"10 - 15mm ACW Stone & Rail Fences" Topic

For my growing collection of 12mm Kallistra ACW figures I decided to make a selection of typically American terrain items starting with Stone & Rail Fences that would be used to line roads and define the edges of fields. I wanted enough so that I could field larger battles on battlefields at least 8ft wide and they had to fit in with my figure basing system which is for an ACW variant of Blucher and also my storage system which is box files.

​So having determined the size and amount of pieces I wanted the first thing to do was to assemble the materials being: small stones, tile spacers, pre-cut bases and thin lengths of split cane from an old window blind. The small stones were glued in a row along the length of each base and once done the tile spacers were glued at appropriate distances along the base. These were then all set aside so that they could dry to a point that the tile spacers were solid enough in position so that the lengths of split cane could be cut and glued in place, and once done everything was left overnight to thoroughly dry out before painting commenced.

​The whole lot were painted dark brown including the bases and left to dry out for a hour or so, and then a second coat of a medium brown was painted over the wood and stone parts. The stonework was given coat of grey paint and with the same grey the woodwork was heavily drybrushed. Finally the whole lot were drybrushed with an ivory coloured paint to add highlights and a sense of weathering to the woodwork. Finally the bases were treated to some bushes and long grass clumps and finally scattered with suitable grass scatter to give the effect that I wanted.

These were extremely easy and enjoyable to make and in next to no time I had built over 20 feet of fencing which I determined was enough as it filled two layers of a file box. The materials cost me next to nothing and overall the effect was really very pleasing  even though they were very simply treated in modelling terms. Here are some photo's and a comparison using 12mm & 15mm figures, although disregard the red base on the 12mm as they have yet to have the bushes, rocks and grass added.

More pics here: link

They're too big for the scale of troops you're using, but otherwise they look terrific!

Yes they are really for 15mm figures, I have made a few and bought a few. They really add to the aesthetics of the battlefield.

Looks nice but rocks moved by giants. , even 15 mm. Have to call Clint Eastwood to split thenm before moving.

Rocks are a bit large but the effect is still nice.
Believe it or not, some of the best looking rocks for 15mm is cheap kitty litter. That's right kitty litter,I bought some generic stuff a friend recommended and its perfect…and the bag will last 1000 years.

All valid points gents. Yes the fences are a little on the large side for 12mm, but on the table they look very good next to the figures.

The rocks could have been smaller being built up in successive layers from small grit instead (kitty litter here is different nowadays, more like crushed egg shells), and I could even have used two pieces of wood for each of the cross pieces.

The thing is I wanted a lot of fence very quickly and very easy to make which is why I opted for a much simpler approach to the construction.

Having said that if I ever made them again (which I doubt) I would make them from triangular section of foam or wood and cover them with stone effect printed paper topped with wooden rail and make individual cross pieces and more rails on top. All the rails I would pre-paint before assembly to speed up the construction time. That way the rocks would be more in scale and I could scale the fence to exactly the scale of the figures.

I think they look great and like Wargames Designs said, need a lot of fence very quickly. These not only look really good but fit the bill perfect.