The Little World

Or catalog, if you wish. The list of goods – the bill of fairly inexpensive toys. The play-list for the listless.

I have set out to make a record of my own model collection – prompted by the sight of a late club-mate’s models retrieved to our clubhouse and set out on shelves. They are a daunting sight – and in part because they are undocumented.

John did a magnificent job of his models, and in some cases provided small labels for them – the visual effect is good and the information is invaluable. Anything printed attracts the notice of the public who form an affection for the display based upon the fact that they can read words. They feel they own some part of the knowledge.

I need to do this as well – I tried a cheap method at the the last model exhibition that proved good, but somewhat intrusive. Little lengths of wooden corner strip were cut and painted white. Then sticky labels were printed and affixed to the sloping front face. Perfectly readable, but as I elected to label every blessed thing, it filled up the space too much. Next time I do this I’ll just label major elements and let the rest speak for itself.

The other thing about John’s models is there were so many of them that we have lost some track of what is actually his production. Of course, some of the unmade kits have been sold off, and I am the beneficiary of a number of them. They are a challenge to do justice to, in honour of the chap. When I finish the last of the stash builds I’ll gather them into one exhibition post.

I don’t want my own collection to go so unrecorded. So I have girded my loins and set up a product table in the Little Studio and worked out a good standardized lighting layout for it. The effect I want to achieve is simple – the model on white with minimal shadowing to obscure detail. A sequence of shots that takes the viewer around the salient points, but without concentrating on any one area. As with my final reports here in column, it can be done in 5 shots; ground level bow-on, ground level starboard bow, medium height starboard quarter, high port beam, and high port bow.

I’m into my third day of shooting and have tried three schemes to produce this result. The first was a three-light setup with umbrellas and a massive tripod. Effective, but complex, and difficult to move the tripod head up and down.

Second day lost the tripod and substituted a studio stand with a counter-weighted arm – much easier to raise and lower. The illumination was an on-camera flash firing up into a reflector. Effective, but chewed up AA batteries.

Third day used a 250w/s studio strobe with a large beauty dish attached to the studio stand – it moved with the stand and the light fell with constant geometry to the tabletop. One exposure setting for the day! There is still a small AC strobe under the perspex table to reduce the shadows under the planes. This is by far the best set-up and allows 2 x the productivity while drinking coffee and eating 2 x the number of biscuits.