Hello all!

So I am getting ready to finish up some Napoleonic British by doing the command strip, and I'd like to hear how people have fixed their flags. I bought the starter pack so I have flags for both the French and British. Since they're paper I don't want them ripped, so how do you keep that from happening? Do you use superglue to stick it together on the inside and to the flagpole, and then a coat of varnish to protect it, or maybe some sort of transpartent tape? My hope was to get a slight wavy touch to the flag, so it looks like there is a bit of wind, but not too strong. I want some more life to the flag than just make it stand straight out from the pole.

I appreciate any tips and advice on this! What seems to be the best method?

 I use UHU as my adhesive of choice. Cut out the flag and then fold it. Apply a thin layer of UHU on a little more than half of the reverse making sure there is glue on both sides of the fold. This is where the flag will attach to the pole. Attach the flag to the pole at the fold then carefully fold the two halves together. UHU will enable you to adjust the flag to get a good fit. At this scale folding can be quite tricky, so I use tweezers to help with this. Do this before the UHU dries, then leave it to dry thoroughly. Once completely dry carefully paint the edge of the flag in matchin colour. I do not find it necessary to varnish flags as the UHU sets hard.

I use white wood glue on my paper flags.

It takes a while to dry so you can bend the flags to your taste. But once dry it is sturdy.

I use tweezers to get a tight fit on the stave and then I use the butt end of a paintbrush to give it the wavy touch.

And of course touch up the white edges of the flag with a dash of paint where appropriate. 

I use white Elmer's glue. I cut the flag out, fold it in half, bend a couple of waves, open it back up and dabble a couple of drops on the flag making sure there is a drop in the crease, tack the flag together to spread the glue evenly, slip it over the flagpole, pinch the flag together using a toothpick and hobby knife. It dries pretty solid and stiff. Haven't had a chance to use them in the field yet, so I'm not sure how they'll stand up to long term use.

Here's how I do it.

1) Before putting any glue on, fold the flag to match up the edges and put a light crease to mark the line of the fold.

2) I use a white glue (PVA) watered down so that is about the consistency of milk.  Apply liberally with a brush to the whole of the reverse of the flag.  

3) Fold the flag matching up the edges, but leaving a 'sleeve' at the point of the fold so that it can be slipped over the pole.

4) Drop the flag (making sure it is the right way up - REALLY important!) on to the flag pole.

5) Squeeze the sides together firmly.  I use a pair of smooth narrow long nose pliers to do this.   This lets me get a really snug fit around the flag pole itself.

6) The flag will be quite flexible while the glue is wet and I use the aforementioned pliers to put folds and waves in place.

7) Once dry, tidy up the edges where the white shows through.

8) Job done!

So. as you can see Andreas, the methods are pretty similar, the main difference being the choice of adhesive. But you should always paint the white edges ater the flag is set.

Thank you for the tips, everyone! I'll be sure to try my luck in the coming weeks.

Considering the eagle on the French flagpoles I'll have to use different methods when doing French and British command strips, but since you've given me various methods I'll have no problem with it I'm sure.

Cheers!