1/72 Academy B-17F

Memphis Belle

by Konley Kelley

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Here is my latest addition to the "Famous Bombers in 1:72 Scale" section on my website.  The "Memphis Belle" is the 1:72 scale B-17F Academy kit.  I think this is perhaps the most photorealistic "digital diorama" I've made to date.
 
I photographed the Belle against a Dallas sky about 6:30 p.m. the other night.  I downloaded the images into my Mac.  Using Photoshop, I went to work.

One luxury I had with this project was that the kit came with two sets of propellors.  Propellors are one of the most tricky things to remove from a static model you want to put in flight.  You have to remove any part of the model where the blades or shadows from the blades obscure the aircraft.  After doing that, you need to clone textures nearby to recreate the model's surface and detail where the blades used to be.
With two sets of props, I made the regular props but clipped the blades off of the other set of props.  This model only has the propellor hubs without blades installed allowing me to go right to work in a new layer to create the blurred, spinning props.  I'll put in the completed props later.

Having the model blended against the sky in the original image also saved time.  I didn't have to crop the refrigerator out of the picture and paste the model into a fresh sky this go-around.  I used Photoshop to make my hand and a few trees vanish as well as to clone the Belle to create a wingman in the background.  We don't usually have enemy flak in the skies over Dallas, so I created smoke puffs using different Photoshop brushes.

I also took some liberties with the second aircraft.  I modified the nose and found some nose art on a real picture of a B-17 on  the internet.  With a little work, "Texas Strikers" is flying alongside the Belle.

This model also features the really great set of 1:72 Legend B-17 crew.   It was cool to put a little guy in the ball turret.  

For more "Famous Bombers in 1:72 Scale" see
http://home1.gte.net/konman/index.html.

Konley

Photos and text © by Konley Kelley