DONE @p.3 +++ 1:72 Lockheed FV-2 'Solstice' VTOL fighter; US Navy VX-8, 1956

[Vulcan7]

Wow fantastic build, photos & story          

[Dizzyfugu]

Thanks a lot, gentlemen/beings! Turned out better than expected, and the dark blue livery suits the aircraft very well. 

[PR19_Kit]

YEAH!

At long last someone's made a decent job of the Pegasus Salmon, the only kit in the world with my name check on it.   

That really does look the business Thomas, and that blue-white prop spinner must have been a real bear to paint!

And it probably turned the ground crew cross-eyed when it was running up to speed too!   

[zenrat]

Excellent build Dizz.  Very good.

But surely the blue/white on the spinner should be blurred on the pics where the prop is spinning.  Is that very tricky to do in photoshop?

[Captain Canada]

Wicked ! Looks great like that. And such a cool thing to play with ! Nice one 

[Dizzyfugu]

...that blue-white prop spinner must have been a real bear to paint!

No, not really - my internal spinner construction allows the "propeller discs" and the radome ti to be fitted and painted separately,, in fact I can still detach everything (in case of damage). However, aligning the bluw/white edges was a bit tricky, due to the concave shape.

But surely the blue/white on the spinner should be blurred on the pics where the prop is spinning.  Is that very tricky to do in photoshop?

Well, the innermost sections of the prop have the least speed, so that they would not blur as much as the prop tips. In fact, all spinning prop pics had to be faked with blur filters and masks. I was a bit scared of this, due to the prop's size and the two prop discs, but it worked better then expected.
I use GIMP freeware for this stunt and have the option (among others) of circular or radial blur effects. Since I have to take into account the fact that the props sopin around an axis, the radial effect (which "spins" around a more and more static center) is the effect of choice, hence the still well visible checkerboard. I could have enhanced the effect, but this would have changed the prop blade disc into a messy blur which would look worse, so I stay with the visibly relatively slow prop. It's always a comprimise - more talented CG artists will certainly produce better results, but I am fine with that. In real life the pictures could also have been taken at very low exposure time.

[zenrat]

Do the props spin?
If you blow on them will they contra-rotate?

When I built the Valom Salmon I tried my damnedest to get the props to be concentric and to spin but failed dismally.   

[Dizzyfugu]

They are movable, but there's too much surface between all the parts, the resistance between everything is too much, so that they unfortunately cannot spin. 

[sandiego89]

I love the colored spinner!  Well done.

[PR19_Kit]

Do the props spin?
If you blow on them will they contra-rotate?

They do on my Hawker-Convair Osprey, an 'in service' XFY-1 Pogo, but I replaced the blades with white metal ones from a Beverley (with the pitch of one prop reversed by much laborious metal twisting....) so that once they get going, they don't want to stop, but the rear one always stops first. 

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[Dizzyfugu]

Pretty, and many interesting details/mods. I also have an XFY on my agenda, probably an USMC aircraft in classic grey/white, and I have another KP XFV in The Stash™ that is earmarked for a major conversion. But I am still searching for suitable donor parts for my big plan, which are rather "special".

[PR19_Kit]

Pretty, and many interesting details/mods.

Yes, LOTS of them! It has F-102 wings and a fuselage extension using an F-111 rear end. And half a tube of Presto of course.