation height

Material

• 1cm diameter wooden dowelling
• Cheap self adhesive bandages
• Talus  
• Wood glue
• 2mm Plastic card
• Filler
• Basing grit
• Cork bark (optional)

Galloper gun crew trying out various layouts for the gabions

Methods

• Cut the dowelling into approximately 12mm section. There is no need to be to precise with the height but the cuts should be level enough to allow the section to stand up right.
• Dip one end of the section into the wood glue then dip it into the talus.
• Run your finger around the edge to section to ensure the talus builds up on the top of the section rather than around the sides of the section.
• Wrap the bandage around the section cover the entire section up to just under the level of the talus. The idea is to have the talus slightly overflowing from the bandage.
• Use the wood glue to glue the bandage in place when you are happy with the fit.
• Trim the bandage if necessary,
• Repeat until you have enough gabions (in my case I created enough to protect two artillery emplacements.
• Cut the plastic card into 15mmx40mm strips (the length can vary depending on how thick you make the gabions and how tightly packed you want them to be).
• Glue three gabions to each strip and cover the rest of the base with filler and basing girt. (with clever placement you can end any seams in the bandage wrapping
• Since I was planning to make two artillery emplacement I created a gun port by placing a gabion on either end of a plastic strip and using the cork bark to build a ridge between the two gabions..
• Once dry, prime grey and paint to match your terrain.

Gabions wrapped and capped ready to be based

Interestingly gabions can back in fashion in the 1990’s and current being used in Afghanistan and other places with the security forces need quick and cheap fortifications.  They seem more square shaped but the method for making they is same.

Gabions based and painted but needing some foliage

BOOM!!!

That is all for now thanks for stopping by.