Bill Nevins’ Slave Huts Project

5 Responses to Bill Nevins’ Slave Huts Project

1. erwin says:

   June 3, 2015 at 8:50 AM

   Great awesome job, Bill.
   How you did it and what image/place you base it from !?

   Reply
   • Don Perkins says:

     June 3, 2015 at 12:11 PM

     Yes, Bill, good job. Very artistic. I have the same question Erwin asked: Were these based upon the slave quarters from some specific plantation or state —- some specific Civil War or pre-War photograph?

     Reply
2. Wayne W says:

   June 3, 2015 at 12:44 PM

   Adding my kudos!

   Reply
3. Bill Nevins says:

   June 3, 2015 at 2:22 PM

   Thanks for the comments. The huts were made based on research I did about 12 years ago, when I made these. The structure is called a “saddlebag” type hut and was very popular in the deep South. There were no doors or windows and the floor was generally just hay or straw thrown over dirt. Some had chimneys, but many did not. It seems that the deeper South you went, the need for heat was negligible. The comfort of the slaves never entered the equation.
   Although this was a horrible black stain on our country, we should never forget it. It happened and we should not close our eyes to it. That was one of the reasons I built it.
   We must never forget where we came from.

   A Google search will show plenty of pictures. I saw a similar building on Wikipedia.

   By the way, this was built for 40 mm figures, but it is very easy to scale up or down.
   I’ve made about 7 or 8 of these in 28, 40 and 54 mm scales. I only have the one left, as the rest were given away to friends who hounded me into making them.

   You can make this in an evening. It’s a basic foam core shell with windows and doors cut out. I covered the foam core with balsa and scribed in planking with a steel ruler and a sharp pencil. The roof is a manila folder trimmed to fit. Leave enough for an overhang. The base is MDF cut out with a jigsaw. The edges were sanded down and some terrain materials were scattered about.

   I do have additional pix, including some interior shots (WIP). You can email me for them if you wish.

   I have several other scratch built buildings that I made. If there is interest, I’ll post them.

   Reply
4. Don Perkins says:

   June 3, 2015 at 4:01 PM

   I would very much like to see the other buildings you’ve made, too. Please post.

   Reply

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