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Posted on 02/07/08 08:36:43 AM |
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GKB
Magical Montagist Posts: 4002 Reply  |
Re: Contest 204: Model making
Nick, Now I'm showing my age. Dr Beeching was chairman of British Railways who, in 1963, issued 'The Reshaping of British Railways' report which axed thousands of miles, trains and jobs from the UK rail network saying that they were unprofitable. It led to a considerable debate in the country and we are still, to this day, living with the consequences. But he missed the line in my post! Dr. Beaker was the scientific genius behind building Mike Mercury's Supercar. I feel that there is something incredibly sad about me knowing all these facts! Gordon |
Posted on 02/07/08 09:04:26 AM |
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Nick Curtain
Model Master Posts: 1768 Reply  |
Re: Contest 204: Model making
Yep, I was aware of that, it was just a play on words on my part. On the plus side, those old disused lines have made fabulous walkways and it's great fun exploring the old tunnels, like the one near us at Old warden, on the old Hitchin to Bedford line. If they were open today they would be horribly electric and not the nostalgic steam, which had a certain air of romance about it. Nick |
Posted on 02/07/08 8:51:15 PM |
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michael sinclair
Off-Topic Opportunist Posts: 1864 Reply  |
Re: Contest 204: Model making
Yes, sometimes there is limit in aligning model trains in transform mode 
For bigger: http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e341/sinclair97/thwaite2.gif 
With a breeze: For bigger http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e341/sinclair97/thwaite3.gif 
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Posted on 02/07/08 9:27:27 PM |
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DanLundberg
Darkroom Diva Posts: 16 Reply  |
Re: Contest 204: Model making
I had a different response to the less-than-photo-realistic background painting.  |
Posted on 02/07/08 9:38:00 PM |
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Eva Roth
Luminous Liberator Posts: 269 Reply  |
Contest 204: Model making
Not a very exciting entry from me this week for such a lovely challenge. Here's a very quickly put together pic with another model train foto that I took recently (note the tower) and a background image from Sicily, where I am at the moment. Apologies, far too hot here to do any proper work!  |
Posted on 02/07/08 10:56:58 PM |
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Maja
Dewey Decimator Posts: 66 Reply  |
Re: Contest 204: Model making
Ooooh, Sicily!!! Tell us about the tower. It looks so interesting. |
Posted on 03/07/08 02:05:53 AM |
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mguyer
Incisive Incisor Posts: 799 Reply  |
Re: Contest 204: Model making
needed a sign  |
Posted on 03/07/08 12:51:09 PM |
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Maja
Dewey Decimator Posts: 66 Reply |
Re: Contest 204: Model making
Minor adjustments   |
Posted on 03/07/08 5:04:31 PM |
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katew
Virtual Virtuoso Posts: 681 Reply  |
Re: Contest 204: Model making
Didn't have a lot of time this week .... 
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Posted on 03/07/08 9:14:32 PM |
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james
Surreal Spoofer Posts: 1194 Reply  |
Re: Contest 204: Model making
http://i153.photobucket.com/albums/s211/fungismith/railway_2.gif |
Posted on 03/07/08 10:56:06 PM |
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Whaler
Visual Viking Posts: 330 Reply  |
Re: Contest 204: Model making
A real quickie this week!  _________________ !!!!!!!!!!!!!!! |
Posted on 04/07/08 07:18:37 AM |
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Steve Caplin
Administrator Posts: 7025 Reply  |
Re: Contest 204: Model making
A big variety of entries this week - some whimsical, some meticulous, and some that downright cheated. But hey, that's what it's all about, right? First on the tracks was Babybiker, with a new background and some cunningly added textures on the existing buildings. This must have taken a while! Best thing here is the way the train has been changed into Thomas the Tank Engine - a great idea. The added smoke is a good touch, but the smoke from the chimney should surely reach the top of the page? Fantastic animation from tooquilos - I particularly like the way the car appears first in the distance and then skids around the corner, and that extra car nudging onto the tracks is a great touch. The man reading the map is perfect! The puffing train smoke also works exceptionally well. Excellent! A fine set of houses from katherine, and the train smoke blends it nicely into the picture. The extra carriages work well, too, and the texture between the tracks looks just the right scale for a model railway. Very good stuff. Here's something we don't see often: a referential montage from Tom. Look at all the extras in here: the skeleton, the stone head, the book cover, and probably many more than I could spot. That's one mighty burger, Tom, as well! But why the blacked out eyes? Is it important that we don't recognize this man? Gorgeous, dazzlingly realistic work from Steve Mac. THe slight wisp of steam from the train is perfectly echoed by the mist rolling over the mountains; the grass growing through the tracks, the added bush, all make this a perfectly composed scene. Wonderful. And not a staircase in sight! A useful set of railway buildings from Mick Malkemus, and the dulicated train works well. Slightly dodgy smoke, though, Mick: set the mode to Screen and you should find all those black edges disappear. (Or you could just soften the edges with the Eraser.) Why has the background been streaked down like that? Far easier to duplicate it to a new layer and then stretch the whole thing, surely. There's a naive, playful quality to mguyer's entry: it has the sense of a model, with expertly fitted buildings, but the background is thoroughly realistic. Perhaps too much so? I'd like to see a person or two in here, even if it is Sheila waving from a window. And that's a remarkably discreet sign in the second entry! Well chosen buildings from brewell, with good black smoke and puffs of white steam. The person seems rather to large for the perspective of the scene, though: but the train driver looks perfect. An impressive view from Nick Curtain, with some of the most beautifully drawn smoke I've seen yet - thoroughly convincing, especially in the way the funnel smoke puffs out and then disperses. Good shadows, too, which add to the effect: but isn't the lighting on the clouds from the other direction? A new member this week, and Frazetta has launched into the forum with an almost ghostly, deserted landscape. It's an eerie view, especially with the sparse foliage and daytime moon. Bringing the plants in front of the train was a great touch, which fixes it firmly into the scene: a great first entry. Welcome to the forum! A futuristic fantasy from GKB, with a vision of a city in which a steam train would appear to play little part. It's a great view, Gordon, and I do appreciate the signboard: but that spaceship is too brightly coloured for the rest of the scene, which is all in tones of brown. Desaturate it a lot, and it will make for a much more consistent image. Some beautiful pastoral work from Maja, with a great view and some rather excellent steam. I don't know why the man sitting on the fence isn't even glancing at the train, though - and I am rather worried about the invasion of giant tulips. Ah, I see that's been fixed in the second entry - good! A clever and well realized entry from Deborah Morley, firmly asserting that this is a model railway. the added grass and trees, and the new building work perfectly: and the hand removing the card model is perfect. Sorry this took you so long, Deborah, but it was worth it! The thing that really ties michael sinclair's animation together is, of course, the plant life at the front. Because it partially obscures the train, the buildings and the view, it fools the eye into placing them all within the background. I can't emphasize enough how effective this technique is. I think we could do with more than two frames in the animation, though: the smoke from the chimney oscillates up and down a little too much. Good waving in the second entry! A novel response from DanLundberg - turning the whole image into a painting to match the background. But let's not ignore the work in reconstructing those buildings: this is a good approach, which does the job perfectly. A beautiful Sicilian setting from Eva Roth, with a truly magnificent and bizarre tower. What on earth is that thing? Can you bring one back for me? The train seems rather too big for its track here, but otherwise blends in well: tucking it behind the tree at the front was a good move. Real model railway buildings, complete with people, from katew, and they work very well with the train. I like the framing and the hand, but the sharp horizontal line does break the picture into two separate images. If this had been at an angle, instead (even a slight one would do) we'd get a much stronger sense of realism. Plenty of rail transport from James - although the photographic background is perhaps too realistic for the model. I like all the action, and the see-through carriage, but somehow the wheels (especially on the last train) need to be turning... A dramatic scene from Whaler, with the train crossing a viaduct that looks perilously narrow for it (don't they usually put low walls on those things?). The waterfall in the background adds splendour, but seems rather pixellated: higher res original, please! I think we're all trained out for now. Strangely enough, the job I'm working on today is... portraying a train careering off the rails for a Sunday newspaper. Coincidence is a funny thing! |
Posted on 04/07/08 07:34:37 AM |
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Nick Curtain
Model Master Posts: 1768 Reply |
Re: Contest 204: Model making
Thanks for the comments Steve. Good luck with the train image. Nick |
Posted on 04/07/08 08:25:19 AM |
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Maja
Dewey Decimator Posts: 66 Reply |
Re: Contest 204: Model making
Thank you Steve! |
Posted on 04/07/08 10:12:28 AM |
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katew
Virtual Virtuoso Posts: 681 Reply |
Re: Contest 204: Model making
Thanks Steve. I totally agree about the angle - I just ran seriously out of time! Excuses, excuses!  |
Posted on 04/07/08 10:40:32 AM |
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tooquilos
Wizard of Oz Posts: 2898 Reply  |
Re: Contest 204: Model making
Thank you Steve  |
Posted on 04/07/08 11:26:10 AM |
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brewell
Pixel Pentagrammarian Posts: 752 Reply  |
Re: Contest 204: Model making
I had so many questions this week: What do I want to learn? How much time can I spend on it? What makes a white house a house and not just something white? Can garden plants be transformed into a jungly background? Do I know nothing of hillsides? The answer to all these and more is yes! Happy Fourth of July - when Americans made it legal to be rude to the British. _________________ The journey of a thousand hours begins with a single layer. |
Posted on 04/07/08 12:06:07 PM |
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Steve Mac
Grunge Genie Posts: 539 Reply  |
Re: Contest 204: Model making
Thanks Steve. Nope, no staircase this week.I'm seeing pictures of stairs in my sleep these days! |
Posted on 04/07/08 12:46:04 PM |
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Deborah Morley
Makeover Magician Posts: 1319 Reply  |
Re: Contest 204: Model making
Many thanks Steve. A coincidence with the job indeed. Maybe next week the challenge should be winning the Lottery!! |
Posted on 04/07/08 3:01:03 PM |
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Eva Roth
Luminous Liberator Posts: 269 Reply |
Re: Contest 204: Model making
Thanks for your comments Steve and Maja! The tower is not actually in Sicily (only the background photo is). It's a wee model within a train set of a coal processing plant in the Ruhr area in Germany. I found the model-in-the-making in the middle of a disused coal mine which now doubles as a sculpture garden/musem of gigantic proportions - which makes a striking contrast to the tiny model. The whole area is covered in railway tracks, bizarre cranes, towers, buildings and carriages, all rusty and wonderful shapes and colours. |
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