The Little World

Admire the pictures, Children – they are made with the new focus-stacking technique learned from YouTube. Nearly every part of the 1:72 aircraft in perfect focus .

The technique is so simple as to be laughable. I secure the model under constant lighting ( 2 IKEA desk lamps ) and focus upon the closest part. The lens is set at either f:8 or f:11 and I shoot it on a steady tripod. Then I advance the focus with a small turn of the focusing ring until I see the line of focus march back on the live view screen. This goes on for anywhere from 5 to 20 images until the entire aircraft has been captured.

The Photoshop CC program then auto stacks, auto aligns, and auto blends the images – each picture has a sharp point in it that contributes to the overall assembly. I crop it slightly to eliminate fuzzy edges and Voila! It is more time and trouble on the set than just one shot but it eliminates the tedious cutting out later in the computer room. The whole is faster and much more accurate.

I think the Special Hobby people actually did a good job on this Vega. There were few mis-matches in the fitting panels and very little fettling needed. I did need to deepen the mounting points on the nose and the under-nose tray for the .50 machine-gun barrels. Good old dental burs in a flexible shaft hand-piece. I am going to have to call round the old dental warehouse to see if they have any cheap long-shank burrs.

The ideal thing would be a Siemens or some other electronic handpiece with a contra-angle handle and head – you can be infinitely more precise with a c/a handpiece than with a straight one and the electronic units have a very precise speed control, as well as superb bearings. But the price is that of dental equipment – very expensive indeed. Unless someone is breaking down an old surgery or lab I don’t think I could afford it for a hobby.

But back to the Brazilian Air Force. Look at the tail feathers – that parrot colour of the fin flash – repeated on each inner face of the twin tail. Spectacular! I love it.

Not so in love with the job I did on the radio aerial. I may detach it and re-glue it in the next few days.

I may also set upon the wings and tail with some ink in a nib pen and delineate the control surface panels – though I am loathe to dirty up the rest of the paintwork on this museum exhibit. I have a fondness for Mr. Color 107 Character White on A/S aircraft when it is clean. The main spray was a rattle can and it went on perfectly. I’m not too proud to resort to this when I know I want an even coverage.