Smoke Plumes and Wrecked Vehicles

I've been wanting for a while to make terrain that adds character and story to a battlefield, something that gives the feeling of a battle in motion.  Burning fires and the smoke from exploding ordanance or mines stick in my mind as something I'd like to try representing.  The smoke plume from a burnt out vehicle especially as all to often a tank is destoryed and removed with little or no evidence it was even on the field to begin with.

There are two types of feature i'm interested in then, small scale plumes from a single explosion or 'burst' and longer, ongoing fire effects.

Starting with the former I used tree foliage flock (I used autum folliage of reds and orrange so the red could show through), several strips of wire, a small coin (a penny) and a round base.  the wire strips were cut to around 20cm in length.  Double the strips back on each other and wrap them round eachother to make a shape about 10cm in height.  One end coil into a stand and glue onto the coin using supper glue or hobby tack (I used PVA which works too).  Glue the coin onto the round base and leave to set dry.  for more stability you can lump modelling putty over the top of it all to set the wire in.  Top tip is to absolutley make sure its all set before moving on, if it somes off the base its a pain to reattach latter.

Liberally spread PVA along the entangled wire and attach small clumps of folliage.  A good technique is to take a strip of folliage and wrap it arround the wire, working your way up untill the whole thing is covered.  Keep pressing it all tight against the wire and add more to any sections showing.

Once dry use black spray paint and aim downwards, not hoping to cover it all but covering the top and side surfaces leaving the underside (reds) free to show through.

The second kind of plume is an ongoing fire like that from a burning vehicle.  I found a guide online suggesting using LED tealights and pillow stuffing.  Both are available at hobbycraft in the UK for about £2 each.

To build takes less than a minute but does need a glue gun.  Run the glue around the sides and tip of the tealight.  Grab a handfull of the stuffing and shape into a column or plume.  Force the plume into the glue and add glue to compress or shape it till yo have a natural, near vertile plume of smoke.  Again, spray with black plaint from verticle focussing on the top of the plume leaving the base more white and clear.  Once dry simply place on the wreched vehicle and turn the light on.

Bloodied but unbowed the Crimson Fists 1st company continue to advance

The Razorbacks explode under focused fire from mortar and artillery

1st Company Veteran strides through the remains of his transport shrugging of ordanance as he advances

By making larger or smaller blumes you can represent wrecked sponsons or add a collection directly onto the field to show a dangerous terrain minefield or just burning wreckage from earlier in the battle.  Makes a good scenic backdrop and will have to see how it works in game