Rags on Sticks

2004-7-30

Following on from the article about banner poles, here's what can be considered 'part2', the flags themselves!

As per usual, there are alternatives in both materials and methods to suit different circumstances so pick one that best fits and you feel comfortable with, then adapt it.


Some suitable materials:

1 Paper
2 Thick Paper
3 Sheet styrene
4 Pewter sheet
5 Epoxy putty

There are obviously other materials that could be suitable, maybe even more so that those I've listed, but I've limited the list to those I can comment on from experience.


1: Paper

The skull & crossbones banner pictured in the previous article was made from sketchpad paper, carefully primed with a basecoat to stop it curling and then painted as normal. Nothing spectacular or difficult, but it worked at the time. It was cut to shape first and then painted, although this doesn't matter too much, you can cut out a painted banner and then carefully paint the edges.

2: Thick paper

By thick paper I mean a heavier grade, 120-160g/m2. It also usually is higher quality and is easier to paint on because it doesn't act like blotting paper.
Just as a comparison, normal printer paper is 80g/m2 and most people will be familiar with the differences in paper quality - especially if you have an ink jet printer and have tried to print pictures or blocks of colour.


This takes me nicely into the easiest method of producing colour banners: print them!






Modern ink jet printers are pretty capable, both for resolution and colour accuracy, and in conjunction with a paint program can generate pretty respectable banners in no time.

I can see that skeptical frown starting... ok, a very quick example to prove that reasonable banners are easy to print. By quick, I mean 15 minutes, and that includes time to make a coffee....

To the right, the 'raw' image generated in an image editing program, shown actual size (or thereabouts depending on your monitor) and below, printed out and stuck on a pole.








I'm not going to go into too much detail and get bogged down but there are a few points worth a mention:

Printer used : £60~ish CANON CMYK. Because the printer cannot recreate all the tones that the original image contained, basically because I was lazy and worked in RGB, some of the colour has 'washed out' and isn't as vibrant. Tough, it's quick and cheap.

Bubble jet / ink jet ink isn't waterproof so be careful and seal your banner, a couple of light coats of spray varnish should do the job. It can then be carefully painted over if necessary to increase colour vibrancy, reds particularly, since CMYK red is not a strong colour.

Use good quality paper to avoid ink 'bleeding' together. It's also worth checking the printer manual (you know, that booklet that they put in the box with it) to determine optimum settings for sharp colour images.

No one is going to notice lower quality than hand painted from a distance on a wargames table!


Last words about paper banners before moving on...

Don't forget to paint the back a neutral colour, it's best to do this after a coat of seal to stop the paint leeching through to the front and spoiling the image.

Banners painted with acrylic paint or printed can be carefully curled to give a sense of movement before spraying with sealant. This is great because it's easy to produce a flat flag and then shape it once it's stuck onto the banner pole.

Battle damage is simple to add - carefully tearing the edges and painting dust or dirt is easy. Going to the extreme, literally scorching the bottom edge with a miniature blowtorch can look really cool but obviously it could go up in smoke. Literally. So be careful.


3: Sheet styrene

I'm going to come right out and say it: I'm not a fan of plasticard for banners. Of the materials included in this article it's probably the least suitable but I've included it for completeness. And because it does have uses...

The one thing that plasticard does have in it's favour is that it's tough. Almost indestructible, and for an army on the move in a carry case that's a definite plus. The other materials, with the exception of putty, can be creased if not handled carefully.

The down side is that plasticard has to be shaped before painting because it needs heating up to soften it. This is simple enough to achieve using a hot air gun on low setting, with obvious safety precautions, then forming folds in the banner around paint brush handles or something similar. At this stage you may wish you had five or six hands to hold it in place while it cools and 'sets'.

Styrene can be awkward to attach to metal banner poles as well, one trick that does work is to use plastic tube to make loops to slide over the pole as it's being made and then simply gluing the banner to these with polystyrene cement.

Sorry no example of this one, I can't find any sheet styrene just now and don't really have time...
I'm sure there's already an article floating about the web somewhere anyway.


4: Pewter sheet

A long time ago White Dwarf magazine featured miniatures and conversions from selected members of the 'Eavy Metal team and 'guests'. This was a time when techniques, materials and know-how were closely guarded secrets shrouded in myth and legend. I remember picking up on a little snippet of information that did slip out - alongside a picture of a rather impressive standard bearer, a small note mentioned that the flag itself had been made from an aluminium drinks can.

I never got to make metal flags myself, I wasn't allowed tin snips and sharp metal at that age.

Jump forward about 17 years or so gets us here. Miniatures, games and models are a massive hobby industry and everyone knows about 'green stuff', and probably owns some...

Yeah, I know, enough reminiscing and back to the pewter...







The stuff in the picture is high grade lead free pewter sheet, 0.152mm thick and approx. 300x300mm. Not cheap at ~£10 but should make a whole lot of stuff at smaller scales.

There's the banner pole being measured for it's flag in the corner. It's easy enough to just mark out like this and saves measuring. The cross piece is about 10mm up from it's final position to allow some spare sheet to make the 'tabs'.

It's better to have the flag a little too long to begin with ...
The pewter is soft enough to cut neatly with ordinary scissors (unlike the drinks can mentioned earlier).









The centerline is marked along with the position of the cross piece where it is going to be on the finished banner. I happened to find the bright orange permanent lumocolor pen just as I was needing to draw on the pewter. This is very clear from any viewing angle, a bonus in the next stage.




















Guest tool for the day: the hole punch!

I'm quite proud of this trick, even if I do say so myself. It's definitely a fiddly operation, but one that is certainly worth the effort of getting right. The aim is to get the hole smack on the intersection of the two lines because this is where the cross of the banner pole is going to be.

If you're a little wary of being accurate, start with a bigger sheet than your finished flag is intended to be and cut it down afterwards.








For this particular example, I'm going to have 3 scallops creating four tabs to hang the banner with. Once I've created the center one to fit around the cross of the banner pole each side is marked with a vertical line bisecting it as shown. The bottom of the center scallop is then transposed across and marked as illustrated by the blue arrows. This makes lining up the other scallops in the hole punch easier. Once all three holes are punched, the tabs are cut out with scissors, matching into the tangent of the hole as shown in the second picture.
















Working from the center outwards, each tab is rolled over the cross pole. It can be a bit awkward to hold both the pole and the sheet at the same time while using the fingers on the other hand to form the tabs. Again, patience makes it easier.

The aim is to get all the scallops even.

Incidentally, the sheet has been rubbed with fine wire wool to remove any ink and grease and provide a slightly rough surface to 'key' undercoat paint, much easier to do while it's still flat.













Once the tabs have been bent over the cross piece they can then be folded flush, gluing if required can be done with super glue.

For a neat finish place the banner face down on a hard surface and gently hold the pole into the curve of the folds with your thumb while holing the banner itself down with your fingers.

The other hand should be free to wield a steel ruler to gently close the loops around the cross pole as shown in the photograph. Take a little care with the sharp edge of the ruler to avoid tearing the soft metal sheet.











The last bit of attaching the flag to the banner pole is to 'move' the front of the flag under the center of the cross piece.

Place the banner face down again on a hard surface with the ruler beneath it and alongside the cross piece. Then press down gently on the cross piece of the banner pole to bend the flag under it.

I know this isn't the best description in the world, but there's a picture to show what the end result is! tada.













Pewter sheet is soft, with a very low elastic modulus, so adding folds to the flag is really easy! It doesn't spring back so any folds introduced will stay put.

Here, the finished flag on banner pole is placed on a soft cloth and the folds made by rubbing the round end of a large paintbrush in the desired places. Take a moment to have a look how cloth drapes and folds to get a realistic-ish result.











Well that was a little more detail than I intended, shows what happens if you get carried away. I hope someone finds it useful at some time. Now, moving on.


5: Epoxy putty

Hard cured epoxy can easily snap, especially if formed into thin sheets. Kneadatite (green stuff) however retains some flexibility and is tough enough to withstand the odd knock.
I have proof, the model described here was dropped twice on it's way to be undercoated.

Epoxy putty is the most time consuming of the materials described here but does have the advantage of producing a true sculpted banner. Shapes and detail can be achieved that otherwise cannot be made.






This example was done specifically for this series of articles to demonstrate some of the things I've been talking about. It can also be dismantled for transport or storage.

I've not tried anything like this before so it was definitely a 'have a go to see if it works' scenario.
The basic process - briefly:

A blob of kneadatite spread out onto a piece of lubricated blister pack plastic was pressed flat and smoothed with a sculpting tool to about 0.5mm thick. I then peeled it off to make sure it wasn't stuck and turned it over, giving a smooth side to work detail into. Ok, so the detail is little more than a couple of cut marks and the loop holes pushed into the green. This 'inside' surface was draped over a former (paint brush handle) to get a fold and left to cure...

Once set, I had a go at sculpting fur on the reverse side to make it look like a pelt.



That about sums it up for now. A more detailed article about the last model describes the banner pole assembly and the basic conversion of the miniature.