Aircraft Models in Flight

[ewahl]

I have this "thing" for the beauty of an aircraft in flight. Images we see today in books, calendars, magazines, websites, are all outstanding in color and quality. I started photographing my models in 1956, and I have enjoyed this element of the hobby as much as the assembly/construction of my models. Having recently "found" some old photo prints of my models dating back 54 years, I organized them into general subject areas and selected the better ones to share with you. See my other threads on First Model Photos and Models Go to the Moon. Here we have some in flight, gear up. All of these were shot outdoors against the sky with a deliberate effort to not inlclude unwanted trees, houses, and poles in the frames. The first three were taken in 1958 with my trusty Kodak Brownie Bulls-Eye fixed focus camera on b&w roll film. The rest were taken in 1972 with my Nikkormat FTN 35mm camera on b&w Tri-X pan film.

 

1958: Revell's Lockheed F-104A Starfighter in box scale suspended by a single thread.

 

1958: Revell's Convair F-102A Delta Dagger in box scale suspended by a single thread.

 

1958: Revell's Consolidated B-24J Liberator in box scale supported by a single thread.

1972: Revell's Boeing KC-135A Stratotanker in box scale on a large glass pane.

 

1972: Revell's Boeing B-52A Stratofortress with North American X-15 in box scale on glass. This is the same model from my 1961 color photos on another thread. Note the clouds match those in the photo above as the shots were taken minutes apart.

 

1972: Revell's North American F-100C Super Sabre in box scale on glass.

 

1972: Same model from a different angle.

 

1972: Here I attempted a shot using two models with different box scales. Two layers of glass were required. The larger model had to be closer to the camera to make the forced perspective work. The other problem was depth of field, so the two pieces of glass had to be only three inches or so apart so that the higher aircraft would not drop out of focus too badly. So, the scene is of a Revell Boeing B-52A Stratofortress in SAC markings making an approach to refuel from the Revell Boeing KC-135A Stratotanker.

 

I wish I was still this creative today. Digital cameras and photoshop produce wonderful results, but the imagination and challenges of using film keep the element of surprise in your work. You never know if your experiment is successful until you see the developed and printed film. Enjoy!

 

Ed

[jcorley]

neat work Ed. did you ever enter any of these in the old model photo category?

 

 

[ewahl]

No, I have never entered these photos in the old model photo category. I was not aware there is one available. Would these be up against the modern digital photoshop beauties, or is film only the accepted medium? I will have to look into this and perhaps make a choice for an entry. Thanks, James, for the heads-up.

 

The "neat" pictures are nothing more than the eyeball views we all take of our models in our minds as we work on them. Who hasn't "flown" an aircraft model past the eye to imagine the real thing in the air in action? We all wonder what it would be like to be in a real aircraft doing the maneuvers we can create with our wrists and hands twisting a model through the air. Models are made to stir our imagination.

 

[All right, I know, there is one uniquely extreme modeler somewhere who has NEVER had his imagination fired by a model and simply considers each model an expensive pile of plastic with glue, paint, wire, and PE stuck all over it that only deserves to languish in a display case until it is forgotten.]

 

Ed