What-if Me 262 finished!

[matrixone]

As usual for this time of year I had to wait a few extra days after finishing this model to be able to get outside and take some pics of it.
It was a dry day here but still a little too dark for getting good pictures...these will have to do for now.







BTW, this model is the 1/72 scale Special Hobby Me 262 Three seat nightfighter.

Matrixone

[Go4fun]

I like your photos and background but that build is just great! 

[jorel62]

outstanding job......

[matrixone]

Thanks Go4fun and jorel62!

This model was made from the old Special Hobby kit and overall the kit builds up okay but as you can see in my pics it has a nose down attitude as it sits, the landing gear legs are way too long and since they simply are butt joined I did not have a reliable way to dry fit them. Yes I did trim the landing gear legs but did not do so nearly enough.

Having some sunlight would have made these pictures a little better than they are, as it was I had to lighten the images a bit with photo editing. I don't mind some dark images as long as not all of them are that way.


Matrixone

[sandiego89]

Very well done!  I like it very much, engine fairings especially nice.  I know that mottle paint must have taken some time.  What does the guy seated backwards do?  Radar operator? 

[pyro-manic]

Very cool! 'Tis an odd-looking machine with that huge long nose.

Photo tip: If you're struggling with lack of light, try using a reflector to direct what light there is onto your subject. A decent sized bit of white card will do the job nicely.

[dumaniac]

nicely done - great pics - thanks

[NARSES2]

That is nice 

[matrixone]

Thanks guys!

sandiego89,
Not 100% sure why this one was a three seater, maybe to assist with the airborne radar?
The painting of this model was done freehanded with my Iwata Revolution BR and was actually a very quick job, the Revolution BR makes painting these type of finishes very easy to do.

pyro-maniac,
The idea for using a light reflector for adding light would not work for my pictures, I need natural light and even though I take my pictures outdoors the use of a light reflector would give the pictures the look of diffuse indoor lighting which I try to avoid.


Matrixone

[pyro-manic]

That entirely depends on your technique....

[lancer]

Amazing work Matrix, that is bloody beautiful.
I've got that same kit currently stalled because I couldn't do the ripple cammo with my airbrush. I had though of doing that style, but you beat me to it. If I do that scheme now, I'll just be copying you. Guess it's time to find another scheme.

I noticed the AR240 in the background as well. I've built that one as well....

[matrixone]

Thanks lancer,
Just because I chose that scheme for the camo does not mean you can't do it as well, maybe instead of one color for the mottling like I used you could use two or more colors.

pyro-maniac,
Where I live I don't have much light because my house sits in a small valley and is surrounded by some very tall trees, on cloudy days it really is quite dark and not sure reflected light from a board would have made all that much of a difference here since nearly everything here was dark, also a light board would take away from the speed and ease of setting up for taking my pictures outdoors which is why I do it in the first place.


Matrixone

[Army of One]

Outstanding work again..... ......love it....!!!

[pyro-manic]

Having looked at your EXIF info, I see you were shooting at fairly high shutter speeds, at ISO 100. That gives you lots of leeway to brighten up your exposures. You can easily drop your shutter speed by quite a bit (drop down to 1/200 and you're still fine for hand-holding, even lower if you're on a tripod), or simply raise the ISO to 200 or 250 (I wouldn't go above 400 with a camera of that age unless I really had to). That will give you much brighter exposures, and will mean you don't have to brighten in post-processing (which is never ideal when working with JPEGs). It will also allow you to stop down your aperture slightly, which will give you better image quality and more depth of field (lenses rarely perform at their best wide open).

Alternatively, if you feel your camera's consistently giving you dull (under-exposed) results, use Exposure Compensation and add +0.7 or +1.0 and the metering will automatically adjust. I haven't used an S8100fd, so I can't tell you how this will look, but experiment a little until you get results you're happy with. Your models are that good that you deserve to show them off at their best!

[matrixone]

Thank you Army of One!

And thank you pyro-maniac for the advice on the camera settings. One other problem I have been having is the rapidly changing light, what I mean by that is the clouds were moving so quickly I had good light for one picture and the next it was too either too bright or too dark. This always has been a problem for me this time of year, living along the coast in the PNW you can have sunlight for a little while and within minutes it can be pouring rain or maybe even hail showers.
Many times I have set up my photobase outdoors and started taking pictures only to get caught in a sudden shower and then have to hustle to get everything out of the rain, that is exactly what happened when I was taking pictures of this model. I can only see a small part of the sky where I live so I have almost no warning if I am about to get rained on.

Matrixone