scanning a pirate ship playset

[Mefiboschet]

I don't know, if anyone is familiar with the old Matchbox Fighting furies "Sea Fury" pirate ship playsets. There are two different versions of it. One is the regular one with the Captain's cabin on ne side and the bridge on the other.
The other playset is larger (it may have been a Sears exclusive, I don't know. It's a cut through the interior of the ship. Both sets are great for Mego figures
I would like to create a new playset, combining the two original one.
The big disadvantage is, that the sets are made in a reddish vinyl with the details printted on all in black.
I was thinking of scanning the original playsets and "coloring" them in Photoshop. But I don't want to rip them apart just to be able to place the individual walls on the scanner. Is there any other solution? Does anyone experience with those portable scanning bars which are pulled over the surface that is to be scanned. Any other ideas. Is anybody else interested in this kind of playset?

[Neutron X]

You may be able to take high quality pics instead of scanning, if you set up the angles carerfully when photographing. The shine of plastic may be a problem. The new cameras are great!

[mazinz]

In a nutshell, what also might help is if you video tape what you want scanned. Put your video camera (or whatever people use now) on a non moving surface (or tripod if you have it). Put the parts you want photos of in front of the camera and record for a few seconds. Take the video and on your pc snag a still shot (or extract one frame) from your video. Now you will not have to worry about camera flash and technically this will do what you want

below is an example of such a thing and how it can come out (well the shark and dinos in the middle anyway) This was done before I had a digital camera years ago, no photoshop on picture, just raw image)

This method can probably help you out if an iphone or digital camera option is a no go for you

[johnmiic]

Georg,

Even if you encounter glare or reflection of the camera flash, once you get the image into Photoshop you can clean it up really well. If there is distortion because the angle you shot at it can also be corrected in Photoshop.

[megoscott]

Glare won't be as much of a problem because that printed vinyl is more matte than a clear vinyl set. But either way it's a ton of work to clean it up and make it look nice. You'd be better off taking it as inspiration and making new art.

[Mefiboschet]

Glare won't be as much of a problem because that printed vinyl is more matte than a clear vinyl set. But either way it's a ton of work to clean it up and make it look nice. You'd be better off taking it as inspiration and making new art.

Well, I'm not much of an artist and the result would probably look accordingly. But if you'd be willing to work on the design for a Mego piirate ship playset, I'd be more than happy to provide you with the photos, etc for inspiration.

[Brown Bear]

I owned that same kangaroo as a kid.....brought back a nice memory. Thanks

[johnmiic]

Why not post some pics and show us what you want to do?