geedubelyer

Here's a link for a tutorial I made a couple of years ago.
 
https://mpminiatures.wordpress.com/2021/06/21/how-i-photograph-scale-models/
 
If you find that it is not clear in any part of it, please give me that feedback so I can improve it and make it as clear as possible.
 
I hope you find it useful.
 
Cheers
 
 

We've moved a fair distance round the sun since the last update, so probably time to shows some signs that this project is still going - in and around the other cares of life!
 
Derek - that's extremely kind of you - thank-you!
 
Thank you sir  I think a certain absence of sanity is certainly required - that and not knowing in advance what you've let yourself in for!!
Dead decent of you to say that. Thanks.
 
It's my earnest contention that if someone can draw even half-decently with pencil & paper, they can produce this kind of work themselves. It's also great the way these tools can add variety and excitement to this hobby.
 

 
Seriously Anthony - you don't.
You'll just get funny looks when you're out in public like me....
 
Ta Kev.
Thanks Ivan and yes - as you can see below work is still happening.
Happy to sell you a kit when things are ready - can you PM me as to which scale you'd like? (It'll be available in 1/24 and 1/32 scales).
Thanks Håkan! 
 
The short version is the sheer number of CAD components awaiting realization in physical form got somewhat out of hand in that I'd begun to forget what was what, so I sat down and over the last couple of months have been outputting, supporting and test-printing these various parts.
 
I managed to crack the glass on my 3d printer which slowed things down waiting for the  replacement glass to arrive and fitting it. Working out what parts - for reasons of fragility and material strength - would need producing in the (much) stronger Hard Tough resin from eSun which you'd seen me use previously (the black stuff), and which would be happy using just Elegoo's 8k Space grey or Standard Grey resins took up most of the time since the last update. The only sure way to work which needed the tougher resin was to print them in standard grey and see which bits (thankfully not that many) failed or were not strong enough to survive handling/assembly. 
 
These are the successful results of this process:

 - and to dispel any notion that over time you get good enough for anything but single parts here and there to print successfully first time, here is a selection from the 'boneyard' of prints which failed either due to inadequate orientation and/or support design, or the standard resin lacking structural strength for very thin regions on a part:

I'd shown the design for the rear wall of the cabin on here before but have since revised the design of it in Fusion so that the angled rear-window panels on either side of the central panel integrated are now into the one part:

This should make assembly easier in term of keeping them at the correct angle to support the vacformed roof transparencies:

All surface details remain present in the 1/32 version below as well; my guesses about minimum feature size in the 1/24 version that will survive scaling down seem to be holding up pretty consistently across the model so far:

The doors too are now finalized in physical form, both front:

 - and rear sets:

Similarly, I haven't found any detail absent from the 1/32 versions:

One of the door pillars at 1/24.o The lozenge shaped feature is for the naviagation light which will be printed separately using AnyCubic's High Clear resin and tinted:

The sliding windows for pilot/obervers had their frames printed using eSun Hard Tough resin as they were too thin for the 8k resin:

Again the 1/32 version of these also survived reduction ins scale and printed as well. Amongst a number of other components that turned out to need reproduction using the black eSun resin for strength were the jury struts onto which the floation gear attaches as the front:

On the 1/24 version shown here you can see from the translucency down the sides just how thin the edges of that I-beam shape are. The translucency eviudent below also indicated how thin the walls of the recess which the float gear struts fit into are. This necessitated adding a small reinforcing panel inside of there on either side:

The 1/32 version worked fine:

The walls of the strut recesses were so terribly thin at 1/32 though that I could only have holes for the flotation gear struts themselves to mount into, leaving just a visual suggestion of the shape of the recess itself:

The driveshafts from main to reduction gearboxes were also done up in black stuff as they'll aid support and alignment the entire engine/gearbox asssembly when it sits on the egnine deck later on:

The rear cabin framing at 1/24:

 - and at 1/32. Both self-evidently neededthe stronger resin to avoid breakage during kit assembly:

I wasn't sure if the door handles (on the right end) would work at 1/24 but they did:

More improbably however they also printed at 1/32 using the smallest feasible tree support I could devise in VDT:

Using Elegoo's 8k resin, definition of detail on the nose section was extremely rewarding at both 1/32:

 - and 1/24:

The two large holes dead centre aren't obviously present on the actual Wasp but are drain holes added here to avoid suction issues during printing, which had caused print/support failures in early tests. These also coinicide handily however with those traces of striation you can see at the tip of the nose, so both issues can be dealt with in the same operation without the risk of damage to surrounding features.
 
My heavy handling during support removal resulted in some fracturing along the cheek window guttering, though such issues are easy enough repaired with some tape, resin and the UV laser:

UThe lower section of the nose showing RADALT enclosures, which agaqin will have their honeycombed glazing printed separately from clear resin:

Designs for both Bthe Mk44 & 46 torpedoes were tested in 8k resin:

Mk.44 first - this turned out nice and sharp at both scales:

I wasn't too concerned about the support structures for that annular feature at the rear on the 1/24 scale:

But did find an issue with my supports for the fins not being robust enough at 1/32:

This has since been reprinted successfully with the offending supports being made 2 microns thicker. Sometimes all it needs is a little tweak!
 
The propeller assemblies of the Mk.44 at 1/32; I have to say the support design routines in Voxeldance's Tango software have performed outstandingly with everything I've thrown at it on the trickiest of thin features like these:

The Mk.46 reproduced equally well at both scales, with no features failing:

Part definion on the props for both sets. 1/24 looked nice:

1/32 turned out far less of a problem than I'd feared due to the responsiveness of the support processes in VDT:

All the fiddly detail on the carrier racks and sway braces which took so long to do up in CAD had me very happy at the printed results -  there were no features missing or compromised at either scale (both sides shown below at 1/24):

 

Details like the suspension bands on the torpedo bodies also turned out nice and sharp using the 8k resin:

The landing light assemblies and transponders at both scales:

The main fairing sehown here at 1/24:

With the same level of detail still present in the 1/32 version:

Temptation struck and I couldn't resist dlashing together a 1/32 test print of the Mk.46 torpedothe other night 'just to check' that the parts fitted together successfully:

 

 

 

Over last weekend I sat down, went through the existing printed parts inventory and drew up a snag sheet for all the parts still needing to be designed in CAD:

The bulk of this as you can see involves the cabin & cockpit interiors, so in preparation for the next phase, here are the reference mosaics I work from ready to start preliminary sketches for those areas:

There's a lot inside there to get wrong so I'm curently at work on the drawing board with pencil and paper, sketching out the various features and forms to get a better understanding of the various fittings and how they interact in space.
 
Thanks for reading as always and best wishes for success in your own work.

Tony

fitting the windshield was challengeing
 

Thank you Geedubelyer and Boris!
 
Håkan
 

Fabulous colour combination and smoooooth paint.
 
Good job

Sub zero level of coolness. 
Your efforts make me wanna pull canopies from all my Vipers and Eagles.

Let's start with the Naval SIG group models:
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



 

 

 




Regards
- dutik
 

After masking and primning, and sanding and priming again, I could finally paint some yellow.
 

 
Then I masked some more and painted black.
 

 
Some of the tape was removed.
 

 
Then I masked for the OD field going over the top and the spine.
 

 
So how did it turn out after the tape was removed? I say, quite nice!
 

 
So, now I prepare for decals.
 
One thing I just noticed when looking at pics of the real plane was the prolonged fin going over the spine.
There's a part for it in the kit, but I can't recall the instructions saying anything about it.
I'll just leave it as it is.
 
Håkan
 

OK so the real update
 
For this build I will be using the kit decals and making a CF-104 with red tip tanks, why red you ask, well because I'm foiling this plane and the tanks are a PITA to get right , plus the kit tanks are literally the worst part of the kit with bad seams and terrible fit and nothing show you defects like NMF!
 
In addition, I have the amazing Reskit exhaust and wheels and the Blackbox cockpit. Using @chuck540z3 amazing WIP thread as a reference I've got everything dry-fitted and ready to go in.
 
Cockpit work
I thinned down the bottom and the side and made some mods to the rear bulkhead. Have the base coat in and this is going to be the focus for the next couple weeks to finish up and squeezed into the fuselage 

 
Since i hate doing cockpits i took a detour and painted and decaled the tail and tip tanks 

this pic suck but bare with me

 
 
Following Chucks build I worked the intakes into submission, got some foil in the hard-to-get spots first. next upo is getting rid f the top panel line that should not be there!
Thanks Chuck! 

 
 
Made some progress on the tail , the clear parts for the light are a joke so I remade them using UV resin and then painted them from the rear

 
And we have foil ! Dont worry it will look better once I'm done. my foiling process is foil , burnish, sand, polish then grain

 
This is what it looks like after polishing 

 
 

Hello fellow LSPers
 
Im jumping into this group built with a CF-104 using the itelery kit.
 
I started the kit for the GB but never got around to posting! So making this intro to get me to finally get this WIP up! 
 
More soon!! 
 
Cheers

Sounds interesting J  , but if you don't post pix, you'll face a hefty fine. 
 
 

I fell prey to peer pressure and i just ordered the Limited-Edition reboxing of the Kotare Mk I (mid), along with some resin exhaust stubs.
I'm not a stranger to Spitfires but not exactly super knowlegable about them either....

Thanks @Shoggz,
 
Your comment about the paint tin made me laugh: when I moved to America my wife said to me “You have tins of paint that are older than where we live now.” 
 
I had the same experience as you: I was unaware of any other brand than Humbrol until about the same age and then found Tamiya. I was agog!
Thanks @geedubelyer - Agreed on the seat height adjuster arm; it is a bit crude but I suspect Kotare were going for ease of build. A resin and PE replacement would probably be something for the aftermarket boys. For me: I am just enjoying this virtually out of the box. there will be other Spitfires and time enough to make alterations…
 
Kind regards,
Paul

+1
 
Nice end result Chris 

You're really motoring with this build.
Coming on in leaps and bounds.
 
Keep it up 

They sure do! All helps with quicker stash reduction though Andy! 

Cheers for that Guy! I do tend to try and watch what Jen puts out, but I must have missed this one.. 

hi all,
exactly one year after its completion, I managed to take some decent photos of it, sorry for the delay.
a 1978 Matchbox kit, a lot of work and old school scratchbuilding to make it look decent.
 
here is the related wip: https://forum.largescaleplanes.com/index.php?/topic/91451-westland-lysander-mk-iii-sd-matchbox-revell-132/
 
cheers, Paolo
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lovely stuff Norbert 

Great job on the seat 
 
I'm a little surprised that there is no indication of a slot for the seat height adjuster arm. 
In truth it looks a tad crude. 
 
I suppose not much will be visible once the seat is in situ. 
 
Looking forward to more before long.
 
Cheers 

Quick update: I’m almost done with the seat. I’ve made it look worn (probably too worn) but went with a standard interior green frame and a kind of murky black-green for the padding as I suspect that is what many of the wartime seats were padded with. The pad in the seat pan looks like it was a piece of leather to prevent chaffing of the parachute rip-chord. Unlike @Shoggz really neat work with the molded-in straps, I am going with Eduard metal straps. More later this week…

 
Kind regards,
Paul

with some paint
 

 

Hello
i'm still on USAF aircrews from the 80s-2000s era : we adapted the F-16 pilot that was designed recently in order to get A-10 and F-15 versions, modifying arms and legs positions :
 
Inside the A-10 :
 
and inside the F-15 :
 

cheers
Norbert

The aftermarket exhaust stubs and seat belts are a must. There are a few holes to be drilled out in the engine bay including the bracket attached to the firewall. That one will be very visible if you are building the open engine.  One error in the instructions is that the glass on the compass needs to be fitted, that was missed in the plans.

Hi Paul, I think it may be a reference re the padding that was usually on the seat.
Sometimes it was black ...
 


 

 
Though these are not wartime photos,  they may represent what was .