Sudan - Terrain - Thornbush Zariba

I am still cracking on with terrain elements. I was hoping for a dry weekend to be able to get the 12 x 6 dust sheet I plan to use for the games in June and July, out on the patio to give it the first lot of texturing and painting. Yesterday was rubbish weather, and today kept looking iffy - hopefully the next few might be better.

I decided to do some work on some thorn bush "zariba" sections. These are a horrible prickly bush found in the Sudan that was used to help form a barricade to defend.

For these I turned to an old favourite,  rubberised horsehair -it is probably better not to ask what it really is, the answer might may involve pet ponies and French horse butchers. Although I am sure is man made stuff nowadays. Now you can buy this in small sheets from wargames and railway suppliers - where a piece 4 inches by 6 inches and an inch thick will cost you a pound or two (about £4 a square foot) . This is just madness. If you want a decent amount look on line for an upholstery supplier - this stuff fills sofas. Last year I bought a sheet 8 foot x 4 foot x 1 inch (32 square feet) for £28 including postage - way better value - and it will make a shed load of stuff.  Bocage anyone?

Ok - so here is a walk through

1 - the stash of rubberised horsehair.

2 - Unfold it.

3- Cut with household scissors a strip around  20-25mm wide x 300mm long - does not have to be straight

4 - Cut some basing material - this is 1.5mm ply cut 30mm wide

5 - Liberally apply hot glue (quick) or PVA (slow) to the base

6 - Affix strips of material - and trim ends

7 - Apply pressure until  glue sets

 8 - This is what you get - a regular trimmed hedge ..(or bush -- ooh- er!)

 9 - With scissors remove bits, and cut irregular shapes,cut it a bit thinner in places and tease it apart at bit.

 10 - This is what you end up with

 11 - All basic work is done.

If you want a more European hedge with green leaves - spray a dark colour - allow to dry. Daub with neat PVA cover with mix of scatter material. Once this is dry apply firm hold hair spray to stop it dropping off. 

 12 -I wanted  a dried wood/bush effect - so I hit it with a mid grey spray - from about 15 inches away  and did not cover everything completely.

13- Apply a light drybrush - lighter grey, off white across the material - allow to dry

14 - PVA the base area and add sand mixture - allow to dry.

15 - Drybush the sand material a light sand/off white mix - allow to dry.

16 - Hit it with cheap extra firm hold hair spray which will firm it all up. - Job done!

I made a total of 12 foot in length of zariba in a mix of sizes - 8 x 12 inches,4 x 6 inches,6 x 4  inches - I used just over a square foot of material... with ply cost, glue and hairspray - it cost about £2.50.. and few hours effort over the weekend.

17- This was made from the various off cut clumps added around a larger base. It fits a couple of bases

Still got plenty left for other projects!