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Thread: LingSter's Photorealistic Coastline Map

  1. #1

    Default LingSter's Photorealistic Coastline Map

    Ok folks, if you're here reading this, you've been waiting for this moment for several months if not years for this moment.... May I present to you THE map... Complete, I'm not changing things, it's good, fini, etc. etc

    This is the original map, unedited.
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    This is the finished product.
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    Put these two images side by side and you'll see why it took 2 years to complete. Here's a list of things I did to the map it's not all inclusive, I did lots more to it than I've listing here.

    1. Removal of all 20th century giant power lines. You know the type, they stand 100ft tall, made of metal and look like they could jolt you with 1.21 Gigawatts.... sending you... Back to the Future! (Ahem)

    2. Added forests and trees to cover other various 20th century items.

    3. Sendt the waterfront section to PrivateBuzz. He fixed the waterfront and made it look great.

    4. Expanded the right city some, to make a bigger target.

    5. Added a Coal Power plant as a target... It's actually the one in my backyard... oh and my backyard and house are also on the map

    6. Added Stow Maries Airfield, last known intact airfield, as it stood back in 1916...

    7. The Cardington Zeppelin Sheds. Thanks Dom!

    8. A factory, a building that is part of Xerox, over in Webster NY. Looked good enough to be a nice target.

    9. A railway wandering through the map, complete with several rail stations. Thanks flash for the idea!

    10. The Charlotte NY Hojack Rail bridge. This bridge is long gone, one of the last known to exist, Originally it was a swing bridge that allowed trains to cross the river. it's a small target on the map, but one none the less.


    All in all, plenty of targets on the map. Each 3x5 section has several targets to choose from, many are in the middle of the map, or at least, not too close to the edge, so that it'd prove difficult to turn around after bombing.


    This map is at the printers now for a test print. if the place I've chosen printed good enough, then I will print more of it. here is a breakdown of the different variations of the map you could get. In order from top to bottom: Four 3x5ft sections, Two 3x10ft sections, Two 6x5ft sections

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    I've yet figured out how to make this available to everyone. I might make it where you can come to me for printing on Vinyl. Tough and durable playing surface. To see this map in action, Come to GenCon in August in Indianapolis Indiana. Ares is going to have it at their booth, and I'll have it at my events. One event Friday, One Saturday.

    As always, let me know what you think.
    Last edited by LingSter; 04-27-2015 at 08:03. Reason: replaced "original" with the real original.

  2. #2

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    Looks amazing! A real labour of love - very well done, the two of you!

  3. #3

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    Excellent! Let me know, I am interested in the 3 x 10's to make it 6 x 10 . . .

  4. #4

    Dom S's Avatar
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    Dom
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    Default

    That looks superb.

  5. #5

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    Wow!!! Great work!

  6. #6

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    Wow, that's quite impressive!

  7. #7

    Thumbs up

    Fantastic work John. Deserving of much Rep!

  8. #8

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    Exquisite John.
    I foresee that beautiful countryside being despoiled by much bomb damage.
    Rob.
    "Courage is the art of being the only one who knows you're scared to death."

  9. #9

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    Great stuff, looking forward to the production version.

  10. #10

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    Quote Originally Posted by clipper1801 View Post
    Excellent! Let me know, I am interested in the 3 x 10's to make it 6 x 10 . . .
    Me also

  11. #11

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    Hi John,

    That is magnificent.

    Best,
    Mel

  12. #12

    matt56's Avatar May you forever fly in blue skies.
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    Default

    Very pretty, John! I'll look forward to seeing how things move forward with production/ordering in the future.

    All the best,
    Matt

  13. #13

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    Great job. I am sure folks in here will give you an idea how to get it printed.

  14. #14

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    That is simply awesome - how do we limeys get our hands on one?

    Never Knowingly Undergunned !!

  15. #15

    Default Quite amazing and sterling work sir

    As appears popular with most...

    how do we get our hands on them 'over the pond' ?

    Maverick

  16. #16

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    Great work, John!

  17. #17

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    Quote Originally Posted by gully_raker View Post
    Fantastic work John. Deserving of much Rep!
    X2!

  18. #18

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    Thanks for all the praise. I am currently working on getting it printed first. I have section 3 at the printers now. I will let you know (with pictures) how it turned out. I should have it within 10-12 days. I'll figure it out for trying to ship it over to you guys. If anyone has a print shop there, it might be cheaper!

    P.S. I updated the first post with the real original image. the one I had was not quite original, but a version in. The "true" original is in another map, and is even worse looking.

  19. #19

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    Fantastic work John. I'm very interested in hearing how this comes out and if it will be available.

  20. #20

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    Just a little taste to whet your appetite....

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    I printed out a small section on an 11x17 paper. the image they are flying over is section 3, which is supposed to be 3ft x 5 ft.

  21. #21

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    It's official. the events at gencon are active and veritable and you can sign up for them!!

    HMN1576939 World War 1: Destroy the Zeppelin Sheds has been made Active and your space has been confirmed.

    HMN1576938 World War 1: Battle Over Margate has been made Active and your space has been confirmed.

    they will be played on my two sections of 6x10 maps.

  22. #22

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    I came home today to find a wonderful surprise on my doorstep...


    The banner map had arrived!

    However...


    It came in a box.

    A rectangular box.

    that wasn't 3 foot tall.

    that was split in two and taped together.

    I sliced open the box to get at the map inside and low and behold....

    A folded banner.

    A badly folded banner.

    a badly folded banner that wound up being badly creased.

    a badly folded banner that was badly creased and thin.

    This thin, badly folded and creased banner was printed badly. the print was blurry and pixellated. The image had print lines on it throughout, as if they needed to clean their print heads.

    UGLY.

    So.. now I have to scramble to find a better place. all because I thought that "banners on the cheap" might actually be decent.

    So now I have a badly folded and creased blurry pixellated map of england that came in a not quite 3-foot tall box that was split in two and taped together....


    Anyone know of a great and decently priced banner place in the USA?

  23. #23

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    What a shame John.
    After all that careful work. You must be gutted.
    I am afraid I can't help on the printer front, but it does serve as a warning to all those would be bap printers.
    I hope you manage to achieve a better outcome.
    Rob.
    "Courage is the art of being the only one who knows you're scared to death."

  24. #24

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    Sad news indeed. We had a guy who had several sign shops in the area and he did our mats 4' x 6' on nice vinyl for free for our events. He has since moved to Dust in a big way but it's still an avid gamer. I could try to contact him. When I have my laptop up tomorrow I will send you some photos of his mats for comparison.

  25. #25

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    I am sad to hear of this dissapointment! Cheap or not, a minimum of common sense should be expected of! Can you get your money back?? Complain!! They could do it again maybe? It is a matter of principle...grrr...just tell them a good friend of yours owns a B52 and will fly over their shop if asked to.

  26. #26

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    a better outcome will be from a better shop. I'm looking for one that will do it.

  27. #27

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    Until I can find a printer, I'm printing small sections on my work printer just for testing the image quality....

    A friend of mine bought the duel pack of brown and the RB... for 3 bucks at a garage sale!

    So I call this shot... Grounded....


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    That's the shot of Stow Maries Aerodrome....

  28. #28

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    Quote Originally Posted by LingSter View Post
    Until I can find a printer, I'm printing small sections on my work printer just for testing the image quality....

    A friend of mine bought the duel pack of brown and the RB... for 3 bucks at a garage sale!
    That is quite a find! I'd buy it again for that price.

    Nice shot. Looking very good. Hope you get a good printer soon. Where I work we have a large format printer, mostly for doing posters. Too bad you weren't nearby.

  29. #29

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    I think you should make a slight modification to your map.
    Add the banner shop as a new target ...

  30. #30

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    Quote Originally Posted by Stumptonian View Post
    I think you should make a slight modification to your map.
    Add the banner shop as a new target ...

  31. #31

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    An update. I found a way to shrink the file sizes of the huge images down to something more managble... EPS files distilled to PDF format. I've got one section done as a test and I'll send this version to the new print vendor and see what happens. her's a shot of a small section zoomed in at 400% This would mean that if the map was printed at 200%, you'd be at 6ft by 10ft for this one section. put a plane up to your screen. that's your visual. pretty cool huh?
    if you could see it at 400%... man, that's an awesome visual too. 12ft by 20? yes please.


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    Pixellation isn't that prevelant here... so this should be awesome if the print vendor does his job. More to follow...
    Last edited by LingSter; 05-28-2015 at 17:58.

  32. #32

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    Impressive John.
    I can see this appearing in many AARs in the future.
    Rob.
    "Courage is the art of being the only one who knows you're scared to death."

  33. #33

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    Well done, Sir! The mat is amazing.
    Have you overcame the printing issue already?
    Is there any chance to dowonload it in one piece for printing?
    <img src=http://www.wingsofwar.org/forums/image.php?type=sigpic&userid=2554&dateline=1409073309 border=0 alt= />
    "We do not stop playing when we get old, but we get old when we stop playing."

  34. #34

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    John, nice job on the map/s....re banner/vinyl printer of high standards, try a p.m. to Luis aka..IBERIAN SHADOW...known in Ohio for his high quality large gaming maps...positive he could help you reach proper "resolution" (pun intended).

  35. #35

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    I will contact him
    Last edited by LingSter; 06-01-2015 at 09:41.

  36. #36

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    Here are some test shots from the printer I worked with. I have another Idea I'm going to test out. From this view, you are really far up and everything is really small. so I'm going to try another solution... more to follow, but here's that teaser!

    The glare you see is from the lighting that I had available... (i was outside on my picnic table)
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  37. #37

  38. #38

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    Ok folks, here is the final of the map. I have printed one section out at 3x5 ft in size. this is after I increased the size of the map from 6x10 to 12x20. this makes it better for WWI action, since now your planes are much closer to the ground and it's much more believable. Let me know what you think. I feel it's fantastic, much more so that before.

    Biggest concern now is how to release 16 three by five foot sections of a gigantic map...

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    Bombing run on the rail yard...

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    The Red Baron in trouble!

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    The Red Baron turns the tables over a coal power plant

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    A Hanriot joins the chase!

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    The whole 3x5 section. A little out of focus, but you get the idea.

    Feedback is always welcome and enjoyed. I am taking this version to GenCon to game on for my two events. More to follow on that!
    Last edited by LingSter; 06-12-2015 at 12:03.

  39. #39

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    It looks great. I can't help you with figuring how to print it.

  40. #40

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    the printing I've got down now. it's how to let people at the map. I'm thinking of setting up some way to allow people to come to me to get it printed on vinyl to play on, in the various sizes that I'd have it come in.

  41. #41

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    Fantastic John. Wish I was going to GenCon to see it.

  42. #42

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    The mammoth effort was well worth it John.
    It is spectacular indeed.
    Rob.
    "Courage is the art of being the only one who knows you're scared to death."

  43. #43

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    Tremendous work, John!

  44. #44

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    Name:  england-sliced.jpg
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    This is the map in it's 16 three foot by five foot pieces. Each peace is again... 3x5 FOOT. I am expecting to be able to offer this map in most anyway i can break it. 3x5 sections, 3x10, 3x15, 6x5, 6x10 , 12x5, 12x10, 12x15, 12x20 sections, well... I could go on,but you get the idea...

  45. #45

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    An absolutely awesome piece of work. So many configuration options. Just wish I had more space.
    I think I could do 3 sections if I put plywood on top of my pool table.
    Will definitely be watching this thread.
    Last edited by Stumptonian; 06-14-2015 at 11:07.

  46. #46

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    That's just amazing work!

    That would be perfect for Battle of Britain games............4 pieces will form a 10' x 6' surface, correct?

  47. #47

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    Looking really good. The layout you show for the whole deal is wonderful. If/when they are available I may print some slightly smaller. I find a 6' wide table wrecks havoc on my back. I am not that tall so do not have a very long reach.
    5' seems to be my optimum table width.

  48. #48

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    Quote Originally Posted by Teaticket View Post
    Looking really good. The layout you show for the whole deal is wonderful. If/when they are available I may print some slightly smaller. I find a 6' wide table wrecks havoc on my back. I am not that tall so do not have a very long reach.
    5' seems to be my optimum table width.
    I feel your pain. I think I need the WAAFs to move my planes like they did during the Battle of Britain.

  49. #49

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    Quote Originally Posted by Stumptonian View Post
    I feel your pain. I think I need the WAAFs to move my planes like they did during the Battle of Britain.
    Hmmm, where do we get some of them to help? I doubt would approve.

  50. #50

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    This is what you are looking for... however, it doesn't hold the card that you'd need to place in front of the plane.


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    http://www.hoylesonline.com/shop/product.asp?P_ID=559

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