From The Mouths Of Barbs

From The Mouths Of Barbs From The Mouths Of Barbs:
Realistic Barbed Wire Only Smaller
with Blake Coster

A few years ago I came across an interesting photo of a Tiger I E during the Battle of Kursk. The Tiger in question had the side of the hull covered in barbed wire entanglements, so I attempted to re-create it using the Tiger I E (Early) model and a little modelling ingenuity.
Below: The Tiger I E photo in question.
Below: My re-create of the Tiger I E at Kursk.
Modelling Barbs
From The Mouths Of Barbs
I was extremely happy with the outcome which got me thinking with the release of Great War, it was about time I demonstrated how I created my version of barbed wire to the masses. So in this article I will attempt to do just that; here is how I create my version realistic barbed wire only much smaller.
Great War
The Great War of 1914-18 was global in its reach. Yet this global conflict would be decided by the mighty clashes upon the battlefields of Europe.

Learn more about Great War here...
Great War
From The Mouths Of Barbs
Modelling Realistic Barbed Wire In Miniatures
Step One: Find A Suitable Gauge Of Wire
First of all you’ll need to find yourself a suitable gauge of wire to use while creating your barbed wire. The ideal wire should be a relatively thin gauge and quite ductile in nature. The particular wire I’ll be using in this article I discovered in Spotlight (a chain of fabric, craft, and home interior stores based in New Zealand) but something like fuse wire would also work.

The other tools you’ll need is a pair of needle-nose pliers, hobby cutters, a tooth pick, hobby glue, set of nimble fingers, and a little patience.
Step Two: Creating The Central Core Wire
When it comes to actually creating our barbed wire, we first must create the central core wire. To do this, simply cut-off a length of wire and bend it in half. Place the tooth pick in the bend and begin slowly twisting the two halves together using the tooth pick as your anchor point.
From The Mouths Of Barbs
From The Mouths Of Barbs
From The Mouths Of Barbs
Step Three: Creating The Barbs
Once the core wire is complete, it’s time to add the actual barbs. To do this, cut-off another piece of wire and begin looping the wire around the central core ensuring that each you complete a loop you keep them nice and tight. Once you’ve complete a number of loops around the central core (two or three is usually a good number) complete the barb by ending the loop on the opposite side you started from. If you find your loops are spread out too much on the central core wire, use your needle-nose pliers to squeeze them together.
From The Mouths Of Barbs From The Mouths Of Barbs From The Mouths Of Barbs
Next, create another barb by beginning the looping process again further down the central core wire. Continue this process until you’ve created the desire length of barbed wire. Once complete, the barbed wire should have central core wire in the middle with the loops snaking down it in a ‘S’ shaped pattern (see the example below).
From The Mouths Of Barbs From The Mouths Of Barbs
Step Four: Securing The Barbs
Once the barbs are complete, place a tiny amount of hobby glue where each barb wraps around the central core wire. This ensures that the barbs are fixed in place and prevent them from sliding up and down the central core wire.

From The Mouths Of Barbs From The Mouths Of Barbs
Step Five: Cutting Away The Excess
Cut away the excess wire from both sides of the barb loops ensuring you leave enough to create the look of the actual barbs (see the example below). Trim the central core wire and place a small amount of hobby glue on each of the freshly cut ends to prevent them from fraying.
From The Mouths Of Barbs From The Mouths Of Barbs
Step Six: Just Like Actual Barbed Wire Onlu Smaller!
With the excess wire now trimmed your should be left with a length of what should resemble actual barbed wire only smaller! You can now twist it into whatever shapes you want. But be careful, those barbs are sharps! Here I've wrapped the length of completed barbed wire around the handle of my hobby knife to form the classic coil-shaped barbed wire entanglement.
From The Mouths Of Barbs From The Mouths Of Barbs
While this level of detail and effort might not be for everyone, you have to agree that it sure does look cool on my mocked-up wire entanglement base seen below!

Till next time, happy modelling.

~ Blake.

From The Mouths Of Barbs
From The Mouths Of Barbs