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Royal Australian Navy Tiger Moth


abat

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Hi Everyone,

I might have missed the cut for the Tiger Moth Group Build, but I did finally finish this really nice little kit. Markings are for the Royal Australian Navy Naval Air Station at Nowra in the mid-1950's. Decals are from Southern Sky models and the kit is of course the new-ish Airfix 1/72. I had my usual bumps and scrapes in the build process but I enjoyed it very much, especially my first attempt at biplane rigging which was done with invisible thread and superglue. (I gave up attempting the elevator rigging!)

For the photographically-minded, it was my first attempt at using the focus-stacking function on my Olympus m43 camera which composites several pictures with slightly different focus points in order to get more of the small model in focus. It worked very well. The last shot with the engine "running" is me blowing on the propeller whilst pressing the shutter! I couldn't use focus-stacking for that, rather a very narrow aperture which still doesn't get all the plane in sharp focus.

Thanks for looking, Andrew

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That's fantastic work Andrew. The photography is exceptional too. What kind of lighting setup do you have?

Have you tried a smaller aperture to get a larger depth of field rather than using the image stacking?

Again, excellent work.

Mick

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Looks really good Andrew, the aluminium finish looks great, please may I ask the paint used?

Cheers,

Rob

Thanks Rob, it's Tamiya AS-12 Bare-metal silver from a rattle can. It goes on really, really well. I then gave it a slight buff with a buffing stick which somehow gave the raised undulations on the wings a little "depth".
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That's fantastic work Andrew. The photography is exceptional too. What kind of lighting setup do you have?

Have you tried a smaller aperture to get a larger depth of field rather than using the image stacking?

Again, excellent work.

Mick

Thanks Mick, I use a small portable light tent similar to this:

http://www.photo-shop-studio.com.au/backgrounds/light-tents/godox-50x50x50-cm-portable-light-tent-4-colour-backdrops-red-white-black-blue/

Place it near a window and you get a really nice diffuse light. It comes with coloured backdrops but I chose white. You can also knock up something similar using thin paper or cloth in a frame however the portable version collapses down to a very small size.

You need to over-expose to compensate for the white background "fooling" the camera meter into thinking its %18 grey. I also use a tripod to steady the camera. You can use a narrow aperture to get more in focus (as in my engine running photo) however you start losing sharpness when you stop down too far. The focus stacking allows you to use optimum aperture and maximise your depth of field.

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What a beauty,.......fantastic scheme and brilliant modelling! I`m currently at the rigging stage of my two Tiger Moths (RAAF & RN) and really struggling due to failing eyesight,......I wish mine looked as good as yours!

Cheers

Tony

Edited by tonyot
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What a beauty,.......fantastic scheme and brilliant modelling! I`m currently at the rigging stage of my two Tiger Moths (RAAF & RN) and really struggling due to failing eyesight,......I wih mine looked as good as yours!

Cheers

Tony

Thanks very much Tony. Can't wait to see your RAAF and RN versions. My eyesight is pretty well shot too and I bought a megaview head magnifier (similar to Optivisor) specifically for this build. It helped a lot, especially the rigging.

https://www.riogrande.com/Product/megaview-magnifier-headset-with-three-lenses/115717

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Great build and finish, must dig my kit out sometime.

Colin

Thanks Colin, I believe you put me onto the Tamiya AS-12 several years ago when I was building my Sycamore. Cheers.

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Lovely......!

Looks fantastic in those colours.....there must be something about those silver doped biplanes that catches my eyes everytime a see one of them, specially when it's as pretty as yours.....

Thanks for posting such a beauty

cheers

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