Which one do you guys prefer and what are the pros and cons of each? I have several kits that I am toying with wheels up builds. Thinking of using brass rod to mount them. Where can I get or how can I get the spinning prop effect?
There is a product out there call Prop Blur or something to that order made from PE. I know someone will chime in with the details.
The old standby has been cutting a disc from clear styrene or acitate. Or even just removing the prop blades all together. Something I did a few times for display models was to make a wire lasso. At a distance it appeared like a spinning prop. I painted the “blade” black as well as the “circle” but added a few sections of yellow to show the prop tips “spinning”. I should do it again as a tip. I could add it to this Mustang.
I usually build with the gear down. I’ve only done one project as “in flight.” You can see the thread here.
There’s a gentleman over on ARC that’s doing a couple of Mustangs also, here’s a link to his build. Go down toward the bottom of the page for a pic (and a pic of mine). On page three, he gives a quick write-up of his technique.
I started the prop blur on my build with the PE set, but I didn’t think it looked convincing enough. Could’ve been my lack of convincing airbrush skill. Still, I think the clear disk looks the part.
Cheers!
-O
Hands down- wheels down. I can do more detailing in the cockpit, wheel bays, dioramas, etc. In flight, who cares? It’s also consistent in that a static display is representing a stationary object whereas an in-flight display attempts to use a static object to represent motion, something that never quite looks “real”. You’ll always see the support or strings and no matter what, that it’s not really moving. Note what the one guy said, the “prop blur just didn’t look convincing enough”. It never will cause it’s supposed be turning but isn’t. The best done model in the world still looks like a toy when it’s hanging from the ceiling or stuck on a stick. But sitting on a nicely done square of tarmac or flight deck, with bomb cart or such nearby where the subject and environment are in sync, it looks “real”.
The only planes I put in flight are crappy jobs or warm up jobs like the big 'ol 1/48 Revell B-24D I recently began after 15 years hiatus. It’s going to hang from my boy’s ceiling for as long as it survives which shouldn’t be long.
Wheels down almost without exception. I did the X-1 under the B-29 with wheels up but that’s the only time out of hundreds of models built.
Most of the time, wheels up…It’s an AIRplane, dagnabit! Not a GROUNDplane! [(-D]
I still add as much detail as I wish. If a lot, I make canopies and panels removable so that the detail can be seen.
I use acrylic rod or a strip of acrylic sheet heated and formed to a shape to mount in flight aircraft.
I have yet to see a prop blur that looks realistic, but I keep experimenting. Making a prop blur that looks like a photograph is easy with a disk of clear plastic and good airbrush technique. But that is not how a prop blur looks to the human eye. The closest to naked eye realistism is simply a clear disk with a clear yellow band on the edge.
Wheels up or down? why not both? Sounds crazy right? Depending on what I’m building, I’ll build em so that the landing gear are removeable. I’m a big kid (29 in may) so I do like to “fly” them. I pick one up, pull the landing gear off, and chase the kids around the house with them while make engine and gun sounds, the kids love it and so do I.
I build mostly for fun, my work is not that great but I like the planes. I dont build em to go under glass. Right now the bulk of them are sitting in a tote for storage till I really have some where to display them, sucks but that’s what I got.
I have seen the prop blur PE stuff, there is a B-17F model on swanny’s site that has them, look pretty damn cool, better than plastic discs.
In the end, it’s your kit, you paid for it, your building it, build it how YOU want it.
Wheels up can be fun, and is good for light releif - but you’ve got to remember to include a pilot figure if you decide to go that way:
but serious models are always wheels down:
Cheers,
Chris.
BTW, I’ve never yet seen a convincing blurred prop. Just cut the blades off.
Not quite half way down is a pic of a B-17F with the prop blur PE set from prop blur, look good to me.
http://www.swannysmodels.com/B17G.html
I have seen th ewrite up the builder of that plane did, it has better pics but I cant remember where.
My take… I love the wheels up, because you get a good idea of the aerodynamic profile of the aircraft in it’s clean state. Granted diaramas look good with the gear down, flaps down or perhaps wings folded and maybe even cowl up. I tend to build the gear up and if possible modify it so the gear can extend and retract.
As for the prop, if your not going to do a static prop, and want the appearance of the prop spinning you totally have to motorize. It does require some extra skill to get the prop onto a motor, but with some of the kits being built on here this should be no difficult measure.
As you can see, motorizing with a small battery, switch (and rheostat if you want varying speed) is the way to get that authentic look. I’m sure if one were so inclined they could even motorize the gear although that would take a good bit more planning.
There is incredibly thin monofilament you can get for hanging aircraft if you don’t want to put your ‘in-flight’ aircraft on some kind of a stand with a strut. I often find that a thin stiff wire doesnt detract much from the look and then you can keep your ‘in-flight’ aircraft on a base/stand.
Eddies RB-17 on that page is sssaaawweeeeet!! I love the counter rotating pusher.
I build both ways. Usually it’s a matter of which aircraft it is and how much space I currently have available for displaying a wheels down build.
For instance, my last build was the old Monogram B-52D in 1/72. Even in my 3300 sq ft house, I don’t have the room to display that beast wheels down on a table-top or what-have-you. So the wheels are up and it hangs from the ceiling of my modeling workshop.
A couple of builds before that was my 5-build P-40 squadron, all wheels down. Unfortunately those took up the remaining space in my display cabinet. I’m looking to get additional glass shelves but have yet to do so. But I guess I best hurry up about that, as one of my current builds, the Italeri F7F Tigercat in 1/48, will be wheels down and will need a home.
Someone here with skill well beyond mine (which is most of you lol) should motorize the prop on a wheels down build and do a diarama where there’s a guy with an extinguisher, pilot at the control, and chalks, like it’s they’re doing a “run-up”. Would be a cool idea [tup]
down. That way they break off all the time, make the aircraft sit on it’s tail and lose the doors when ever you play with it.
I always build wheels down but would love to have a go at a jet wheels up, I’ve seen it done and they look great. Unfortunately short of motorising the prop I have yet to find a way to make this loot convincing. It’s a pity because some aircraft like the Fw-190 look so much better in the air than on the ground.
Cheers
I don’t do all that many aircraft anymore, but for me it was always a matter of how the subject struck me. I did both. I always enjoyed Flaps extended, and gear in the process of coming down, as if preparing for landing. Another nice thing with that is that with a low speed, low altitude aircraft, you can pose the canopy open.
I saw one at a show last year that was done like this… the only problem? No pilot! guess he bailed. LOL
Every good pilot knows that right before a good landing one should bail out. This way they can’t find who to blame. [8D]
I prefer wheels up. I’ve used several methods for prop blur including clear disc, motorization, and brass tubing to replace the kit shafts. This method was in a 1993 (I think) FSM article on a B-25. The beauty of this is even a light breeze turns the prop. Another method I’m experimenting with is taking clear sprue or acrylic rod, heating and flattening it into a rough blade shape, then just lightly fogging it with the blade colors keeping it translucent.
Warhorse, that’s an interesting idea about using clear, flattened sprue in a blade (or maybe a smeared blade) shape. Looking forward to experimenting with it!