**** DONE: 1/72 De Havilland Sea Venom FAW 53 – Carrier Aircraft GB

[parsifal]

You havent seen my cockpit shots yet......

 

[Rogi]

You havent seen my cockpit shots yet......

We most likley have seen them, not in your work but in ours, we all started at square 0, just like learning to walk it takes time and practice. Don't run before you learn how to walk....it'll get better with tips, tricks, time and advice.

Trying out something new or learning a new thing in the forum is what makes it ideal. 1/72 is also a near impossible medium to work small details in, I've had a little luck on my Bf-109 in the previous GB but its still a work in progress to get things perfect on the instrument panels, sometimes I re-do things 70-100 times just to get it "right" and then its never perfect. Chasing perfection is like chasing a tail, you'll never catch it.

Just take it slow, and use a magnifying glass, it helps out a lot for me in the smaller scales. When the cockpit goes on you won't see half of the work in 1.72 either :S

 

[Lucky13]

:thumbsright: Agree with the lads mate!

 

[parsifal]

well here are some progress shots. i apologize for the very poor resolution, I will try and get some better quality shots for posting a bit later. I have (just about) completed the interior paint. had to scratch build the overhead "hoops" on the ejection seats. Also scratch built were a small perspex reflector site, unfortunately lost when fitting the cockpit. Fitting the cockpit to one half of the fuselage was difficult, because the model that the pavla kit was made for is split horizontally.

The photos are cr*p, but in general the finish is okay. I want to get better at this though....

 

[Rogi]

Progressing well so far

 

[Vic Balshaw]

Take away the sun reflecting of the paintwork and there's nothing much wrong there.

 

[Wayne Little]

Looks ok !

 

[parsifal]

a few further shots that wil hopefully show the interior and IP atits best. Lets face it, it aint great, but it uses some techniques ive never actually used before, and at normal viewing distance looks okay. To give a point of refernce, those really big IP dials are just over 1.. diameter

 

[A4K]

Looking good Mike, good on ya!

1:72 paintwork always looks more brutal in close up shots. Very heartbreaking, but I bet that looks sweet at normal viewing distance.

 

[Airframes]

I agree with Evan, every brush stroke in small scales looks like a Hippocroccofrog's chin in macro close up ! It looks good to me, and as you say, to the naked eye it will look even better - nice work Michael.

 

[rochie]

looks fine to me, i dread showing macro shots

 

[meatloaf109]

Very good!

 

[parsifal]

it does look quite good at normal scale, though the perfectionist in me always wants more.

Last night I did little more, Glues the two halves together, and then hit a minor snag. The rear sill is supposed to sit on a small lip in the hobby boss (???) kit. The Frog Kit doesnt have thet, so to hold the sill plate in place I scratch built a support post to hold it in place (not seen). It was a bit tricky, because I had to cut and trim the support to the right height so that the sill plate sat nice and flush. Still not quit right, but within the possiblity of filling.....

Another problem is that the cockpit well is not quite sitting square in the fuselage so this has created a bit of a gap on the port side behind the rear firewall, but again I think that can be filled.

The two ejection seats detached during the fitting foe sill, but no damage. gives me the opportunity to touch up the harness colurs a bit to give better definition to the edges of the harness. Any suggestons about how to achieve that through drybrushing, or am I just fussing???

 

[meatloaf109]

That's a tough call. Give it another wash and dry brush or leave well enough alone?
I have messed up an acceptable job by "effing" with it "just a little more", and then again, I have done some of my finest work by the same process.
It all comes down to how you feel about it. If you look at it and say, "Wow, that's better than I thought it would be!" then leave it alone. If you are truely a compulsive perfectionist then listen to the rest of us when we say it's good and move on to the next thing!
Just for the record, I say it looks great!

 

[Crimea_River]

Agree with Paul. My two cents would be to get yourself some Testors Dullcoat or equivalent for making the paint turn flat as there seems to be a lot of gloss going on.

 

[A4K]

Would have to go with the guys advice on both counts. Really does look good in those last pics too!

 

[brucejscott]

Looking good Michael.

 

[Rogi]

Looking good Mike, good on ya!

1:72 paintwork always looks more brutal in close up shots. Very heartbreaking, but I bet that looks sweet at normal viewing distance.

+1 on that statement

Just a question, which macro are you using, there are usually 2 version of up close shots on cameras now a days, the Flower and the Food (usually fork and knife) symbols on the camera options for shooting. If your using just 1 option you could try the other.

When taking photos always make sure you take them in the morning and pic a neutral spot for shooting were there arn't a lot of colors that could interfere with the shots. If it still isn't coming out that great, put the full flash on the shot and see how it turns out, make sure the camera focuses on the shot before snaping it and don't zoom in too much

 

[Vic Balshaw]

Good point Igor

 

[A4K]

Yep, good advice Igor!

Another tip I picked up at a model meet was to hold a piece of tissue paper over the flash while photographing. You get the light without the glare.