hey, now who here can tell me how to make fire ?, i have seen many screwed up mistakes on the net, but i want it to look real, or near to it!, someone on herre must know how, i am thinking of using clear resin and making it all firing looking, then apply clear yellow and smoke (tamiya stuff), then drill a small hole in the centre of the mold/ creation O mine and put a small light in it that will make it light up!, the kind that you use for x-mas trees that get brighter and brighter then dye down and do the process over again.

While using clear resin and light certainly works, If the fire is made from opaque medium it can also be very dramatic.

Here's a good way to create fire effect with opaque "fire".





These dios are by Victoria Lamb.

I have not try this myself but certainly would give it a shot someday.

WC

Those photos are one of the better replication of fire although i can see that the lighting in the photo played a big part in enhancing it. Would really like to see it in a brightly lit room.

I personally think clear resin will probably be your best bet. I have seen modellers use cotton which dont really work IMHO.

I agree with Jazza

Creating realistic looking fire is difficult especialy if you try to include smoke.

Clear resin painted with the approriate opaque paints may work though.

If you do have any success it would be interesting to see some pics


Ian

For the Burn Baby Burn Campaing I too gave fire and smoke a try (what else can you do with such a campaing-title )
Here it is:
https://armorama.kitmaker.net/forums/60280&page=1

Good luck with yours
Mark

Monroe Perdu has a very convincing fiber optic device for just this purpose. Check out there website.

Aluminum foil is another idea, on a larger scale it (pirates of the caribean) it actually looks pretty realistic it might be worth experimenting with, what kind of fire are you wanting to show, open flaming, smoldering, a fire ball? grass, fuel? it makes a difference.

I am not sure about making fire, but the photos of the Warhammer 40k Orc getting roasted is awesome looking. I would venture to guess that it was done for the Golden Demon competition.

Those are two of the most realistic pieces of fire I have seen.

I think a big addition is the ability of the builder to use 'darkness' to help portray the light cast from the fire. If these were broad daylight (in a tank diorama) it would be difficult to pull off the light cast affect.

I these are as close as you can get in daylight conditions. Sam Garcia explains how he did this over at Digital Dioramas.

Patrick

Great ideas on the fire. I would suggest *not* using a "christmas tree" type bulb (way too large IMHO). Try lighting options you might find in the model railroad area. Those lights are smaller and probably come in different colors. A couple of different colors might give you a different effect.

Here is my attempt

I used the cotton ball with an air brush to paint in the shades. After it was painted I glued in place and pulled on the cotton to stretch it into the shape that I wanted.

Nice! I like the heat effect on the metal of the tanker. Looks damn real.

No guarantee here, but I have been playing with neon colors and expanded foam for fires and smoke.

Look at a fire. You see the white, yellow, orange, red. Try the neon or fluorescent colors to give that "sparkle".

If you want to use a light inside, try heavy solids gloss medium, or even the Woodland Scenics water product that holds its shape. You can add some color or even colors with several different applications. I think that there are even flickering bulbs available for model railroading.

For an explosion or large gun shot, I have been playing with the foam that you shoot out of a can for insulation. Then paint the whole thing the lightest color and work out to the smoke black. If it works, show us, as I have not been satisfied yey, but I think I'm getting close.

Sealhead

i guess the whole point of the original post about doing opaque fire is more about painting in the lighting effects of fire onto the surrounding objects as opposed to having an actual light source in the scene...
and it's not just painting in the light effect of the fire but also a lot about choosing the right colors - balancing cool colors versus warm colors...

his technique goes into the realms of artistic painting on canvas...

i believe that is what made the first images in thread look more effective than the following ones (usmc with flame thrower, burning tanker)

I’m not sure if this will work for bigger flames but on this one I used clear silicone-kit (bathroom style) to form the flames, with a yellow/orange light bulb lighting it from below it look pretty convincing (if I say so myself) the smoke I would do with a little smoke generator (and not the cotton I used on this vignette)
Maybe for bigger flames one should indeed use clear resin or a combination of resin and silicones?

Important is (I think) that the flames are somewhat transparent and not solid.




Could luck!
Mark