Round Watchtower Help

[heregrim 62xp 0]

So I am getting ready to make a table for the Battle of St. Louis (Fort San Carlos) for the American Revolution and I need suggestions on where to purchase or how to make the round watchtower that the battle took place around.  Any help is appreciated!

[avernos 35133xp 0]

what scale are you planning on playing in?

[heregrim 62xp 0]

28 mm Black Powder gaming system.  Thank you for the help

[maledrakh 11996xp 0]

That watchtower is a squat sylinder shape, much like a paint can or similar object. If you end up making one, what about getting a sylinder or can of roughly the right size (depending on if you want a representation or a scale model) and coating it with some sort of clay you can inscribe the stonework, windows etc on?

[a27cromwell 3218xp 0]

Maybe check out some model rail road sites and build it old school  . I used to build water tanks / fuel tanks ( large round structures ) using a large card board cylinder or plastic pipe for the shape , and cover with plastic strip to look like wood , or squares/ rectangles  of plastic cut to look like welded panels . You could also go the clay / putty route as maledrakh stated , to make a stone or plaster covered type tower . IRC an older cousin made me a castle using this method , many , many years ago

[avernos 35133xp 0]

like the others said this is going to have to be scratch built. Depending on your level of skill this could be from sculpting the brick work out of putty or by using plasticard sheets.

Have you had much experience with scratch building, also how quickly do you need to get it ready in.

I have a fair bit of free time so I could supply whatever advice you need, including getting the scale done and if you need it I can do some videos to help with the build and anything like that.

[innes 11111xp 1]

You could use insulating foam sheets. Cut out circles and glue them in a stack to the right height. Sandpaper the the outside smooth. Then score in the stonework with a pen, cut out the windows and door. Cover it in a couple of coats of thinned down filler and then paint it.

[heregrim 62xp 1]

Wow, thank you for all the responses.  Experience building sets is low, but I am willing to try almost anything once or twice.

I am hoping to have it ready in a couple months say September/early October, I like to plan ahead.

I bought a book on the battle and am going to do some more research on the tower and armies so I can make sure I have stuff available to fight, so I’ll check out to see if I have or can easily acquire a test case and go from there.  I’d love to see any video tutorials Gerry, if they wouldn’t be any trouble and I might also check out the insulating foam sheets.

Thanks everyone, I’ll keep you posted

[avernos 35133xp 0]

I am away for a couple of weeks at the end of June/start of July, so I’ll see what I can do before then to test some things out. I’ve done a quick search and think I have a rough idea of scale so it’s something to start with.

I’ll try to get a few videos down showing different methods to achieve the same results. Probably the easiest way will be to make it into a project here. That way I can add text to the build, along with materials, plans and the like.

It also means you can ask questions or get more information on things.

[boaz 545xp 0]

Hardware stores will have concrete form tubes , cardboard tubes in different sizes … You can cut to any hight and cardboard can be easy to work with even though the concrete form tubes are very stout … what foot print will your round tower have ?

[tuskar 567xp 0]

Maybe you should try out insulation foam. I recently attended a workshop held by Gerad from https://www.shiftinglands.com

Check out his website it is a amazing source of inspiration and the material is great for terrain building.

[Author]

Posts