Hawk P-6E Starfighter Edition

 

 

 

 

....the Starfighter resin cockpit set actually creates a full four side cockpit and adds good detail to this old kit....and its just plain fun to do...priming and painting with aluminum for the interior is next.... 

.....a little gizmology and aftermarket seatbelts and the interior is about done...please excuse the photo focus!

an unfortunate note...something happened and the interior got messed up and had to be repainted some...a little thinner got in perhaps....so, no photos of the finished interior will be posted......it DID look good at some point... 

...this little fella takes at least 3 and maybe 4 separate painting steps...see notes on paper... 

....white paint accent is laid down...these landing gear decals look way too big but bet they work...the Starfighter nose decals and strut decals are designed as a combination of decals and black paint, blending into one another...some care needs to be taken to get it right... 

...the first of three coats of yellow....experience shows two is not enough...Mission Model 041 Hiway Yellow is my go to yellow for the yellow wings era... 

....a big ball of masking tape later...not bad at all....these several layers will cure for 48 hours and some white accents hand painted... 

....the decals are on the left strut and fuselage....it worked!

 

Wire rigging underway...I like these PE wire sets but if they get even a little bit bent...they are all but impossible to fix...not an issue with EZline or heavier wire... 

...all done...just need the flash photos and group pics with the other yellow winged Monogram/Starfighter Decal crew... 

....3 Fighting Planes of the Thirties Monogram kit from the 60s....these may have been "Fighting Planes" but none of them did much fighting.... 

....Curtis Hawk P-6E......Boeing F4B-4......Goshawk FIIC-2.. 

...All three kits had cool upgrade packages from Starfighter Decals...but only the Hawk 6E had a PE antenna...and snowshoes... 

Flash setup with black curtain pulled on the right for "infinity" background...which allows for shots down the line... 

....like this one... 

...and this one from the other side.... 

 

 

 

 

Some Photo Fun...this shot was taken with a Pentax 645Z Medium Format camera (whatever that is these days with film sizes no longer meaning anything....anyway 51MP with a big sensor)...hand held but the flashes will freeze any movement because they go at very high speeds.

...and, can you tell any difference with the previous shots with a 25MP APS camera with a zoom? Probably not...because once they are made into 2160x1475 at 72DPI...it all becomes the same...in fact, the smaller camera with a smaller sensor, will have greater depth of field and actually produce a HIGHER quality image for this purpose...now, if we are blowing it up big and printing it...then this shines....

Photo note...cameras are Pentax 645Z with manual focus 120MM macro lens (this lens has served me for decades now)...and Pentax K3III APS camera with just introduced Pentax 16-50mm zoom...ISO 100 @ X flash sync speed @F16 for almost all shots...

....these 645Z shots make great screensavers...sharp and big image... 

....the flash setup ready for focus stacking... 

....the camera is an APS Pentax K3III with a great lens, a Pentax 16-50mm....sharp as a tack, little distortion..and, as you can see, it focuses close! 

....there are manual ways to focus stack that work fine but this is a nice automated workflow using the free Wi-Fi Commander for Pentax app....the camera is connected to the computer and the autofocus can be adjusted all over the place for the stack of images..... 

....here is a closeup of the screen showing a focusing spot..... 

...every shot is collected into a Planned Shot program that you set up ahead of time...easy 

.....the little red boxes are focus positions of individual shots.... 

...then the program is activated and the camera merrily fires away, focusing where you told it too....fun to watch the process with the flashes going off and the camera making focusing noises!.... 

....finally, the photos are brought into Photoshop or another program and the image stack is created..... 

...a focus stacking image from 23 images, all shot with a Pentax K3III and 16-50mm lens bigger than the model...the photos were setup and automated in the free Wi-Fi Commander for Pentax app...it worked fine 

....a 14 image stack from the rear...even so, i missed where the antenna crosses over the left struts......... 

...14 image focus stack from the other side....and now....because the prop is different for sure....all the other photos will have to be reshot....tomorrow.....or the next day.....