Accuracy conundrum - settings

[Confusionreigns178]

8 hours ago, MikeC said:

A modeller who had done a beautiful WWII fighter, and then depicted it with a bicycle leaning against it (surely a no-no in any air force at any time!)

Not true, my friend. Air-forces of all nations have used the humble push-bike to get around their airbases for a long time (although, probably not used so much in modern times, admittedly). 

 

Cheers. 

 

Chris. 

[RBrown]

[europapete]

9 hours ago, MikeC said:

a couple of aircrew dressed in full flying kit having a chat (not impossible but have they really got no other duties

Maybe they were discussing how their latest models should be displayed.

[Finn]

Different rules apply for different situations, especially in war time, below are some example's of open panels on loaded aircraft:

 

 

 

 

Jari

[thierry laurent]

2 hours ago, Finn said:

Different rules apply for different situations, especially in war time, below are some example's of open panels on loaded aircraft:

 

 

 

 

Jari

True. This is exactly the exception I mentioned. Typically one incident is detected during the pre-flight check and mechanics will try to fix it to avoid impacting a war mission. Nonetheless, you can see this relates to a single panel or area...

[thierry laurent]

2 hours ago, Finn said:

Different rules apply for different situations, especially in war time, below are some example's of open panels on loaded aircraft:

 

 

Jari

The tip of the wing of that F-16 looks weird to me...!?! Bomb launcher behind the tip!?!

[Zola25]

11 minutes ago, thierry laurent said:

The tip of the wing of that F-16 looks weird to me...!?! Bomb launcher behind the tip!?!

It looks like a standard BRU-57 mounted on Station 3 - It tricked me a little as well but the wing is just obscured by the falling snow.

[MikeC]

5 hours ago, Confusionreigns178 said:

Not true, my friend. Air-forces of all nations have used the humble push-bike to get around their airbases for a long time (although, probably not used so much in modern times, admittedly). 

 

Cheers. 

 

Chris. 

Push-bikes on air-bases, absolutely, a universal presence.

 

But leaning against an aircraft?  A useful means of cheap one-person transport (stand fast tandems) then becomes a very large FOD hazard, to say nothing of sharp bits like brake levers poking holes in fabric, etc etc. 

[Duncan Doenitz]

My 1:24 109-G has ended up as a "Bitza". I used some stencils for fuselage numbers, a paint scheme from another source, solid walkway limits using masking tape (better than the pecked decals) and some after market additional detailing. I think it looks cracking and that's all that matters.

 

I remember being asked a few questions when I fitted the flare storage rack to the new Airfix 1:24 Spitfire. I liked it and that's what matters.

 

I thought that the "station bike" meant something entirely different. 

[MikeC]

9 hours ago, Oldbaldguy said:

...  I think most of the aforementioned display issues come from a genuine lack of hands-on experience.  ...

 

Nail on head, I think.

 

8 hours ago, thierry laurent said:

I think that a lot of people do not think of basic safety measures as they have never been in an environment requiring it as a second nature! So, they do not consider that to be natural as a soldier, a policeman, a plane fitter, a fireman, a sailor or a nuclear powerplant technician would... If you put something valuable on a tank without securing it you will very probably lose it. If you do not ground a system full of electronics while maintaining it, you can play with fire. And so on. Military processes are strictly cut into formal steps for ensuring a maximum of safety as weapons are dangerous by design. Obviously only a specialist can tell that one specific RBF pin should still be present because this or that other one have not yet been removed. However, some basic common sense should prevail even if some specific exceptions exist. One good example is Vietnam war pictures of loaded F-4Cs with open radome. But as we used to say in French: the tree should not hide the forest...

 

Absolutely

 

8 hours ago, LSP_K2 said:

Yes, I too have seen it over the years, and have probably been guilty of it myself on occasion. I'm not real sure what the driving force is here; perhaps a "no one will know the difference" sort of thought process?

 

There's always someone who will - and I speak from both sides, having had my ear bent by that "someone" and by being that "someone".

 

5 hours ago, RBrown said:

 

There's a bike, but leaning against the aircraft it is not.  But I suggest someone move it before the line chief (for which read the correct Luftwaffe equivalent) spots it.

 

There are some interesting examples above,, and as I said, a picture always overrides "that would never happen".  It all comes down to operational necessity of course, if a trainer goes tech, it's inconvenient but acceptable to abort the sortie; if it's an aircraft about to set out on an essential mission in wartime, not so acceptable.

[MikeC]

7 minutes ago, Duncan Doenitz said:

My 1:24 109-G has ended up as a "Bitza". I used some stencils for fuselage numbers, a paint scheme from another source, solid walkway limits using masking tape (better than the pecked decals) and some after market additional detailing. I think it looks cracking and that's all that matters.

 

I remember being asked a few questions when I fitted the flare storage rack to the new Airfix 1:24 Spitfire. I liked it and that's what matters.

 

I thought that the "station bike" meant something entirely different. 

I probably wasn't clear: I'm not talking about authenticity per se, I'm puzzled by the inconsistency of insisting on getting the aircraft exactly right, then not being equally concerned with the ground equipment (if depicted). 

 

Ther term "station bike" certainly has an alternative meaning, the one I think you refer to, but we'd probably better not go there

[Christa]

A highly detailed masterpiece or a hurried OOB? Is the builder content? Will the builder share images of the model? Does the builder welcome feedback?

 

A model can represents a moment in time. If so, the display, if there is one, may benefit from a carefully plotted narrative - not War and Peace at all, but time, place, what's going on and WHY, as Quang pointed out so cogently.

 

What's the story? There are plenty of diorama anomalies, but accuracy is increasing, knowledge is spreading.

[MikeMaben]

12 hours ago, quang said:

I agree wholeheartedly with you, @MikeC. I
For a modeller who’s striving for accuracy, a simple method would be to ask oneself WHY at every moment of the build:

WHY do I open the canopy? WHY do I lower the flaps? WHY that smudge on that precise part on the fuselage? WHY that bicycle standing next to the landing gear? … etc, etc…

I can assure you that once all these WHY’s have found their rightful answers , your finished model will be much more accurate than it was when you started.

My two eurocents 

Quang

 

I ask myself too many questions as it is. We all build with different goals and expectations.

Since complete accuracy is impossible when replicating in miniature, it becomes a matter

of degree. How accurate is accurate enough ?  We all have different criteria in the answer.

 

[mozart]

8 minutes ago, MikeMaben said:

I ask myself too many questions as it is. We all build with different goals and expectations.

Since complete accuracy is impossible when replicating in miniature, it becomes a matter

of degree. How accurate is accurate enough ?  We all have different criteria in the answer.

 

So true Mike, I’m very much of the “often less is more” school. 

[quang]

1 hour ago, Christa said:

A model can represents a moment in time. If so, the display, if there is one, may benefit from a carefully plotted narrative - not War and Peace at all, but time, place, what's going on and WHY

 

17 minutes ago, mozart said:

I’m very much of the “often less is more” school. 

Sometimes - or should I say, most of the times - it doesn’t take much to build a narrative or to tell a story.
For example, to suggest a North African environmentt,  a coiled snake dozing in the shade of a wing - or even simpler, a desert rat peeking its nose out of a hole in the sand - would do . The issue is to choose a ‘strategic’ location so that the detail becomes evident at first viewing. That is where the artistic aspect comes into play.