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I've been getting back into 40k lately, after an absence of a few years. Today I was going through my old boxes full of gaming stuff, and came across some half-completed razor-wire. Each section consisted of two cylindrical blocks (made from halved corks), with wire curled up in-between. Looking at them I thought "hey, if I added some more blocks they'd make perfect tank traps, too." So I cut up some more corks and glued them in-between the existing ones. After that I based them using PVA glue and dirt/sand from my front yard.

See the attached files for photos after basing.

Have you done something similar before? If so, any painting tips would be really appreciated. I'm planning on spraying them black, then painting a dark brown, then grey, then lighter grey. I'm going to be making a few more defensive items for my new Guard army, so hopefully there'll be a few more coming up.

Should do the job fine after a coat of paint or two.

They are like round Dragon's Teeth. You could just get a small saw and cut them into the shape of the aforementioned tank traps, with dings and pocks all over them. Just a thought.

hmm, that's not a bad idea. I might try it.


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Well, my conclusion is that cork is a frickin weird substance. The only thing that cuts it well is a big bread knife, with lots weight. And that's too fiddly to use now that I've glued everything. Ah well... I guess I'll just have my cylindrical concrete bollards instead.


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Another conclusion: Cork is THE perfect material for cutting bullet/shell damage into.

If you can find ice-cube trays of approximately the right size and shape, you can use plaster of paris to make excellent 'dragoon's teeth'.

Also a tip for your razor wire: use wire that is a little thinner, and twist two strands of it together. Then wrap it into coils - it makes a lot of difference to the look.

Agreed with unistoo. Also, I use cork for my bases, because when it crumbles it looks like wrecked bricks and whatnots. Very good for damage, as you said.

I found the ice cube tray of the perfect size and shape in the RV section at walmart, and had some pretty good results:

http://foxphoenix40k.blogspot.com/2009/06/terrain-piece-tank-trap-barricades.html

You can salvage the pieces of cork by shaving them as others have suggested, and you could take some small bits of wire and twist them around your existing cords and they'd look a bit better imo. If you take a long piece of wire, and then take a bunch of short 2-3cm strips of wire and twist it around the wire in uniform places it looks decent and doesnt take too long. I just don't see the razor part of the wire and the tank traps are more like pillars which are fine for stopping vehicles from getting through but I don't think they look very much like the traditional tank trap.

As far as painting there is some really great craft store paint that comes with bits of iron and then some rusting agent. Paint the iron paint on, and then use the rusting agent (make sure you are outside or in well ventilated areas) and you get some nice rusted razor wire and paint the blocks like concrete(white , maybe drybrush a grey on top or vice-versa). and you're good.

Thanks for all the suggestions. I'll definitely be adding some more wire to make it look a bit more realistic. I also realise that they're not like 'real' tank-traps. The fact that they come straight up out of the ground would allow a tank to put all its force into pushing them over rather than just going over the top. However, I started these things three years ago so I figure I might as well complete them.

Halsfield, that sounds like pretty sweet paint. Probably a bit more than I can be bothered to do though.

Here are the painted tank-traps/bollards. Tell me what you think!

Awesome terrain pieces.

cool

Those actually came out better than I expected! Nice job.

Way better, the corks look like great painted...