I began by cutting a hole the size of my trench in a piece of 6mm expanded
polystyrene sheet before fixing the polystyrene to a 20cm square of 6mm MDF (as
per usual with all my terrain tiles). I cut a strip from a Ratio N-scale corrugated sheet
as a corrugated-iron liner for the trench. I glued this at right angles to a strip of card
and glued the construction to the side of the hole in the polystyrene. I covered the
card with coloured grout, plastering the grout around the hole in the polystyrene
and down the sides of the trench – also modelling something of a crater on the same
terrain tile with the grout. I glued very fine sand to the MDF showing through the
hole in the polystyrene for what would be the bottom of the trench where the figures
would stand. I had learnt from experience to use a very fine grade of sand for small
flat areas intended to accommodate troops as so many not-so-fine grades contained
the odd lump that had to be
painstakingly picked out. I
used Milliput modelling
putty to model a row of sand
bags along the top of the
trench. I painted the trench
area, corrugated iron and
sand bags first before
covering the flat ground
level of the tile with
watered-down PVA and
scattering on the usual grade
of sand before leaving the
tile to dry overnight before
shaking off the excess sand. I
then painted the sand with
emulsion paint and finished
off the terrain tile in the
usual way by sprinkling
static grass over the paint
before it dried.
Overnight drying of sand glued to
the trench terrain tile: I couldn’t help
thinking that the excess sand looked
like very realistic desert terrain!
I made what was my first
attempt at a 10mm trench
made especially to accom-
modate the base size I had
decided to mount infantry
on (see Post 7). I needed a
string of trenches for my
Dilbar project – however, I
only had enough time to
construct one trench model
for the game I put on at
Lard Day (see Post 8).
First Trench
POST 017
017
