Making Barrel Wagons

 One of my recent purchases was a bucket full of cheapo pirate toys that included barrels. There are barrels that actually come with toy wagons but hey are generally yellow, in two halves and skinnier than these ones. The pirate barrels came in three sizes with the biggest being the ones I used.

  It did occur to me that these barrels are so big they could even become an integral part of the wagons, somewhat like gypsy wagons. that would involve adding windows and doors. However, I just wanted supply wagons.

  The comparative size of the barrels might be unrealistic; how do the people get the supplies out? I decided to add some little hatches at the end. One of them I also added a tap to. This was made from copper wire with a Space ork gun sight added for the handle.

   The other thing I added were chains; these went around the barrels, generally at both ends. I also cut some of the wagons at the back to push down, slightly the ends, to allow more room for the barrels. I started to add very small chains to hold the ends, but it was too fiddly, so I just added fuse wire into the drilled holes. They are not very visible anyway. Some of the older ones I also added seats cut from icypole sticks. card or balsa would also work.

 As far as supplies go, I thought along the lines of water, beer and gunpowder. The latest wagons I made for our last campaign battle. I didn't have time to make drivers for them all. I generally convert seated cowboy figures.it is fairly easy to do with Green Stuff or similar.

  

These are some older wagons I made up years ago. The driver was made from a plastic tractor driver. I rarely use the horses that come with the toy wagons. The ones in the background are copies of Britains whilst those in front are original Britains plastic draft horses.

  Two size barrels can be seen and the big ones with chains added. You could also use string which will look like rope.

                                              The camels were an experiment. they were a little more complicated to work out but I used a photo reference of more modern camel drawn wagons. The turbaned figure is a metal one with turban and fez added. I'll use him for anything from medieval to early modern.

    The driver is sitting on a barrel on a small cart. he is converted from Marx figures (or cereal versions). The barrel with writing was intended for Victorian and Edwardian eras and comes from the Virtual Armchair General.

     The horses had some holes drilled so the prongs of the wagon strut could hold them in place. The oxen have putty yokes added. I love these animals and I found them not that long ago in cheap bags of new animal figures. I am not trying to reproduce accurate harness and position exactly but just to make serviceable supply wagons. These ones still await drivers.

    The middle wagon has horses that are HK copies of Timpo. I didn't other to paint them. The figure at right shows another medieval conversion of the driver from a random seated figure.

                               Below you can see one wagon which kept its canvas canopy.

  This wagon is one of the ones that came with a barrel. I added a putty seat, chain and solid wheels from the BMC Alamo set. Solid wheels generally give an older more primitive look. The Alamo cart is at the right.

                                 Of the men there is a Dulcop Little John at the back. The figure in the wagon, with stick, was made from a cereal version of a Cresent cowboy with lasso. The barrel has a cover made from tissue soaked in PVA. The large horse, with chest was from pirate paraphernalia. The legs were hollow so were filled in with putty. The other pack animals just had bits and pieces added to them.