Scale model sandbags and barbed wire. How to make.

A tutorial video showing how to model 1/35 scale dioramas using everyday household materials.

[@gastonsuarez6866]

Thanks for this lesson! you explain very well indeed Greetings from Argentina

[@DreamBigBuildSmall]

Nice tutorial. The barbed wire technique is way easier than others I've seen. Thanks for sharing

[@calumjames9513]

I love your videos and it’s helped me so much with my school project thanks

[@modelermark172]

Thanks for posting this. I think you should make more videos like this where you concentrate on making these extra details for dioramas. I do have a few suggestions (actually, I got these ideas from reading Shep Paine's book back in the day) for making epoxy putty sandbags. One is sculpting side seams into the bags with an X-Acto knife. Another is to use an old tee-shirt to impress a burlap texture into the surface that may be drybrushed. As for the color, I would probably go with khaki rather than green. I have no documentary evidence for this choice, but it just "feels right;" especially in a WW1 context. Again, your WW1 trench really looks good, and I hope to make one myself, soon. I do have a request for a follow-up video: This trench looks British or French. It is my understanding that the German trench systems in the Great War looked significantly different. Could you please post a tutorial on how to make one of those?

[@nanplabwern]

I'll look into it

[@modelermark172]

@@nanplabwern Thanks, Don. As I understand it, the German WW1 trench network was more "finished looking" as a kind of "political statement." The Germans considered their trenches in France to be on "their land, now," and poured more into them as "permanent structures." The French and the British considered their trenches to be "temporary" as a counter-political statement, and would be dismantled after the Germans had been driven back to their own territory. Another difference was when the trenches went around a corner. The German trench corners were planned in a way to help 'contain' the shock of an explosion from an artillery shell to minimize the damage. To show all these features, it may be better to make your German trenches in the smaller 1/72nd - 1/76th scales than in your regular 1/35th. Again, thanks for the inspiration!

[@Ernzt8]

For focusing tiny objects, just place your hand behind it. Great tutorial!

[@chriscreativecontent]

Great technique for the barbed wire

[@scarfskerry]

Love the barbed wire technique, couldn’t help but chuckle at the shaking hands, I have either essential tremors or the onset of Parkinson’s (still to be diagnosed fully), so know your frustration. Have to admit I prefer your later post on styrene shaped sandbags rather this epoxy method. "cùm iad a’ tighinn"

[@scarfskerry]

Don, sandbags are just a hessian bag and were supplied in a hemp colour, slightly brown. For check-points and around buildings they might sometimes be painted, but on a trench top probably never, just filled and stacked. Have filled quite a few hundred of the bloody things back in the 70s and 80s. These days they are like a huge wire gabion with a material lining that they fill with a mechanical digger, erect a huge wall in minutes.

[@dapperdeepseadiver1034]

I have been using springs that I stretch and bend for a while, and this is way better, thank you!

[@Aarne4R-kq4kh]

And realistic blood.

[@scottmccloud9029]

Outstanding as usual Don. Thanks for sharing. I missed the making of the trench. I'll have to go find it. Great video too.

[@frassh5164]

You're videos are soooo great keep up the good work

[@paulbeckett7517]

Merry Christmas to you and your loved ones Don, and all the best for 2023

[@nanplabwern]

Merry Christmas to you. Thank you for your support.

[@bostdell]

i use a cup hook in a battery drill :)

[@appleslices4991]

Thank you for this Don, I've been looking for how to make some barricades and barbed wire for my first diorama and this was a big help. Happy new year!

[@merlinharley77]

Hello , Nice technique, thank you Don . You can use talc to avoid the sticky feeling.

[@emmamarx9284]

Awesome!! Thanks!!

[@joshuamurphy4928]

Very nice barbed wire technique. I does seem to me much quicker and simpler than the other 20 videos I've watched. What size wire is this?

[@nanplabwern]

I think all chicken wire is the same.

[@joshuamurphy4928]

@@nanplabwern I guess what I'm asking is how big are the squares or what is the distance between the wires. In the Southern USA we have a bunch of different sizes depending on the application.