At long last, here's a couple of shots of my snake rail fencing which was made a couple of years ago for our games of Malifaux. They will get some serious use in The Town with No Name
Their construction was based on a wonderful set of instructions in an old issue of Wargames Illustrated. It might have had a rather unimaginative title, but "How to Make Snake Rail Fencing" was a well illustrated set of step-by-step instructions that did exactly what it said on the tin (or on pages 62-67 if you want to be more accurate). The article is available for free in PDF format from their website. And if you can't be bothered to search it, here's the link:
http://www.flamesofwar.com/Portals/0/Documents/WargamesIllustrated/HowToMakeSnakeRailFences.pdf
My measurements are slightly different to the ones in the article, mainly because of the size of my offcuts of mounting card that I used for the bases.
Now, I'm not going to say that this form of fencing isn't a bit fiddly to make, but it looks simply fantastic and is great fun to build up. I made mine with BBQ Skewers and used super glue to stick them together. I simply watered down some dark brown paint and applied it to the finished structure before flocking the bases. In actual fact, I've still got an unopened pack of skewers up in my loft, and I'm sore tempted to use them to make some more. These ones will provide an enclosure at the back of the Livery Stable.
Traditionally the logs used were cut into lengths of 10 to 12 feet and were split down their length. Each half was split into quarters, each quarter into eighths and so on until the rails were of a usable size. It was constructed in an interlocking zig-zag style that was self supporting and easy to build with minimal skill required. No nails were needed and the fencing could be easily repaired or even taken down and moved somewhere else. The name snake or worm rail simply describes its meandering layout.
My skewers were cut into 10cm length. The vertical posts were cut around 25mm. Slight variation gives the impression of them being hammered into the ground to slightly different depths. Not vital for the construction of your model, but I feel it adds an extra level of realism to the finished piece.
Of course, you can also use this form of fencing for the French and Indian Wars, the American War of Independence and the American Civil War. Give it a go. It's well worth the effort!
Comments
Post a Comment