DING HAO begins to take form…
My new P-51B profile template begins with blocking in basic colors and then adding highlights and shadows in multiple layers, each one stacking on top of the last and giving more depth to the aircraft's form. Most of my profiles will end up with 500-600 individual...
Why an accurate scale drawing is critical
The reason I spend so much time researching and creating an accurate scale drawing for my color profiles is if the drawing has dimensional errors, the aircraft's markings will not line up where they should. Either the marking will have to be 'fudged' and stretched or...
The beginning of James Howard’s P-51B ‘Ding Hao’ profile
My new profile project is James Howard's P-51B 'Ding Hao'. As my existing P-51B profile template is about 20 years old, I am starting from scratch and creating a new scale drawing and profile template for the project. As aways, the first step is gathering the research...
Getting it Right – P-51 Radios
One very common mistake in many published drawings of P-51B/Cs is the depiction of the SCR-274 radio behind the pilot for all models prior to the D. The SCR-274 was only used on early P-51s without the fuselage fuel tank (shown below left), so when depicting a B or C...
VF-17 National Insignia
F4U-1A (BuNo 17652) Ens. Frederick J. 'Big Jim' Streig, November 1943. As can be found in many photos of VF-17 aircraft (White 5 & 7 are widely published examples), insignia outlines exhibit two tonal values, which red would not do. By late 1943 color photos of...
Profile Research
A lot of people ask how I create my scale drawings for the profiles I paint. Whenever possible, I start with source material like original manufacturer engineering drawings, erection and maintenance manuals for the airframe, and detailed 'walk around' photos of the...