Adding realism to the battlefield - a cheap and effective tutorial for wrecked vehicles

Hi folks,

Quick post as I realise the blog has been neglected of late - trust me that when the SM codex hits next month amends will be made.

I can't take credit for this idea as I came across it at a recent tournament and was amazed by its simplicity and effectiveness. Credit to the chaps who told me about it and to the those who told them etc....

The idea is simple. When that last hull point is knocked off and your vehicle becomes a wreck, some people simply put a counter on them, others flip the model over or remove the turret. Here's a much more inventive and awesome looking way to do it. First, get yourselves some of these:

I first discovered these little gems when a few appeared in our living room courtesy of my wife, as these things tend to. They are battery-operated mock tealights, with a fake rubber tip that resembles a flame and a simple on/off switch beneath. It doesn't come across in the above photos but the flame actually flickers. You can get them as cheap as 4 for £1 if you know the right places. (Search for flicker tea lights) You can also get various colour tips, but for this purpose I've used orange. Next, you'll need a little PVA glue, a roll of cotton wool and some black spray to create this:

All you need to do is tear off a sizable piece of cotton wool and make an impression about the size of the tea-light in one end. Apply PVA to the round edge of the tea light and attach the cotton wool so the tea-light is hidden when sat on its base. Lastly, give the cotton wool a light spray with black spray paint to simulate smoke. Then, when you switch the tea-light on it should give an effect like a burning fire. Takes about a minute to make hence you can batch prep them pretty quick:

 So, as soon as you have a wrecked vehicle you can pop one of these on top like so:

As mentioned, the stills don't really show the effect so I uploaded my first blog video to show the effect off better:

Hope people have found this useful.

Cheers.