Gecko's Noseart

[all-fired-up]

Howdy!

Just wanted to show ya'll some progress shots on a project "Gecko 06" has got me on. He saw my squadron noseart that I did while in the Air Force at Fairchild AFB - where I was a crew chief on the KC-135R's. You can see my work here: http://www.clubhyper.com/reference/kc135rartdj_1.htm

Anyway he's doing an A-7D pit, he has an actual A-7D cockpit half, I believe cut in half right above the intake - Gecko you'll have to post some screenshots of it :wink2:

Anyhooo, he said it would be fine to post some screenies of my work in progress. We decided to do like the "Geico Gecko" with a 20mm Vulcan Canon, and looking kinda mean, you probably can picture it in your mind. :bigsmile:

So here's an initial sketch I worked up on paper and in Photoshop.

http://img210.imageshack.us/img210/1184/geckosketch24yk.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

Here's the panel that Gecko gave me, actually this is one panel, I'm doing two. This one had no paint on it and was pretty bent up on the corner.
I'm no machinist and metal worker, so I tried my best to bend it back into shape, but the panel has several layers of aluminum sheet, so it was pretty tough.

http://img236.imageshack.us/img236/5162/dsc000112rs.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

And here's some pics of the panels getting primer on them, the one in the foreground with the push release button is the panel that had the bent corner.

http://img210.imageshack.us/img210/8347/priming18vt.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

:bigsmile:

You can see more of my artwork here: http://community.webshots.com/user/farsighteagle

~All-Fired-Up

[all-fired-up]

sorry about the confusion on the photos, I had to switch to imageshack

[Gecko6]

For the record,

Dale is one hell of a nice guy. He is very talented and the work that I had the privilege to view in his office was nothing short of amazing!

Dale is an asset to our hobby and a true lover of military flight.

When I get web space again, I will rebuild my website and post some images. Right now I am in the process of packing in preparation of moving so my pit is entombed in a wall of boxes.

[fatb0y60]

Man thats really cool fired up, Nice work.

[all-fired-up]

In context, here's my office, my bosses really like me decorating it up I even get to paint it the way I want, I'm part of a production group for a publishing company. :bounce:

Sorry, the pics are kinda dark, I like it dark in my room, helps me keep the glare off the screens. That big model is actually BBI's huge 1/18 scale FA-18. It's rare to get it, but it's awesome for the office. I'll have the whole ceiling covered with models soon enough as I'm building them all at home and bringing them in one at time. Also that spar on the back wall belonged to a Taylorcraft that was flown by John Glenn. A friend of mine gave it to me long ago. He and his dad worked at the Taylorcraft branch up in northern Ohio. On the two glass shelves, I'm collecting die cast aircraft. The bottom shelf will be all WWII military aircraft, and on the top I will fill it with modern day military aircraft.

http://img107.imageshack.us/img107/6601/img01387kx.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

http://img125.imageshack.us/img125/6567/img01392xw.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

The BBI F-18 can be seen here: http://www.aircraftresourcecenter.com/Gal3/2601-2700/Gal2651_F-18_Lowe/gal2651.htm

Also I did that F-16 digitally and have it for sale at my cafe press store, I bought the poster size art and hung it at my office, I love it, Cafe Press did an awesome job. See: http://www.stratoart.com

:thumb:

~Dale
aka All-Fired-Up

[GI Jew]

Cool office. I've been looking at getting one of the BBI hornets for a while but i just dont have room for one. I think I'll get one anyway.

[fatb0y60]

LOL, GI has also got me interested in one, But i to have no room...do you have it hanging from the ceiling or does it come with a stand?

[all-fired-up]

Hanging from 20lb fishing line with a strong dry wall anchored hook. That sucker is heavy for a model, about 12-13 lbs I think. The landing gear is retractable too, I just have it in flying mode.

There's a black version available now. It's hard to find the gray one anymore, I got mine from smalljoes.com but they only had 2 left of the gray one, and I got one of them. http://smalljoes.com/21stcentury_xd_xtreme_118aircraft.shtml

It doesnt have any stand, just the plane itself. Some assembly required, no glueing needed. I would love to get more 1/18 scale stuff. It's very realistic, pretty accurate.

:thumb:

[GI Jew]

I've seen 1/18 Vipers on the net. Not in Australia though :(

[3rdELT]

Great work all-fired-up :clap: also nice office :thumb:

[Redstormer]

Loved the Eagle nose art :thumb: And very nice desk you have overthere!

[Spyder-F16]

It takes quite a hand to do noseart well, and you've certainly got it. :thumb:

[all-fired-up]

Thanks!

Hopefully the airburshing will go smoothly, It's been a while since I airbrushed a logo on an aircraft (or panel that is), but I airbrush plastic kits all the time, so I think it will go ok. :wink2: