Continuing the story of my "big build" of the fortifications I'll need for my demo game of the Battle of Bemis Heights (Oct 1777) for the Partizan show in May 2027. I think the map below lightly overestimates the size of Breymann's redoubt relative to Balcarres' but that's a question for another day.
The third weekend of construction of the Balcarres redoubt has seen progress in building up the log walls to the level of the firing step, fixing-in of the farmhouse, putting in some foam offcuts as the base of the externally facing earth bank and fixing the main upright posts to the inside and outside faces of the redoubt.
Here is a view from the north, looking down the redoubt. I gave the walls of the farmhouse a quick spray of brown paint before gluing it into place. By fixing it down now it will make some of the painting a bit more fiddly, but I was concerned that if I left it until a later stage it might make it harder to give the impression that the redoubt was constructed around the house.
Rotating the model we now have a view from the south-east to get a better look at the "business-end" with artillery platforms looking towards enemy lines. The yellow smear between the two hills is some 2-part wood filler that I spread on and sanded down so I had a smooth surface when I want to add the small watercourse where water run-off from the hills can escape without turing the middle of the position into a swamp. In this picture you can see the steps I constructed to take the redoubt walls into the valley between the two hills.
Here is a close-up of the open end of the southern wall, showing the vertical support in place. Supports for the inside face are cut flush with the height of the firing step, whereas the external supports are about 2cm higher. This will allow the outer wall to be raised by a further 4 or 5 rows of logs.
Here is the section where the redoubt descends into the valley between the two small hills, and there is also an outflow channel for water. This is very much being made up as I go along but I think it is OK so far. Where I have constructed the steps I will have to incorporate these as I build up the external wall, so a bit of trimming and sanding might be needed to get a good fit. You can get a better look at the sanded filler in this photo. The 2-part filler was left over from some "proper" DIY and is really useful when you want a product that will harden fast and is suitable for sanding. It takes a bit of practice to understand how the amount of hardener added affects the working time (often just a few minutes) and I'd suggest it is too expensive to use extensively for wargaming projects.
Where the artillery platforms are, I have created gaps in the earth bank. The walls will be lower here to accommodate the gun muzzles, so the defenders won't want any attackers sinply walking up the slope and jumping over the wall.
To finish up for this week, here are some pictures with some 28mm Perry figures on a 50mm square base to give an better idea of the size of things.
I'm not sure what next weekend's focus will be. It's either going to be building up the external log walls or starting to add some home-made modelling compound to build up the ground texture and the final shapes of the hills and earth bank. I don't really want to be doing both at the same time.
The modelling compound will be an experiment based in stuff I have seen online. Mostly shredded newspaper, plaster filler powder and water, but more of that when I get to it. I suspect it might be a good idea to seal the plywood with some PVA before I add anything too wet to it!
All-in-all, expect to see more log wall building next time...
Thanks for the comments. I have needed to delete the more obviously AI generated ones. Such is the modern world.
Comments
Post a Comment