Venice Wargaming Board - Gondolas

Icons of Venice

Venice has no cars! With 150 different canals Venice is mostly just a collection of islands. What better way to get around, than with gondolas. It will cost you a pretty sum (80-120 euros!) in real life, but it is memorable to do if you visit!

For my Venice board, I needed gondolas. Searching the web, I found a few options for purchase. But none of them allowed the 30mm bases I use, to fit within the boats, which I felt I needed. So back to crafting them from scratch. Following many reference images, these are made from the same 3mm PVC material as everything else. Along with a few thinner plastics here and there. A couple decorative bits from the craft store finish them off.

The side boards have a compound bend to them as they go from front to middle to back. I achieved it by applying heat to the plastic and bending. Once cooled, they retained their bends. Wood effect was made by scoring planks with a knife then widening with a pointy file. Wood grain applied by lightly scoring. Tiny drill holes create the nail marks at the ends of the wood planks.

 

Two boats built.

 
Seats two, plus the gondolier.

Decided to try the salt chipping paint method. Primed, painted wood color, then spray varnished. Added water to the surface and sprinkled chunky salt all over. Left to dry. Then painted red/blue on each boat. Once that coat was dried, I chipped off the salt to reveal the wood color below.

 Finito! We have two gondolas ready for the canals.