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itsafokker

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About itsafokker

  • Birthday 21/11/1948

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  • Gender
    Male
  • Location
    Churchdown, Gloucester
  • Interests
    I've given up plastic and gone back to balsa and stuff that flies! It's just better for me.

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  1. Following chat about dedicated slide scanners, I thought some of you may be interested in what you can achieved. I use a Nikon Super Coolscan 5000. The advantage of a slide/negative scanner is that it is built just for that job and works at very high resolutions capturing much more detail than a flatbed scanner. It can produce an image 5600 x 3800 pixels or an 18 x 12 inch image at 300dpi. These files can easily produce A4 or even A3 prints from a good condition slide. Add to this its ability to scan the surface and electronically remove dust plus full colour correction. Not all scanners can do this so check specs before buying. The Nikon also scans to RAW formats which maximises the improvements you can make. The following examples are from some of my older slides. To post them here I have reduced them to 800 pixels width so there’s not much detail but enough for you to see the results. The first image is not cleaned or colour corrected. It has a strong colour cast and the 2nd image is zoomed in to show the dust. The 3rd image has been cleaned and colour corrected. It has also been straightened in Photoshop. The 4th image is a cleaned up scan and the 5th shows what can be done in Photoshop to remove annoying distractions. To get the best out of scanners like the Nikon does take some skill but these can be learned and any Photoshop user will be ok. I hope that’s of interest. David
  2. Deleted and posted as new subject
  3. It must be spring! Today a Boeing Stearman, resplendent in yellow and blue took off low over our house. Probably G-BSWC it was a lovely sight and sound. The first of many biplane sightings for the year I hope. When I started this subject I never guessed it would last so long! David
  4. Here, here! That's the point my initial post was about. If Brazil, Sweden and India can build modern, and very good, aircraft then so should we be able to. All we need to do is invest in good engineers, designers, management and leadership. Instead we are buying F-35 that carries half the weapon load for twice the price with the lame excuse is that it's "Stealthy" which it is, providing your enemy is considerate enough to only look for it from a frontal aspect.
  5. You'll be paying £399 for the Nikon. If you have just a few slides then go for something like the Agfa but if you have loads and/or you are a keen photographer then something like the Nikon Coolscan is worth it. The only probelm is that all your slide owning friends will be looking for favours! David
  6. Hi I see you have now purchased, so this advice is too late but may be of interest to others. I own a Nikon Coolscan 5000 and it has the following advantages: 1. Superb hi-resolution giving results like new DSLR files. 2. Software included works well allowing you to restore colours and contrast. 3. It and can be set to scan Kodachrome, Negs etc. 4. The dust and scratch removal is very impressive, saving hours of photoshop work. 5. You can scan to RAW files which gives you the abilty to use Camers RAW/Lightroom software giving you maximum control over the final image. 6. You can scan strips of negatives automatically. Yes, it's expensive but well worth it for the serious user. David
  7. What about a ‘What-If’ based on what the current RAF/Fleet Air Arm would be flying if the following were true: All UK Governments/Politicians were honest. MOD Procurement was efficient and unbiased. The UK aviation industry was still made up of more than one company and they had the daring to believe in British design and engineering skills. (Plus we still trained people in aviation and not just Media Studies!) Governments listened to those who understand strategy and the threats this country may face in the future. We didn’t ignore the lessons of history in that we cannot win ground wars in the middle east, despite the skills and sacrifice of our troops. The RAF/FAA was structured to defend this country and its European allies and not for raising the profile of successive Prime Ministers as they are sent all over the world to do more with less. No, you are right, this is just too unrealistic even for a ‘What-If’! (But a rant does you good!) David
  8. I’ve two comments to make on this topic (and please forgive me if they've been covered somewhere, I can't read all these pages!). 1. Magazines play a big part in bringing younger modellers into the hobby and for that task a magazine that is aimed at basic skills and ‘out of the box’ modelling is doing the hobby a great service. Even if some readers have gained higher skills we need magazines to inspire others to start up in our hobby. 2. While we all read Britmodeller forums daily we are not reading magazines. In other words this very forum is competition to all the modelling magazines on shop shelves, as the internet is to all printed media. I wonder how many editors would love to publish some of the work in ‘Ready for Inspection’ forums. Perhaps those who complain about content should consider publishing in magazines instead, or in addition to, Britmodeller.
  9. It's a dull day here but a Slingsby Firefly has been doing some relaxed aerobatics over Staverton. Very nice too. Being bright yellow it showed up well against the clouds, reminds me of the Yellow Jacks. When I was a lad . . .
  10. Yes and no. Depends on the pilot, some take a lower approach than others and of course they have to clear the houses. Only the small stuff use the runway that we are in line with but that includes the odd Islander and Dornier (not Do-17) . But you are welcome to try (I only charge a small fee), you'd just need to check with me on wind direction etc.
  11. Yes, very drole. (I nearly smiled.) I am making a model, I just popped onto this to check out my Corsair should look like. I've bought the Eduard zoom set, very small and fiddly! but I am making something, shoud be finished by Christmas . . . . (which year he asks) PS My OKI decal printer is doing surprsingly well on ebay!
  12. It’s a beautiful day with a blue sky and a low winter sun. All the light aircraft are overflying my back garden to land. And then it got even better, the Tiger Airways silver Stampe glided over, it’s engine pop-popping as she throttled back, the sun on her wings as she side slipped past my chimney pot. That’s why I bought this house, makes me all poetic! David
  13. Thanks Dan. Yes! I guess as soon as you use words like “custom” or “bespoke” people think “not affordable”. Maybe a couple of examples would help. In the case of a set of WW1 German crosses that were either an odd proportion or size that is something that could be produced quickly and certainly for below £10. On the other hand a full set of aircraft codes and insignia would be a bit more, but not too much. On the plus side, the materials are cheap, the cost is in the time, and I would certainly provide a few duplicates to allow a modeller to have some spares for errors. Also, if I thought that I could sell any one set to other modellers then the price could come down. David
  14. I am planning to buy a mask cutting device and I need to convince myself (well my wife really) that I can cover its cost by producing masks for other modellers. I need to make some money for my time but only on a small scale. I have worked in print and design for years and have the necessary skills to produce a good product but I’d like your help in a bit of market research. Would like to replace markings, insignia, code letters decals etc with paint by using a self adhesive mask? There are of course masks for standard roundels etc available but where the markings of you modelling subject aren’t available as a mask, would you be interested in buying one? The process would involve me drawing the design using a vector program (Adobe Illustrator) from dimensions, decals or artwork supplied by the modeller. This is then loaded into the cutter software for the mask material to be cut. If you think this would be a useful service please tell me the following: • How much would you pay for an accurate mask set for one model? • How many times in one year do you think you’d use need them? I’m talking about markings masks, or anything you can supply dimensions for. I’ll leave complex curving canopy masks etc to Eduard! I hope I’m not stepping on any suppliers’ toes here! Thanks for your help! David
  15. Hi Tony Well after some effort I have failed to make this printer work under Vista. I think there is probably a way to make it work, possibly by emulating XP within Vista but I've given up! So as I want to buy a mask cutter instead I've put it on ebay and will put the procedes to that. I thought of selling it here but I am not sure how much to ask for it, so I've auctioned it. Thanks for your help. Cheers David
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