MSW crew-mate Karl Zingheim (CaptSonghouse) shares his latest scene with us, entitled "Steer 230", his entry for the current KitMaker Pearl Harbor Campaign, in this "On Display" feature!

Link to Item

If you have comments or questions please post them here.

Thanks!
~Gunny

I spotted this last night when the pictures were uploaded to the Kitmaker gallery, and I was wondering when it would turn up on the site!

This is simply the best smoke/fire effect I have EVER SEEN on a diorama!

Well done Karl!

Chas

Very dramatic and powerful dio. I have personally met two different sailors who were on the Nevada that day.

Thank you for sharing that with us.

Excellent work of dramatically capturing a moment in history Karl.

Thanks for sharing your workmanship.

What an excellent choice for a diorama, and very well executed! The fire and smoke are very realistic and contribute greatly to the overall effect! That must be a pretty sizeable base in 350 scale.

An excellent freeze frame of history and brilliant job on the battle effects Karl.

BZ! Awesome work Karl.

Kenny

HI Bob!

Yes, I prefer the larger scales, but the trade-off obviously is the space impact: this dio measures 41 inches (105 cm) by 18 inches (46 cm)! I have decided to make my dio bases a part of the presentation, hence the hexagonal battleship mooring quay motif.

Thanks!

--Karl

Wow!

This is propably the best representation I have seen in a diorama of smoke and fire, very well done.

I allso like the leaking oil in the water - nice touch!

Cheers/Jan

Very well done indeed Karl, it is so hard to carry off smoke and fire convincingly, but you sure succeeded. A very appropriate subject on this anniversary of the "Day that Will Live in Infamy". I wonder how many people outside of these forums remember Pearl Harbor? Al

Hi Karl

Very good as all the other guys said - but, and this is a big one - can you try to take better photos, please?
The dio is WORTH a better display
BZ


Rui

Hi Rui!

A very valid critique.

Although photography is not my forte yet, with a welcoming forum like Kitmakers, I now have a venue on which to develop this new skill.

--Karl

Hi Karl

Have you seen Frank Portela's feature?
Photography Basics for Modeling

Hope this helps
Rui

Hi Rui!

Yes, I've seen it and now that I've have more projects to practice on, I can use it as a step-by-step tutorial.

Thanks!

--Karl

incredible work... indeed the best fire/smoke display I have seen..thanks for sharing!

full feature???

Kar,
Magnificent work, especially the smoke/fire effects. Hows about a step by step on your techniques? I for one would love to learn!

with admiration,
Tim

You've got it, Tim! The effects are incredibly easy (and inexpensive) and are not just for ship modeling either.

I will submit a feature in the coming weeks for the consideration of th Kitmakers' editorial staff.

Thanks!

--Karl

That's quite a BOLD work you have been doing Karl, I have never been convinced with smoke effects in dioramas but I think your diorama is very enjoyable on every aspect, congratulations that's a very very good work
JB

Congrats Karl,

That's one of the best executed dioramas I've seen! Brilliant bit of work with the smoke and fire, please enlighten us with the techniques.

thanks for sharing,

Frank

Hi Frank!

I'll get to work right away on presentation materials. I'm having a devil of a time with the Pentax Optio 60 camera I was loaned. My biggest problem is the darned focus arrangement. It looks like having a manual focus is the only way to get good results.

Another problem is the way light plays off the filaments of the smoke material: to the human eye, it is not apparent, but the camera seems to trap ambient light inside, exaggerating the size and shape of the individual threads of the polyfibre. Unretouched, it makes the smoke column resemble a brillo pad. I had to exaggerate the shadows on some of my shots to get the smoke looking more like it does to the eye. Unfortunately, in one scene this adjustment practically puts the Nevada in silhouette. I think I will try indirect lighting to defeat this quirk of the camera lens.

--Karl

STUNNING! everything about it is beautiful, the efects, craftsmanship, imagination, history, drama, wow!

Definitely looking forward to a smoke/fire feature!

RE: retouching - not sure what program you have, but many photo retouching apps have masks - you can mask one area, such as the smoke, and apply the effect just to that. (darken/conrast the smoke, leave the rst OK). A way to avoid trouble is to follow seams to hid things, and to smear the edges of the mask for a soft transition, often called "feather" - just a few pixels will often blend without that harsh sharp line.

Again, beautiful!

Hi Wink!

Thanks for the kind words.

Yes, digital photography will be a new dark art to master, but hey, this is on-line modeling after all!

I will be submitting a feature on my fire/smoke effects for what I call 'open' dioramas like Steer 230. Problem is, I'm just getting back in my stride and I don't have an extensive body of existing works to shoot, so I must ask for everyone's patience while I get my demo projects completed.



--Karl