Boultbee Spitfire Tr.9 - AZ Model 1/72

[perdu]

cynical me smells fear...

[CedB]

A morning driving Mrs B about. That said I'm 'on hold' at the moment awaiting deliveries from Hannants and Perdu Transfers Inc

That said, threads must be updated...

 

Transfers

 

6 hours ago, perdu said:

Ced, printed waiting varnish mist

 

When you varnished the last sheet you showed us I bet you just sprayed a coat all over

If I'm right the problem was that wet varnish can eat/drink ink

You need a couple of misted lightly setting coats that can dry almost on touching the paper, then a pause whilst the volatile (usually shiny) elements flash off

After about half an hour (not less, I'm impatient too) you can then risk lightly laid on coats of varnish

Give it a couple of coats, letting the shine dry out first

 

I'm doing this for your sheet this morning, be in the hands of Brian, the Royal Snail this arvo.

 

I've done several sizes of the serial, pick the ones that suit. ☺

Bill you are a star, thanks very much for your time

You're right of course. I did a 'wet coat' with the varnish - serves me right.

 

4 hours ago, Deanflyer said:

Hi Ced,

 

Sorry to compound your decal troubles, but that semi circular thing under your roundel shouldn't be there. The canopy rail guide should be, but not that. I've just looked at my kit, and it looks like a moulding flaw to me, like an ejection post mark, or a dent in the mould. I'm building a 1/32 scale version of a T9 and it doesn't appear on any of the many reference photos I've been looking at lately, and certainly doesn't appear on SM520. I'd shave it off and touch it up if I were you, save the bother of trying to get the decal to conform to it...if it's not too late!

 

Cheers,

Dean

Dean you're right, I can't see it in any of my reference shots either - damn you kit moulder! Only one thing for it...

Before:

 

 

 

During attack and after:

 

 

 

You can just see the crescent shaped nasty after it was shaved off.

I must say 'all hail' to Colourcoats - they stood up to the Sellotape, scratching with the blade and Micro-mesh admirably; no primer either.

 

I was also pleased with the way the Daco strong drooped the tail flash around the fin so I could trim it:

 

 

Masks

 

5 hours ago, perdu said:

Just been re-looking at your masks, unmasked

I think you could go ahead with them

Thanks Bill - your confidence in me is appreciated, although I still don't think I could do the top and bottom of the 'I' well enough.

 

2 hours ago, AdrianMF said:

I'm currently muted on a conference call that I need to know about but don't have any input to. 1 hour 27 minutes so far. So I have used my time constructively. Here's the method I use to mask up codes. It expects you to be able to mark up some tape accurately, to lay tapes close together side by side, and to burnish your tape down well:

[snip]

Regards,

Adrian

Adrian that's simply superb and has been bookmarked - thanks very much (and i hope the conference call didn't go on for too much longer). As Bill says...

 

2 hours ago, perdu said:

Brilliant

 

simply...

 

Reminds me I used to use Powerpoint like that but quite forgot its use in the ten or so years since I had to use it

Thank you for a great lesson Adrian

and I'll remember that the method can also be used on transfer paper - neat!

 

6 hours ago, giemme said:

I actually have a Brother scan'n'cut at work, that we normally use to cut cardboard templates for testing purposes prior to aluminium machining.

That is much more expensive, but has no management software. I'm considering getting the Curio for home (if I can find a place where to put it ) as my friend @Gene K is successfully using one, also to score through plastic card

 

Ciao

Thanks Giorgio I have been doing some more research and I think I've decided that the Silhouette Portrait is the one for me (if I decide to buy one). The Curio has two heads but a restricted paper size AND there's a great video of the Portrait in use for masking on YouTube:

 

 

(I can't find a part 2 by the way)

At about 4:50 he imports an image, uses the 'trace' facility in the software and shows that this model 'knows' Tamiya masking sheet. 1mm circles? No problem. Impressive.

I am currently trying to stop myself hitting the 'Add to Basket' button.

 

 

Redheads

 

10 hours ago, Stew Dapple said:

It's not your age Ced, except in the positive sense that your eyesight has not deteriorated beyond use; it's because she is smoking hot*.

 

Can't offer any help with the transfers but just thought I'd pop in to offer support. Chin up mate  

 

Cheers,

 

Stew

 

* As the young people say. See, I am down with the kids too!

6 hours ago, perdu said:

When you right...

I know, I know. She was on the 'French and Sauders' special recently and, off set, she don't 'alf talk posh!

Thanks for the words of support too Stew, appreciated matey

 

 

38 minutes ago, Avereda said:

Wild, unresearched theorising - I’m in. I have a feeling I’ve been susceptible to this myself, two possible answers spring to mind:

 

1. As I’ve got older younger women have all started to look the same, thus the redheads stand out from the crowd.

 

2. There’s more of them on the telly these days, Mrs Poldark, Amy Pond and that French lawyer in Spiral to name a few.

Oooh, Amy Pond! That may have been the start of it, come to think of it...

 

28 minutes ago, perdu said:

It's a good theory which I might be tempted to have considered but for the Ms Pond actor(?) doesn't remotely raise my interest level at all

 

 

There's a euphemism if ever I've read one! Amy certainly raises my interest! Ahem

 

25 minutes ago, Procopius said:

I never had a "type" (with my looks and personality, one can't afford to be discriminating), but having married a redhead, I think it's simply that they can scarcely be bettered.

20 minutes ago, perdu said:

cynical me smells fear...

Ah yes, Mrs P...  formidable! Why does that seem to mean something else in French?

 

Over the pub tonight to drown my sorrows.

[Sea Vixen]

On 02/01/2018 at 1:51 PM, CedB said:

Thanks Stuart Good point. It's from the photo I took so 'realistic' I hope... although looking at the real thing I think their Sky on the band and serials may have had a matching problem too.

 

Thanks John - your brain hurts? Imagine how mine's feeling! With the 360 video editing and now this I've learnt the basics of far more software than I had planned for my retirement!

 

Thanks Giorgio - custom masks eh? Hmmm

 

Decals printed, I just need some mojo now:

 

Printed by Ced Bufton, on Flickr

 

Damn, they look blocky again don't they?

Back to the drawing board later...

That's a common mistake. What you need to do is scale the printed size of the decal not the size of the decal itself. As you reduce the print size so the print resolution increases.

[CedB]

Thanks SV, interesting...

What's the 'science' behind that please?

I think what you're saying, after (it has to be said) a few pints, is that the 'pixels' on the image will be 'merged' by the print driver if you print at a lower scale but that the software that compresses it in the graphics package won't do the same? Hmmm. Worth a try though, I'll give a bash tomorrow

[CedB]

Not too hungover this morning as the neighbours bailed at 10 o'clock. Although I was really enjoying myself I do feel better for it this morning. Swings and roundabouts.

 

I've had a play after @Sea Vixen kind post last night and my somewhat terse (apologies SV) reply.

Where / what is the problem?

I opened the image in 'Pages' and just cropped it:

 

Cropped Image, Full Size by Ced Bufton, on Flickr

 

Then I printed the image full size, then printed it scaled, then I resized it in Pages and printed again:

 

Left reduced, right scaled by Ced Bufton, on Flickr

 

All of them look 'blocky' don't they. Perhaps it's the photo or printer? So I opened the image in Inkscape, cropped it (without resizing) and drew a solid black rectangle next to it, then printed that:

 

 

Ignoring the paper texture at this magnification (if you can) you can see the 'blur' on the image.

So it's the photo, I think. This one:

 

 

Short of travelling to Goodwood, breaking into the hanger and crawling on the wing, nothing much I can do about that then. Lesson learnt - take close ups.

[perdu]

RIGHT YOU

 

Ive been looking into this, as you'd guess

 

BOULTBEE seems to be the standard font used Postwar on UK aircraft, naval Army as well as RAF

 

You can print that on your own printer if you have the font you need and if you don't it is easy to get for your font set, even I can do it and this is computer innards stuff I'm on about

The required font is RAF_PW_ATH which is a True Type font and should even be compatible with Maccytoshes

 

It does not need case setting, type and it comes out in caps,you can make it bolder if you need to

 

Bremont, I'm still working on finding a printable version

 

I would lay out in 'Inky' then invert the colours to get white on black, then get the background in grey maybe

 

Playtime I call it

 

I posted my little package, then got a trossaching from SHE

 

Why did you use a blue stamp?

It seems I used a second class one, sorry Ced

 

But you should see it Monday or at latest Tuesday

 

Gives you time to practice maskmaking on clear film

 

Sorry about the posting, I just grabbed a stamp from behind the clock

 

dammit

I just told the burglar where we keep our worldly goods

 

DOH

 

[perdu]

OK how does this one look?

This font has been stretched and to me it looks just like the one on the nose of your Spit

 

How's it look to you?

[CedB]

Thanks Bill - you are a STAR and I really appreciate your help. Thanks for posting off the decals and don't worry about the postage; happy to wait

I've found the RAF fonts on an old webpage and downloaded the whole set. More later.

 

I'm playing with the BOULTBEE and can get hold of a Bremont logo svg from their website.

 

 

See?

 

The Boutlbee and Bremont transfers are already on though so hold fire please (unless you're enjoying yourself!) I may rip them off if I can get a better solution

 

ALL: quick update before I get lost in graphics land again...

 

Bill has been very kind and prepared some decals for me. He's sent me some images and (as he said above) posted off some transfer paper. I printed off the images on plain paper to try them out:

 

 

 

The transfer sheets arrived from Hannants this morning:

 

Xtradecal 72189 by Ced Bufton, on Flickr

 

You can see there are two Js of the right shape but no Ks or Is.

That said the 18" ones look about the right size, or a bit small?

 

18” by Ced Bufton, on Flickr

 

but the 24" are too big:

 

24” by Ced Bufton, on Flickr

 

which means the Kitsworld ones will have to go in the stash, if I can get them back in the packet:

 

 

Yes, I have checked that the image I printed is the right scale:

 

[CedB]

I've also ordered a vinyl cutter, arriving tomorrow. You knew I would didn't you?

 

In the end I plumped for the Silhouette Portrait because it's cheaper than the others and (judging by the video above) suitable for my needs.

For future reference there's a model comparison on the Silhouette website and a more detailed comparison and reviews on vinylcuttingmachines.net. The latter also reviewed my other candidate around £200, the Cricut Explore Air, but I ruled it out because the software is, according to a review on Amazon, browser based and not as good as the Portrait.

YMMV of course!

 

Watch out for play time tomorrow.

I'll try using it for the idents (of course) but it'll also come in very useful for jobs where I currently use the Gyro-cut, like the Spitfire camo masking templates and also those that I scale from the kit's scheme diagrams. I'll also try some roundel masks I think.

 

Yes, I am justifying it to myself.

[Beard]

5 minutes ago, CedB said:

Yes, I am justifying it to myself.

Never justify anything to anyone; least of all yourself.

 

Splendid work, by the way.

[perdu]

Who else would you have to justify it to?

 

If you needs it, you needs it

 

 

That picture of the extradecals sheet, the Os bottom right could do the J with a leetlebit judicial trimmery, but I don't like the colour

 

Personally like

[Cookenbacher]

Ha, you beat me to it Ced! I'm still dithering - I've also been considering the Brother ScanNCut 2, but I think the Portrait is probably the way to go after looking at the info you posted.

 

Fantastic work Ced and Bill, this thread has been even more educational than usual.

[giemme]

Way to go Ced, way to go

 

Ciao

[CedB]

Thanks Simon - not justifying to anyone is a good tip

Thanks Bill - good tip on the Os, hadn't thought of chopping things up

Thanks Cookie - the Brother looks good (and is Giorgio's isn't it). As I have a scanner already I don't need that function so I'll save the extra pennies. Does the Brother have 'local' software?

Thanks Giorgio - we'll see if I can use it properly!

 

Having scrapped attempts at using the photo I think I'm getting the hang of this Inkscape malarkey:

 

Getting the hang of Inkscape by Ced Bufton, on Flickr

 

I'll print it out later - keep your fingers crossed!

[CedB]

Hmmm:

 

Untitled by Ced Bufton, on Flickr

 

Printed the image above scaled by the print software to 10%.

Is it the printer then or the scaling? I wonder. I'll try reducing the size in Inkscape...

 

[perdu]

The photo should be scanned into the imagery at the very highest resolution Ced did you take that from your Flickr set or from the images kept in your hard drive?

[AdrianMF]

Well, once you have looked  at a very expensive piece of kit, it was a slippery slope from which there can only be one outcome. Only a matter of time! For me, two hundred quid would buy a lot of terrible old kits off ebay.

 

I look forward to seeing immaculate code masks produced in seconds. It does look like a lot of fun in the video, like watching doughnut baking machines.

 

Regards,

Adrian

[CedB]

Thanks Bill - no photo this time. It's the svg logo pinched from the Bremont website and coloured rectangles in Inkscape. All vector. I'm confused and dejected. I'm now suspecting the printer and/or paper. Or maybe it's the print driver in Inkscape/Xquartz. I'll have another play in the morning.

Thanks Adrian - I like to spoil myself sometimes. Hopefully the Portrait will live up to expectations and earn its keep

[giemme]

3 hours ago, CedB said:

Thanks Cookie - the Brother looks good (and is Giorgio's isn't it). As I have a scanner already I don't need that function so I'll save the extra pennies. Does the Brother have 'local' software?

The one I have at work doesn't, which is a bit of a hassle; basically you have an on-line service to upload .svg files and make them available for the cutter - while with Silhouette you get a local software which, as far as I know from watching various tutorials, also incorporates some of the functions you also get with Inkscape.

 

Ciao

[CedB]

Thanks Giorgio, I thought that was the case.

I guess if you're cutting cards and other 'craft' stuff then having access to lots of images and designs online would be a benefit.

For my stuff I have the files locally so uploading and using cloud software put me off. YMMV of course, but I'm not really a Cloud software fan.

Yes, I am old

[giemme]

I'm totally with you on this; we chose the Brother at work for the scan function, which in the end turned out to be not that useful. Most of the sw job is done with a 3d Cad, we use the on-line service just to convert files for the cutter. I do not have sympathy for cloud stuff either...

 

Ciao

[06/24]

Not many comments from me, but I feel your pain with the blocky prints, there must be a reason, but I have not the knowledge or practical experience to suggest what it might be. I'm sure you will win through in the end.

[Biggles87]

+1

 

John

[Stew Dapple]

+2

 

We are rooting for you  

 

Cheers,

 

Stew

[perdu]

Do you have Your Photographs of the aircraft retained on your computer?

In a photographs folder I mean, because if you do you should try to upload the sideways on view (that is on Flickr) into Inkscape

 

Every time it is loaded into a website it gets modified which loses data, try putting it into Inky then crop the image to the side you need and print that twice

Or print from the pictures of each side, these images will be as good as it's posible to be

 

The website pictures don't have image data that is good enough to print from with your gear

Even the Flickr pics get blurry as soon as I begin to expand them

 

 

Now

Take a smooth surface and lay out a length of film or Tamiya tape

Take a steel rule and a very sharp knife

Go back to Monday

And begin to make masks...

 

🙏.   😭😱😟😲😞😖

Edited January 6, 2018 by perdu