Lancaster 1/72 camouflage

[jco]

Hi All,

Since i'm restarting the hobby and after some tryouts with smaller acft, (spitfire, Bf109, Fw190...) I'm going to start on the Avro lancaster (by Revell). Currently I'm looking to create a mask for painting (airbrush) the camouflage on top of the airplane. I rather have this done not freehand, can you provide me (aid me) in creating a template for this. I tried it with the drawings I found in SAM Lancaster publications, but this is scale 1/144 and when I try to copy this to 200% on the copier, I get 1 A3 sheet with partial sections, since obvious not all fits on 1 sheet. Also it seems that the result I have is not exactly scaled to 1/72 bacause I'm missing several Centimeters if I compare this with my model. Just want to make this as real as I can get.

regards,
Johan

[Wurger]

What kind of a copier do you use?

[jco]

I use a canon copier at work, I just set page size to A3 and zoom 200%, I cannot remember the exact canon copier type but will fwdd this tom.

thanks and kind regards,
jco

[Wurger]

I see. Is there a possibility to input to the copier the number of ratio for resizing up or down of a pic?

[FlexiBull]

Not sure if this will make sense but here goes.
Most kits have a camouflage scheme included.
Get a digital camera and take an image of the scheme.
Upload to your PC.
Use a drawing programme that has a dimensioning tool.
Calculate the wingspan of your model and stretch the jpg to this dimension.
Print out and cut out the panels.

Used this on my P51 Mustang III.

One word of warning just check that top elevation is the same scale as the side elevation. I stretched the image for the correct fuselage length thinking that this would automatically be correct for the upper surface of the wings, but they seemed to be different scales.

[FlexiBull]

Oh sorry - welcome to the forum.

[Airframes]

Welcome to the forum, and good tips from Flexibull. You'll find that most, if not all copiers, work to a different system for enlargement reproduction, and it's a real pain in the nether regions! I'm used to working with graphic - reproduction process cameras, where enlargement and reduction is logical, for example, 1/48th scale up to 1/32nd scale is = 150% enlargement - simple!
Copiers however use a ratio for the paper or copier bed size, so a calcualtion has to be made to achieve a nearly correct enlargement size to input, which will still not be accurate! Copier operators, for instance at 'Copy Shops' and similar establishments, will know how to do this, but I haven't a clue!

[jco]

Flexibull,

Thanks will surely try this, and he when I start this project I will post this so you all could follow up on things.
btw does PAINT.Net or GIMP has a dimensioning tool, cause with paint.net I can only resize the entire image or are you using other software?
regards,
jco

[Migrant]

As Airframes alluded to, it's more straightforward if you can scan the paint diagram into your computer, resize in a photo-editing program (I use Photoshop) and then print it out. There isn't a set scale, since the paint/decal diagrams vary from kit to kit, but I use a simple formula. I measure a specific distance on the kit itself- usually wingspan since it's easy to measure. I then measure the wingspan on the paint diagram, and divide it into the kit's measurements.

eg 7.5" (the kit's wingspan) divided by 4.2" (the wingspan of the paint diagram) = 1.785
Move the decimal point 2 places to express as a percentage, and you get 178.5% – the enlargement necessary to make the diagram the same size/scale as the kit.

Once printed the shapes can be cut out and attached to the model with little blobs of BluTack, just enough to hold the paper off the model's surface. The result is a tight, but soft, edge:

[FlexiBull]

Ah that's the magic missing word "scan"!

If you don't have a scanner, then the quickest way is an image from a digital camera.

@ jco the program I use is Serif DrawPlus 7, there are several versions and I think most have the dimension tool. In the UK you can often pick up a free program of a older version. Quite simple, but quite useful.

[FlexiBull]

Ah that's the magic missing word "scan"!

If you don't have a scanner, then the quickest way is an image from a digital camera.

@ jco the program I use is Serif DrawPlus 7, there are several versions and I think most have the dimension tool. In the UK you can often pick up a free program of a older version. Quite simple, but quite useful.

[jco]

Thanks for this, In the meantime I have almost the result I need. I'm using paint.net for this with a extra plugin print+.
Regards,