Whiskey and Wine Barrels
Since I’m not in the mood to work the base ground work yet I’ve worked the tree trunk for more texture and started making barrels. I’m going to make everything that I’ve got listed for the lean-to before doing any of the ground work. I plan on having chains, ropes, metal gears and pulleys, saws, hammers, sledge hammers, axes, shovels, brooms, rakes, etc. This will be a storage lean-to/work shop or open storage shed.
Trying to find something that was a close size for a wine barrel was a slight challenge until I found an older rattle can that would fit almost perfectly. I’ve got a few wine barrels and an old whiskey barrel here at the Ranchito, so getting the dimensions was no problem. I matched them up against the Ranger figure to get an idea as to whether they would be in scale and they are.
Before starting on these I watched a few vids on YT to get the basics, and off I went. I used pine strips for the larger barrel lid and body, but the whiskey barrel required a more flexible material, balsa wood. After cutting the strips to a reasonable width I pinched them with needle nose pliers every 3/16ths to ¼ inch to create the subtle curves. The pine was a little dicey at times, but the balsa wood was easy to manipulate. Each strip needs to be tapered top and bottom to account for the barrel width at each end, so they were sanded slightly to accommodate the difference.
As you can see, I wrapped the rattle can with some flexible yellow foam and blue tape to get the middle width. The same process was used on the wooden dowel used for the whiskey barrel. I applied super glue and got started applying the strips. Once you get a few in place the rest are easy to keep proper alignment. Then cut and sand the ends, you’re done.
At first I was thinking of using copper sheet cut to width for the barrel straps, but sheet styrene was much easier to work and manipulate. I followed the wine barrel strap pattern that is present on the ones I have, same for the whiskey barrel. I used oils for the barrel colors and placed pin washes in between the slats before applying the straps. This gave clarity and depth to the overall look.
Once the straps were in place I primed them with Floquil primer and painted them with Tamiya Metallic Grey XF-56. This is very close to the galvanized color tone on my barrel straps, but I have no idea if this is even close to what was used in France in the 40’s. I also made the huge nails, or pegs, that hold the straps at the joints. None of my barrels have any nails on the straps other than at the joints, but I added them here for character and interest to each strap. They are widely spaced, so it won’t look too overdone.
After the straps were painted the each got a pin wash with oils for depth and to cover any light spots against the barrel. Lastly, the cork, or peg was installed and painted. I plan to make these very dusty as if in storage or neglected for years, but I’m not sure if there will be any old rust anywhere on the straps. I still need to research that. Also, I may add a very small amount of moss build-up at the base of each, using Migs enamels, but I’m still undecided.
Any comments or questions, holler, and thanks for watchin.
Cheers, Ski.
