Pendraken Miniatures Forum

Wider Wargaming => Painting & Modelling => Topic started by: ingw0 on 21 April 2023, 09:53:12 AM

Title: 10mm optimum flag sizes?
Post by: ingw0 on 21 April 2023, 09:53:12 AM
'Morning, all,

Apologies if this is the wrong sub for this; it was the closest and most relevant I could find on first glance!

What I'm wondering is this: I'm in the process of making up some flags for an imagi-nations project, but have no idea what sort of size I'll need. I know that flagpoles on Pendraken minis generally hover somewhere around the 9mm mark (do correct me if I'm wrong!) but I've no idea what sort of 'clearance' is needed for the middle, 'wraparound' portion of the flag.

Can anyone advise?  :-\
Title: Re: 10mm optimum flag sizes?
Post by: mmcv on 21 April 2023, 01:33:53 PM
The poles are pretty thin, I usually do my flags 20x10mm and fold round, there's maybe a mm of clearance round the pole. Are you painting or printing the flags?
Title: Re: 10mm optimum flag sizes?
Post by: fsn on 21 April 2023, 04:15:57 PM
Poles are pretty thin. Pendraken provided flags have about 2mm for the wrap around the pole.

As to how big your flags would be ... well it depends on how big the "real" flag were. An 80x80cm flag would be about 5-6 mm square.  A British colour of 6'6"" x 6' would be approx 13mm x 12mm.

Good luck.
Title: Re: 10mm optimum flag sizes?
Post by: John Cook on 21 April 2023, 05:11:52 PM
I find that cast-on staffs are too thick, so I remove them and replace them with .5mm brass rod.  I have found, though, that even that is too thick to wrap a flag around.  I print my own flags, using scanned commercial ones as a master or downloaded from one of the sites on-line.  I fold the flag and glue it with pva glue and shape it while it is still damp.  I then super-glue it to the staff along the fold. When dry I super-glue the finished flag to the figure, let it set and add any tassels or cravats.  Finally, I paint the staff and edges of the flag to match the flag colour.  As for flag sizes, that depends on the nationality and era.  With a imagination project you can please yourself I think.  A 9-10mm staff would seem about right for your purposes. 
Title: Re: 10mm optimum flag sizes?
Post by: mollinary on 21 April 2023, 07:01:23 PM
I would advise at least 2mm for the central section which wraps around the pole. However, I am not sure all of Pendraken's poles are the same size, so perhaps Leon could advise on the particular ones you plan to use? 
Title: Re: 10mm optimum flag sizes?
Post by: Federico on 21 April 2023, 07:27:24 PM
Quote from: John Cook on 21 April 2023, 05:11:52 PMI find that cast-on staffs are too thick, so I remove them and replace them with .5mm brass rod.  I have found, though, that even that is too thick to wrap a flag around.  I print my own flags, using scanned commercial ones as a master or downloaded from one of the sites on-line.  I fold the flag and glue it with pva glue and shape it while it is still damp.  I then super-glue it to the staff along the fold. When dry I super-glue the finished flag to the figure, let it set and add any tassels or cravats.  Finally, I paint the staff and edges of the flag to match the flag colour.  As for flag sizes, that depends on the nationality and era.  With a imagination project you can please yourself I think.  A 9-10mm staff would seem about right for your purposes. 

This is the way
Title: Re: 10mm optimum flag sizes?
Post by: Leon on 24 April 2023, 12:43:44 AM
We scale our flags to around 11-12mm width for the flag itself, which would be a real-world size of 6ft-ish.  Obviously some flags were a lot smaller than that but we find most folks prefer them to be a bit bigger on the table.

I've checked some of the designs and the flag pole section is about 3.5mm on the ones I've measured. 
Title: Re: 10mm optimum flag sizes?
Post by: ingw0 on 25 April 2023, 04:13:14 PM
Thanks a million for all the helpful replies and suggestions, chums! Really appreciate the help. I'm thinking I'll probably go for the mid-point clearance of 3-3.5mm as you suggest, Leon. I'll post some photos soon to let you know how I get on.

Now: down to the print shop to get these printed out!