[baonguyen77]

Your photos are amazing as always! I also love your choice of models - elegant and beautiful !

 

[vulpex]

Your photos are amazing as always! I also love your choice of models - elegant and beautiful !

Thank you so much, Bao - much appreciated!

 

[vulpex]

During the last 2 years prices for high end or even mid end models have risen in a way that it is severely spoiling my joy in collecting.
I didn't stop collecting but I definitely I buy less models than I used to and I know that many others feel similar.

But the good thing is that there are still exceptions from this frustrating trend in our hobby - sometimes you can find true gems amongst budget models.
Let me show you an example which I very much enjoyed during the last couple of weeks:

I really like the Ferrari FXXK Evo and got me the white BBR diecast when it was released. However over time I kind of got bored of these typical race-like liveries of the FXXK and meanwhile my wjite BBR is for sale. But by chance I found that BBR did also two very limited plain red versions (one resin and on hdiecast). I do not know whether there exists a plain red FXXK in real life (at least I couldn't find an image in the web). To me this special livery looks incredibly cool.
However you can imagine that prices are astronomic if you can find one at all.

Some time later Bburago released a limited batch of such a red FXXK with black wheels and yellow calipers / yellow tire lettering. Some weeks ago I bought one for just 45 Euros (yes: 45 only!).
Sadly it is a "Race-and-Play" version only. Therefore I upgraded it with some parts swapped from a "Signature" version:

• side windows (huge improvement to the overall appearance of the model!!)
• steering wheel & dashboard
• front & rear tow hooks
• silver exhausts (the model came with golden exhausts)

The stance of the model is generally good but to me the setting seemed more road-like than track-like.
So I modestly lowered the ride (~1mm front and ~2mm rear).

The result is a really amazing model for very little money - at least for me.

Of course I took some pictures and tried a new background.

Enjoy this „symphony in red“:

 

[winstoncds]

This car is top of the pops of modern Ferraris for me. I am hoping to add one myself and the mods you have carried out in it are brilliant. I would do the same and junk the Signature version I have now.

 

[MerkurKing16]

That looks fantastic and I absolutely love those pictures on a red background. Stunning! Well done Dirk.

 

[Marios]

The car looks amazing! You did a great job there! I'm not certain about the background. I think using the exact same backround as your model leads to a loss of 3D sense of your photos. Imagine the tires would be red as well. I know it's so common, but i would like to see this model in black background or wall with some yellow splashes of paint like you spilled a bucket in it ( the background).

 

[colourkin22]

I think it looks quite good, well done Dirk. I understand what Marios is saying in that when shooting an object on a same color background you run the risk of losing the object in the picture. It is the same for shooting a black car on a black background, the important thing is keep separation between the subject and the background. More often that is done with the lighting and in the case of the above Ferrari, Dirk just got away with it. The red on the car is a bit darker it seems than the red background and along with all the black on the car to make just enough contrast for the subject to stand out; but really there could more light on the car to make it pop off the background more. You could have also moved the car away from the background some if you have the room; and also to blur the background some just to get a bit more separation and keep the focus on that sexy pony. I like everything else, pretty near how I would have done shot it lol; as far composition. One last thing I see looking at them again, overall they seem a bit dark, maybe try and brighten them up a bit and see how you like it. My pennies worth, I will be quiet now lol and just say I really like what you did.

I can't imagine Marios when a black background would be common; though we are all now going to be waiting for your red car on black, yellow paint splashed background..that sound awesome!.

 

[vulpex]

Thanks a lot, guys - much appreciated!!
This is my favourite spec for the FXXK Evo and I had fun with this subtle modding.

With the background I wanted to try something new and thought it might be interesting to operate with a same colour background.
Guess this approach works only with a few models and one precondition is a strong colour livery.
Frankly I like the outcome and will for sure do more experiments in this direction.

@Marios You definitely have a point and as William said it needs at least a bit of contrast between car and background. Still need to do some pictures in front of a black background (will certainly do) but for the time being the only alternativ I have is against white background:

@colourkin22 Thank you so much, William, for your kind comments and your thoughts. Guess you're right with your statement that overall the images are a bit dark. And that's interesting because when I have them open on my PC in PS they look much brighter. However when I look at the pictures with different devices and also with different brightness in the environment there is a huge variety in how they appear - and mostly they seem too dark ;-)
So I followed your advise and brightened them a bit and at the same time I tried to slightly increase the contrast between car and background.
For better comparison I put the new version of each picture in directly below the original version in the above post.
I will leave both versions there for a while before I decide which is the final one...
EDIT: Now replaced by a final version for each image.

 

[Marios]

Thanks a lot, guys - much appreciated!!
This is my favourite spec for the FXXK Evo and I had fun with this subtle modding.

With the background I wanted to try something new and thought it might be interesting to operate with a same colour background.
Guess this approach works only with a few models and one precondition is a strong colour livery.
Frankly I like the outcome and will for sure do more experiments in this direction.

@Marios You definitely have a point and as William said it needs at least a bit of contrast between car and background. Still need to do some pictures in front of a blackground (will certainly do) but for te time being the only alternativ I have against white background:

@colourkin22 Thank you so much, William, for your kind comments and your thoughts. Guess you're right with your statement that overall the images are a bit dark. And that's interesting because when I have them open on my PC in PS they look much brighter. However when I look at the pictures with different devices and also with different brightness in the environment there is a huge variety in how they appear - and mostly they seem too dark ;-)
So I followed your advise and brightened them a bit and at the same time I tried to slightly increase the contrast between car and background.
For better comparison I put the new version of each picture in directly below the original version in the above post...

Even though marble foreground gives me the idea that it's a model in small scale and not a 1:1 (grumbling again) i prefer this version with white background! The sure thing is that this evo looks stunning vulpex. You really plant thoughts in my head for buying this beauty even though it won't be excactly like yours!

 

[Cristi]

Nice work Dirk 👏 All those upgrades make the difference, like the white background

 

[vulpex]

Nice work Dirk 👏 All those upgrades make the difference, like the white background

Thank you, Sir!
Especially the side windows and the slight correction to the stance make a huge difference to the appearance of the model.

As for red vs. white background:
Interestingly the preferences here on DX seem split - tastes are different of course.
Would be an interesting poll…
Maybe I should nominate both for next POTM to collect a wider voting? ;-)

Personally I haven’t decided yet what I like better.
But for sure I enjoy trying something new and I plan to further explore the coloured background approach in the future…

 

[baonguyen77]

What a beast of a car! Amazing photos as always - I think the car fits red background nicely.

 

[samuelbdn]

Nice pics of the FXXK, Dirk!

And by the price that. you paid for the model, I think that it's a very good option.

 

[vulpex]

What a beast of a car! Amazing photos as always - I think the car fits red background nicely.

Nice pics of the FXXK, Dirk!

And by the price that. you paid for the model, I think that it's a very good option.

Thanks, Bao & Carlos!! Glad you like it!

 

[vulpex]

As promised - finally a couple of pictures to prove that the FXXK Evo also performs well against a dark background:

 

[colourkin22]

Visually really nice and maybe better looking than the red, though the red background still looks good as well.

 

[TonyAZ83]

Your photos are definitely better than their advertising images, makes the bburago look way nicer.

I wish I had the time and space to take quality photos.

 

[Marios]

Like KC & The Sunshine Band sang at 70's: That's the way i like it! 👏👏👏

 

[vulpex]

Thanks a lot, gents - much appreciated!

Have to admit the dark background still is my personal favourite too. ;-)
However I enjoyed to operate with colourful background and I think those same-colour pictures also have something very special.

As we had an interesting conversation here and prefenrences were mixed I might set up a little poll here on DX w.r.t. to our background topic...

 

[vulpex]

Some of you may have noticed already (and perhaps even voted): The this little poll is on since last Sunday and shows an interesting picture...

https://www.diecastxchange.com/threads/poll-red-white-or-black.234900/#post-4314155

But let's leave our background colour topic for a while and come back to LSR cars.
Meanwhile I have a nice little 1/43 collection with (almost) all LSR cars I wanted to have.
We already had the Sunbeam 1000hp here and next one is the Thunderbolt (George Easton, Bonneville 16.09.1938, 357 mph)

and it's famous rival and record successor Railton Special (John Cobb, Bonneville 16.09.1947, 394 mph)