fighter - RevuAIR

Grumman F-14A Tomcat (II)

By fStop Fitzgerald | 27 May 2019 | Comments 0 Comment

http://venturearchitecture.com/download/ Part II

Although the majority of the work was done in Illustrator, I did use Strata 3D for some of the smaller detail work, primarily the missiles. Drawings of the AIM-7 Sparrow III that I had were not very detailed, but good enough for the scale of the aircraft.

The drawings I had of the AIM-9 Sidewinder, however, had a surfeit of detail and therefore resulted in a better model.

The same was true for the AIM-54 Phoenix.

All too often, however, details—such as a reasonable representation of the ejection seats—are forgotten. I did not have a good 3-view of the Tom’s GRU-7A seat, but starting from an outline and referencing photographs such as the two below, I was able to at least create a flat view of the seat. It is reasonably accurate (per the photos) and good enough for the work required.

Because I wanted to the Tomcat both clean and with the gear down, canopy up, and refueling probe out, I chose two different squadrons, VF-1, the first to receive the ‘Cat, and VF-84, because they sported the classiest marks around.

I worked from about 25 photographs such as these from VF-1:

The work marks looked like this:

Before resulting in this:

I used fewer than a dozen photos from VF-84. Primarily because I did not need to look for the standard marks such as national insignia and placards. Here are a few:

They resulted in this (again pretty thin because of the standard marks):

And the final drawing:

Part III will be posted soon.

Grumman F-14A Tomcat (I)

By fStop Fitzgerald | 27 May 2019 | Comments 0 Comment

http://theygotodie.com/wp Part I

Norman Polmar’s contribution to his Historic Aircraft series in the April 2012 issue of Naval History was one of his most ambitious. It covered three pages instead of the usual two and featured two of my illustrations. Could the F-14 Tomcat deserve anything less?

It also was the perhaps the most complex project for me because there is so much information available about the Tom. There was so much to work with that the first difficult aspect of the project was selecting a base drawing to work from. In the end, it turned out to be base drawings. I ended up with 15 folders of work that included nearly 40 base drawings and hundreds of photographs.

These are a few of my reference drawings.

I think the Japanese do some of the best line work and drew primarily on Famous Aircraft of the World Volume 83 of March 1977 and Volume 89 of September 1977. The Russians also do good work. I used a couple of their books as well. I’ve never been impressed by Kinzey’s work, most of his drawings are little detailed, but I did have his F-14 In Detail & Scale, as well as all the usual offering by Squadron Signal for generic information. Danny Coremans’s Uncovering the Grumman F-14 A/B/D Tomcat is a fantastic picture book that provides a wealth of detail information. Cannot recommend it highly enough.

Because again of time, I opted for 2D. This was a lot of fun because it forced me to work with the interaction of compound curves and light. Still not a master but the end results are acceptable.

Part II to come.

70 Years On but Never Too Late

By fStop Fitzgerald | 27 May 2017 | Comments 0 Comment

Aircraft of the Fighting Powers, Volume IV

by H. J. Cooper, et al

Aircraft Technical Publication, 1943. 76 pages.

Frankly I don’t know how I missed this series.

I’ve been collecting aviation books for more than 50 years and this set got by me. And I am sorry it did.

There are seven books in the series, one for each year of World War II and 1946. My copy is from the original series (I have since acquired copies of all the originals and several reprints). The chapters of each consist of a 2- or 3-page aircraft biography and a 3-view drawing to 1/72nd scale. Those drawings are the heart and soul of the series. (Don’t let the low page count fool you. The drawings pages are not numbered. Many are two-page foldouts, and not a few are three-page.)

Frankly, I discovered this series after deciding I was paying Bob’s Aviation Documentary Services too much money for aircraft drawings. His catalog listed these books as the sources of a lot of his drawings. So I went to the source. I paid for the whole seven volumes less than I spent over six months with Bob.

Now, the caveats. The series is uneven in that the drawings improved over the seven years. The Vol. 7 drawings are definitely superior and more accurate than those of the earlier volumes. Also the accuracy of especially German and Japanese aircraft is suspect in the earlier volumes. But don’t let this put you off.

First these are pretty neat artifacts of Great Britain in the midst of a fight for its life. Look at the ads they contain, especially over the life of the series, and you get a micro-education on England at war.

Second, there are a lot of aircraft you’ll have a hard time tracking down. In this particular volume, some of the more unusual of the 76 aircraft covered include the Miles M-28 and Martinet I, three TGs, nine PTs, 11 ATs, Hall PH-3, Spartan NP-1, German DFS 230A-1, and Mitsubishi OB-01. If you are an aviation junkie as I am, you will be in hog heaven.

As noted, some of these are available in reprint if you want a pristine copy. Frankly I like the crap-shoot of used, especially if they come from England. I have yet to have received one that didn’t include some interesting “bonus” items buried among the pages such as photographs, cards, newspaper clippings, or notes by previous owners. The physical quality may leave a lot to be desired, but it all depends on what you are looking for.

Whether you opt for the originals or reprints, if you are unfamiliar with this series, it is time you became acquainted.

Reviewed November 2014