historygamer | 31 Aug 2016 1:19 p.m. PST |
… yeah, I know, it depends on when they were dug – Bunker Hill vs longer standing works. My understanding is that the proper way to make earth works is to cut turf and stake them onto the new work to prevent erosion. Given that, and that most people don't have two sets of earthworks – do you flock yours to look like grass or dirt? Here is a nice looking dirt work: link Thoughts – grass or dirt? |
Rich Bliss | 31 Aug 2016 1:34 p.m. PST |
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Shagnasty | 31 Aug 2016 1:41 p.m. PST |
Grass faced for semi-permanent, like ECW, and glaces of fortresses but dirt for anything more hasty like ACW. |
Winston Smith | 31 Aug 2016 6:57 p.m. PST |
New ones, dirt. Old ones, grass. |
historygamer | 31 Aug 2016 7:14 p.m. PST |
Yes, but what do you (and others) have? |
Normal Guy | 31 Aug 2016 7:45 p.m. PST |
Mine are primarily dirt but I like to put patches of static grass atop various places just to show random pieces of sod. This is for 28mm. |
vtsaogames | 31 Aug 2016 8:44 p.m. PST |
Dirt for my 15mm Musket Miniatures resin works. |
Dschebe | 31 Aug 2016 10:00 p.m. PST |
Mine are dirt, as they are intended to fullfil deferent needs: trench walls and earthworks. Very simplistic. |
COL Scott ret | 01 Sep 2016 1:56 a.m. PST |
Mine are dirt with just a few random bits of grass. I use Chopsticks for logs and wooden matches for board supports. |
Fridericus | 01 Sep 2016 3:32 a.m. PST |
I did a redoubt, and it is grass faced, view fg-zinnfiguren.blogspot.de Older blog messages show earth faced field fortifications. It all depends. The more material you have the better ;-)) |
Rod MacArthur | 01 Sep 2016 7:11 a.m. PST |
I am about 2/3 of the way through building a modular system of saps and (wider) parallels for siege works. I based the look of them on the drawings in Christopher Duffy's book "Fire & Stone", with a shallow trench, gabions on the enemy side, topped with fascines. There are earth banks on the enemy side, rising to the top of the fascine. The whole system will be finished by the end of October. The sap and parallel heads have gabions sticking out beyond the completed works, exactly like the illustration in "Fire & Stone". The system includes redoubts and will have gun and mortar battery positions plus optional magazines to go immediately behind these. I have also made some infantry sappers digging with picks and shovels, plus some mantlets for them to shelter behind at the trench heads. It is entirely scratch built, cork bases, built up with polystyrene. I found a picture of a model gabion on-line and used it to make strips of gabion fronts which I then printed onto thin card and bent into curves as though it was a row of gabions and stuck this to shaped polystyrene. I topped these with similar card print outs of gabion tops, surmounted by card printed as fascines and rolled into the correct shape around cut off lengths of drinking straws. The earth banks are covered in polyfilla and painted in the same earth colour as the walls and floor of the trenches, because I am assuming it is new construction. Facing earth banks with turf would be an option for field defences constructed out of sight on an enemy, and clearly in real life they would then be more stable. However the Vauban field works of first, second and third parallels, joined by zig-zag saps, were designed to be constructed in the face of the enemy, with the sappers crouching behind the gabions and throwing earth over the top of them, both to fill the gabions and create the earth bank in front of them, so no option to face them with turf. I already have two modular Vauban fortresses, one with curtain walls twice as long as the other, but both 4 bastion. The larger one has ravelins in front of the curtain walls. Both have a shallow profile glacis surrounding them. Both also have one optional breached curtain wall section, made by cutting a gap in the centre, then covering the gap in small gravel chippings. I am thinking of making some modified curtain wall sections, with different angles where they join the bastion sections, so that I could build a 6 or 8 bastion fortress (the bastions are identical for both my fortresses, so could then be combined). I have just started to create a blog, which will have pictures of these, and my other wargame projects. I will let you know when it is up and running. Rod |
Anthropicus | 01 Sep 2016 8:39 a.m. PST |
I've also been thinking about scratch building earthworks lately. I'm not so sure about blockhouses though – does anyone know if the AWI style is available in 6mm? |
noigrim | 02 Sep 2016 5:34 a.m. PST |
Dirt cause I made them for Borodino, just dug a few days before |
KTravlos | 02 Sep 2016 10:42 a.m. PST |
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leidang | 02 Sep 2016 11:27 a.m. PST |
I did mine as grass about half-way up and then dirt. I wanted to minimize the height assuming them to be mostly representing a ditch. |
Eclaireur | 03 Sep 2016 3:01 p.m. PST |
very nice work @Fridericus! Wish I had your skills… |
marco56 | 05 Sep 2016 6:32 p.m. PST |
Rod, I look forward to seeing your work on your blog. Mark |