SIMULATED SPINNING PROP

Take a peek here:

http://www.propblur.com/

That's genius!

Wire two small motors in sequence to mount the propellers to.

Nothing looks better than actual spinning propellers.

i dont know....prop blur just doesnt look right to me

I have mixed thoughts on the prop blurs, I've seen some that look pretty good, and others that haven't...  I agree with the motor deal. Fairly easy to do with the right motors. Or, you could get crazy and do this...

/forums/t/111149.aspx?PageIndex=38 check out the video about three or four replies down. Amazing...

I once just cut a  circular disc out of clear acetate sheet, like a sheet  protector from Office Depot, and it looked pretty decent on a small scale model.

I have never seen any of these prop blur things that looks at all realistic. My take on it is that i treat my Dio's like a 3D photograph. If you use a high enough shutter speed on a camera, moving props can often look like they are not moving. Is there some way you can show spray coming off the props.

I am thinking about Prop-blurs lamenated on a thin clear disk that is dull coated. It seems the difference between a good Prop-blur and a bad one is how they are painted. If they are too dark they seem to be more dominant on the model that just a blur. Anybody ever see or try this?

The trick with the prop blurs is how  its painted and the fading effect on the tips to simulate motion. For example, by feathering the yellow on the tips further into the blade will simulate movement. Or if no yellow tip is used and the prop is black, the tip fades from a dark grey ( instead of black) to a lighter shade near the tip. I think they look better than just clear plastic circles.   

plastickjunkie has nailed it - below is an example (mine) of how not to paint a PropBlur. My only defense is at 1/144 and four attempts, close enough was good enough:

madhatter

i dont know....prop blur just doesnt look right to me

I can't figure why they don't look right to everyone.  

Question. Is the spinning desired for in-person, or just for photography?

For in-person, I'd either motor them up or leave them static. Especially the larger you get in scale. At 1/350, blur discs might make sense, but at 1/48? Nah.

If photography's your goal, mount the props so they're secure, but spin freely (brass rod and brass tubing...), then put air over them and shoot on a longish exposure. Props will blur and look awesome. There's a 1/144 Minicraft PBY build floating around on the interwebs where somebody did just that...google it...it's in the SAR scheme so it'll stick out in search results.

Thanks for all the help guys I checked out your web site Plasticjunkie they looked good; I'm going to see if I can paint my own if not I'll order some.          Thanks again all                        ACESES5

If a spinning propeller is needed for a photograph why not rig it to spin with a small rubber band?

It would suffice for a quick photograph.

Prop blur looks pretty horrible to me. Agreed with the others above, a fast shutter, in a photo the props look like they are not moving, along with the people. Maybe you can title the diorama, "SAR rescue at 1/350th of a second."

You could always go for the "prop motion captured by cell phone" look:

DoogsATX,

Yipes that does not look real even though it is!

#4 looks plausible yet #3 looks like it suffered a crash of sorts, like in scale modeling sometimes 100% accurate just does not look realistic.

Dare I guess the B17 is flying over Denver Colorado? (the Rockies in the background with snow caps tip it off)

madhatter

i dont know....prop blur just doesnt look right to me

Me either. It is not transparent enough.

As a full-time diorama builder, I'm not in favor of animating anything on a diorama.... So much for motorizing props... It removes completely the "Snap-Shot Effect" that makes the diorama truly what it is, a 3-D "photograph"...  While "neat-o", it's just not something that'll win you anything in a competition except perhaps, "Modeler's Choice", if there even IS such a category anymore... 

Onto the "Prop-Blurs"... While they're closer to what we, as diorma-builders want, only if you trim them exactly right, and then paint them exactly right (if you're doing the prop-tips in yellow, for instance) will they come through for you... Most guys fail to trim them them to varying widths, electing to put three or four little "battle-axes" onto a prop-hub, rather then get that "random" look...

So, I'm in favor of using a clear prop-disc, and for several reasons.  One, the blades and tips are translucent, as they should be.  Two, the blades can be simulated with ever-widening "Wisks" of cement (Testor's Tube or Black Bottle)... Three, they're far easier to paint.. First, mask the outer-edge of the disk (where the yellow would be)...

 Using transparent Black and Transparent Yellow (available from Createx Airbrush Colors), you just airbrush the afore-mentioned "wisks" with Black, getting it a little bit heavier in the center, where the blade's at, then after that cures, remove the mask and airbrush the yellow tips ALL  the way around...

You got a "spinning" prop...

But there's another consideration for your particular diorama idea, Ace.. The PBY, or if it was Army Air Force, an OA-10, would shut down the engines while making the rescue, since the survivor(s) will be loaded into the aircraft from either the waist-blisters (prop wash wold make it quite difficult for even an unwounded and healthy aviator to get close enough to be picked up by the crew), or the nose, and you don't want spinning props righ above your head while you're gettin someone into the hull there..

 A sea-anchor was used to maintain station-keeping during a rescue, if needed, and that was also deployed from the nose... This USAAF OA-10 is anchored at sea off the coast New Guinea, and you can see the flight engineer is about to load the Coffman Starte in the port engine...

This is the best picture I could find of seven Merchant Marine suriviors being loaded into a PBY at the waist, after they'd been torpedoed in the Atlantic:

But there's another consideration for your particular diorama idea, Ace.. The PBY, or if it was Army Air Force, an OA-10, would shut down the engines while making the rescue, since the survivor(s) will be loaded into the aircraft from either the waist-blisters (prop wash wold make it quite difficult for even an unwounded and healthy aviator to get close enough to be picked up by the crew), or the nose, and you don't want spinning props righ above your head while you're gettin someone into the hull there..

 A sea-anchor was used to maintain station-keeping during a rescue, if needed, and that was also deployed from the nose... This USAAF OA-10 is anchored at sea off the coast New Guinea, and you can see the flight engineer is about to load the Coffman Starte in the port engine...

Hans, actually this shot is of a USN PBY-5 in the Aleutians in '42 to mid '43 as it has the white star.  Also notice the snowbank on the hillside in the background.  I think it is a shot from the tender, USS Casco.  Sorry, Hans as I don't want you to be misinformed.

D'OH! Shoulda looked closer at the photo, and noticed the Navy G-3 leather jackets are not Army A-2s, instead of the caption...

Baddddddd Hans, very very bad.

I'm still right about the Sea-anchor at least, lol..

Riches26: I was wondering about that, I was under the impression that they kept the engines running in case they had to make a quick departure. But if they did shut down during a rescue then my probluem is solved I'll build to dio with engines shut down, thank for all of your help guys.            ACESES5            

Engines on or off, the PBY was dead if caught on the water (or alone in the air, for that matter)... It had, for a US aircraft at the time, very weak defensive armament, and was so slow (even at max speed) that the airspeed indicator was a calendar...

propblurs.com