"Making Flags and Banners from Coffee Can Foil Lining" Topic

So I came across an obscure reference the other day about how old wargamers used to use coffee can foil liners to make flags and banners. Does anyone here know how that was done or have a link?

Coffee comes in cans?

Gee, do you think we should tell him where the milk comes from?

We used to make flags from the foil that encased the corks on wine bottles. I now use the metal foil from the tubes thst tomato puree comes in. It is stiffer but more durable. All my ECW unit colours are made this way

I came in at the tail end of that era, and believe me, no one who did it is ever leaving paper or cloth flags to go back to it. [EDIT: you're a hardier soul than I am, Aviator. I haven't done one since the first time someone showed me a black and white outline of a flag on paper.] You can always freehand a flag on thin metal--but you need to be a really good freehand painter, and luckier than you deserve to keep the flag from being bent and shedding paint.

But even in the day, coffee usually came in cans or bags. Foil liner was rare. More common was some metal foil associated with (I think) wine bottles, and the corks, cut into fours, were used for earthworks. One can only imagine the sacrifices made by some of the founding generation to prepare their armies for a big game.

I still make flags for 15mm out of heavier guage tin from Costco coffee cans. I take a spoon or something else smooth and hard and rub out the dimpling of the tin. I then cut to shape like a paper flag where it will be folded to maker the front and back. I wrap it around the flag staff and bend to a preferred shape. Use a dab of crazy glue to secure, prime and paint.

I just use paper.

Much easier, and you can hand-paint or ink your designs, or just use a printer to print more intricate ones.

Make double-sided, and apply white glue to your flagpole and to the interior surfaces of the flags to be glued together.

Let dry a little, and then crumple/bend/spindle to the final desired shape, for a nice, wavy, wind-blown look.

I use the metal cork covers off of wine bottles. Cut a piece to size and place it between the two sides of your paper flag. EG: GMB flags.
White glue on both side. Careful not too much as it will squirt out the side and get glue all over the flag. When dry bend as you wish.

My Dad was a figure collector from the 40s, through the 80s. He used old both paste or hair grease tubes. I remember him cleaning and flattening the tubes, laying out the design, attaching to the staff, and then painting them. When I came to paint figures for real, I went with paper or drafting linen. I now use my computer and paper.