Uilleann

Have you given thought to (or tried) an actual tea bag? The silken material used by some companies might be just the thing. I've been searching for the exact right micro mesh myself for years, and even at 1/32 everything is too big/coarse/wrong shape etc. I looked at aerospace engineering companies galore, and super highly specialized micro screen manufacturers, even looked into trying to design a screen myself and having it custom etched. Nothing seemed to work out right. The tea bag fabric stuff was actually the closest match I could find. A spray with a nice mist of dark metalizer paint and it certainly looked the part. Getting it to attach in a secure, taught fashion proved...difficult for me anyway however. Just a thought. Brian~

Nice work!!

Steve, wow - thanks for the kind words! I'm still kicking around, though the past year has been a bit of a knock down - drag out sort of fight for me. Suffice it to say (without getting into too many boring details) that I'm up, I'm more or less ok, and I have every intention of finishing this kit at my first opportunity. I've found another - far crazier than I - who's done even more impressive work to update and correct the numerous small, but important inaccuracies of the Trumpeter kit. John Wolstenholme has an absolutely stunning WIP going on over at ARC. Absolutely worth a click through and a few minutes to see the art he's created as well. Many of the fixes were almost identical to my own, but many many more were pure genius in how he solved a number of issues. At any rate, thanks again for checking in. I hope to be back in the modeling saddle again sometime this year. Cheers! Brian~

Nice!!

Bri - this has been epic! Can't wait to learn more about the outcome, and of course the whole experience in Phoenix! Cheers - and very best of luck!! Bri (the other)

That's a haul to be proud of, and no mistake! Clear skies!

I wanna see it fly!!!

I like both, and find there are strengths and weaknesses in either design. The coolest ones now use the little laser pointers and eliminate the need to even sight down the tube at all. Just point the dot to the spot in the sky you want to observe and boom, you're there! Not quite so helpful if you're trying to pinpoint something just beyond naked eye visual range of course, but could get you very close...then the 6x30 could get you spot on.

It's easier than you might think! A good camera helps of course, but you don't have to go crazy. Good glass (as with any telescope as well) is a must though. That's not the place to skimp. But none of my shots were tracked or anything. Just straight out of the camera, 10-13 second exposures typically, and a bit of post processing in Lightroom &/or Photoshop to play with color and curves. Happy to assist if you have any questions. Full disclosure - it's rather addictive! Bri~

One more from a year earlier - Capitol Reef National Park. Was really trying to capture as much sky as possible and not worrying about foreground at all. Maximum detail in a single frame. Well...technically 50 frames, all stacked to help reduce noise. But 50 frames of the same sky, at the same time.

That's been my life too! Another shot from my first trip down to Goblin back in April (That's Jupiter above the rock, looking larger than normal due to a high cloud and very slight diffusion). Have been back 4 times since...and literally every other time has been COMPLETELY clouded over! Hope the skies clear for all you in the viewable range of the eclipse!!

Thats a delicious little bit of glass there!

Bri - this is an epic build by ANY measure! I say leave off the boring bits like the pitot, and you know, other stuff no one pays any attention to....like wheels. You don't even need those in the air anyway. The judges will of course, be obliged to agree, give you the hugest trophy you've ever seen (possibly filled with beer and beautiful women...possibly puppies too). Anyway, the point is - you're SLAYING this thing! Like if He-Man held aloft his magic sword, and pointed it at this kit, it wouldn't look even half this amazing! Thanks for taking us along on your journey! "Other-Bri" (Bri - The Next Generation?) (Bri²?) (Bri-The Reckoning??)

Pitot? Airspeed is for sissys!

The general basics are thus: Taken roughly 2 am on April 15th this year. Canon 5D MkIII, with a Sigma 24 mm, f/1.4 Art Prime. 8 exposures stacked for foreground noise reduction, and 5 for the sky. I don't recall the EXIF data off hand, but believe it was something like 10 second exposures, ISO about 4,000, and I tend to shoot about f/3.5 for astro to try and minimize chromatic aberration, vignetting, and sagittal astigmatism in the corners. Rocks auto stacked using PS median blend, while I did the sky by hand to adjust for slight lens distortion and sidereal rotation between shots. Mostly it's a lot of sitting in the quiet, dark, staring at the sky in awe, while the shutter clicks away for a while. Then it's a bit of work in post processing to get everything aligned, composited, and adjusted for the final image. Most astro photographers...or perhaps I should say "digital photo artists" who shoot the Milky Way get the color and contrast completely wrong. My goal has always been to try and preserve as much of the true color and feel as possible. No blue/green/purple silly technicolor. B~