Lately I was assigned , from the Greek Modeling magazine I write for, to make an article for easy making barbed wire. And I completed this one by using it in a very simple base for a figure. Both constructions (barbed wire and base for figure) didn’t took me more than 1 hour all together from start to end.
I ll keep the steps very easy and with just few words , since techniques is easy to use, and pictures say more than 1000 words usually !!!
U ll need some thin copper wire , and a modeling plier – cutter , as well as a bench vise
U get 3 same lengths of the wire . Twist the ends of the 2 of them to make it one and put it into the bench vise and grab it steadily.
Start twisting the wire backwards with ur bare hands, or by inserting the other 2 loose ends in an Xacto chock, or even better in a motor tools chock adjusting the speed to the lowest .
In few seconds u ll see the 2 wires twisted as one !!!
Now the main axis for the barbed wire is ready.
U get the third length of wire and twist it on one edge with the other 2 , already together, Then u start forming small (and close one to the other ) U shapes in the upper and lower levels of the main twisted wire. Looking ta the picture , makesit clear I think.
From one U to the opposite u twist the wire 2 and a half times around the double twisted wire. Try to make this very very tight , cause we don’t want the small parts of the wire that we ll make to swim all over the wire!!
Keep doing this until all of ur lengths is filled with the u shapes.
Then grab ur cutter and simply detach them by cutting the wire , but caring to leave small edges on the cutting spot. Once again check the pictures.!
Ur barbed wire is now ready . prime it , coat it with a dark grey – gun metal mix. Do a blac – dark brown mix, and then dry brush with a red brown colour or use MIG;s standard rust pigment diluted with some alcohol. Don’t paint with this, just dry brush
Barbed wire is ready now
The small Base Construction
Finishing this I thought it was better to show this in use in a small vigniette base. I looked around the bench and grabbed first things I saw around. A small piece of wood I use to pin figures for painting, some small peebles, some country greenery I preserve with water –glykerine mix, two pieces of balsa stick leftovers , and some Woodland Scenics turf for ground cover.
Painted the base in dark brown to cover any flaws of the ground coverage and then let to dry . Texturize the balsa sticks with the razor saw blade
, pinned them with toothpicks and washed with black ink. Painted them with wood color and dry brushed with tan – brown mix. Let to dry .
I stick them and glued them in two holes on the small base and then I spread a thin coat of white wood glue and springled the WS turf to cover all area . When all was, set I glued the small stones in random spots, and fitted with some CA glue the greenery to fit good in the area.
After all was stable I drilled two small holes in the back of the balsa sticks and glued with CA the ends of the barbed wire after I have wrapped it around them .
2 more drops of CA glue on the figures feet and fit in to place.
That’s it all finished in less than an hour, believe it or not !! And actually with no cost or no specialized tools and materials
I wanted to do this for help to all new to dios guys here , that are still afraid to perform base makings. So u dont have to do it big. Start like this and see how easy this is. Come on guys experiment some !!
Hope u really enjoyed that warp build !!! Any questions or comments welcome
Have fun .
Costas
IMPORTANT NOTE:
Since the issue was to experiment on the technique, and using what ever bits of left overs u have laying around , the wire is probably a bit thicker than is to be in scale. But this was not performed as to be precise for been putted in a "contest" dio , and also when u say costless test , it has to be costless, meaning , with what u have around . Keep that in mind. In ur dios, u ll search and get the exact gauge of wire, but first master the technique with free supplies !!!
