Thornbush for zaribas, and some tall scrub

British Empire units frequently constructed temporary but formidable field defences called zaribas formed of mimosa thorn bush. They feature so often and are so important that I had decided early on that they would be a feature of my collection.

Dave Docherty (One man and his brushes) has suggested a sound way of modelling these features using rubberised horse hair (ugh!), so rather than reinvent I followed in his sandy foot prints.

I decided that laser cut MDF bases 30mm x 180mm would form the basis for sections of the defences, so ordered 20 from Minibits/Pendragon. (I have stocks of 30mm x 30mm and 30mm x 60mm for smaller sections if required.) I then set about painting and texturing these prior to gluing the horsehair in position.

Dave’s method is documented here Link

The first batch of mimosa (I’ll make another ten), and some tall scrub (I’ll make some more of these too).

Supplies for basing

I made a quick tally of the likely size of my Sudan project, and ordered what will probably turn out to be not enough.

The following turned up today:
Laser cut 2mm MDF bases
– 120 60mm x 60mm
– 48 60mm x 30mm
– 40 30mm x 30mm

and enough magnetic sheet for lining six box files, and, combined with that which I have in stock, magnetise all the bases.

Magnetic sheet from Tiny Tin Troops, and laser cut bases from Minibits. (Links on the Suppliers page.)

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