May 2006: German Guard House and Barricade

To get ready for the NoVA Joe 2006 Battle of Purcelville Diorama (or as we like to call it, the Big A$$ Diorama), my task was to build a German Guard shack and barricade to go in front of the bridge one of the members built.

This page lists pretty much what I did to create these items. Hopefully this will give you some ideas for your own structures.

SUPPLY LIST

ITEM WHERE TO GET

GUARD HOUSE

.5" foam boards Loews

.75" PVC pipe Home Depot

Krylon Grey Primer/Sealer
KDM5294 Wal-Mart

Polly-Scale Oily Black Paint Hobby Shop

Testors Steel Paint Hobby Shop

Gorilla Glue Home Depot

Krylon Tan Make It Suede Spray Paint Michael's

Foam Board Michael's

"CONCRETE" BLOCKS/GATE

Krylon White Satin
KDH5004 Wal-Mart

3 foot .5" balsa stick Michael's

Chains from GI Joe 40th dogtags (2) GI Joe sets

1-1/4"x3" Wood Slats Wal-Mart

Sharpie Permanent Black Magic Marker Stationary Shop

Computer Photo Paper/Card Stock Office Depot

foam blocks (2) Michaels

Krylon Grey Primer/Sealer
KDM5294 Wal-Mart

GERMAN POLICE BATON

1/4" Wood Dowel Michael's

Round, wood disks (3) Michael's

1/64" Vinyl Cord Michael's

Testors Steel Paint Hobby Shop

Sharpie Permanent Black Magic Marker Stationary

The guard house with the gate, "concrete" pillars, and the German Guard holding the German Military Police baton.

RAW MATERIALS

Raw Materials for House

THE HOUSE

Here is the house put together. use a SHARP X-Acto knife to cut the foam board.
I used Gorilla Glue to glue the foam together.
NOTE ON GORILLA GLUE: Be REAL careful with this stuff. It expands a LOT as it dries. I tended to have to wipe away a fair amount as it oozed out of the cracks.
BATON

The baton was made by coloring the wood disk black around the edges with the black magic marker. Then, I created the graphic of the red dot in a white circle surrounded by a black ring. I then cut the dots out and glued them to the disk. My uneven cutting out of the round shape is nicely hidden by the fact I colored the disk black first.
I used a dremel to cut out the baton so ther idsk would fit on it. I then painted teh cutout earea steel color to simulate the metal clasp on the real baton. I drilled out the baton end, put a drop of gorilla glue in the end and insterted the vinyl hand cord.
I glued the disk to the wand with a drop of gorilla glue.

The finished house - Outside

The finished house is painted with two coats of the grey primer. I cut out pieces of the windows and doors to simulate battle damage and then painted highlights with the oily black paint.
The roof I spray painted with two coats of the tan Krylon Make It Sued spray paint. I cut a hole in the roof for the pipe and then painted black running down from the pipe.
The pipe I sut to size, painted steel, and then weathered with the oily black paint.
You can see the fire can in the background. More on this below.

The finished house - Inside

here you can see the inside of the house showing the painted table and the scratchbuilt stove. Details of both are below.

WOOD TABLE

Here is the wood table. On the left is the table after I painted it. This table started out looking like the one on the right. These are from M&C Toys (PowerTeam) and come with the PoweTeam houses.

STOVE

Here is the stove and the "concrete" pad it sits on in the house.
I painted the foam grey like the rest of the "concrete" house.
I used a dremel to drill out the hole in the top for the PVC pipe and the opening in front.
I used foam from the house construction (like the pad on the left) to build a false floor in the barrel. I hen painted the inside of the barrel, the top of the barrel, the opening area, and the false floor to simulate soot.
I broke up real twigs and Gorilla Glue-ed them onto the false floor. I then painted the twigs (in order): oily black, yellow, and red to simulate the fire.
Now, to keep the pipe from falling through the hole and into the fire, I took the measuring cup off of a bottl of All Small and Mighty laundry detergent. I cut the lip off of it to just leave the flat rim around it and used Gorilla Glue to glue the cap to the top of the can. Now, the stove pipe goes into the fireplace and sits in the cup.

The pipe is just the PVC pipe cut to length, painted steel, and weathered with the oily black.

BARRICADE

Concrete barricade, gate, and sign

The concrete barriors are just foam blocks from Michael's with a channel cut in hem. I then gave them two coats of the grey primer.
The wood gate is just a three 1/2"x1/2" foot balsa wood beam from MIchael's with two coats of white.
The sign I built the same way I built the police baton. I then drilled two holes in the sign, cut two GI Joe dog tag chains to length, and ran them through the sign.

ITEM	WHERE TO GET
GUARD HOUSE
.5" foam boards	Loews
.75" PVC pipe	Home Depot
Krylon Grey Primer/Sealer KDM5294	Wal-Mart
Polly-Scale Oily Black Paint	Hobby Shop
Testors Steel Paint	Hobby Shop
Gorilla Glue	Home Depot
Krylon Tan Make It Suede Spray Paint	Michael's
Foam Board	Michael's
"CONCRETE" BLOCKS/GATE
Krylon White Satin KDH5004	Wal-Mart
3 foot .5" balsa stick	Michael's
Chains from GI Joe 40th dogtags (2)	GI Joe sets
1-1/4"x3" Wood Slats	Wal-Mart
Sharpie Permanent Black Magic Marker	Stationary Shop
Computer Photo Paper/Card Stock	Office Depot
foam blocks (2)	Michaels
Krylon Grey Primer/Sealer KDM5294	Wal-Mart
GERMAN POLICE BATON
1/4" Wood Dowel	Michael's
Round, wood disks (3)	Michael's
1/64" Vinyl Cord	Michael's
Testors Steel Paint	Hobby Shop
Sharpie Permanent Black Magic Marker	Stationary

*The guard house with the gate, "concrete" pillars, and the German Guard holding the German Military Police baton.*


*RAW MATERIALS*

*Raw Materials for House*


*THE HOUSE*

		Here is the house put together. use a SHARP X-Acto knife to cut the foam board. I used Gorilla Glue to glue the foam together. NOTE ON GORILLA GLUE: Be REAL careful with this stuff. It expands a LOT as it dries. I tended to have to wipe away a fair amount as it oozed out of the cracks. BATON The baton was made by coloring the wood disk black around the edges with the black magic marker. Then, I created the graphic of the red dot in a white circle surrounded by a black ring. I then cut the dots out and glued them to the disk. My uneven cutting out of the round shape is nicely hidden by the fact I colored the disk black first. I used a dremel to cut out the baton so ther idsk would fit on it. I then painted teh cutout earea steel color to simulate the metal clasp on the real baton. I drilled out the baton end, put a drop of gorilla glue in the end and insterted the vinyl hand cord. I glued the disk to the wand with a drop of gorilla glue.


*The finished house - Outside*
The finished house is painted with two coats of the grey primer. I cut out pieces of the windows and doors to simulate battle damage and then painted highlights with the oily black paint. The roof I spray painted with two coats of the tan Krylon Make It Sued spray paint. I cut a hole in the roof for the pipe and then painted black running down from the pipe. The pipe I sut to size, painted steel, and then weathered with the oily black paint. You can see the fire can in the background. More on this below.

*The finished house - Inside*
here you can see the inside of the house showing the painted table and the scratchbuilt stove. Details of both are below.


*WOOD TABLE*
		Here is the wood table. On the left is the table after I painted it. This table started out looking like the one on the right. These are from M&C Toys (PowerTeam) and come with the PoweTeam houses.


*STOVE*
		Here is the stove and the "concrete" pad it sits on in the house. I painted the foam grey like the rest of the "concrete" house. I used a dremel to drill out the hole in the top for the PVC pipe and the opening in front. I used foam from the house construction (like the pad on the left) to build a false floor in the barrel. I hen painted the inside of the barrel, the top of the barrel, the opening area, and the false floor to simulate soot. I broke up real twigs and Gorilla Glue-ed them onto the false floor. I then painted the twigs (in order): oily black, yellow, and red to simulate the fire. Now, to keep the pipe from falling through the hole and into the fire, I took the measuring cup off of a bottl of All Small and Mighty laundry detergent. I cut the lip off of it to just leave the flat rim around it and used Gorilla Glue to glue the cap to the top of the can. Now, the stove pipe goes into the fireplace and sits in the cup. The pipe is just the PVC pipe cut to length, painted steel, and weathered with the oily black.


BARRICADE
*Concrete barricade, gate, and sign*
The concrete barriors are just foam blocks from Michael's with a channel cut in hem. I then gave them two coats of the grey primer. The wood gate is just a three 1/2"x1/2" foot balsa wood beam from MIchael's with two coats of white. The sign I built the same way I built the police baton. I then drilled two holes in the sign, cut two GI Joe dog tag chains to length, and ran them through the sign.