I am building a camping scene. I need to add a campfire to the scene. how do you make the fire?
thanks
If you’re even moderately handy with a soldering iron, you can get flashing light emitting diodes from Radio Shack for a couple bucks a piece and hook them up to a battery and switch. I’d use wax paper or maybe red celophane to make the flame, then light it from below with one steady and one or two blinking lights. If you need LEDs that are smaller than the flashing ones (which are rather large), you can wire them in series to the small ones in the fire. I’ve made fires in various sized this way for a few dollars, including a “full sized” one for my pre-teen sons to “camp” around in our rec room! Good luck!
Here’s a simple and almost free method.
Model a small pile of logs, sticks or whatever you want. Paint a small light bulb orange and mount it beneath the logs. The bulb needs to put out a little heat, so don’t use an LED. Cut small strips of orange cellophane equal to the size of scale flames, some longer than others, and glue them around the fire logs.
The heat rising from the bulbs should be enough to make the cellophane strips rise vertically and flutter back and forth, which, combined with the glow from the bulb, will create a flickering fire effect.
If the bulb heat is not enough, you could mount a small ($1.00 or so) fan under the surface.
Good luck.
- Harry