Well, we continue with the tutorials to make low cost terrain and scenery for our games.
We start from the basis that there are anti-aircraft models and searchlights like these in model kits or miniatures for wargames, but their price is quite high if we are only going to use them as scenery and if we combine it with that when playing alone all the cost of the table falls on us...
For a next game I needed a German Anti-Aircraft gun as a target, and I thought to add an anti-aircraft searchlight to give more atmosphere to the scenario.
So the first thing was to create an anti-aircraft gun out of cheap materials, or even better, out of recycled materials, which have the virtue of being free.
With more enthusiasm than anything else, and without knowing very well how to carry it out, I set to work to create my own lowcost anti-aircraft gun.
I collected lollipop sticks, small discarded foam cardboard cutouts, a couple of wooden stirring sticks, and a piece of cardboard from a cookie box ...
With the foam cardboard we make the structure of the anti-aircraft, and we glue it with hot glue, using the wood sticks as a base.
We use the four lollipop sticks making cannons, and sticking them with normal glue into a piece of foam cardboard.
Finally, with the cardboard of the cookie box, we make the armored shield for the anti-aircraft gun.
With a cheap paint spray that we find almost anywhere we give it a coat of paint and ... Voila !!!!
Now, it only rests to give it some detail and dirt it a bit to give it a more real look (if possible, of course).
As a tip, after having done it, I would tell you that instead of lollipop sticks, use cotton bud sticks to clean your ears. They are thinner, they fit better and they are easier to find at home.
And once the anti-aircraft gun was finished, we went on to make a searchlight ...
For this we will collect a few recycled materials, a cap from a gum can, a plastic water bottle, some pieces of foam cardboard cutouts and a toy car.
From the base of the water bottle we cut a circle that fits the cap we have, but we do not glued it in place.
With the pieces of foam cardboard we make the structure of the searchlight, and we leave a hole underneath to place the wheels.
We glue the plastic cap on the structure and give it a coat of paint with a cheap spray paint of the appropriate color.
Once the paint dries, we glue the plastic circle that we cut from the base of the water bottle to the cap.
And finally, we remove the wheels from the toy car and put them on the structure.
All that remains is to give it some detail and get it dirty so that it looks fine on the game table.
Total cost of both pieces: NOTHING, and as an objective or scenery they will be nice in the game table. The level of quality of these pieces will depend on the ability, skill and level of demand of each one.
Many will think that it is a rather poor solution, but we have to see it from the perspective of a person who plays alone and assumes the cost of everything (miniatures of both sides, scenery, painting ...) so I hope that it will be good for some of you.
