Unloaded Markers for Sharp Practice

Hello World. Long time, no post.

Recently my son and I played a game of Too Fat Lardies’ (TFL) Sharp Practice (SP), a set of wargaming rules for skirmishes in the black powder era. I had forgotten how much fun the game is, and it has motivated me to work on some SP projects.

Years ago, a fellow Lard American introduced me to FlashingBlinkingLights. He was using some of the earrings clipped to fiberfill for broadside markers for Kiss me Hardy, the TFL age of sail rules. Always thinking this was a great idea, I picked up some of these to try and make some unloaded markers for SP.

I had some 25mm x 100mm bases that seemed like a good place to start. The length was about right for a frontage of four figures in a formation base.

Base

I had the bases and the lights but needed a way to bring them all together. I knew that I would need some way to get to the lights to turn them on/off and replace the batteries, but also wanted something that wouldn’t come apart when picked up.

I decided to work in Tinkercad and design a “cage” to support the fiberfill and attach magnetically to the light bases. After a few draft prints and adjustments, this is what I produced:

Design

Print

After drilling out the bases and attaching magnets to both parts, I used the cages to space out the lights and then superglued them in place. Then I hot glued fiberfill to the upper parts.

Lights!

The Hottest Glue

The combination of weak magnets and some misalignment on part led to me switching to hook and loop (Velcro) strips to keep the parts together. Ended up working great and I should have done this from the start.

Velcro

Velcro

After affixing the fiberfill and correcting the magnet problem, I sprayed down the “smoke” with water followed by Scenic Cement. Once dry I trimmed any “wild hairs” and then airbrushed a bit of Vallejo Smoke in spots.

Pre-soak

Slight Tinting

Here is the final product in action:

Overall, I’m pleased with the results. If given a second chance I may have made the cages a bit sturdier, but I think they’ll work fine.

Cheers!