How do we make large scale flags/banners?

[1969]

Well done Terry, a very good result I'd say
Cheers
Steve

 

[TERRYSOMME1916]

Hi Steve thanks for the thumbs up on this, if I had of used the Tomato puree tube that you put me onto I might have been able to get the pennant into tighter folds and therefor obtain my original idea but its all about sharing info and learning so thanks again for the tip.
TERRY

 

[1969]

No problem Terry, I am sure the Tomato puree foil will come in handy, it makes excellent belts and straps for scales up to about 75mm.
Steve

 

[theBaron]

That came out nicely, Terry, looks great!

Prost!
Brad

 

[captfue]

All great ideas, Here is what I used the last time I did a flag. I painted a thin layer of latex paint(3 to 5 coats) on a non stick surface, cut to size painted the flag details ie stars and stripes. When attached it layed in a natural shape. This works well for a flag not in a breeze or wind.

 

[jai]

Hi everyone just an update on where I am with the large scale flag issue, I tried using Green Stuff (yellow and blue strip type) but I found it difficult to work with and ended up with a flexible item when it was dry, I didn't like this (probably something to do with the way I mixed it and worked it) so I tried to use thin plastic card, I accurately marked the shape of the pennant onto the card and cut it with a scalpel and got an acceptable looking result.
The task ahead was to bend the this into shape so I firstly dipped it in boiling water which didn't work so I microwaved it (my wife thinks I am nuts) and this didn't work either so the only thing I gained from the plastic card was a good template to try things with so back to the drawing board.
Steve had posted that you could get thin foil from Mustard and Tomato puree tubes and he was spot on so I got myself a tube of Tesco tomato puree for .45p and squirted the contents into the kitchen sink (once again my wife thinks I am nuts) and ended up with something that I reckoned had a good chance of working however I had ordered a thin sheet of .30mm thick brass shim of Amazon and when it arrived I decided to give that a go first.
Using the same measurements that I had used to produce the Plastic card pennant/template I marked these onto the brass shim and carefully cut it out with scissors, this worked a treat so I then used emery paper to remove sharp edges and tidy up the general shape.
The next stage was to bend this into the desired shape so I started by curling the 4 tabs around the shaft of the lance and once I was happy with these I then bent the brass pennant into a rough shape using my fingers followed by smoothing the folds into nicer curves with different thicknesses of paint brush handles until I got the result that I was happy with.
The good thing about using this system is that you can bend the brass folds in and out a little and correct things that don't look just right and you end up with a rigid pennant that will not bend during painting, unfortunately the draw back is that because of its rigidity I could not bend the brass into the exact shape that I had originally planned which was a pennant hanging down with the tail ends wrapping around shaft of the lance and instead I had to settle for the pennant blowing in the wind but I have accepted this by telling myself it will be easier to paint.
The next step will be to secure the pennant to the lance and after that I will use Milliput to fill the joins where the tabs meet the body of the pennant, then it will be down to undercoating and painting and hopefully the use of brass wont cause any problems at this stage.
I will let you know how it goes.
TERRY

I think a decent job.
I believe that to do so as it was your initial idea
you had to create more parts with brass
Party attacked the rod bent into a U
then the three rolled around the rod tips
and connect the joints with putty
so that each part could fold it according to your wishes
I hope I was clear in my thinking

 

[TERRYSOMME1916]

Thanks again everyone, the ideas keep rolling in and if not used this time they will be useful on something else, just one thing I would like to mention about using brass on a resin figure is that when attaching the lance to the torso of the knight the weight of the brass wanted to lean the bust forward and to the left so firstly I had to drill the lance and insert two brass pins that will go into two holes in the torso to reduce the stress on the superglue and I also tend to use a chunky wood base with a threaded rod that travels from the bottom up through the base, through the brass tube and deep into the resin bust and is fastened with a nut and washer so this is already solid enough to take the weight, sorry about the quality of the picture.

 

[DaddyO]

Good grief Now I've got to do some standard bearers or lancers so I can try out some of the fabulous techniques that you chaps have come up with. (Just lovin' the brass/copper stuff; seems a shame to have to paint it)

Paul

 

[TERRYSOMME1916]

Hi Paul painting it will be the next hurdle, I with be starting a thread asking for advice on how to paint brass as it tends to oxidize so it will probably require some type of preparation before undercoating but I am sure with the introduction of etched brass detailing sets into modelling many years ago it gets painted regularly.
TERRY

 

[Alex]

clean brass with dishwasher soap
then abrade surface lightly with sandpaper to give it some tooth
prime as usual with your usual primer
paint !

as simple as that
next time, you can use copper as a substitute

 

[TERRYSOMME1916]

Hi Alex thanks for the tip, lucky for me I gave the brass the sandpaper treatment before I folded it into shape.
TERRY