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How To Scratch Building, 1878 Martini Henry Ammunition Packets

These packets were carried in the ammunition pouches of the Slade-Wallis equipment used by British forces in the latter part of the 19th Century. Each packet consists of 10 rounds of .45 cal Martini Henry ammunition, wrapped in paper and tied with twine.

I could only find one illustration of the packets, so they may not be 100% accurate but at least they are something to fill the ammunition pouches of my 'Sgt Jones, 24th Regiment of Foot' figure. 2 of these packets were carried in each of the front ammunition pouches.

What You Need

Colour Printer & Paper
Fine Brown Elastic
Super Glue
Corrugated Cardboard 2mm Thickness

Instructions

1. Download the images for the wrapper by clicking the image above to open it in a new window and then right-clicking that image and selecting 'Save Picture As...', to save the Bitmap to your PC. The Bimap then needs to be resized to approx 36mm x 36mm. Layout as many wrappers as you need and print it out on regular paper on a colour printer. Trim to the edges of the coloured square. Carefully roll the wrapper into a ball and rub for a couple of seconds between the palms of your hands, then carefully unroll and flatten. This gives a great worn look to the finished packet.

Martini Henry Ammunition Packet - In Progress

2. On the corrugated cardboard, draw as many 16mm x 13mm rectangles as you need packets. Cut these out.

3. Lay the cardboard cut-out horizontally on the back of the wrapper. Fold over the top and bottom of the wrapper over the card. Then fold the left and right sides.

4. Using about 3inches of elastic per packet, secure the elastic around the package, crossing it at the front and tying it as the bag. Add a tiny drop of super glue to the knot and, when dry, trim the surplus elastic.

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