Hey everyone, here is a photo of one of the many spits Beurling flew over Malta . Instructions called for a two-tone blue aircraft, and after doing some of my own research decided to paint the spitfire first in midstone/dark earth and then overspraying with mediterranean blue, but not too heavily so as to leave the duo-tone camou somewhat still visible. Then I went back with fine sandpaper and “uncovered” some areas of the original camouflage. Undersurfaces are the per usual azure blue. Model pic was taken with a digital camera, background was created with corel draw and then both images combined. Thanks for any comments/suggestions.
Thats soooo cool - clever stuff with the computer software -great view of the vokes filter - what kit & scale ?
I like it, rather cool. I also like the replacement rudder. Was the real aircraft like that or did you just toss a bit of conjecture into the mix?
Looks GREAT! (Although the static prop looks like he’s had engine failure! [:p][;)])
Fade to Black…
thanks guys…the model is Tamiya’s 1/48 tropical Spitfire Vb and decals from Watermark. The profile suggested that patches of the original desert scheme could be seen on the rudder, so I interpreted this as a replacement from another aircraft. I like the comment about the prop. I wasn’t feeling adventurous enough on the comp to fiddle with that in paint program, but I have heard of Prop Blur - they are photo etched to simulate the elusion of a spinning prop. Has anyone tried that?
Jgeratic,
I haven’t used those prop blur thingamajiggers, but I’ve seen some built-ups at a couple of IPMS NATS by this guy who uses shaped and painted clear discs. I wish I had some good shots of this stuff…
Anyhoo, I’ve done a few things gear up and I usually just dispense with the prop blades. Here’s a link to an earlier topic with some shots of one of my 109’s:
http://www.finescale.com/fsm/community/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=1551
Fade to Black…
Seems like there has been a lot of models with computer generated backgrounds lately. I really like it and that Spit is awesome.[8D]
Haven’t tried PropBlur myself because I don’t work in 1:48 and it isn’t available in 1:72, but those photo etched “blurred” blades do look awsome! [8D] In case anyone lurking out there is interested, PropBlur (plus one very neat stand!) was used on a snazzy Staggerwing at: http://www.arc6.prohosting.com/isl/Prop_Blur/Propblur_Staggerwing.jpg
Looks good, jgeratic ! I really like the angle that you chose. It adds a sense of drama to the composition. I do a lot of “in-flight” images myself, and getting a convincing prop blur is not easy. I use Adobe Photoshop, and it took about 6 hours to get a useable one. I’ve never used the Corel, so I don’t know what your image sizes and resolution is like, but I’d be happy to e-mail you a spinning prop that you can use. I can size it and send it as a jpeg, if you’re interested. You can see the prop I’m talking about in my post “Reach for the Sky.” Keep up the good work !
oooooh…very nice lookin! i love the paint job! now i know that some time down the line i’m gonna have to try something like that!
Hey there… Sorry, I had to have a go…
I used photoshop for this pic. I copied the prop blades to a seperate level, then used a clone brush to erase the original blades. I also copied whats in the fore ground in front of the propellor (port gun barrel, tropical filter) and put that on a seperate level.
I used another clone brush to fill in the gaps on the props, before applying a radial blur to them seperatly.
Then I grayscaled the picture, followed by a motion blur along the flightpath, flattened the layers, an enhancement of the contrast, then a gaussian monochromatic noise filter. This all simulates the old, grainy film.
I added a new layey, then selected a circular area from one corner of the picture to the opposite corner diagonally across from it. I feathered the edged by 60 pixels, then selected the inverse. I used a paintbucket with black in the selected area, which darkens an area in a circle around the aircraft. I then This simulates the use of an old camera lens. I changed the opacity of this layer to 30% to fade it out, then flattened the image… And: Hey presto:
Thanks again, guys and gal, for the comments and suggestions - and Michaelvk, that was way cool what you accomplished with my trop spitfire pic.
Not a problem. I was hoping you didn’t mind, as I didn’t really ask for permission.
Oh, and if anyone out there needs a digital artist, please give us a shout… </shameless plug>