KABOOM!: My vehicle explosive effects

There's nothing quite like an impending game to get the production line kicked into fifth gear. Whilst my blogs may have been dormant over the last two months, my activities at the painting table have been progressing as fast as life allows. In fact, I've run several builds concurrently one of which has been these explosion markers.

I've done such things before of course and always as a last minute after-thought with the usual less-than preferable results. I've been studying other people's efforts over the past several years and a firm idea had been percolating about how I wanted to represent vehicles hit in my Rapid Fire 20mm wargames. Finally, the time came for me to manifest these concepts.

If you haven't guessed, I have long been inspired by the Commando and Battle comic books and was after a three dimensional version of the wonderful blast illustrations which dazzled my young mind. I couldn't be bothered with the LED solution I've seen put to great effect - too much fiddling about and not at all sure about their impact in daylight.

I've mucked about with washers for basing these sorts of things in the past and they never look right balancing on my models so instead I decided to drill holes in my vehicles (yep ... sounds mad) to receive the wire pin I built my explosions around instead. In the end, a 1.25mm hole will not be noticed and my effects will look much better grafted onto the superstructure of the model - at least this was my thinking and my approach.

Years back I made a series of aerial shrapnel bursts with pretty good results (all since perished) so I knew how to start them. I took a cork, cut a length of 1.25mm steel wire and drove it into the cork with some flat-nosed pliers. I curled the top end into a small loop through which I threaded three thinner wire strands which I twisted over each other to form a tree like armature.

I then used some two part epoxy putty (old hardware product I had lying around for years) which was fast setting. I made a ball of the stuff and molded it into the centre of one of the wire armature until it looked like a misshapen Sputnik with the wires sticking out from the middle. I then repeated the process except for the two burning plume markers (as opposed to blasts) which were just two wires twisting around each other skywards.

When set, I took to them with Selleys Liquid Nails (the new clear formula adhesive) covering the whole structure and then teased it with a toothpick. When applying this glue to the wires I stuck the wires down into the tube of glue itself as far as they would go - generally right down till the nozzle hit the putty ball. This makes for jets streaking out from the centre when it set - at least in my mind.

This stuff sets pretty quickly. I then went back to each with more carefully applied Liquid Nails and stuck on bits of clump foliage. I've seen plenty of effects made from clump foliage  and whilst I think it can make great flame effects and ground explosions, I've never been that convinced it passes for smoke.

I then went back over the whole set with various sized balls of cotton wool which I pinched and rolled into smaller and varied sizes. I stuck the larger ones on the ends of my wire spikes (outermost) using Liquid Nails and then fixed decreasing sized balls all over them - even joining plumes together at times. When sticking the cotton I used spray adhesive, applied at close range.

I then gave each model two good coats of spray varnish. By this time they had a fairly firm composition but if they are going to last, I needed them to be more robust. I took each one in hand by the cork base and spray soaked them with diluted isopropyl alcohol  before hitting them with a thorough spray of 3:1 diluted PVA white glue.

Once dry and set, I sprayed them with black primer before brush painting them. I started with the reds, went to orange then a warm yellow - working toward the centre of the blast with each application. I intensified the yellow with a starker yellow and even some white stippling for the most intensive flame origins. I then dry-brushed the undersides of the cotton balls with a wide soft brush in a mid/light grey where I imagined the smoke caught the light from the flames - being sure to leave the tops and recesses black. 

Obviously these blasts are all violent explosion or flame markers just after the moment of impact. It could even be argued they are over-the-top. I will be making some more subdued burning markers. In the past I have used smoke effects for light, medium and KIA in Rapid Fire with different shades - from white to black. Now I think I will either use a token for light and medium damage or just make a note on the play sheet. These are all definitely fatal hits.

I can confirm that the 1.25mm holes I drilled into my models are barely noticeable. When drilling, ensure that the hole continues into the base of the model itself and that the pins the smoke markers are built on are long enough to pass through the superstructure and into the base of your model - anchoring the wire at two points. For the taller plumes of smoke this is particularly important to keep the effect where you want it and not to allow it to tilt or topple over.

This is just the tip of the spear when it comes to WW2 wargame effects. I will need artillery ground effects (more clump foliage) and smoke - maybe even some flak. But that will have to wait. I'm fairly pleased with these results and it's nice to see my ideas being realised.