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
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