How to make flame / smoke hit markers
Everything you will need:
To make these markers I used the following items:
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Thin wire (something that is easy to bend by hand) or paper clips.
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Woodland Scenics Clump foliage - color is not important
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Various colored paints - Red, Orange, White, Yellow, Black, and Grey. Inexpensive craft paints work fine.
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Recommend black spray paint but can do with a brush
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A hot glue gun, PVA (clear) glue and scrap plastic.
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Some sort of metal base. I used dime sized metal slugs I had on hand. You want some weight at the base, so they don’t fall over. I also used a plastic hex flight stand to add both weight and stability – will explain more at the end.
Construction Steps:
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Bend wire as pictured. Hot glue into metal base.
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Thread clump foliage onto the wire.
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Add additional flock to base and top using hot glue or PVA. Super Glue is much faster but can get messy for the fingers.
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Keep adding flock until you get the shape you want. Ensure you cover all the wire, and the slug base sides. You can trim pieces off after you get your rough shape.
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Once dried, in a container that is at least the height of the marker, add a generous quantity of clear PVA (suppose you can use white – I just had clear) and warm water. I think I ended up around 30 PVA / 70 water. Add some cheap black craft acrylic paint. Mix.
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Dip the entire marker into the mixture, remove stand upright and allow to COMPLETELY dry. This can take a good 15 to 24 hrs.
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The clump will now have shrunk a bit and will be rather firm.
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If you are not happy with the black coverage from the dip, give it a spray coat of black.
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This is the perfect surface for dry brushing highlights.
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Use the reds, oranges, and yellows to show the flame areas. Use blacks and greys to tone down & add shadow.
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You can also clear coat flat or satin if you want.
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Then clean up the bottom of the slug base and glue it to the plastic flight stand. This is why it is good to ensure you have covered the sides of the metal slug.
Now you have some fun hit markers:
