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Target Tug Mossie


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Hi all,

Not a lot to see really, the clouds have been washed in but this is only the first 'pass'. I treat this stage more as an under painting, all you see here was done wet on wet. Once this is dry i will re-wet the paper and start laying down stronger washes of the same colours until the desired effect is achieved (Christ, that is so easy to say!) Once the sky/clouds washes have been done i will pick out details with Gouache for the final effect.

Sav.

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This what a couple of hours wetting, dabbing, drybrushing, wetting again, applying colour washes, picking details out with gouache, re-wetting, blending.......ect, gets you. The gouache stands out like the preverbial dog's doodah's, this due to the flash on the camera, it looks a lot better in natural light.

Tonight i will carry on with the upper part of the sky/clouds and generally try to bring everthing together. This is a dangerous time as overdoing the background will result in the painting being filed away in the bin!

Sav

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Right then, i knew there would be a use for the colour sketch i did earlier. I needed to check the background against the aircraft in the foreground, so i cut it out and stuck it on. I don't think that the background has too many problems so i may go ahead and start on the Mossie and tinker with thing's as i progress.

If anyone has any comments, good or bad, please feel free to speak your mind as i find this usually helps solve those little things that ya don't see yourself.

Thanks for looking,

Sav.

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Sav, that looks very nice so far and I think you have done the right thing by not going too far with the cloudscape before starting on the main subject. I'm looking forward to watching you work on the Mossie now :cheers:

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Hi all.

Geedub, the insperation for this painting came after meeting up with my wifes friends father at last year Yeovilton Air Day. He was the Nav/ Winch operator in this particular Mossie, TH992. His log book shows just under 300 hours on the type, based at RAF Sylt (Now Westerland) in Germany.

This particular aircraft came to grief on a beach on the Island of Anrum. After taking the Mossie out for a flight test the port engine was shut down and feathered as a routine proceedure. Whilst trying to restart the engine it became apparent that the prop would not unfeather. Not a problem as the Mossie was more than capable of flying on one engine. After about half an hour the starboard engine caught fire, and the race was on to find land. The picture below shows TH992 after the pilot skipped in off the sea and onto the beach. The person in the flight gear is Gavin Law the winch operator for whom the picture will be for (Although he's not aware of this at the moment) The other person in the photo was a bird watcher who just happened to be a doctor, he patched up the cuts on Gavins legs and hands caused by shards of the plexiglass nose flying into the cockpit during the crash.

Getting reference material for this painting has not been easy as photo's are thin on the ground. I got a lot of help from Martin Claydon, who kindly sent me copies of his photographs of the Target Tug Mosquito at Duxford.

Sav.

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Right then, it's now starting to get some depth. I always work left to right, this way i'm not resting my grubby hands all over it.

I have question/problem. I have drawn and re drawn the roundels on the fuselage and wing's on tracing paper but as yet have not come up with a convincing look to them. How do you draw a circle, which due to perspective is an elipse onto a curved surface? I'll keep going till i get it right but if anyone has any ideas i would love to hear from them.

This is only the second aircraft painting that i have done hence my 'suck it and see' approach. I normally paint birds specialising in birds of prey. I was going to post a photo of one but thought it inapropriate on an aircraft forum.

Thanks for any pointers,

Sav.

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I have question/problem. I have drawn and re drawn the roundels on the fuselage and wing's on tracing paper but as yet have not come up with a convincing look to them. How do you draw a circle, which due to perspective is an elipse onto a curved surface? I'll keep going till i get it right but if anyone has any ideas i would love to hear from them.

I usually draw out the markings in question on a piece of scrap paper and curve it into the required shape, that'll give you a handy visual reference to work from.

This is only the second aircraft painting that i have done hence my 'suck it and see' approach. I normally paint birds specialising in birds of prey. I was going to post a photo of one but thought it inapropriate on an aircraft forum.

Well if I got away with posting photos of a Ducati motorcycle there shouldn't be a problem <_< I for one would love to see them mate.

BTW, you are remembering the left tailplane, aren't you? Just checking :crying: The tail surfaces look fantastic, if you keep that standard across the whole airframe this will be one stunning painting :D

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Hi Col,

Thanks for the tip i'll give it a go. As for the tail plane, i stood back last night to have a look at what i'd done and thought 'Hmm.....somethings not quite right' A little over zealous with the backgound!!

Said tail plane is now on and i am working on the starboard engine. There is a deffinate wrinkle in the panels here, this is right up my street.

Update tomorrow.

Sav.

PS I've decided to do the Mossie with gouache, simply because i've not done any in a while.

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Hi all

Here's one i did earlier. This is the reason i'm struggling to come to terms with painting aircraft. If you get a feather on a bird in the wrong place no one will notice. If you get a rivet in the wrong place or a colour the wrong shade on an aircraft, everybody and his brother will notice. This is a photo of a photo of the painting, so it looks a bit off, but you get the idea.

Sav

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Bloody Hell!!!

You search around looking for pics, think you've got it sorted and this heppens. The photo at the bottom of the picture i found this morning, printed it off, did a quick comparison and Bugger, some thing's are not quite right. It's nothing that can't be sorted but still a pain in the arse!

Sav.

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Still a long way to go but it's looking something like a Mosquito now.

Some details have been added, fasteners ect and the panel lines have been roughed in. Due to more recently gathered reference i have re-worked the exhausts, i think i had them far to large before. I've also added some all important weathering, i think that this makes the Mossie look like the workhorse that it was.

For the panel lines and weathering i used watercolour pencils, these can be used dry, like a normal pencil, so i can get more control over the effect i'm trying to get. Once done you blend the pencil marks with a moist paintbrush. I may also use pastels as a fine almost airbrushed effect can be had from them, i used this for the prop blur on a previous painting, it worked very well.

Sav.

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Moving on (had the day off so got loads done) the cockpit is in. It was important to get winch operator looking out of the cockpit, the person who the painting is for would have sat in this position. So when he views the painting he will effectively see himself, if you know what i mean? The port wing is blocked in and after a few tweaks will be ready for detailing. I am waiting on some information as regards some of the stencil data, also on the tailplane guard wire. This week should see the painting complete.

Sorry about the fuzzy photo,

Sav.

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The detail work on the engine and cockpit areas has really brought this to life, even with the slight blur on the photo :D

BTW, thanks for letting us see one of your usual subjects. You mentioned this was only your second aircraft, what was the first?

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Hi Col,

As you've probably guessed i'm huge aircraft fan, but i've never really got around to painting them.

A couple of years ago i was approached by a friends wife to do a painting for her dad. He worked in the aircraft industry before he retired, and after seeing a painting of a Bald Eagle i did for a wedding present for them asked if painted aircraft. He wanted a painting of a Lockheed Constellation in a TWA livery. Unfortuanately i have no photo's of the painting. It was this got got me to use FS2004 as a good starting point for reference. You find the plane you want to paint, take it up for a spin, pause the sim and bingo, you have a 3D 'photo' which can viewed from any angle.

Sav.

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Right, HONEST opinion's required!!

The aircraft in my mind is ok, it's the markings i'm not sure of. This was always going to be my downfall on this project. I look at and think, 'Yeah thats ok' and then i look again and, well, i'm not so sure. There are no decent photo's of this aircraft in existance, that i know of. So i really don't have anything to go on. So go ahead and say what you think, cos i really don't know.

Sav.

PS The port wing roundel is on it's twenteenth go at getting it right, so will be applied when i'm happy with it, or not.......!!!!!!!

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Sav hi

Looking very good indeed.

Re the markings you are right in that arn't quite right. I think their position is a little off. The wing roundal strikes me as being too far forward, but otherwise nicely shows the curve of the wing. The fuselage markings look great, although the N looks a little high. (This is based on no reference rather look).

Overall I think it's a terrific painting, and one to be proud of.

As a final point on the compostiton I like both the clouds and the aircraft but wonder whether a greater contrast between the two would have been better. The subtle shapes and colours of the Mossie are almost lost against the similar hue of the clouds.

Don't get me wrong I'm being very picky here, and you'll get a chance to get your own back when I post up update on my Kid Hofer painting

Pete

Edited by Pete Wenman
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Hi Pete,

Thanks for your comments. I have picture that was lent to me by Pete Law the winch op on this A/C. It shows the aircraft after the crash and is taken form the rear. The fuselage broke in two just aft of the wings but clearly shows the letter N sitting quite high in relation to the roundel. I agree it does look very odd and the temptation to line it up was quite strong! This photo is the only ref i had as to the placement of marking's, in fact it's been easier to paint than it has to find any reference at all.

The clouds were left as they are because it was really difficult to know when to stop while aircraft itself was just a white shape in the middle. The plan was to go back to them after the Mossie was painted in,a bit arse about face i know, but planned for none the less. I think you are right though and i'll see what i can do with it.

Cheers,

Sav.

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Sav, I can't see any problems with the markings mate. In all the photos I've looked at the wing roundels seem exactly as you have them, with a pronunced bend around the leading edge. As for the cloudscape, I do the same myself - block in the basic image then tweek it to suit the subject once that's in it's later stages. Only thing I can see missing is the radiators in the leading edge wing root but I'm sure you're about to add those anyway.

Honestly mate, it looks fine. Perhaps you just need a little time away from it to gain a 'fresh eye' and give you a new appreciation for the image as it stands.

Edited by Col.
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March 16th 1954

Pilot, Flt Sgt Ron Healey and Cpl Gavin Law, take Target Tug Mosquito TH992 call sign Norman out on it's last flight. Later that day this aircraft was written off after a crash landing on the beach at Anrum.

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