John R

Xtracolor X015. RAF Light Aircraft Grey BS627 enamel Wouldn't this be suitable?

I haven't chosen he paint yet and then there's the problem of getting it. No model shops nearby and prohibitive postage for such a small item.

Thanks to all for the swift response. With all those decals it might be best to start with gloss and flatten it a little afterwards.

I am about to start a Fujimi FGR.2 XV424 in the Alcock and Brown colour scheme. It calls for it to be painted Light aircraft grey. should this be matt, satin or gloss? John

Perhaps the leading edge extensions were fitted when it was converted to a T7 when being rebuilt after the accident. That seems to be a logical time to have it done.

I think that when I gave Gemini the picture I only asked it to see what it could do with it. A friend whose group were having difficulty with Gemini had come up with the following instruction. 'Please restore and enhance this photograph by improving clarity, sharpness, colour cast and image quality while preserving all original details and composition exactly as they appear - remove noise, blur, and degradation artefacts to create a professionally restored version that maintains complete authenticity without any artistic interpretation. Do not change or add any text to the composition.' I just tried another picture taken just after the one under discussion using this instruction and it does not have the extra detail.

Thanks Adrian. I really should have noticed those details as they are certainly not in the scans but I was totally blown away by the quality of the picture and wondering how it was achieved. There really is a need for the digital equivalent of 'Caveat Emptor'. Anybody know enough Latin to translate 'User Beware'?

As I said in my post you have to look very carefully at what comes back and here's why. I was amazed at the quality of what came back from my scan of the Lim 2 (a Polish two seat Mig 15) and was so sceptical that I did a reverse image search to see if it had substituted another picture from somewhere else. I found nothing so I asked Gemini how it did it. From its answer I gathered that it doesn't do a 'Photoshop' adjustment but it knows the type of a/c and constructs a new picture based on your original. Things that it can't understand either get left out or something is substituted. I sent a picture of Shuttleworth's Lysander and back came a picture of it but in a totally different attitude (why?) A picture of Shuttleworth's Comper Swift came back with the engine cylinders and exhaust unsharpened possibly because, being a little known a/c, it didn't have enough data to recreate them. I quite agree with Adam. I think that AI is fine if it's just tweaking photos for your own use but if they are turned loose into an unsuspecting world... There is one redeeming feature. Gemini embeds something in the picture to show that it has been subjected to modification by AI. One wonders how long before AI figures out a way to remove it...

Has anybody else done this and what were the results? I have found that when Gemini gets it right the results can be astonishly good as shown below but you have to look carefully at the results and when it gets something wrong trying to get Gemini to correct it can be impossible. When things go right I start to wonder if one really needs an expensiive camera and I feel a lack of satisfaction at being outclassed by an AI Bot. A downside is that the resolution is limited to 72ppi. You might do better with the paid version. Comments, questions and other peoples experiences welcome. However look at these. The original picture was taken using negative film in an Olympus OM-2 with a 75/150 lens and scanned using a Plustek 8100. full frame scan scan of just the a/c Result from using Gemini. I did use the Photoshop Shadows/Highlights feature to lighten the underside Some others Invader at Duxford taken from about a mile away using a Canon 100/400IS lens Lysander at Old Warden 1999 Gemini first produced a perfect picture of this particular a/c but in a completely different attitude to this Vulcan and Red Arrows at West Malling prior to its first retirement Harrier visits Old Warden

Great work, keep them coming. The 1950s must have been a great time to be an aircraft designer. Lots of projects and nobody knowing what would work and what wouldn't. As someone trying to get to grips with Fusion by creating a sensibly shaped front end for a Dassault MD 550 I am in awe of your abilities. I was glad to read of your problems with surface modelling in the WIP for the thin wing Javelin as that's causing me much aggravation at the moment. John

Thank you for the trip down Memory Lane. It was this kit that got me into modelling. After seeing the first pictures of the a/c I wanted to see what shape it was. John

A fascinating story. Thank you for bringing it to our notice. John

Any completed Mach 2 kit deserves a pat on the back but something that good deserves an accolade John

The Festival of Flighton the 27/28th June might be suitable. You get two chances with the weather and this would fit in with coming a long way and staying nearby. The only problem would be have to buy two sets of tickets as they have been ticket only in the recent past. I don't think that all were completely sold out last year and I don't know if it will be the same this year. John

Francis Mason's book about the Hawker Hunter says that WV318 was one of only 3 F4s with the leading edge extensions I just asked Chat GPT if it new of any photos. It didn't come up with any but it suggested that there may be some in Squadron records. One reason for the lack of photos may be that it spent only a short time as an F4 before being damaged and sent back to Hawkers for conversion into a T7 John