Charcoal Kilns - Miniature Wargames issue 516

The latest issue of Miniature Wargames (issue 516 - April 2026) features these scratch built Charcoal Kilns. The inspiration came from a YouTube video of a Narrow Gauge railway model which had similar kilns in the foreground. A further YouTube and Google search produced hundreds of kiln designs and I thought that building two would produce unique pieces of timeless wargame terrain.

My first action was to produce this pencil sketch (it really should have been a charcoal sketch!).

Blue foam cores were cut and shaped with a hot wire cutter and sanded with coarse sandpaper. Later I glued hand cut dowels of balsawood which were glued in place with superglue and then DAS modelling clay was used to fill any gaps and add texture.

The bases were cut from 3mm thick plastic card and then built up with more DAS before sieved stones and sand was glued in place with PVA glue.

Painting followed the images I had found on the internet.

After varnishing with Galleria matt varnish the bases were decorated with dyed sawdust and ground foam.

The first image (at the top of the page) shows a pair of 28mm scale Flintloque Elves or Ferach. The image below has a group of Pax Bochemannica Halfling Boche which are mounted on to 1p pieces.

The final image shows a 40mm tall barbarian on a 40mm round base.

Charcoal kilns have existed since pre-Roman times, can be built from wood, stone or earth and can be found all around the world as such they make great generic pieces for your wargame table.

I might even build a couple more.....

Tony

Jason Buck - The hare that stole the Sun Kings crown

Last night Sue and I went to see Jason Buck (again). This time the story was The hare that stole the Sun Kings crown and performed at the Temperance Bar, Leamington Spa.

Like the earlier story Slain - The Horned God that we had seen in Ludlow Assembly Rooms back in February this performance was fantastic. A much smaller audience but just as enthralling and we are even talking about a third visit later in the year.

For more information about this tale see this link.

Or for more about Jason see this link.

Tony

Glastonbury Chapel - revisited

Sue and I have recently returned from a visit back 'home' to Swansea. While visiting my mother, uncle and aunt I was telling them about the model of a Glastonbury Chapel that had appeared in Miniature Wargames issue 509 - for more information see this link. I was asked how I went about modelling the chapel and in particular where I got the inspiration from. Although a lot of this information can be found in MW issue 509 I thought that some additional information and images might be worth posting.

The chapel is based on St Patrick's chapel which is situated just within the walls of Glastonbury Abbey but before you enter the Abbey through the main charged-for entrance.

Here are some photographs I took while visiting.

Always try to include at least one image with something to scale up the building, in this case a couple of innocent passers-by.....

From these images and some on-site sketches I produced these detailed drawings.

The core of the model chapel was constructed from corrugated cardboard, foamboard and modelling foam. I have used a mixture of PVA glue and my hot glue gun to construct the model.

DAS modelling clay, ready-mixed filler and more foam were used to both refine the shape and build up the groundwork which was built over a rough oval of 3mm thick plastic card. Note how I have 'blended' the base of the walls into the groundwork.

Moving on quite a bit I have added both texture and detail to the base and constructed the bell tower and cross from foam and plastic card. In this image I have begun to paint the walls a dull putty colour as seen in the original images.

The roof is a combination of WILL's tiles plastic roof sheets (designed for HO-OO model railways) and card (the lower edges).

More detail painting and the chapel is nearing completion. Note how the damp discolouration is climbing the lower wall base and the strong contrast between the tiled and slated roof materials.

The final two images show the finished chapel with dyed sawdust and ground foam added to the groundwork.

This is the first time I have added such a detailed description and included additional images of a model that has appeared in MW and if it proves of interest to my readers and followers I will try to produce more.

Miniature Wargames issue 509 is still available to order from the MW web pages.

Tony