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Fire fighting effects


chrgr440rt

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Evening all,

Has anyone ever done a diorama/vignette with fire fighting effects? I’m trying to do a crashed Bristol Blenheim with one engine on fire and fire fighters battling it. I’ve got the flames done and I think they look pretty good, but I’m struggling with two items.
1-how to model the water/foam being sprayed from the hose over the engine and wing. I’ve thought about using minimal expanding spray foam insulation or silicone caulk, but haven’t done proof of concepts yet.
2-finding good 1/72 RAF fire fighters. I’ve looked at model railroad scale fire fighters but they all seem to be civilian and not really well done. Also I’ve gone cross eyed looking at Shapeways to see if anyone has uploaded anything of use.

Any suggestions?
Thanks,
Mike

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First of all, welcome to the Forums Michael. I'm glad to see you here.

Personally, I've never done anything like this before, but I do know someone who has. I'll try to recall how he did things as he explained them to me.

If I recall, he used white caulk by DAP for the hose spray. Starting with a thin wire arcing across from the hose to the wing, you simply add the caulk around it and; using a brush, form it with quick strokes as if it is water spraying toward the wing. On the wing itself, use a combination of clear and white caulk to add ripples and spray coming off the wing and/or dripping down from it. The clear will look like liquid as it sits on top of and sheets down from the wing.

 

As for firefighters in 1/72 scale; I haven't seen any to speak of. You may need to sculpt some, or modify them somehow. I wish I could help more, but that is all I know. Hopefully someone more knowledgeable and experienced can chime in soon.

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Mark,

Thanks a bunch.  Glad to be back.  I used to be on here quite a bit about 10 years ago and then let my membership lapse.

I was thinking about how you described.  I made the flames similarly with multiple thin strands of wire and use clear caulk to make the flames.  Because I didn't need the structure I pulled the wires out and painted the flames with clear colors to give it some translucence.  I wasn't sure if there was an easier way to do a long stream of water.  

Thanks again.


Mike

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  • 2 weeks later...

Mike,

What about using clear sprue for the water stream from the hose to the point of its impact?  Using a piece thin enough then maybe adding some clear caulk to that for more volume to it.

You might looking at some of the ship guys for how they do sprays with cotton tufts for wakes to make your water bouncing off the  engine cowling.

Just some ideas.

Bill   

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  • 2 weeks later...

For the foam out of the hose you could use clear caulking like whats done when making waterfalls on train layouts. Just don't flatten it. Lay out clear caulking on a piece of clear kitchen wrap. Measure out the distance and just run a bead that long. When dry you can peel it off the clear wrap.  It should be flexible enuff to make it mimic water out of a fire hose.

For the foam on the ground you could take some 2 part epoxy like Aves or Magic Sculpt, mix the two parts, and with a wide paint brush and water smooth out the epoxy until you like it. As long as you keep the stuff wet you'll be able to work with it.  It'll air dry over a few hours when you're done getting it as you like.

Don't know what to say re: the firefighters. But with the Aves you could always customize some figures that may be "close."   HTH

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  • 10 months later...

The only firefighters I know of come in the Airfix RAF Emergency set.

http://www.plasticsoldierreview.com/ShowFeature.aspx?id=63

There is one guy in full gear but he is just standing.  There is another manning a hose and one with a fire extinguisher.  

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