by MatthewB » Mon Feb 14, 2022 11:43 am
OMG! OMG!
I got a copy of LaCroix� & Wells� Japanese Cruisers of the Pacific War for less than a Kidney.
It will arrive in about two weeks, but it came with a PDF! I don�t know if the PDF is �Authorized� or not.
But the images in it are amazing.
The resolution allows me to blow the images up much larger than those I have seen posted to this forum from the book.
In reading the Forward/Introduction, I learned that it was one of the first publications to use Digital Image Processing to recover more data from existing negatives.
That caused me to wonder if anyone has subjected the same negatives to even more Powerful Digital Processing Tools of either Photoshop (which is only a Billion Times more Powerful than ANY 1980s Digital Image Processing Tools � That includes those of any Intelligence Agency on Earth at the time) or applications that make Photoshop look like a tricycle in comparison, such as Mathematica, MATLab, or similar computational tools that don�t have the Graphic Interface of Photoshop, but whose tools are many orders of magnitude beyond Photoshop.
And the use of Mathematica on ANY kind of larger Mainframe Computer provides even more power (Mathematica comes with built-in tools that rival those of Intelligence Professionals or Governments, but require more than a Desktop to utilize in a time-frame that would make their use worthwhile. Waiting months for a single Render Pass is not something most would care to do).
BUT�.
To get to the actual point here.
In LaCroix� & Wells� IJN Cruiser Book, I noticed that on Page 192 is an image of the aft Deck Alterations of the Isuzu, Kinu, and Nagara (and possibly Yura), where it shows that not only was the Boat Deck Extension over the after Superstructure extended to Starboard forward of the #7 Gun, but that to Port the area around the #6 gun was extended rearward, tapering toward the Center, rather than the Circular shape of the deck previously.
The 1/700 Models show this to be simply a larger Semi-Circle for the Tamiya 1941 Nagara (which is released for the Anime Arpeggio of Blue Steel and for the 1943/44 Nagara, where the forward Torpedo Tubes were landed, the aft replaced with Quad Launchers, and a Type 21 Radar attached to the prior Location of the 4m Rangefinder and Director.
BUT� The Rainbow Models Photo-Etch kit for the 1943/44 Nagara has this shape of Deck provided.
I am trying to kitbash a Photo-Etch set for a 1942 Nagara, where the PE Deck has the appropriate brass tie-down strips for the Synthetic deck material used by the IJN, which the 1943/44 set from Rainbow had, save for the #7 gun position, where the earlier 14cm Gun was replaced with a Type 89 Twin 12.5cm DP Gun Mount. But the Rainbow set for the 1942 Tama has the correct #7 Gun Position, and the appropriate AA Gun Outfit for the Midship Deck Mounted AA guns (whether just the two Twin Type 93 P/S of the first Funnel, or the suggested second pair P/S of the Third Funnel, which can be used from the Nagara PE set), including the appropriate Midships Ventilation Hoods, Railings, and such, with the forward Torpedo Well-Decking, and the bridge over it, with the correct ladders and that cage thing always shown on it (I have yet to get to where LaCroix & Wells describe what that cage is, or why it totally blocks that bridge).
The only thing that really bugs me about the PE for the Bridge of the Nagara is that the railings CLEARLY show to be going OUTSIDE of the rear legs of the forward Tripod Mast, and NOT INSIDE as the PE Kits all show (The kits also do not show the chamfered corners of the Upper Aft Deck of the Compass Bridge Level in the proper dimensions, nor the Radio House on the Bridge Level previously occupied by the Hangar).
I had previously made a styrene replacement bridge that I intended to use, rather than the one provided by Tamiya or Fujimi (whose older kit is atrocious� I wonder why it hasn�t yet been re-made in 1/700 with the appropriate outfit for 1942, when it led one of the DesRons in the Solomons?), but given the time elapsed since I lost the use of my left arm for four+ years (now finally recovering) I cannot recall where I left it, and I�d like to finish the damned thing.
MB
OMG! OMG!
I got a copy of LaCroix� & Wells� [b][i]Japanese Cruisers of the Pacific War[/i][/b] for less than a Kidney.
It will arrive in about two weeks, but it came with a PDF! I don�t know if the PDF is �Authorized� or not.
But the images in it are [i]amazing[/i].
The resolution allows me to blow the images up much larger than those I have seen posted to this forum from the book.
In reading the Forward/Introduction, I learned that it was one of the first publications to use Digital Image Processing to recover more data from existing negatives.
That caused me to wonder if anyone has subjected the same negatives to even more Powerful Digital Processing Tools of either Photoshop (which is only a Billion Times more Powerful than [b]ANY [/b]1980s Digital Image Processing Tools � That includes those of any Intelligence Agency on Earth at the time) or applications that make Photoshop look like a tricycle in comparison, such as Mathematica, MATLab, or similar computational tools that don�t have the Graphic Interface of Photoshop, but whose tools are many orders of magnitude beyond Photoshop.
And the use of Mathematica on ANY kind of larger Mainframe Computer provides even more power (Mathematica comes with built-in tools that rival those of Intelligence Professionals or Governments, but require more than a Desktop to utilize in a time-frame that would make their use worthwhile. Waiting months for a single Render Pass is not something most would care to do).
[b][i]BUT�.[/i][/b]
To get to the actual point here.
In LaCroix� & Wells� IJN Cruiser Book, I noticed that on Page 192 is an image of the aft Deck Alterations of the Isuzu, Kinu, and Nagara (and possibly Yura), where it shows that not only was the Boat Deck Extension over the after Superstructure extended to Starboard forward of the #7 Gun, but that to Port the area around the #6 gun was extended rearward, tapering toward the Center, rather than the Circular shape of the deck previously.
The 1/700 Models show this to be simply a larger Semi-Circle for the Tamiya 1941 Nagara (which is released for the Anime [i]Arpeggio of Blue Steel[/i] and for the 1943/44 Nagara, where the forward Torpedo Tubes were landed, the aft replaced with Quad Launchers, and a Type 21 Radar attached to the prior Location of the 4m Rangefinder and Director.
[b]BUT�[/b] The Rainbow Models Photo-Etch kit for the 1943/44 Nagara has this shape of Deck provided.
I am trying to kitbash a Photo-Etch set for a 1942 Nagara, where the PE Deck has the appropriate brass tie-down strips for the Synthetic deck material used by the IJN, which the 1943/44 set from Rainbow had, save for the #7 gun position, where the earlier 14cm Gun was replaced with a Type 89 Twin 12.5cm DP Gun Mount. But the Rainbow set for the 1942 Tama has the correct #7 Gun Position, and the appropriate AA Gun Outfit for the Midship Deck Mounted AA guns (whether just the two Twin Type 93 P/S of the first Funnel, or the suggested second pair P/S of the Third Funnel, which can be used from the Nagara PE set), including the appropriate Midships Ventilation Hoods, Railings, and such, with the forward Torpedo Well-Decking, and the bridge over it, with the correct ladders and that cage thing always shown on it (I have yet to get to where LaCroix & Wells describe what that cage is, or why it totally blocks that bridge).
The only thing that really bugs me about the PE for the Bridge of the Nagara is that the railings CLEARLY show to be going OUTSIDE of the rear legs of the forward Tripod Mast, and NOT INSIDE as the PE Kits all show (The kits also do not show the chamfered corners of the Upper Aft Deck of the Compass Bridge Level in the proper dimensions, nor the Radio House on the Bridge Level previously occupied by the Hangar).
I had previously made a styrene replacement bridge that I intended to use, rather than the one provided by Tamiya or Fujimi (whose older kit is atrocious� I wonder why it hasn�t yet been re-made in 1/700 with the appropriate outfit for 1942, when it led one of the DesRons in the Solomons?), but given the time elapsed since I lost the use of my left arm for four+ years (now finally recovering) I cannot recall where I left it, and I�d like to finish the damned thing.
MB