Photo prints?

[ct ertz]

At Jasper Drug store today I had the bright idea of having a Fiddlers Green model printed onto the 4x6 size photo paper. If this works, it would be great, as I have printed these models on 4x6 index cards before and they make great models at that size.

The F-86 print came out with great colors, and for the $0.16 it cost it would be great if it worked. The problem is that the print machine cropped out the edges. The tech lady told me I would have to save the jpeg image to a 4x6format to stop it from cropping. So a few questions for those more experienced then me.

Can I save the jpegs to the correct size with out any special programing?

Will the photo paper glue well with white glue. Any glue?

How do I save PDF files to jpeg?

I like the idea of being able to print out a single page mini model for 16 cents, and have such good colors and shiny metal like surface. Can I make it work? Any thoughts would be welcomed.
CT

[Keds_Girl_Lala]

If you use Gimp it will open JPG and PDF and you can make a PDF into a JPG also. It is free program. You can resize then any way.

I have hard time gluing Photopaper it is very hard and springy for curve things.

[Kaz]

Hi, I work in a photo lab and have done so for 20 years!
What you need to do, is open a new CANVAS and have it measure 1800 x 1200 pixels (as far as I know all minilabs print at 300 dpi) Photoshop, PaintShop Pro and Irfan view will do this... then copy and paste your jpeg into this new canvas.
Be very aware that even now the printer will possibly take off a few pixels around the image, up to 4 in some cases, so if your image is right up to the edges it wont work. One way to get out of this problem is to increase the canvas AFTER the image has been pasted in. You will need to increase the canvas in whatever paint programme you are using, BUT DO IT IN PROPORTION.
Its no use adding 6 pixels top bottom AND sides, that just stretches and distorts the image, it has to be done on a 1:1.5 ratio, so by adding 8 pixels on the short side (the 4 inch side) you need to add 12 pixels to the 6 inch side.
Hope this clears most of the 'problems' up for you. Incidently, this is why a lot of pictures from CCD and CMOS sensors are now quite heavily cropped, most of the point and shoot cameras have a 3:4 ratio (old stylee TV screens)

[jagolden01]

I do not recommend using the photo paper.
White glue barely works with it. It is very thick and instead of folding it will generally crack, especially at small sizes.

I have used satin and glossy photo paper for models and the results are very erratic. The satin folded somewhat better, but is difficult to glue.

If you insist, skip the pixel math and just make your new canvas whatever size you need, sing inches, at 300-406 dpi. When you paste in the graphic, scale it so you've got a little room around the edges.

[SCEtoAUX]

If you do not have a graphics program that will open pdfs and allow you to save them in a different format try using the Graphics Select Tool in the Adobe Reader. Draw the dashed box around the parts on the page then select Edit>Copy.
You then need to open your graphics program and paste the copied graphic into the program then manipulate it to get it to the correct size. If the pdf won't allow copying with the Graphics Select Tool, you will need to take a screen capture and paste that into your graphics program.

•Always make a copy of the graphic you are working on after you have pasted it into your graphics program so if and when you mess up you will have the original copy to fall back on. Make it a habit to always work on a copy.

•Always maintain the aspect ratio when changing the size so you don't get distortions. Make it a habit to always check for that.

•Always check the resolution of the image so you don't get extremely large or small images. If you copy a 300 dpi image and paste it into a graphics program that has a default resolution of 72 dpi the size will be way off by around 4X. Some programs will automatically compensate, but some only use the default resolution. Make it a habit to always check the resolution.

[ct ertz]

Wow, a lot of grat info. I am rather computer dumb, and a slow learner at that, so all of this is great help.
I am gluing the wings together on my cropped f-86 to see how much of a pain it is. I will have to weigh the cost benefits and great color against the hassle with resizing and hard to glue parts.
Thank you all for your great, and fast responses!

[lee4752]

You can always spray gloss or satin finishes onto the model after the fact. there are plenty of finishes that will work if you use due care. I've heard of people on this forum using everything from Future floor finish to various varnishes and even shellac. I tried Microscale's "Microcoat Gloss" and "Microcoat Flat" on plastic models. I have yet to try them on paper.