Tank, Tank, Burning Bright

After I posted this AAR a couple of people on TMP asked me how I made the burning tank markers. As I now have more tanks than markers I thought I'd best make some more for the next game so it was a perfect opportunity for a quick tutorial. First of all, get some cotton wool, available in any high street chemists. Pull some small sections of it off and pull these into lengths.
Mine are about 10cm long. Here they are in the spray tray:


Then spray them all black. Any spray will do, I used some from a DIY store that I bought when I bought two picture clip frames, one of which shattered on arrival at my home, but that is another story... I found I had to hold the cotton wool down with a pencil otherwise the force of the spray blew them all over the room. Leave them to dry and they should look like this:


Don't worry if white bits show through or it's not a completely even covering, smoke is never like that in real life anyway. After they've dried the last stage is to paint the bottom of each length in red paint first, then yellow over the top. I painted the yellow before the red had time to dry so there was a bit of mixing with the two colours:


And that's it, as easy as setting a Sherman on fire! When they are dry you'll find that they are quite stiff so the bottom can be flattened and are able to be positioned easily:


I use them for Wings of War as well, as burning engine markers:


I hope this was of some help to someone!

Comments

  1. I made some like that years ago - mine are smaller and are used to show fire on my Napoleonic ships.

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  2. Clever and it works too!

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  3. Thanks for the comments guys, yeah, these were knocked up in minutes and look the part!

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  4. Very nice, clever and useful, great work!
    Phil.

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