Thursday, August 15, 2019

Basing a Playmobil Coliseum Part III or the Pitfalls of Pit-traps

     Continuing with the mission to complete the Playmobil Coliseum as quickly as possible (so I can get back to my tower for the Angry Piper's Terrain Challenge) I embarked on the addition of the subterranean features that Kevin had requested; put-traps and an oversize passage to allow him to send a tiger into the arena from below. This turned out to be rather more work than I had thought it would, requiring very precise cutting and (gasp!) measurements. Happily my efforts were equal to the task.
I decided that a test-case was in order before I began full-scale operations
I sketched out a small pit trap on some matte board and deeply scored the lines


the scoring ensures that the folds are straight and bend easily

a quick check to make sure my measurements were on

 
 and then some glue, Titebond works surprisingly well for this type of project, 
the glue absorbs easily and dries very quickly

then I cut the bottom, I really missed an opportunity here....

a couple of dots of glue and the bottom was stuck in place

bamboo BBQ skewers provide the spikes

after a few moments with an Xacto knife, that is

then I coated the bottom with glue, as I was doing this it occurred to me that I could have installed the spikes BEFORE I had attached the bottom and saved myself a good bit of work

be that as it may, I dipped the base of the spikes in wood glue

after the glue had been given a chance to dry a little I dropped the spikes into the rapidly drying glue, after a little encouragement they were standing up nicely

next was the liner for the large pit, I am making a hole in the arena floor that I will press this sleeve into, then make different inserts that can be placed inside it

the tiger pit will have a sloping floor
 to ease the access of the predator in his approach to the gladiators

after carefully tracing a cut into the table surface I began cutting the underlying blue board with a reciprocating saw blade, I did this by had as I am not precise enough to attempt it with a Sawzall


in no time I was able to push the plug out


the edges need a bit of tidying-up

test-fitting the sleeve before gluing it in place

it fit perfectly so I glued it in place and cleaned up the cut-out edges a bit

insert #1 ready for testing

it fit almost perfectly.....
......maybe there IS something to this "measuring"

the hole still looked like a jagged wound so I planked around the opening 
and then cut a sheet of balsa to fit and drew on some planks

insert #1 will be the tiger pit

it fit just fine but I couldn't see anybody lifting that huge lid

the lids covers the hole when it isn't being used

who knows what dangers lurk beneath that simple wooden hatch?

as well as the insert fit it didn't look right so I added doors that had been opened from below

my Viking Brawler approves

     All that remains is the two smaller pits and some sand for the arena floor.

3 comments:

  1. I'm really enjoying this series. :-)

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  2. What! No pit full of snakes.... ;)

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  3. Really great craftsmanship here. This set will be tons of fun. The double doors are excellent. 😀

    One suggestion after the fact; on pits that have the sloping ramp it could be better to have an inch or so on the bottom that is flat so miniatures can stand in it upright versus on the slopes. Though it might not really matter.

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