Displaying a propeller-driven airplane in flight is somewhat futile when the propeller is still. After looking at a myriad of photographs, I thought I would try making a blurred prop image with an appearance that was something between a rotating propeller and a stationary one. It dawned on me that the amount of blur was dependent on the propeller speed and the shutter speed of the camera; so, my artistic canvas was open to whatever I wanted to try. I settled on 1/1000 second shutter speed and 1,500 rpm for the prop. This made a 1/32 scale image that was about twice the width of the original blade.
I made a mold of the Dragon 1/32 P-51D EP propeller blade, then merged two blades to get the width I wanted. After blending the contours and re-creating the finish, I made another mold of the new contour. I then poured four new blades in clear resin. CorelDRAW was used to make decals of a blurred prop blade the same size as the clear blades. I then printed the images on clear decal film and placed them on the new blades. Finally, I coated the blades with flat clear acrylic.
Although not perfect, this first attempt was rather interesting and certainly looked better than stationary prop blades. Since there are several ways to change the effects, a little more work with the process should be rewarding.
Tip submitted by:
Ken FriendStatesboro, Georgia