Diggin' that PAK 40

Old thread, man... They've likely been deleted or moved from his host site.. The URL is 404'd..

there must b somthing rong with the pics cause i cant view them.

Kykeon wrote:

I know... couldn't help it but make a little joke here. You're right, nothing looks as good as real smoke. I just have a problem smoking anything. Bad allergies, et al. Actually, I'll get my buddy to do the puffin and I'll snap the photos, probably easier to do it that way anyhow... We'll see what happens....

Ahh, gotcha..  Actually, your buddy could be the better way to do that, since smoke is hard to control so you'll want to be snapping as much as you can to get "The Shot"...  Try it with blowing the smoke through a tube or straw, keep movements and drafts to an absolute minimum..

Kykeon wrote:

I know... couldn't help it but make a little joke here. You're right, nothing looks as good as real smoke. I just have a problem smoking anything. Bad allergies, et al. Actually, I'll get my buddy to do the puffin and I'll snap the photos, probably easier to do it that way anyhow... We'll see what happens....

Ahh, gotcha..  Actually, your buddy could be the better way to do that, since smoke is hard to control so you'll want to be snapping as much as you can to get "The Shot"...  Try it with blowing the smoke through a tube or straw, keep movements and drafts to an absolute minimum..

I know... couldn't help it but make a little joke here.

You're right, nothing looks as good as real smoke. I just have a problem smoking anything. Bad allergies, et al. Actually, I'll get my buddy to do the puffin and I'll snap the photos, probably easier to do it that way anyhow...

We'll see what happens....

Oh, and thanks for your complements too Hans, much appreciated.

I'm serious about "Herbal Cigarettes"... I'm not, say again NOT talking about marijuana... I don't couch words in innuendo or such when I'm talking about models and effects, lol... I don't know the brand-name(s), but these cigarettes are non-tobacco herbs rolled up as smokable cigarettes with filters and in a pack of 20, same as tobacco... If you ever watched it, herbal cigarettes are what the "Cigarette-Smoking Man" lit up in The X Files... You can pick 'em up (oddly enough) in a tobacco store...

Nothing looks like smoke more than smoke, ya know...

Johncpo,

Thanks for the complements. My models should look like they were built by a pro, because I am.   Or at least....I was. I used to build models professionally, that is, for a living. If you travel to some of our national parks out west, you may see some of my work in the visitor's centers. I've built everything from skyscrapers to sewage treatment plants, ski lifts to cargo ships, airports to ferry boats and Yellowstone to North Cascades National Park. I have made dioramas for the National Park Service, state park museums and various businesses. And yes, I think building models for a living takes all the fun out of it!.....at least most of it. "I tell you folks, it's harder than it looks".

Agentg,

"Herbal cigarettes" probably wouldn't help either. I think those are frowned upon around here, I'm not sure.... Your complements are much appreciated.

Retired Gunpilot,

You hit on the one thing I forgot to do.....footprints! I may still try and scratch some in, but I don't want to mess up the groundwork too much. I might be able to soak some water into it and press in some boot prints. Thanks for the complements too.

I think your dio is beautiful...really beautiful. My only comment especially looking at your dio from a birds-eye view is the pit dirt appears to have been farily soft with the deep road wheel tracks. What I think would have really been the bling would have been footprints all around the rear of the gun to show a lot of activity has been going on.

Again, excellent dio.

Charlie

 I've been building every sort of model since 40+ years ago and yours impresses me to the point of being as well done as many pros. Keep up the great work! And as far as remarks about gun position, crew position and so on, the first rule of model building and in my case HO railroads as well, it is yours to build and be critical of.

I think you've nailed it... The rifleman added a sense of urgency to the scene that was missing before... By using him, you've shown just how close the enemy is, which increased the overall drama of the scene...

As for smoke, try using herbal cigarettes instead of tobacco if it bothers you...   

Thanks Doc-hm3. I appreciate everyone's comments and suggestions.

Here is one more shot at ground level, with my lawn as backdrop this time;

I still want to try some smoke effects, if I can find something other than some nasty smelling cigar to burn....

I'm going to take some more photos at different angles, just as soon as the weather clears up a bit.

  Excellent work and great attention to every detail. Very realistic.

I work in a garage at a country club and I've had to lubricate bearings with a pneumatic grease gun and the nipples weren’t capped or marked red. When forcing the grease into the bearings, we would actually over apply it to force the old grease/dirt/whatever out of the system, running it from a brown gunk to the white, new grease. Each golf cart only had two nipples, one for each of the front tires, but when you were finished applying the new grease, even after wiping the excess and the old grease away and spraying the carts down there was a lot of excess that would then act like glue for all kinds of dirt dust and grass to stick to. It would all be superficial but when we would clean the nipples off the next time around, if we hadn’t known where they were they would have been easy to miss as they blended in with the rest of the undercarriage as a giant clod of old grass and mud. With so many multiple points I can see why painting them red would be necessary as a crew member not necessarily trained primarily in the maintenance of the gun as much as the artillery aspect could easily miss one otherwise if they weren’t paying attention or were pressed for time.

 

Kykeon wrote:

Thanks everyone for your comments. I might try some smoke effects, but I don't smoke, and I doubt I'll go buy some just for the sake of special effects, so I've got to figure out some other way.  Mixael, While I agree with you in theory, these are not caps, but clearly red paint; Blow this up in a photo editor and you can see the paint is slopped onto the surrounding areas, as well as missing in a few places on the fittings themselves. In addition, you can see the nipple in the center of the fittings, which you would not be able to see if there was a cap covering them. I presume they are painted red so that maintenance personnel can easily spot all of them while servicing the weapon.

 

  I stand correted!  I hadn't clicked the other pics, and only went with the  smaller images.  You're right about those being painted!  I can only surmise that your theory about maintenance (or the crew?) being able to see them all is the correct one.  It IS odd, however they did it, though!

(Thanks for the gentle correction.  Many people would have flamed for that error of mine.  I concur, due to your direction, that they are paint :) )

 

Michael

 Thanks everyone for your comments. I might try some smoke effects, but I don't smoke, and I doubt I'll go buy some just for the sake of special effects, so I've got to figure out some other way. 

Mixael,

While I agree with you in theory, these are not caps, but clearly red paint;

Blow this up in a photo editor and you can see the paint is slopped onto the surrounding areas, as well as missing in a few places on the fittings themselves. In addition, you can see the nipple in the center of the fittings, which you would not be able to see if there was a cap covering them.

I presume they are painted red so that maintenance personnel can easily spot all of them while servicing the weapon.

Kykeon wrote:

What's with the Germans and their red grease fittings anyway? All the stuff I saw in Germany was that way too.

Those aren't red grease fittings.  They are red plastic "caps" or coves, designed to protect the fittings from dirt and other contaminants.  With out them, when you lube the fittings, you actually will force dirt and stuff into the fitting, thereby introducing the very thing you are trying to prevent.  I don't know why they chose red, as they are also available in black, OD, and a myriad of other colors.  Just a bit of info.

 

Michael

 

(ps.  Nice work thus far!  As far as the loader positioneing goes, while in training and on field exercises, all care must be taken.  Once the bullets start flying, some safety procedures are (by some) always dropped to be able to stay out of the line of fire and spead up the firing process.  Some will strictly adhere to protocol, but some will always do it "wrong".)

Boba Fett wrote:

I love it! I think a darker lighting condition would look beter. Maybe a photoshopped smoke haze? Just an idea.

Smoke haze is best done with smoke... Just need still air, a piece of tubing, and a good cee-gar... Oh, and a cable-release for the camera works wonders..

Shep Paine did some excellent effects using cigar smoke for both smoke and dust... It's so much easier these days with digital cameras... I could never bring myself to photograph models with effects in the old days simply because of the cost of film and developing it...  Now that I have one,  I have no idea how I lived without a digital camera before...

That background is excellent work, BTW... I have Photoshop, but it's a bit too complicated for me (for now)... I can barely use MS Paint and Picture It! Express...  

 

Looks great! I love the way you painted the frontofthe PaK, but left the "behind" gray--that loooks cool.

The rest of the scene looks really nicely done too!

I love it! I think a darker lighting condition would look beter. Maybe a photoshopped smoke haze? Just an idea.

Looks fantastic, Kykeon.

 

A primitive, yet not altogether unpleasing, attempt at Photo-Shopping in a background;

I'm still experimenting with this, so results may vary....

 

A bit better looking oblique view;

Still trying to obtain the ideal lighting scenerio. This set of photos looks pretty good under mostly cloudy outdoor light.

A few pieces of foliage have been added to the gun, another couple shrubs, and a few other small items.

Thanks for the specifics, been wanting to try that kind of "bush" method myself.
Actually all your groundwork looks great :) Nice build

Thanks! The bush is made from a tree root sprayed with 3M Super 77 Spray Glue and sprinkled with oregano leaves, AB dark green with light green oil highlights.

I went back to a basic blue background. I can't seem to remember how to cut and paste the model into another background....hum...better look it up.

Here is a detail shot of the action;

 

Looks great! I love the shooter

As far as the background photos work, the only thing out of place is the horse facing backwards IMO, they all look too close to the line to just be hanging out? Keep in mind I know nothing about German horse cavalry.. but I think the countryside works great with the colors of your groundwork you have.

What'd you make the bush out of? I like it a lot!

Well done.

Here is a final addition;

More pics to follow....

Playing around with background photos, this one doesn't really work....

Kykeon wrote:

I also liked that clip there of that .50 loosing it's barrel on the first round...

Yeah haha I saw that one too, I have no idea about how the barrel would attach but assuming it screws into the receiver or whatever I'd have to guess the threading was stripped and failed or some kind of foul play was the culprit on that one.

There are also a lot of videos out there with shoulder fired rocket launchers being using improperly...

Combination of a firng mech and a bad loader, actually... When the breech opens, the firing lock is cocked.  When the loader seated the round, he didn't get it in quite right and pushed it back in again while the A-gunner was closing the breech.  Just as the breech closed, the loader caught his sleeve on the trigger bar and BOOM!

Yeah, I've seen that footage before, that looks like a faulty firing mechanism. I like how the guy on the right just walks away like nothing happened. I also liked that clip there of that .50 loosing it's barrel on the first round...

Well, I've got a bit more done. Another scratch built ammo crate, spruced up the figures some more and got the sides build to cover the bare foam. Pics when I finally get some sun light.

 

psstoff995 wrote:

Found this, thought it was funny in a horrific kind of way... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j4BzfRxZVEc seemed pertinent lol

A perfect example of what NOT to do, for sure... I've used that clip to explain the hazards of being in the the path of recoil many times, lol... Had the loader done it right and stayed out of it, he would have suffered perhaps a broken arm, but that beats what happened to him...