I notice my 3 D-celll maglight flashlight had a pretty powerfull beam the other night when I was shinning it into the sky. It was 4th of July, so the air maybe was a bit smokey. Maybe you could shine it through a lens or a pin hole cover to reduce the diameter.

I recall an experiment I did a long time ago where I shined a small 2 AA cell mini mag light through a $15 rifle scope to get a focused output.