>Which leads me to me own question: Does anybody know of a good
>source for early instrument gauge decals? I've got a set from PP
>Aeroparts. Although they're meant for "newer" stuff, some of the
>decals can be used to fake it.
In 1986 I made up a number of 'white faced' instruments by the
following method:
I photocopied instrument face drawings from WWI Aero #92-Dec. 1982.
Pasting up these copies on a sheet of poster board,I hung them on the
wall of my domicile and photographed them with Kodak Lithographic film
in a Canon F1 with a macro lens. I attempted to obtain scale sizes on
the film with a mathematical formula of my own design relying on
bracket lines on the poster board which were lined up with the vertical
edges of the field of view. This was a miserable failure. However I
fudged a bit by shooting at intermediate distances and was able to get
enough correctly sized examples to make several sets in both 1/48 and
1/28 scales. The negatives were then taken to a friendly printer who
made contact prints on DGA 'Daylight Copywhite' brand plastic sheets in
return for a suitable supply of beer. The faces were then punched out
with a Waldron punch set. The results were good enough for a third and
a second place at Nationals in 1987 and 1991. However if I do it again
I shall thicken the numerals and demarcation lines on the drawings with
a drafting pen because they don't show up well in scale.
(Jeez! The things I do for art!)
Some Waldron British WWII instrument faces are quite suitable for WWI
British aircraft instrument panels.
Greg Springer
'All the world is my friend for I am a brewer'