1⁄35
Making Modern Concertina Wire
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Making the Wire |
If you examine actual concertina wire you will see the
spikes are almost square. This is the look we will be trying to get. To get
this we will have to cut off most of what will be the spikes. Unfortunately
we will not be able to simply cut down the middle of the material between
what will be our strips of wire. Both sides will have to be trimmed to keep
it to scale. If you where to cut it down the middle it would look more like
wire with a thick 1” nail attached to it.
Now lets get to work. The first thing you will need to do is even out the
end of your role of screening. It will come cut at an angle and you will
want a full 3-foot length so cut the waste off the end by using step one
below. Once this is done we will start on our first strand of concertina
wire. I will put each step in its own paragraph in hopes that it is easier
to follow.
Step 1
It is easier to trim the material while it is attached to the role
so we will take advantage of that while trimming the first side of the wire.
I call it the outside of the wire since that it’s the outside of the role (I
am such a genius). As you can see from picture #1 you run the blade along
very close to what will be the body of the wire. Most of the material will
be trimmed off. Basically you’re looking for the spike that’s left to be as
long as it is wide. Anything much longer is just too long for 1/35 scale in
my opinion. It won’t take long to figure out that this is not hard, but you
do have to take your time and be careful. Backtracking and trimming the
material again is much harder than going slow and getting the right length
the first time. If you do cut it too short for a short distance it should
blend in just fine, but too long tends to stick out.
Step 2
This will take a little more concentration. In this step you will be
cutting the actual material loose from the main role. This makes it just a
little harder because your trimming a part that is now moving as you cut it.
(See picture #2). You will find that once the part is cut free it is just
about impossible to trim because it twists. The good news is once your done
you have your first 3’ strip.
Step 3
Go back to step one. When you cut the material loose from the role
in step 2 it leaves long spikes on what will be your next piece of
concertina wire. Simple start at step one again. Like I said earlier it
would be nice if you could cut down the middle and not trim both sides of
each wire, but that’s not the case. I probably made that
sound harder than it is, but I wanted to be thorough and get you off on the
right track. It’s really quite simple. Copyright ©2002 - Text and
Photos by Andrew Johnson (drewgimpy). All Rights Reserved. |
| Project Photos
Step 1. Notice the left half has been trimmed.
Step 2. Notice the wire starting to twist. This makes it much harder to
go back and trim so get it right the first time.
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About the Author
About Andrew Johnson (drewgimpy)
I mostly build armor models, but also dabble in some sci-fi and aircraft.
Copyright ©2021 by Andrew Johnson. Images and/or videos also by copyright holder unless otherwise noted. The views and opinions expressed herein are solely the views and opinions of the authors and/or contributors to this Web site and do not necessarily represent the views and/or opinions of Armorama, KitMaker Network, or Silver Star Enterrpises. All rights reserved.
