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Explosion Effects

Explosion Effects

 

Newcomer to the Fighting 1:18th, member Zipidi Doodah gives us a grand showing right out of the gate. We’re always looking for new ways to jazz up our pictures and dioramas, and have seen and/or created many tutorials to help with blood spatter, gunfire, fire and smoke effects, etc. And today, here we have an explosion effect tutorial. The pleasant surprise of this, however, is that we have NO photo editing involved in it’s creation! That’s right, boys and girls. These effects aren’t photoshopped images, they are real, crafted and lighted creations to be inserted directly into the scene.

 

Check out the video below, as well as a short written tutorial on how things are done, and a few pictures that should give us an idea of what we can do if we try it for ourselves!

For the explosion effect, you’ll need:
Chicken wire
Polyfiber fill material ( found at Walmart, in the craft section, in a pillow shaped bag. This works well for smoke too, when lightly painted black.)
Spray paints (yellow, orange, red and black)
Light bulb ( for inside your house, 13w fluorescent bulb is fine. BEWARE OF FIRE, AS THIS WILL GET HOT!)
Lightbulb adapter ($1 at Walmart. One end plugs into an extension cord, the other end receives the light bulb.)
An extension cord

Cut 2 sections of chicken wire. Leave prongs sticking out, as tabs to connect everything together. One 12″ x 4″ (this will be the base. It’s a rectangle shape now. Make it into a tube by connecting the ends. The other piece needed will be for the top of this mushroom cloud shaped frame, so cut the other piece around 16″ square, and shape into a mildly flattened ball (not exactly round).

Join the tube shaped base to the mushroom shaped head, using the prongs as bendable tabs.

Pack each hole lightly in the exterior of the frame using the polyfill material (it’s like cotton), until the entire frame is filled.

Paint in this order:
Yellow
Orange
Red
Then, paint the tips black(where the polyfill pokes out the most)

Now, put a light under it and enjoy.

THE LIGHT WILL GET HOT, SO DON’T LEAVE ON LONG OR UNATTENDED.

USE PARENTAL SUPERVISION.

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks, Zipidi, for sharing this tutorial and your examples here with us at The Fighting 1:18th! Click HERE to join in on the discussion, and click HERE to see his Hoth dio with more examples of this technique!

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About Ian Walker

Just a stay at home dad, part time internet troll, and amateur photographer, with delusions of grandeur and a love for 1:18th scale toys.

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