Modelling blurred aircraft propellers

When I model aircraft I typically always build them with their landing gear raised, as if in flight. The one drawback of this is that the propellers are always static in the display. When I take photos of the models I use a hair dryer to spin the props. This creates a great picture but doesn't look good displayed in a diorama. 

After searching the internet for different solutions, I found someone who had created some artwork of blurred propeller discs and made them available on a modelling forum. I got a good supply of these printed on clear acetate and then attached an exacto blade to a small drawing compass to cut them out accurately.

My son and I added one to his model of a RNZAF Corsair and the results look quite good. So we've decided to add them to a Mitsuibishi Zero he had completed previously. We're also completed a Hawker Typhoon model together with one of these discs as well. 

To display these models, I found artwork of relevant air combat scenes online. I usually had to clone out the main aircraft in the picture to be able to replace it with the model. I cut some 18mm boards slightly smaller than the picture and painted the back and edges black. Once this dried I glued the printed scene onto the board with Mod Podge and then trimmed the excess. Then it's a case of mounting the model to the board so it looks like it's part of the scene. These "photoboards" can hang on the wall like a picture. We've created two from the Pacific theatre, with the Corsair and the Zero. Even though they are different scenes they visually go together nicely. The Corsair flying into the scene on the left and the Zero flying out of it on the right create a nice parabola your eye naturally follows, drawing you through both dioramas. The Typhoon is sporting D-Day stripes and is displayed doing what it did best, diving in for a ground attack.

Knights of the Sky & Dangerous Skies Exhibitions

 Recently we took a family holiday to Blenheim, which is near the top of New Zealand's South Island. A little-known fact is that Blenheim is home to two stunning exhibitions of World War I and II aircraft. The World War I exhibition is owned by Sir Peter Jackon of the Lord of the Rings Trilogy fame. Not only does it include incredibly rare aircraft (including some which are airworthy), it does so in giant dioramas that tell important stories about the aircraft and the people who flew them.

After the success of the World War I exhibition, the local group whom Jackson contracted to maintain the exhibition added a World War II exhibition. Both are of impeccable quality and offer an incredibly immersive experience. More information can be found on their website.

I personally love the exhibition from a modelling perspective. It offers a glimpse of modelling on a 1:1 scale rarely seen and is a wonderful inspiration for our smaller-scale modelling.

Locomotive bell and whistle cords

This is a post I drafted last year, which, for some reason, I never published at the time:

Sometimes it's hard to know whether or not to model things like wires, or rope. From a scale perspective, often rope and wire will end up being larger than scale. At the same time, often when your mind expects to see the detail or wire or rope in a certain spot, it can look strange if it is missing. 

When completing some warbird aeroplane models with my son, we added the radio wires. I was really happy with how they finished off the models and I think they photograph better than they do without them. This got me thinking about such features on my layout, the obvious candidates being bell and whistle cords on the locomotives. I've also been keen to model a single telegraph wire along the line between stations for Morse code. But that's a project for another day.

As an experiment during my upgrades of the Jupiter, I added a bell cord and a metal whistle lever. I was pleased with the results and decided these details to the rest of the roster. 

I used the same method as I did for the radio wires on the planes, using simple grey cotton thread for the cord. However, as it comes, the cord is not stiff enough and does not have a realistic sag to it to emulate the way a full-scale cord would hang. 

However, if you run the cotton between a bit of PVA glue on your fingers it stiffens the thread up. While the thread is drying, attach a clothes peg to the bottom of the thread and hang it to dry.  This keeps it nice and straight. Afterwards, it won't curl when you cut to length and will be stiff. 

I cut the thread into lengths long enough to have a realistic sag to it and then attached them to the models. The thread now could be bent to the shape of a saving bell or whistle cord.

Overall, I'm quite happy with the results.

A 1/72 Scale Junkers JU88 I made up with my son, featuring a radio aerial wire, which gave the idea for using the same method for bell and whistle cords.

The bell cord and whistle lever are visible in this photo of the Jupiter, taken on the old Thoroughfare Gap layout.

Some different models

When I was a teenager I used to build 1.72 scale model aircraft. I kept these models in a shoebox that has somehow managed to follow me around my university days and first 10 years of marriage. I dug them out earlier this year to show my son who is nearly five years old. He was very taken with them and I thought it would be cool to work on a kit with him. Even though the skills were not there, his enthusiasm certainly was. I welcomed the opportunity to for a different modelling challenge.

We started with a model of a Corsair, (Skipper if you have ever watched Pixar's movie Planes). This was pretty easy as it was mostly one colour and was made up of only a few key pieces. My Son did well with this kit. He would sit on my lap, I'd load up the flat brush and he would paint where I directed him. I would take over every so often so as to smooth out some of the imperfections (I couldn't help myself), but he certainly earned his kids wings.

After this, I decided a twin-engine bomber kit would be good for him because it has more surface area right? easier for him to paint? Well no. I chose a nice Revell JU88 kit, of course, a JU88 has a lot of glass to mask off and you see more of the interior made up of little bits and pieces. Nevermind. When he was in bed I spent a few evenings doing the itsy bitsy bits and masking the canopy. He and I then assembled the plane and I masked the camouflage pattern and we followed the same technique as the Corsair.

After the models were complete, we took photos of the models. We mounted the planes on a stick and my son held a hair dryer up at the planes to spin the propellors. All photos were taken outside in natural sunlight. All in all, great projects.

But back to the trains now...