Small Scale Military Headquarters

doesn't power team or somebody make normandy beach obstacles?...the kind with the 3 pieces of metal welded together in a sort of x pattern....i forget what they are called.

aferguson wrote:doesn't power team or somebody make normandy beach obstacles?...the kind with the 3 pieces of metal welded together in a sort of x pattern....i forget what they are called.

Yep - PTE does make those. Marauder carries them:
http://www.marauderinc.com/servlet/Detail?no=229

I think the other term for them is "hedgehogs".

They also come with a few different PTE products, e.g. their Abrams tank.

aferguson wrote:doesn't power team or somebody make normandy beach obstacles?...the kind with the 3 pieces of metal welded together in a sort of x pattern....i forget what they are called.

Hedge Hogs? Build-A-Rama used to have them:

http://www.build-a-rama.com/1_18/hedgeh ... s_18.shtml

I bought one set and they are really nice. Sadly they are out of them, otherwise I'd purchase more.

ah yes, hedgehog.....thanks guys. Just ordered some from maruader.

I did a bit of reading and they're actually known as 'czech hedgehogs' because they were first used by the czechs on their border with germany, before the war. They were used throughout wwii by all major combatants, especially the russians.

The normandy beach hedgehogs i've seen pictures of all had 'L' section angled iron and both the pte and buildarama ones have 'H' section, but whatever. They look good and will be dandy for my purposes. I'm going to make some of the other type of obstacle myself. These were simple wooden poles, mounted angled in the sand, with a teller mine on the tip. I"ve got loads of dragon mines and will just use convenient sticks i find outside and cut to size.

Thanks for posting those links.

aferguson wrote: I'm going to make some of the other type of obstacle myself. These were simple wooden poles, mounted angled in the sand, with a teller mine on the tip. I"ve got loads of dragon mines and will just use convenient sticks i find outside and cut to size.

I will post some pics of the log/teller mine obstacle that I made for my Normandy dio for you Aferg.
Razor

i believe lacal tec just posted some obstacles

Here's a few pics..........
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Czech_hedgehog

Aferg,
Here are some pics of PTE hedgehogs obstacle and Log/teller mine obstacle I made:



Razor

they look good. i may take a shot at making a log ramp as well, which were designed to flip over or destroy landing craft with mines. You can see a bunch of them in saving private ryan, although they goofed and had most of them pointing the wrong way.

aferguson wrote:ah yes, hedgehog.....thanks guys. Just ordered some from maruader.

I did a bit of reading and they're actually known as 'czech hedgehogs' because they were first used by the czechs on their border with germany, before the war. They were used throughout wwii by all major combatants, especially the russians.

The normandy beach hedgehogs i've seen pictures of all had 'L' section angled iron and both the pte and buildarama ones have 'H' section, but whatever. They look good and will be dandy for my purposes. I'm going to make some of the other type of obstacle myself. These were simple wooden poles, mounted angled in the sand, with a teller mine on the tip. I"ve got loads of dragon mines and will just use convenient sticks i find outside and cut to size.

Cool. I never knew the origin of these, just that they seemed to be everywhere.

I'll pick up some of Marauders as well.

I looked at the Wikipedia article and I actually wonder if "iron" is correct. I'm guessing steel (an iron alloy ... but still different) would be a better description. I also think that the members used would have been whatever was available at the local mill: beams (I), channels ([), angles (L), and pipes (O), all welded and bolted with simple steel plates (triangles or squares). So I don't doubt that L sections were used, but I also suspect that the I-beam models we have are accurate too.

Though looking at my Build-A-Rama hedgehogs, the plates are "welded" in places that as an engineer worry me a bit. The L-sections look easier to tie together with the plates -- you can rotate the third axis / section so your connecting plates are always lined up on a smooth section.

Does anybody have a recommendation for a good historical book of fortifications? The old Atlantic Wall tv-special was good, but I'd love to read a book.

Getting back to the topic at hand, how many of us have 1/18 scale hedgehogs???

heres the caltek link they look pretty good!
http://www.caltekonline.com/ss030.asp

are you supposed to be able to buy them or what? That site is really poorly designed. Can't search for individual items by name, no prices.......???

Heya, y'all!

The actual original Czech hedgehog was bolted together steel angles ("L" shape. They measure 5' 11" along the length of any of the 3 legs. The later versions, fabricated by the Germans for the Normandy defences, were welded up lengths of angle or "I" beams / rails, measuring 6' 11" per leg.

The ones shown on the Caltek site are pretty decent looking, only problem is the screws (vs. nits and bolts) used to attach the plates to the legs. They list for $18.99 I believe. Caltek doesn't sell them, they are a distributor.

Russ
Proud son of Rose and Wes

russcal wrote:Heya, y'all!

The actual original Czech hedgehog was bolted together steel angles ("L" shape. They measure 5' 11" along the length of any of the 3 legs. The later versions, fabricated by the Germans for the Normandy defences, were welded up lengths of angle or "I" beams / rails, measuring 6' 11" per leg.

The ones shown on the Caltek site are pretty decent looking, only problem is the screws (vs. nits and bolts) used to attach the plates to the legs. They list for $18.99 I believe. Caltek doesn't sell them, they are a distributor.

Russ
Proud son of Rose and Wes

Thanks Russ!

Bolting makes sense for short-term fortifications ... easier to pull apart and move. I suspect the Atlantic Wall defenses were hoped to be up forever and upgraded slowly over time.

So the Czechs and Germans used them ... are there are significant examples (perhaps in the Pacific)?

all sides used czech hedgehogs, including the japanese. The russians used them in huge numbers.

Marauder Inc. carries the PTE Hedgehogs, if you're interested in those Aferg, and they're cheap too. I highly recommend John to you for those. He's a great guy, and good to deal with.

I've gotten most of mine from PTE 3-packs, but I got some from the Abrams as well as the Command Center. I have about a dozen or so, but would love more... I've used them for everything from WW2 displays to alongside Star Wars figures (why not? They would be effective little nuisances even in another world!).