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Lady Be Good help


siamese

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hello modeler's, I'm looking for everyone input on how to do Lady Be Good before she was discovered.  I'm looking at something like what Shepard Paine did.  How would you go about the bulges and wrinkles in the aircraft skin?  I'm almost got all the aftermarket I need before starting this project with the Hobby Boss 1/32 B-24D.

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The Shep Paine diorama/article in his book says that he thinned down the fuselage sides with a Dremel sander (or similar brand) to make the plastic thin enough to be bent and pushed/wrinkled etc. as required using gentle heat. Great care is obviously needed not to go too thin and make any holes but I'm sure I've also seen build articles where metal foil is used to simulate/create wrinkled and damaged skins so hopefully someone who's used this technique will be able to comment further.

 

I'm assuming you have the Shep Paine book which includes his build/diorama but if not then I'm happy to scan the relevant pages and pm them to you.

 

Regards

Colin.

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You could also use sections of foil cut to fit a panel, then crinkled or creased to create the effect you want. Secure to the model with foil or other suitable adhesive and paint the appropriate color.

Mike

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17 hours ago, tonyot said:

How about cutting up a few soft drink cans and using the aluminium? 

I use such stuff for making scribing templates. IMHO it's too stiff for making the sheared off tail that Shep Paine did, if that is the task. 

 

An alternative would be very thin brass foil that was annealed before use, but it's a very different material to plastic to handle. 

 

And mind you, Shep's work has many very advanced features requiring very advanced skills, e.g. take a look at the rudders (and shudder).

 

/Finn

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21 hours ago, FinnAndersen said:

I use such stuff for making scribing templates. IMHO it's too stiff for making the sheared off tail that Shep Paine did, if that is the task. 

 

An alternative would be very thin brass foil that was annealed before use, but it's a very different material to plastic to handle. 

 

And mind you, Shep's work has many very advanced features requiring very advanced skills, e.g. take a look at the rudders (and shudder).

 

/Finn

OK,.... just an idea! A friend has used this to good effect to represent torn aluminium. 

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13 minutes ago, tonyot said:

OK,.... just an idea! A friend has used this to good effect to represent torn aluminium. 

Well, if you say it can't be done, the next thing is that someone proves it can 🙂

 

I'll stand by my gut feeling, but there's a lot more to it than just getting something that looks like duralumin. I found some low quality pictures of Shep's Lady be Good via google and I realized just how far from his level I personally was. It's truly a masterpiece.

 

I then toyed with the idea of somehow attaching some sort of metallic foil to the original kit to make the impression of the sheared off tail, but came up more or less blank. My vague plan was to thin down the outer shell and glue a strip of foil on and then work it as if it was torn apart, but then I realized that you could see the inside and then you would have to represent the inside structure as well.

 

Now I was in cold sweat and at the end of my wits...

 

OK, I challenge everyone: Try and go where Shep went and then take it one level up. I'll be happy to come to Telford to see it. There's a bottle of Malt Whiskeye to the builder.

 

/Finn

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1 hour ago, FinnAndersen said:

Well, if you say it can't be done, the next thing is that someone proves it can 🙂

 

I'll stand by my gut feeling, but there's a lot more to it than just getting something that looks like duralumin. I found some low quality pictures of Shep's Lady be Good via google and I realized just how far from his level I personally was. It's truly a masterpiece.

 

I then toyed with the idea of somehow attaching some sort of metallic foil to the original kit to make the impression of the sheared off tail, but came up more or less blank. My vague plan was to thin down the outer shell and glue a strip of foil on and then work it as if it was torn apart, but then I realized that you could see the inside and then you would have to represent the inside structure as well.

 

Now I was in cold sweat and at the end of my wits...

 

OK, I challenge everyone: Try and go where Shep went and then take it one level up. I'll be happy to come to Telford to see it. There's a bottle of Malt Whiskeye to the builder.

 

/Finn

 

 I don`t even know who this Shep is,..... so you`ve lost me there,...... it sounds almost religious!! I was just trying to help with a suggestion that I know works,..... take it or leave it,...... but as usual on here lately it gets poo poo`ed,..... I`ll learn one of these days. 

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2 hours ago, tonyot said:

 I don`t even know who this Shep is,..... so you`ve lost me there,..

Here ya go, Tony! He inspired a lot of  model and diorama builders here in the Colonies. (He also depressed a lot of us with his skills!)

Mike

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sheperd_Paine

 

https://www.thriftbooks.com/a/sheperd-paine/314752/

 

Here's a video that showcases some of his work- when it came to aircraft, he had a love affair with 1/48 Monogram kits!

https://youtu.be/sUoDHFdI5Co

 

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2 hours ago, tonyot said:

 

 I don`t even know who this Shep is,..... so you`ve lost me there,...... it sounds almost religious!! I was just trying to help with a suggestion that I know works,..... take it or leave it,...... but as usual on here lately it gets poo poo`ed,..... I`ll learn one of these days. 

I wasn't trying to intimidate you, I falsely assumed that you knew of this legend. For this I owe you an apology.

 

If you haven't see the video in 72 modellers post above, take a look. Hopefully you will be impressed.

 

/Finn 

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Shep' Paine was closely involved with Monogram back in the late 70's being their modeler of choice to build dioramas to promote their AFV's and aircraft kits. He then went on to publish books on modelling techniques (not sure how many) of which the first one, 'How To build Dioramas' in 1980, featured his diorama of 'Lady Be Good'.

 

I have this particular book plus another one entitled 'Modeling Tanks & Military Vehicles (1982) and although we now have many, many more tools and materials to work with, as well as new techniques, the results he achieved were quite exceptional so his methods are still relevant today. In addition to his own efforts this second book includes contributions by a number of other modelers including Steve Zaloga who people may of heard of?

 

Both of these books are still available on Amazon with 'How To Build Dioramas' being the revised/updated edition printed in the late 90's.

 

Regards

Colin.

Edited by fishplanebeer
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Just to add that Shep Paine was current when Francois Verlinden was also around making superb models and he was also using techniques which are probably now considered to be out of date.

 

I can only dream that my own efforts come anywhere near close to what these two gentlemen achieved.

 

Regards

Colin.

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On 03/12/2021 at 00:52, siamese said:

hello modeler's, I'm looking for everyone input on how to do Lady Be Good before she was discovered.  I'm looking at something like what Shepard Paine did.  How would you go about the bulges and wrinkles in the aircraft skin?  I'm almost got all the aftermarket I need before starting this project with the Hobby Boss 1/32 B-24D.

Dunno why I did not think of this before, but BM  has a forum for diorama building. Might be a good idea to pop over there. Chat is here https://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/forum/532-diorama-chat/

 

/Finn

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15 hours ago, FinnAndersen said:

Well, if you say it can't be done, the next thing is that someone proves it can 🙂

 

I'll stand by my gut feeling, but there's a lot more to it than just getting something that looks like duralumin. I found some low quality pictures of Shep's Lady be Good via google and I realized just how far from his level I personally was. It's truly a masterpiece.

 

I then toyed with the idea of somehow attaching some sort of metallic foil to the original kit to make the impression of the sheared off tail, but came up more or less blank. My vague plan was to thin down the outer shell and glue a strip of foil on and then work it as if it was torn apart, but then I realized that you could see the inside and then you would have to represent the inside structure as well.

 

Now I was in cold sweat and at the end of my wits...

 

OK, I challenge everyone: Try and go where Shep went and then take it one level up. I'll be happy to come to Telford to see it. There's a bottle of Malt Whiskeye to the builder.

 

/Finn

Thanks everyone for your ideas.  I will start a WIP here shortly.  It will be a very slow build and will be open to ideas.  Finn if i was on that side of the pond I would take you up on that bottle of whiskey.  Dan

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