Nurgle's Rope - How to make realistic barbed wire --+--+--+--

[doubleT]

So, I decided to make a tutorial after I've been asked several times how I made my barbed wire that I use in my project:

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This is the barbed wire, which I call "Nurgle's Rope":


This technique isn't knew and I didn't invent it. I've seen it on modeltrain tables but there seem to be some instructions on the net, too. Some of these are a bit more complicated because every spike is made seperately. We will do a faster version but we will also have some more waste material.

Why I made my own barbed wire? I didn't like the GW wire and the FW wire is too flat imho. It's just etched brass.

Some of you may notice the tutorial from another website. I couldn't find a tutorial board on here so I didn't post it on WarSeer until I noticed that the tutorials are accumulated in the "Before you post a question" thread. my bad

Due to the limit of pics (6 pics per post) this tutorial is split into several posts.

Nurgle's Rope - Tutorial

Now, let's begin:

[doubleT]

A little advice before we start!
Be careful!

I made barbed wire with 0,5 mm and it really has the potential to do some damage!! Even with 0,2 mm you should be carefull.
While the wire itself is very thin and breakable, short spikes won't bend and thus can cause some damage!
On the upside, people might avoid to touch your miniatures because of fear of tetanus.

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You will need:

- Fine Wire - I tried 0,5 mm and 0,2 mm. I think the later is better. You can get it from hobby stores. I recently bought ~ 1 km from ebay. You could strip small electric wires or network cables. There's usually some fine twisted wire inside.
- electric screwdriver / small drill
- pliers
- a piece of bigger wire, like a paperclip

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1st step:

- Take a piece of wire (I used a piece of about 30 to 40 cm) and fold it.
- Then take the paperclip or a piece of it and clamp it in the screwdriver / drill.
- thread the wire through the clip

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2nd step:

- hold the other end of the wires and twist them with the electric screwdriver / drill

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3rd step:

- clamp the clip to a vice or something else that will hold it



Here you can see how thin the wire is. It may break if you twist / bend it to much!

[doubleT]

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4th step:

- The first spikes are the hardest to do. Normally I'll just twist the 2nd wire around the base wire and glue it in place.
- Take the pliers to hold the wire and twist the 2nd wire (spike-wire) around the 1st wire.
- Try to twist it closely together.
- Do this every few mm or cm, just as you like. If you run out of spike-wire, just add another one.

a)


b)

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5th step:

- When you are finished, you'll have something like this:



- Now, before you do anything: Glue the spikes in place with a small drop of superglue (mine has a little brush so I go over the spikes with it).
Otherwise the spikes might move on the wire!

- After the glue is dry you can clip of the spike wire at any length you want.



I know, there's some excess material. But if you do every spike alone you have excess material too - and you might go insane.

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Enjoy your barbed wire.

[doubleT]

Again:

A little advice!
Be careful!

I made barbed wire with 0,5 mm and it really has the potential to do some damage!! Even with 0,2 mm you should be carefull.
While the wire itself is very thin and breakable, short spikes won't bend and thus can cause some damage!
On the upside, people might avoid to touch your miniatures because of fear of tetanus.

[doubleT]

Some people asked me about the poles I use for the barbed wire:

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The inspiration:
This scene in "The Pacific", click and click

Relatively easy to do. If you need only a few, just bend a 0,5 mm wire around a piece of 1,00 mm wire.

If you need more, though ...

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What you'll need:

- a vise would be good
- a small piece of wood
- some 1,0 mm wire
- more 0,5 mm wire
- pliers
- maybe a 0,5 mm drill
- pencil

[doubleT]

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1st step:

- on a line I made dots with a distance of 5 mm

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2nd step:

- I drilled holes with a 0,5 mm drill. That's not necessary but it'll help because it makes things easier.
- I put short pieces of 1,0 mm wire into these holes.
- Maybe it'd be wise to glue the pieces in place. They could move and come out later.

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3rd step:

- At first I used 1,0 mm wire. It's harder to bend and looks a little big later on. I'd suggest using 0,5 mm wire as I did in the later pics.
- Just bend the wire around the 4 pins. For the 1,0 mm wire you might need pliers; 0,5 mm wire is easier to bend.

[sigur]

Excellent tutorial, thank you.

[doubleT]

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4th step:

The pole now looks like this.



Now, how do we get the barbed wire in there? The openings are a little to small to just fit the spikes through there.

- We open the bends a little with a sharp modelling knife. Open it to the upper side. Be careful with the knife!





The pole is now ready to use on your base. Maybe leave some wire and bend it around to attach it to the base.

[doubleT]

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Bonus:

Maybe you are insane like me and you want these poles like you saw them in the pics from the series "The Pacific" that you've seen above. You could build some terrain or some Guardsmen drilling these into the ground ...
Here's how I did the lower ends.

- Clamp the pole and a piece of 1,0 mm wire into the pliers. At first (upper pic) I used the wrong pliers. It's easier to do it with those in the lower pic.
- Just bend the pole around the 1,0 mm wire. You could also use a 2 mm nail or something else. Try what looks best for you.

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Getting the barbed wire into the pole:

Now we have this beautiful pole:



- Put the barbed wire into the little space between the bend.



- Roll the barbed wire around the pole.



It's easier to begin with the lower openings and to work your way to the top.
I usually glue the barbed wire in place.

That's it. Hope you like it.

[doubleT]

Excellent tutorial, thank you.

Excellent tutorial, thank you.

thx

Triggerhappy?

Due to the limit of pics (6 pics per post) I have to split this tutorial into several posts.
PLEASE DO NOT POST UNTIL THE TUTORIAL IS FINISHED!
Thank you.

NOT FINISHED YET!

[Ghod]

Best barbed wire tutorial I've seen...

Admitably I havnt seen many, but at a guess I still think this one would beat them!!

[alexh]

Wow, that's really effective. Not sure if the wife would be happy about me stealing some of her jewellery making wire though!!

[sigur]

Triggerhappy?

Browser crash. Didn't get two postings displayed.

[Lunk]

This needs to be stickied, in the basing thread I think. Excellent tutorial.

[icecream boy]

Ah so thats how its done. I saw this tutorial on CMoN, but somehow reading yours makes it easier to understand.

[Astargoth]

Thanks double T thats an excellent tutorial, i need loads of barbed wire for my first board. Depending on how sharp it is i might have to try varying the technique, but you've definitely save me having to buy pre made stuff.

Good Job!

[doubleT]

If you do it with 0,2 mm wire, you don't have to worry about the spikes. 0,5 mm wire has more potential to stick in your finger.
And it depends on how long you make the spikes.

[phale]

nice tute, some inteersting tips/tricks for handling the wire that will save my fingers being sore and bloodied afterwards . guess i'm just naturally barbaric; that or i'm used to it after countless bad experiences trimming flash towards my thumb... you've all been there!!

i've been experimenting with housing electrical wire (like for your power point). i found the trwisted pair inside of smaller cables doesn't hold its shape as well, but the housing wire is still too thick for my liking. maybe some of the stuff here will help managing it.

ps. do you dob a bit of glue or something on each barb to stop it shifting up and down the wire?

[doubleT]

I cut my thumb (the backside of the thumb) with 0,5 mm barbed wire ... (well, it fits the scar on my right hand that I got from real barbed wire ...)

Yeah, I even highlighted the sentence about glueing the spikes in place.

btw.: This tut is now in the "look here first" thread. But am I the only one who reads "make your own tutorial"? :confused:

[Symrivven]

Fantastic tutorial, I'm glad they put it in the look here first.

And indeed it reads like "make your own tutorial", it would be clearer if they put "barbed wire" in between "own" and "tutorial" instead of at the start.