Parts
Visit your local hobby store and get your supplies. You will need some brass tubing 1/8 inch or so and some music wire that fits inside the tubing without being tight - close but not tight. Find a short piece of wire or something hard that fits tight inside the tubing and buy an inch or so in length for each flag. The idea is to have a wire that turns easily inside the tubing and rests against the tight fitting thingy. Using the proportions in the picture, get some sheet balsa wood that is a little thicker than the tubing diameter and at least as wide as the desired length of the flag. Using the 6 inch length, a sheet of balsa 8 inches by 2 inches would make 2 flags if cut properly (see cutting idea).
Choose the colors and get some spray paint along with some 5 minute epoxy, 1/4 diameter wooden dowel rods and masking tape from a discount store.
TOOLS
You really need a hobby knife, a hacksaw, a fine file or stone and a pair of diagonal pliers.
Assembly
First cut the balsa to the desired size and lay it aside. Using the 6 inch proportion as a guideline for these directions, cut a 2 inch piece of tubing and ream the ugly ends with your pocket knife. Clean up the outside with a small file if you want to. Now, cut an inch length of the "tight fitting" wire and file or stone the ends square and smooth. Slide the 1 inch wire into the 2 inch tube until the ends are flush and crimp the 2 together with the diagonal pliers. Make several crimps in each if you think you need to but be careful not to bend the tube. Make one of these for each flag.
Draw a line down the center of the flag and use the hobby knife to cut, scrape and gouge a slot for the tube assembly you just made so that 1 inch of the tube is into the flag and 1 inch out (like the picture). If you think you need to drill the flag please do. Epoxy the tube into the balsa and get it straight. When the epoxy sets, paint the flags. If you chose balsa over the coroplast material you should seal the wood before painting.
Cut the wooden dowel rods into lengths of about 4 inches and use your ingenuity to make a hole in the one end of each about the same size as the "loose fitting" wire - make it a half inch deep. Cut the wire into 2 inch lengths and epoxy it straight into the holes. Be sure you leave enough wire sticking out to hit the stop in the tube with a little left over. You can straighten it with your thumb if you make one crooked. When the epoxy sets, file a sharp point on the end of the wire. If you intend to use music stands or stands with similar tubing, use the masking tape to wrap the dowel rod so that it will not fall into the tube (make a stop). You can also wrap the end that sticks into the stand a few times to take out the play where the dowel doesn't fit tightly.
USE
Stick the dowel rod / pointed wire thing into your stand and slip the flag tube down over the wire. Attach a streamer to the flag and you are in business. Balance the flag by epoxying lead to the top of the pointed end if you think it helps. Good Shooting.
