LED's, Smoke, Fire and Explosions!!

[Nightmoss]

After my use of the battery powered tealights to simulate cannon broadsides I got to thinking about smoke, fires and specifically the explosion of the Orient at the Battle of the Nile. Using one of the damaged 1st Rates recently purchased from Keith and the tip from Gunner about Windy City Novelties I tried some blinking led light concepts out. The use of led's and tealights for game fire markers isn't new, but it's often in Warhammer or other land based games where you see this show up.

In any case I tried the idea on ships, but also went for a clip on blinky for one of the Wings of Glory minis I have on hand. See what you think. . . .Cheers!









[ATTACH=CONFIG]12640[/ATTACH

]

[Gunner]

Make sure you use that at conventions. If that doesn't draw attention to the game, nothing will. Bravo

[Nightmoss]

Make sure you use that at conventions. If that doesn't draw attention to the game, nothing will. Bravo

Thank you for the info. on Windy City blinky lights. They have a huge selection of LED stuff and shipping was super fast. Great fun looking at their online catalog too.

[7eat51]

Wow, Jim. Those are rather dramatic effects. I agree with Ed; they should draw attention. Well done, indeed.

I need to show Sue these. I foresee a few in our collection.

[Kentop]

Wow, the effect is amazing.So is your talent. Stuff like this is really inspiring. Thanks for posting the pics.

[DeRuyter]

Never fear I have already used the blinky LED lights at conventions and will do so again for Cold Wars in March. I do like the explosion/fire markers though.

[Devsdoc]

Jim,
It is always nice to bring out a wreck and swoop it for a banged-up ship (As long as it is not one of yours). To do so with one of yours! That is a nice way of hitting below the water-line.
Be unsafe
Rory

[7eat51]

I'll pick up some of these for Origins. I think they will be a nice addition to the games.

[Nightmoss]

Some of the members over on the Aerodrome asked if I'd write up a step by step tutorial on how to make the fire, flame and explosion markers for WoG. I did make an attempt, which may or may not be useful, but in the process I actually shot some video footage to give one a better idea of how the markers would look in live settings. This included the work I did on the Orient.

See below for the video. If you wish to ignore the fighter plane section skip to 0:52 seconds (or thereabouts) and you can see how the LEDs function on a burning Orient. Still a WIP, but it's getting closer to what I want for the game table. Oh, one more note this video was shot in near dark, so the footage is a bit grainy. Cheers!

[7eat51]

Nicely done, Jim. I look forward to reading your tutorial. I was hoping you would share some advice when I saw your handiwork earlier.

[Nightmoss]

A brief LED update. More information has been posted on the Aerodrome so I wont post too many photos here. Still waiting on some clip devices to hold the WoG flame markers in place, but those aren't necessary for converting SoG ships to burning wrecks.

First product comes from Party City. Nice self contained LED light with replaceable batteries.




Second product is from Windy City Novelties. Another self contained LED setup that gives off a nice constant amber glow when activated. These are a bit fiddly and could be a problem turning on, but they are very small and do give off a nice color to simulated the glow from a fire.



Two shots of the LED earring inside the Orient.




Because of the small size these LED earrings will work best inside ships for fire effects, but also they should work well for broadside firing? I'll test that out and see how long the batteries last.



Cheers!

[Nightmoss]

While I don't expect many folks will drill holes, remove masts and generally hack away at their SGN ships to create table wrecks I've put together some photos to show how I kit bashed the burning Orient (now joined by the burning Imperial).

Remove masts and prepare them for reinsertion into deck using small sewing pins. Also remove the boats.


A quick repaint of the sails, yards, etc., will improve the ships appearance before airbrush smoke covering.


Glue the ship to the clear plastic shield.


Drill a small pilot hole at the spot you'll insert the LED blinky lights.


Drill a pilot hole on the blue base as well. You can try to go through the ship to the base but it's quite likely you'll snap a drill if you do.


You must carefully increase the drills used so they don't bind up on the plastic. Eventually you can use a Dremel sanding bit to rough out a hole that's the diameter of your LED light.



Next I prepped the base with water effects. Because these ships won't be used in battle the ship cards don't need to show through and the water looks more realistic.


After that dries for 24 hours you can paint and dry brush as desired.


On to the fire and smoke. Basically get your favorite poly fiber fill, start with yellow paint dabbed on, move to red and then over spray with black. I wear vinyl gloves so you can work the paint into the fiber.




Spray grey or black paint lightly over the ship to increase the smoky appearance.


Using your preferred LED blinky (red/yellow, red/red or orange/orange) insert into base and ship hull. Some fine work with a blade or dremel bit may be needed. Use a piece of tape around the light which will hold it firmly in the base and ship. It also gives you something to grab on when removing the light.


Work the smoke marker down between the masts. The pins in the masts allow you to bend them as needed to hold the smoke in place. I don't glue the smoke permanently onto the ship. This frees up the smoke and the ships to be used in other situations. Because the LEDs are very light weight you can also turn one on and place it inside the cloud about mid height.



Final results are posted in another LED test I put up on YouTube. Many of the photos and the film footage were done in subdued light so the LEDs could be seen more readily, but they do stand out on their own in bright light. The ship on the left has the denser fiber fill. The LED blinking is more subdued, but the smoke effect is a bit more realistic. If you have any questions or comments don't hesitate to ask. Cheers!

[Devsdoc]

H! Jim,
As I know photos can be lost on this site. I lost all my threads on "How to" so I have down-loaded this thread for me to look at/use later. I hope this is O.K. if not I will delete, just say.
I think the 2nd light is too much and not needed. A little bit of damage to the hull may also add to your great model ships.
Be safe
Rory

[Nightmoss]

H! Jim,
As I know photos can be lost on this site. I lost all my threads on "How to" so I have down-loaded this thread for me to look at/use later. I hope this is O.K. if not I will delete, just say.
I think the 2nd light is too much and not needed. A little bit of damage to the hull may also add to your great model ships.
Be safe
Rory

Thanks Rory. I post stuff up here for folks to view, use or reuse as they like. Feel free to download whatever you'd like. I agree the second blinky might be overkill as it detracts from the 'fire' on deck. Thanks for the suggestion on adding more damage to the ship as well. I recall your work and photo of a ship with sail remnants, rigging and flotsam hanging off the ship. I will try something along those lines to add to the damage realism.

[Devsdoc]

Jim,
Here are my four wrecks. They are British, French, Russian and Swedish. I do not think they are good enough to help you. the ideas are O.K. The Russian one is pants. I over did it. It is not the best, but I keep it as reminder of not over doing this. Less is more.
British

French

Russian

Swedish

Ship Graveyard

The first 2 are some of the first ships I made.
Be safe
Rory

[Nightmoss]

Rory, I like your wrecks a lot. My favorite is the Swedish. I tried to include some of your ideas in a ship I'm using in the near future, but I didn't do very much to the hull. I'm worried if I start digging into that I'll get too carried away? Thanks for sharing your photos!

[Comte de Brueys]

Nice project, Jim.

This blowing up Orient looks great...

[Gunner]

Thanks for the tutorial Jim. I never thought about using small sewing pins to re-mast damaged ships. That's a great idea which I'll use in the future.

[Gunner]

Rory, no one can wreck a ship like you. I especially like the sinking Russian.

[7eat51]

Jim, what an attraction those would be at a con. I can imagine setting up a game with such a ship in the middle of the table an hour before game time. I think it would generate discussion, for sure.

Thank you for the tutorial.

[Volunteer]

Jim, donn't know how I missed this thread. The video links appear to be gone now. Can you perhaps recall the titles so I can search them on youtube direct? Ed gave me one of these blinky lights a while back and it never fails to elicit positive comments.
regards,
Vol

[Nightmoss]

Jim, donn't know how I missed this thread. The video links appear to be gone now. Can you perhaps recall the titles so I can search them on youtube direct? Ed gave me one of these blinky lights a while back and it never fails to elicit positive comments.
regards,
Vol

Sure thing. One is called "Sails of Glory LED Fire and Smoke Test". The first one posted is "Fire, flames and explosions using LED's".
If they don't show up I'll relink the videos here.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5d4O2uv6mXk

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rX25rulG7Ms

[Bligh]

Really like those effects Jim.
I now have something to do with the extra blinky lights left over when I got a pack for fires with my Aircraft.
Rob.

[Nightmoss]

Just dropped in to post some photos of a new way to simulate ships on fire. I have had some issues with the 'blinky light' batteries not performing consistently so I tried using some more reliable battery powered tea lights. The process required a lot of bashing and trimming of the ship and certainly would not work on ships smaller than the Orient. If I had more talent with electronics I could easily see wiring the ship bases without the extra plastic housing, etc. Battery and wired could easily be shifted and the LED's moved elsewhere on the ships. Photos and a very brief video contained below.

[Bligh]

Superb work as usual Jim. It is great that you are still keeping an eye on the Anchorage.
I am playing around with the electronics for an upgrade myself. Doing another Orient for myself and a frigate and 74.
Sven was over the moon with the one you sent for the Nile at Doncaster, and we sent him home with it hoping he would not get stopped at Customs with an electrical ship.
Thanks again for producing it for us.
Rob.

[Volunteer]

Awesome update Jim! Now if only you could figure a way to apply this to a rigged ship?

[Cmmdre]

An eye catcher for sure Jim. My daughter was across the room and glanced at the computer screen when this image was up and asked why someone was burning their SoG ship.

[Bligh]

Are those earing's still available from anywhere Jim/
Rob.

[Nightmoss]

Are those earing's still available from anywhere Jim/
Rob.

Rob, I believe there are a number of these earrings, or a variation of them, listed on Amazon.

https://www.amazon.com/s/?ie=UTF8&ke...l_6ho6blddc3_e

Also, while I probably wont have time to take up Vol's challenge of LED lighting a fully rigged shipped I did some investigating and found this site that sells pre configured sets of even smaller LEDs that could be inserted into a ship. What I would envision is hollowing out HMS Victory, or any of the large rates, and drilling some holes in the stern gallery windows and/or the deck grates so you could show ships running at night? Fire ships is also an option.

Here's the site.

https://www.modeltrainsoftware.com/lightsforminis.html

You'll see that some chip, nano and pico LED's are exceptionally small and without too much effort could be installed in ships, smoke clouds and fire clouds to increase the immersion of some battles. You could also insert these into forts, cities, etc. Endless possibilities.

https://www.modeltrainsoftware.com/smd-chip-leds.html

Cheers!

[Bligh]

Cheers Jim.
I just got a pair of the orange ones on Amazon U.K. for £2.99. You can't buy the components at Maplins for that price.

Rob.

[Killick]

Great work by all of you and ideas. I could not do this myself but I have a mate who can and would be inspired by a project like this. Thanks All.

[Bligh]

I should soon be in a position to evaluate several different methods of achieving the required results to achieve the best results fot smoke and fire. When the ear rings arrive I will have four different set ups with which to experiment.
Rob.