"My very, very first 28mm paper flags ever...oh boy...!" Topic

So as the title says, in all my years of wargaming I've only ever dealt with either the hard plastic banners like you get with Warhammer (which of course are already attached to their poles, or with historicals but with only the very small paper flags in 6mm or with Warlord Games Epic scale, etc.

But this is brand new territory for me. I invested about $60 USD in getting all the flags I needed for my AWI project and so didn't want to destroy them and have to rebuy them. I quickly realized that in this scale you have to be a lot more careful with alignment because if you get the two halves glued together and it's not lined up, good luck trying to pull it into position. No way, the paper tears and gets instantly mushed together and hopelessly mangled.

I found this out pretty fast. I indeed did mangle the inside surface of the King's colour essentially beyond recovery.

So, thinking quickly on the spot I decided to super glue the fold back onto itself so that it was touching the flag and so that the mangled part was hidden and it just ended up looking like a more dynamic, extreme fold caught up in a bit of heavy wind.

The regimental colour came out much more smoothly, the alignment was pretty darn close if not perfect.

So here is the result, for better or worse!:

‌

‌

‌

‌

So before I attempted this, I looked for tutorial articles to aid me. I ended up following this one:

link

This one seemed pretty straightforward with a good technique and good advice for getting the best result.

However, I think I know why I had a more difficult time getting them onto the poles then I will in the future. This particular stand of models here is showing two of the plastic flag bearers, one is a Perry and the other is a Warlord Games. And of course the flag poles are molded as part of the model itself. (I added the finials which are metal.)

Out of all my two armies, both British and Continental this is one of only a few command stands where I used the plastic flag bearers. The vast majority of my regiments have metal flag bearers where you provide your own pole. So 95% of the rest of my flags will be attached to the wire spear poles and then glued onto the model itself.

Those with more experience in this can certainly clarify and provide their insights on this which I would appreciate! But it seems to me after this first attempt, that it is much easier to attach the flags to the poles BEFORE the pole itself is glued onto the model. It felt like the models themselves got in the way as I was trying to wrap them around the pole which is what led to the misalignment of the King's colour.

Seems to me that if I take the wire spears and then stick them into a bit of poster putty to stand them up on the desk surface, you can do a much more precise job of the flag attachment.

Let me know how you accomplish this and what works best for you!

For a first try, that's really good!

I'm not sure how you did yours but I always cut and fold around a steel rod first before gluing. I run a thumbnail along the flag on both sides by the pole so the sides meet up. Then when confident I apply some ova and go for it. While the glue is still wet I use a paintbrush handle to press/roll folds in alternate sides. The final touch is to touch up the white paper edges with paint.
I still occasionally muck it up, but if you have a scanner I recommend a high definition copy of your flags as a fallback, just in case.

Flag looks good! Use tinfoil inside the flag to give it strength and also make any folds look better and easier to do.

Thanks

John

Yes, definitely glue the flag onto the pole then onto the figure. I sometimes use the foil as well. Good advice here.

Make a color photocopy of the original artwork flags -- glue the photocopies, saving the originals, as Camera Art copies…

1) Fold the flag copy, first, creating a crease.
2) Open the flag, lay it on a tabletop surface (put paper, or a cutting mat, beneath it to save your tabletop!).
3) Lay your detached (I hope!) flag pole into the crease.
4) Using a throw-away brush, paint on PVA Glue onto both sides of the flag paper, carefully.
5) Align the edges of the flag (opposite the pole), and carefully press down, pushing towards the pole, sandwiching it in the middle.
6) Carefully press the flag paper around the pole, eliminating any air gaps.
7) Wrap the flag around the throw-way brush's handle, 2-3 times, in different segments, to create opposing curls in the flag.
8) Let dry for several hours. If the flag straightens out as it dries, paint the outer flag surface with PVA Glue, and repeat the curling process on another throw-away brush, let dry, and it should retain the curls.

Note that PVA Glue has a really fast set time on paper, usually < 2 seconds, unless it is applied too heavily -- less is more, don't soak the paper with it. Once you press the two sides together, you have very little time to adjust, so alignment is crucial, before pressing together.

I agree: aluminum foil is a great idea. I need to use that on my next batch of flags: simpler, easier, more working time with the PVA Glue. Cheers!

Great work! Also great tips – thanks to all for sharing

Very nice work!

I usually run a bead of PVA on the "fly" edge of one side of the flag, then quickly and very carefully line up and glue together the two fly edges. Run a little glue at the hoist, then use the flagpole to distribute the glue. Then with the flagpole at its proper position at the "hoist," and the fly edges together, you can do waves and curls to your heart's content so long as you're reasonably quick about it.

But lining up the fly edges first is critical.