6mm Japanese bunkers for Tarawa / other Pacific islands

I've done some sample pieces for consideration by Mark and ian for their forthcoming Tarawa extravaganza.  These have been built on 1" wide bases for Spearhead, though I'm sure they could be adapted for other rules and scales.

I wanted to go for defences made from natural materials (palm tree trunks and local vegetation for cover) and make at least some of them highly camoflaged (as US Marines could often not tell where incoming fire was coming from.

Here are some of the finished pieces - toghether with a brief  'how to' section if you want to have a go yourself.

MG nest, standard bunker, camoflaged bunker, bunker with side flanges

How to make your own 6mm bunkers

You'll need matchsticks, cocktail sticks, PVA glue, DAS modelling clay and your own camoflage options.  You'll also need some insulating foam.

I got some materials from B&Q's gardening section.  Specifically fibre pots (£2 for 20 I think) and ready to use hanging basket liner (also around £2).

Firstly, get your base ready - 1" square for Spearhead.  Mark out the size of bunker required then cut your matchticks or cocktail sticks to size to create the walls. Then cut a square (or rectangle) sized piece of insulating foam - PVA this to the base and then paint it black.

Paint your matchstick walls the desired colour and wash if desited, then stick on the walls to the foam using PVA.

The front slit is relatively east - take 3 matchsticks of the right length, and cut a section out of the middle one.  Then stick the two others above and below.  when you attach it to the foam, the black paint gives you the necessary 'shadow'.

For the roof, I use a small section of fibre pot as it has a bit of texture to it.  I then tear the top layer off the basket liner to create a thin 'camo' layer.  You can then stick small bits of flock to this to increase the camo cover.  Or you can provide a smoother finished roof with a bit of DAS clay.

Nearly completed - with clay roof and unpainted talus on the base.

For the heavily camoflaged bunkers, I only do one side (the front) in matchsticks.  The rest of the foam is covered with DAS clay.  Once dry, it takes paint very well and you can then use either normal flock or the basket liner to provide the camo.

One-side only bunker - rest covered in clay.  Great if you need lots in a hurry!

The rest of the base is simply talused and flocked as any other base would be.

Non-camo and camo bunkers finished.  2p coin for scale.