The subject of drawing & painting aircraft,cars,locomotives etc is something that many will want to have a go at,but the problem is of where to start ? well you can take two different avenues of approach,either to work from photographs which is perfectly acceptable and practical,or if your subject matter is still around then why not go out in the field and sketch it first hand ? there are numerous museums around that are ideal places to study your subject and set to work with a painting.

For the purposes of these exercises I will discuss and describe the rudiments of setting into motion the basics,my advice to anyone who enjoys art is to study other works in detail,and above all get to know your subject matter,by making a small scale model first will give you a deeper understanding of its shape and also assist with the effects of light that is thrown onto the subject,the ability to turn the model around and get the view that you want is worth its weight in gold,so lets get to work and see how a De Havilland DH.86 aircraft slowly evolves and takes shape,culminating into the finished subject.

This is how the painting first starts,the shape is drawn onto the canvas with a white pencil,in this case against a grey ground,the reason for the dark ground is in order to show the correct tone of the colours,the sky was added beforehand as it is much easier and more practical to lay the shape of the aeroplane on top,no need to fill in entire areas all in one go otherwise you will loose all of the detail that has been pencilled in,simply work on different areas gradually building up,the under painting is important as it is used to gain the form and shape,for example the curvature on the nose and the stringered fuselage shape,study your subject and work everything out,you will be surprised how easier things become,if you do paint over a detail area simply pencil it back in again and rework it.

Detail of the nose area showing the brushstrokes,don not worry how things look at the moment,a painting goes through several stages of untidyness,as you rework things they evolve into the shapes that you need,precision with the brush is not needed,the main thing with technical subjects is to capture the shape as if it is in three dimensions,cutting in later will fuse everything together.

The broad areas have now been covered after several painting sessions,we now have the shape,tone is slowly coming along,small areas of highlight have been added,some white underpainting for the crosses and undersides of the wings,things are now slowly evolving into a three dimensional effect,note how areas such as the wing struts are starting to ghost through,we can rework these areas later.

Closer detail showing how the fuselage stringers are represented,areas of lighter colour between the area make the fabric look as if it is tightened over the wood,which is exactly as it should be,remember just like modelling study your subject carefully.

Now lets add the dirty white lower,pick out the roundals,crosses and fin stripe,give the struts some curvature,add the pitot head and rigging wires,over the coming weeks,months a bit of tidying up here and there will take place,a few extra shadows added.

Towards the end of 1941 the Miles company were seeking a solution to some of the problems in designing shipboard fighters,the requirement was for a good view forward,and a compact size to fit onto aircraft carriers without the usual folding wings.

A study of tandem wing designs suggested that they were inefficent,hence the tandem wing layout called Libellula was evolved,this layout is not to be confused with the conventional canard layout,in the case of the Libellula the forward wing is a reversed tandem wing and not merely a horizontal stabiliser,although the machine was longitudinally unstable it quickly provided data for the Miles company to proceed with the design of a high speed bomber embodying this configuration,this was designated the M.39,the following aircraft was built as a five eighths scale flying scale model to further test the design.

While awaiting the final decision for the M.39 Bomber Miles went ahead and built this small scale replica to test the aerodynamics,it proved to be perfectly normal in its handling characteristics and had a performance slightly higher than that of a conventional aeroplane corresponding to this design.

During 1936 the Miles company began the design study for a large transport aircraft which embodied a fuselage which emerged with the wings to give extra aerodynamic efficiency and above all to give greater space for fuel,he project was dubbed 'X' and between 1936 and 1944 a long series of projects were evolved up to X.14 these were mostly for transport aircraft.

The 'X' Minor first flew in 1942 and featured a compact retracting undercarriage and a large blown perspex cockpit canopy which produced some strange optical effects especially whilst landing.

This is how the picture of Udets Curtiss Hawk started,take a canvas and with a stick of charcoal sketch in the design,make slight adjustments by just dabbing out with a cloth until the shape and composition is to your satisfaction,note the reference material on the table to the left,use it ! dont be afraid to experiment this is how you will learn,once this is to done spray a thin coat of artists fixative onto the pastel,the drawing is then inert and you can start laying in the undercolours to break up that white canvas,I use raw sienna and ultramarine blue to do this job,once these are dry just keep adding colours until you get the desired effect,many hours later this is the completed picture,a unique reproduction of a very famous aeroplane,what the camera has failed to record we can reproduce those aviation scenes from yesteryear that are all but forgotton today.

The painting was done in oil paint on a canvas ground,the secret is to work slowly and patiently until the desired effect is achieved,oil paint is very slow drying and you need to have a break between applications before further coats can be applied,this is just how the old masters worked as they sometimes worked on several paintings at once.

Pastel worlk lends itself well to outdoor sketching,this picture was done on the spot at my local airfield,make sure that your subject is not likely to just fly away ! this is why I like air museums for this type of work,you can study away to your hearts content,there is nothing like drawing from the actual thing because you notice details that photographs sometimes hide and above all you are one to one with your subject.

Quick on the spot sketches are important to the artist for future paintings,here is a Europa caught at Wellesbourne,I always carry a small tin of watercolour paints and a sketch book for such drawings.

The Ace was designed with a revolutionary control system which incorporated the rudder into the control spectacle,by twisting the top of the spectacle this operated the rudder,however after a demonstration to flying instructors throughout the UK the system did not go down well and Chrislea redesigned the aircraft with conventional controls and a tail dragger undercarriage to become the Skyjeep,very few of this interesting aircraft were built and when the original designer R.C.Christophorides left the company the company struggled on until the assets were sold off to C.E.Harper Aircraft Ltd who scrapped off the remaining nine incomplete airframes.

This famous touring aircraft was the result of a request for a cabin enclosed touring aircraft to be built by this famous British company,these aircraft made many famous flights together with the similar Puss Moth with its different wing planform,a few examples remain of this gentlemans aerial carriage and the one shown in this painting was operated by Alvis Ltd from Baginton in the seventies for communications duties.

The Hart was the standard day bomber of the Royal Air Force in 1936,designed in 1929 and powered by a 500 hp Rolls Royce Kestrel Aero engine,which gave it a top speed of 184 mph with a full service load,several versions of the Hart entered service,when equipped as a two seat fighter it was called the Demon,and when used for Army co operation duties it became the Audax.

Built in 1937 as a UK which used a stressed skin all wood construction which gave a smooth aerodynamic finish and the convenience of small scale production.The structure consisted of a two spar torsion box wing,spruce girder ribs with diagonal bracing struts,thus eliminating wire bracing,a ply box streamlined fuselage with stringers and fabric added,this contributed to the fact that this aircraft was the fastest aircraft in its class pre war.

This was the most famous of the 'Target Defence' fighters,conceived by Alexander Lippisch for DFS in 1941,the Komet was in service by August 1944,the construction was a wooden wing with 8 mm laminated skin,a box section spar,duralumin fuselage shell which was built in two halves,two 30 mm cannons were fitted in the wing roots and the undercarriage was jettisoned on take off,the aircraft then landed on a skid which retracted into the fuselage.Nearly 400 were built but more were lost in accidents than in combat due to the highly dangerous and volatile catalysts C-Stoff and T-Stoff which was used for its propulsion.For a detailed account of Komet operations and testing I can reccommend reading the book 'Rocket Fighter' by Anna Reich.