Making Flames of War Trench Sections

With the upcoming Wolfkrieg 09 tournament (http://www.battlevault.com/Events/Wolfkrieg-09/WolfKrieg09.htm), I'm going to need trench sections. So, let's make some! I'm all about making something versus buying it, just something about the satisfaction of it all.

Well, let's get to it! Here are the steps that I use to make these. I'll try to provide photo's as I go along.

Start with 3/8 inch base shoe cut into 8 inch sections. I get my at home depot for .37 a linear foot. It's label is "oak 127" with a UPC of 095624184601. A mitre box will make this so much easier for you, so invest in one! It will come in handy later, I promise. For those of you with a bandsaw, I envy you! Don't worry about cleaning up the edges at this point.

Next, get some 1/16 inch balsa strips and cut them into 4 inch pieces. I get all of my balsa strips from "The National Balsa Co." (http://www.nationalbalsa.com/index.html). When I order from them though, I order a lot of things at once as their minimum order is $25 and at .11 for a 24 inch piece, you will have a lot of these. So if you need something else from them, now would be the time to order.

This next step is the most time consuming part. So be prepared to have the time to do this. Apply a good dose of glue to the short edge (see photo) and start layering the balsa strips. You can (and I recommend that you do) cut some at different lengths when layering them. It will give a more realistic look. When I do this, I use Alene's tacky glue. It sets much faster than regular PVA glue and holds just as well.

Once you have the rows glued and they are dry, take a ruler and draw a line on the 1,3,5, and 7 inch mark on the rows that you just glued down. Take a small piece of balsa and glue it on those marks on a vertical axis. (see photo below).

Clean up the edges now. I use a dremel with a sanding drum on it. I also try and bevel the balsa edges at a 45 degree angle.

Spray paint these a dark brown. Coat everything except the bottom. You won't be able to see it so why worry about it?!?! : )

While this is drying, cut a piece of floor tile to a size of 8 inches by 3 inches. Why use floor tile? It's cheap, it's thin and well, it just works for anything I want to do. For this piece, I'm going to be using the sticky side of it. Put a thin layer of brown caulk down the center of it and drop some small pepples in the caulk as it dries. Once the brown paint is dry, drybrush the balsa wood a lighter brown. I use a cheap acrylic paint from Walmart. Nothing special, but something to add a touch of detail. Once that's done, I lay a small line of super glue along the long edges of the floor tile. I do this before the caulk has had a chance to totally set. I also take a medium base for FoW and make sure that everything fits before gluing it down.

Now it's time for the fun part. Flocking, texturing the whole thing. For this I use my custom made "Grassinator". It make static grass stand up and works like a charm on 2mm, 4mm, and 6mm sizes. I'm very happy with the results, but I digress.

When choosing your flock, please remember what your actual table is going to look like. Get as close to that as possible. As all my figures and the table I'm going to be making later next week use Noch Springtime mix, that's what I'm going to use on these. I'm not going to tell you how to flock and texture your trench sections because everyone has their own special way of doing these things. This gives you the basics of making a straight trench section. I'll be making some angled, end and entrance pieces as well and I'll make sure that I update this to show you how I did it.

And once I get done terraining this piece, I'll put up a pic of it as well.