"Colored cotton for fire and explosions?" Topic

I want to make some explosion and fire markers for my 1/200 ACW ironclads. I seem to recall someone talking about dying cotton for such a purpose. Can anyone help?

I want to make some explosion and fire markers for my 1/200 ACW ironclads. I seem to recall someone talking about dying cotton for such a purpose. Can anyone help?

Honestly, I just use red pompoms for fire for my 1/600th scale ACW ironclads.

Eric

Use regular Rit fabric dye. I like the liquid bottle kind, sold in supermarkets and big box stores. I use red for fire, black for a hit that is not burning, brown for dust, white for regular smoke like a white phosphorous grenade, purple and yellow for poisonous gas. You can also sometimes buy colored make up puffs for ladies make up purposes that are similar to cotton balls. Check out places that sell lots of make up.

Mike Bunkermeister Creek
Bunker Talk blog

Another good resource is polyester batting, usually sold in huge bags to people who are stuffing pillows. At Halloween, it's sold in much smaller bags for people who want to make cobwebs.

Just smear a little acrylic paint in it, and work it with your fingers. It comes out great and dries pretty quickly. Definitely mix different colors into the same little piece -- black, yellow, orange, red, and white make a pretty good looking smoky fire.

Here is an article on how to make some really nice ones by tabletop games in the UK.
link

The other way to do it is to use clump foliage from woodland scenics. Just glue them together in a explosion shape, maybe threaded on wires, then prime and paint as desired.

The polyester is superior to cotton for this.

I used to use cotton wool, now, as I blog almost all of my games I let the computer create all the explosions!

@Bashytubits: Thanks for the link to that enhancement! I will soon be making fires, too.

I know that TreeGirl makes hers using polyester pillow filling. Just spray paint the base various fire colors, red, yellow, orange and the smoke either white, black or gray.

I made smoke using polyester pillow stuffing material, 20 years ago, for my Army Men games. I discovered that spraying black paint on the fibers, yielded a mid- to dark-gray. Getting it black was challenging, and it required loads of paint! Never tried the red or orange, or yellow. I just went for shades of gray, and it worked beautifully.

It is quick, easy, idiot-proof (Slag-proof!) and relatively inexpensive. I also discovered that once dry, they can be shaped, and stretched, without effect. I am able, even today, on 20 year old tufts, to stretch and reshape them, as needed. Cheers!