Here is a profile-scale model I made of a Canadair CT-114 Tutor painted as a member of the CAF Snowbirds precision aerobatic team. I chose this subject in tribute to all the wonderful Canadian model builders I keep in touch with.
I cut the parts from thin plywood, then glued them together and filled the grain. After coats of primer and then white paint, I was left with a blank canvas of an airplane. This was back in January 2008.
I finally decided that rather than try to paint all the color stripes and then glue on small pieces of paper with the roundels, flags, and logos ("paper decals"), I'd cheat a bit and use really large paper decals.
I printed the covering in 12 sections and carefully pasted them on. Then I mixed paint to match the colors as best I could and painted the edges of the plywood to match. This gives a "wrap-around" appearance and really helps make the model look realistic.
Total time was 6 hours, including computer time drawing the decals.
(http://smm.solidmodelmemories.net/Gallery/albums/userpics/normal_TutorTop_s.JPG)
http://smm.solidmodelmemories.net/Gallery/displayimage.php?pos=-1737 (http://smm.solidmodelmemories.net/Gallery/displayimage.php?pos=-1737)
You can see here that the white diamonds on the bottom line up if you look from the right angle:
(http://smm.solidmodelmemories.net/Gallery/albums/userpics/normal_TutorBottom_s.JPG)
http://smm.solidmodelmemories.net/Gallery/displayimage.php?pos=-1738 (http://smm.solidmodelmemories.net/Gallery/displayimage.php?pos=-1738)
Hey Garet,
Love the Snowbird! The paper seems to settle nicely to the profile surfaces. A great solution to complex schemes, though I'll have to learn quite a bit more of computer graphics to be able to match your results. Keep up the great work!
Kenny
Thanks, Kenny! I should probably make up a profile-scale tutorial. You tackled several issues with making them, such as how to handle low-wing airplanes. I know Lou made a fighter jet. Did anyone else make a simple scale/profile scale model during the cook-up?
The paper for the upper side of the fuselage actually wraps out across the wing. You can see the edge in the red region if you look closely. I did it that way so that the roundel and the "Snowbirds" logo could wrap over to the wing.
Believe it or not, the computer graphics part was fairly simple. I had a folder of Canadian logos and insignia, as well as the three-view with Snowbirds colors, which I had scaled to 1/72 for cutting out the parts. I used Gimp, which is a free paint program somewhat like Photoshop. It takes some learning and getting used to, but it works fairly well. Like the later versions of Photoshop (after 3 or so), Gimp has multiple painting layers that you can show or hide.
I put the three-view in the lower layer, then plopped a roundel in another layer. I scaled it to match, then moved it into the right position. For the control surfaces, I traced the three-view parts, extending the lines off the wings so that I could trim them after the paper was glued on. I made another layer with the color parts, which also ran over the edges of the wings, fuselage, etc., so that I could trim them later and not have any white edges where the paper didn't exactly match the wood. When all the layers were ready, I hid the ones I wasn't using and put a plain white layer in the background. Then, I made a copy of the image as a single-layer Tiff file, which I printed to an inkjet printer onto paper.
I trimmed the paper to allow for the thickness of the plywood, then carefully coated the back with glue from a gluestick. After I stuck each piece down, I used an old plastic gift card to smooth out the paper and make sure it was stuck down. After the glue and paper was completely dry, I trimmed with an X-acto knife. If you don't wait long enough, the paper tends to tear instead of cut.
I did mess up one wing, and tried to tear the paper off. It left a residue of paper all over, but I was able to use a wet paper towel to re-wet the glue, and the whole thing came off. I was careful not to get water on the other paper decal pieces. I did spray the finished plane with lacquer to seal the ink.
Garet
Very nice work Garet. The artwork is awesome to say the least. Congratulation on an excellent Snowbird.
Lou