papasmurf
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Posts posted by papasmurf
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YOWZA - A fantastic piece of work and very cool, very effective pix, too - !!!
You mentioned use of "other light gadgets". I've seen ads for a material called a "light sheet", or some such. From their ad, looks like something that could be used to illuminate scale aircraft cockpit screens. Did you use any of that stuff here? If so, what's it like to work with? Cut custom sized patches, etc?
The Orange Sun is a lightsheet panel, not very bright in comparison with LEDS, but yes, you can cut it into segments.
To light up a Cockpit, it may work.
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Simon,
Your photography was fine. Lighted subjects in a dark invironment are ALWAYS hard to photo.
Mark
Thanks, yep, digital camera's don't do well in dark shots, misinterpret dark areas and transfer them as black. The weather was bad that day, dark and raining, so I had less ambient light to work with.
There's some flm clips of this build, on my U Tube channel, here's a link http://www.youtube.com/user/mercs32118
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Wow....now that is nice. I bet it looks even better in real life. Great job!
Thanks Mark, indeed, I am no photographer, and when the client got this delivered, he was quick to point that out!
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This is the most recent project completed, a "Lost in Space" diorama, with a fully lighted and detailed Jupiter 2 Saucer, alien terrain base, and fiber optic Star background. Several hundred fiber optic strands were used in this, as well as various LED's and other lghting gadgets. The large Orange Sun rising over the Montains is Lightsheet, the Blue Planet was created with a refracting mirror, and offset lighting. Here's a few images of the finished item in the Studio.
The 12 inch Polar Lights Jupiter 2 kit, mounted on a custom resin base, and scratchbuilt Starfield, measured aprox. 24 inches by 20 inches.
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Thanks Mike, good to be back!
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Thanks Dude!!
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Well Hello y'all! Papa Smurf has been extremely busy, but I thought you might like to see a few images of the John Long Phaser 1 kit I recently completed. You can also see a nice little film clip on my website, www.simonmercs.biz, on the Video Gallery page. This was a fairly difficult kit to assemble, as it has an internal "clockwork" style mechanism, and a lighting system. It was made of resin, metal, and brass parts, and took around 8 weeks to construct for my client. 1/1 scale, ad a nice "heavy" feel also added to the realism aspect of the finished piece. Here'a few images of the finished item, I'll try to pop back in a little more often, just went through 3 months of home renovation, and spent too much money doing so.
Hope your new Mods are keeping this section interesting, and a good day to all my friends!
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Very nice site! Your work is awesome!
Thanks very much, up to my eyeballs with the Yamato project right now, will post pictures upon completion! Welcome to IPMS SNG!
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Looks AWESOME!!
Great detailing, just superb looking! Very nicely done Mike!I also read your KITT article with great interest Ed, the Dash instrument's images, and using the Lazer Tag toy's circuit in the front end, was really interesting!
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KEWL!!!
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That would be the Polar Lights Refit kit Mark! And, it would indeed be, a very cool display!
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I like the Star Trek kits, they were fun to build. I built a few smoothies as a kid but as i aged and became infected with AMS, my finished kit tally began to decline. I wanted the darn things perfect. Oh well...
I do like the new Polar Lights offerings in 1/1000 scale. The idea of one constant scale is very appealing. You can build a fleet and have a constant scale reference. And the kitbashing opportunities are there as well.
I hope Round 2 continues with the 1/350th line...The ships are huge, the wow factor is there...but they eat shelf...er...real estate quickly.
Id like to see someone try the Starship Enterprise floating over the Carrier Enterprise in 1/350th scale...that would be impressive.
Hi Jon! Yep, seems it was a fairly common rite of modeling, to build Star Trek themes. And trying to get them "perfect", is a disease that still infects me today, 'cause it's near impossible. But trying to is the "challenge", or the "obssession", depending on your viewpoint.
Like your "Enterprise's" idea, that would definitely eat up some display space!
Welcome to IPMS, and thanks for posting!
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No problem, when I saw your post, I went right for the kit. I often see series of other kits, in the same theme, printed on one side of the box. Thought I might have a quick response for you on that.
I'll keep my eyes open as well, might run into something over the next few weeks.
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Well, oddly enough, the 1/700th scale Yamato is my next project! I looked on the box, a very old Bandai kit, but didn't see any additional images, of other kits in the series, on the boxside.
You can try sites like HLJ (Hobby Links Japan), which sell Japanese kits directly in America. If anyone can get a hard to find Bandai kit, it would be my first look in the hunt.
Good luck on that, it might well exist. If anyone knows anything about this Bandai kit, please post your information!
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Nice logical thinking James, that was a great suggestion!
Now we can see this most interesting project progress, very cool guys!
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That's a lot of work!! And, very well executed indeed!
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I know that Fereration Models used to let you purchase JT Graphics Decals with an option to specify your own name and registry option, however I do not see that option on their site anymore. I've also looked at the JT Graphics Website and his links for decals appear to be broken....
I wasn't aware of that Mike, that's unfortunate. Perhaps Jim Botaitis, at JBots, would still have his version. I'd pop off a quick e-mail to JT, and see "what's up" on that, was a good seller for him. Wonder why it would stop being so, with Trek so in the lime-light at this time
Just trying to help, home-made decals are usually rather thick, and unwieldly. I stopped using the "do it yourself" decal kits some years ago, perhaps they are better nowadays.
Back to the "Smurf-Cave", gotta get to work this morning..................I'll check back in later.
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Looks like a good coupling to the Primary Hull, well done! There are sites that sell very nice decals which allow you to designate a Starship in any letters, and numbers, all in the proper font style and scale your looking for.
Federation Models has various sets available for all sorts of different kits. I believe Starship Modeler's store has many as well. There is also JT Graphics, and many others.
If you do a Google search for "Star Trek decal vendors", or something like that, you should get plenty of sites.
However, if you can create ones your happy with, for less money, that sounds good too!
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Bruce,
No need to apologise, you were adding hints and tips which helps other modelers. I used to use Parafilm, but haven't for years.
Tim
Indeed, that's a great help to all of us, much appreciated actually! Model and art supplies are so expensive nowadays, hints like these are worth their weight in gold!
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Additional info. on this product, Parafilm is available in 4 inch, and 20 inch widths as well. Some of these sizes are in 125-250 foot long rolls! Quite a lot of masking material for anyone! These larger widths are available through medical supply wholesalers, I tried cardinal.com for a test search.
It appears as if you need an account with these guys to buy there, however, further searches may find it in easier places to buy it.
They sell in cases, so it might be pricey to buy from a wholesale outfit, that is geared towards medical facility accounts.
Frisket is very expensive, and not the greatest, in certain applications. This sounds like a good alternative without the risks of Press and Seal.
Great post, and thanks for the links Bruce!
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Parafilm "M" (its full name) is a waxy film, originally developed to seal test tubes without contamination, if my information is correct. It comes in 1" and 2" rolls. You cut off a section, remove the paper backing, and with both hands gently stretch the material to about 4x its original size. It sticks to surfaces but won't pull paint. It's a little hard to get a precise edge. Testors used to sell the 1" rolls but dropped is several years ago.
I buy it here [Link]
Here's an article on Hyperscale on using it: [Link]
Thanks very much Bruce, that's an interesting product. Goes to show, how you can learn something new, every day. That's what I really appreciate out of a Forum, some good useful information, along with tips and tricks. We have that here at IPMS, and that's cool in my book!
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Based on my experience, you were very lucky. I had less favorable results. The Press 'N Seal left a residual honeycomb pattern over the entire masked area. It destroyed the enamel paint job. After that it doesn't get a second chance.
I use Parafilm, which I buy in 2" wide rolls and stretch as instructed. It's a bit more expensive, but it has never damaged a surface. For very large areas, I make a mask with newsprint—not newspaper, which has inks that will do lots of harm, but inexpensive sketch paper available in various sizes in pads at art supply and crafts stores.
Regards,
Bruce
I've used sketch and Art paper for large areas before, but have not heard of Parafilm. Where is this material purchased Bruce? Sounds like it would be smart to check that out, before risking any more work with Press and Seal. I have found that the residue is problematic in different cases, as stated previously. And even lo-tack Frisket, presents certain residual marking problems.
Please provide a purchase location, or link to the product if possible, thanks!
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Jeez, I turn away to attend to something else, look back, and you've started all over again!
Doing a project several times, in different ways, is a great learning tool. I wouldn't have called it an "Epic Fail" however, and I've always used the term "Epic Faillure", which it wasn't.
Yes, that magical "force", which flings uncooperative models into solid objects, has materialized in my Studio on occasion, weird isn't it?
Your determination to get this done to your expectations, is admirable. Easy does it.............
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Thanks Mark!
LOST IN SPACE DIORAMA
in Space, Sci-Fi & Fantasy
Posted
Thanks Ed, that's a good suggestion, however I am using several different types of flashing emitters, that's how you get a "matrix" effect. If you check out the film clip of the interior, you'll see those effects can't be done with a single light source. Yes, it's more time consuming, messy, and you have dozens of strands to deal with, but the final results make it worth it.
Shapes of lighting, are controlled by apertures, and rear lighting techniques. And......Magic!