Prowler sneak peek

Hey all, I wanted to stop by and share a preview photo of my recently completed model. It is Hasegawa’s 1/72nd scale EA-6B Prowler. It wears marking for VAQ-140 “Patriots” CAG aircraft, during Operation Southern Watch, 1996-97. I created details with home cast resin aircrew, seats, and (ICAP-II) anteanes. The photo was taken in my home studio. My article is due to be published on ARC (The Aircraft Resource Center) in a few weeks. Hope you like!

Okay, who are you fooling? KIDDING! It looks so well done I could take it for 48 or if we were lucky 32nd scale. Really fantastic job overall. You should be proud of that little gem.

A great example of one of my fave US Navy aircraft! I will look forward to reading the article, please post a link once it is up.

Why is it the majority of the Navy “workhorse” airplanes are stubby looking but strangly beuatiful craft? (Prowler, Viking, Skyknight, corsair 2 etc…)

Very nice! Your photo is very convincing-looks like the real thing. Darren.

GREAT WORK

Bud

Excellent build & pic Greg [tup]. Well done.

Regards, Rick

That is a great looking build! I have to give credit to you guys who can build like that in 72 scale, cause I have enough trouble in 32, let alone 48[:D] Beautiful plane and a really nice photo!

That looks great!!!

I really have to learn to use my paint programs so I can make pics like that, looks like the real thing!

Great build, especially in 1/72. The photo is just outstanding looks like a real prowler.

Steve.

Amazing job!! Looks beautiful!!

Did you use an aftermarket cockpit on it?

That pic looks so real it not funny. Excellent job!

Mr Chex,

With the exception of using a set of Verlinden’s 1/72 GRU-7 seats as masters to cast more copies for the cockpit. So, I guess, technicaly I did use aftermarket parts in this case. The rest came by way of scratch building and using my own masters for the figure molds and others cast resin parts.

Thanks Steve!

For the photo, I used an old basic photography trick, utilizing flash instead of my studio hot lights. The flash provided realistic bright, directional light with harsh shadows on the model like the sun would provide on a real plane, in a real shot like this. All I had to do in Photoshop was to “clone out” the display stand and blur the ECM pod spinners as if they were really rotating in flight. The rest was basic composition, focus and depth of field. Ofcourse, I bracketed my shots and picked the best one for presentation. The whole process took less than 15 minutes. My studio camera is Canon’s EOS *Digital 10D, 6MP SLR. Believe it or not, I learned model photography from the pages of FSM! Dig out your back issues! My references include:

  1. “How to Photograpgh Scale Models” By: Shepard Paine and Lane Stewart, 1984 Kalmbach Publishing.

  2. "How to build Diorams By Shepard Paine, 1990-91 Kalmbach Publishing.

  3. “Photographing carrier-deck action on dry land” By: David Tipps, Jan/ Feb. 1984 FSM magazine

  4. “Realistic model photography with airfield diramas” By: Vic Roseman, Nov./ Dec. 1984 FSM magazine.

I really like that Prowler. Very good work.

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