How many here have tried their tallent on a 1:1 car??? Ive done plenty 1:64s but I've never tried my hand at a full size daily driver. I guess my wife would have a cow to have a junker in the drive. besides I already have a 2 car garage and three cars now.

I'm working on a '86 Chevy Astro Van right now. I've done many airbrush paintings but never on metal. I've always used guache on cold press board. This ones going to be a little different all together as I'm going to use the van to take my art work around to air & auto shows. I've been working on a WWII aviation art project since 1998. I talk to WWII airmen and depict their accounts. I now have 36 originals. I don't sell the originals as they've all been co-signed by the airmen; but I do sell prints at airshows throughout my region. I've just recently started etching auto glass; hince the auto shows are now on my agenda. The vans not only going to be a hauler but a cheap place to spend the night.

The concept is, its going to be painted in flat colors of gray on the bottom, "OD" in the middle and a flat black anti-glare panel over the hood that goes down the side and surrounds an airbrush of a flight of three B-17's on the panel of the drivers side. If you've ever seen any WWII aviation documentaries on TV you've seen this shot. On the glass of the sliding door I've done an etching of the Iwo Jima Flag Raising. The idea is, as your driving by it, if you look out your passenger's window at my driver's side, it'll look like the B-17's are flying formation with you.

The beauty of the flat paint concept is multipule. It will mimick the paint scheme of the old WWII bombers. I won't have to be nearly as meticulous about the prep. It'll be easy to touch up. It'll be pretty cheap for the materials. And I'll only have to rinse it off at a car wash. Oh! I'm considering painting the interior in a zinc chromate color...Ugly but authentic.

The ultimate finishing touch would be a "KILLER" sound system mounted in the back doors that could be opened and used as a PA system. Or if I'm sitting at a stop light and someone comes up behind me with one of those "thumpers" I could open the back doors and shatter his front windshield with HENDRIX!!!!! :thumbsup:

Have you been to the Air zoo in Kalamazoo MI??? O my god is it cool! I just paid $20 to get in and use the flight sim, and see the plaines. The SR-71 is just too cool!
By the way the Flight sims give you complete control in true 3d you can fly inverted and you are upside down! :drunk: You can roll and loop like in a real F16. Well worth the $20! You just gotta get in line again and again! :thumbsup: The Flight of the Kalamazoo Gal Bombing mission would be right up yoour ally! :thumbsup:

No. Unfortunately not. Nor have I been to Osh Kosh. Booth space is out of my price range there. I just got to the Mighty 8th Museum year before last. I've been to The Garber or "Silverhill" out side "DC" twice. (That's a trip back in time.) Once on my honeymoon (she's a pretty good girl to go to a "junkyard" on her honeymoon) and then again when I was working with one of the AVG, "Flying Tigers," researching land mass for a piece he described over Moulmein, Burma. Its now called Mawalamein, Myanmar FYI. That piece took two and a half years and two incorrect drawings (I use Prismacolor Pencils) before I got the third right. It's titled "Moulmein Morning." Ended up the place "Joe" was describing was an airbase the Japanese had built at the foot of the "Hill of the Seven Pagodas." Kipling spoke of it in his poem "Road to Mandalay." It sounds like the "Air Zoo" will get put on the to do list.

someone on the jl board also doe's paintings or drawings of planes ....but i just cant remember who it was. and he's good too.

I read someone's thread that was interested in WWII aviation about a month ago. Like you, I don't recall who it was.

I like doing this because I get to meet living history and then recreate it. They then get to look at it from an observers point of view.

The down side is, I get attached to these guys, and at their age the new contributors are short lived. Almost 2/3 of the guys I've worked with have passed. That is why I'll never sell my originals.

There is nothing like a first hand account to bring history alive. Enjoy you art because that is why it is created.

I'm hoping to have my van more or less completed in the next several weeks as long as health and weather holds out. I got some kind of "crudd" New Years Night or at the Panthers / Saints game. (DAn Hennings an idiot) I wouldn't mind yelling myself hoarse and catching crupe if we'd won. I wasted a whole week of good weather due to illness. Todays the best day I've had in a week so hopefully I'm on the down-side of it. Anyway, when I get the van painted I'll post it so you can check it out.

I could open the back doors and shatter his front windshield with HENDRIX!!!!! :thumbsup:
Thats funny!

As promised. I've got several more hours on this, but its mostly finish work that wouldn't get picked up on this camera. Remember seeing this, the last time you saw a WWII aviation documentary? Well....less the other three planes in the background.

dam that gave me chill's :thumbsup: fantastic work i would love to see it up close.thanks for posting it and you should post it at the jl ht board too thay would love it.
ps where in north carolina do you live . i lived in sanford nc off hwy 421 for ruffly a year

Thanks, This reminded me of how much I hate working airbrushes. Cut a lot, prep a lot, paint a little, clean a lot. The results are striking but it is a pain. That's another reason I do the aviation art in Prismacolor pencil.

I live in Shelby....South Cleveland Co actually. I've flown some hot air balloons in Sanford back in the late '80's or early '90's. A lot of pine trees. I go to Moore Co Airport every other year for an aviation art exhibit and CAF fly-in. Its the best show I go to. I get to meet a bunch of WWII airmen there.

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y27/nismoclassic/8877820-R1-020-8A.jpg
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y27/nismoclassic/pic2.jpg
Heres my 1:1 project. Im an import head, but not the fast and furious type. My car is not loud and i dont have a coffee can for a tailpipe. Im going on 35 so im into clean cars not gawdy. This is becoming a very rare car. Its a 1991 nissan ser. It came out with four wheel disc brakes, four wheel inde. susp. lightweight. In its day it would whip up on cars such as camaros/firebirds and mustangs on a roadcourse. It was considered totaled when i brought it home. Anyone who knows the datsun 510 this is its little brother.

I bought my 1st MG Midget in much the same condition as the Nissan. Put 350,000 miles on it before the brakes failed. I cleaned out a ditch, after taking a right angle turn, at a "T" intersection, on the State Line, one early morning after seeing Gate Mouth Brown and Vasser Clements at the Double Door in Charlotte. Yes, I'd been drinking. But I wouldn't have wrecked if the brakes hadn't failed and some SOB stuck a State Line sign right in my path. Found another "Fidget" and put the drive train in it. Drove it another 150,000 miles. Hopefully it'll be re-restored by this time next year.

Oh yeah! Very familiar with the 510. Great car! So was the B-210 fast back. Put a little under 400,000 miles on one of those before it got creamed in a school parking lot by a Buick whose driver wasn't watching what she was doing. Missed a bright red car...go figure.

I've got a heck of a lot more project cars than money or probably time to restore them.

Here is my parent's 68 Firebird that I helped "restify" about ten years ago(the yellow one). I was about nineteen at the time. I did nearly all of the mechanical work like engine work and engine detailing, rebuilding and tuning the carb, replaced everything in the brakes except the hard lines, replaced the fuel tank and sender, suspention work and rewiring the car. The transmission was rebuilt by Transmission Service Center of Porterville, CA and the paint and body was done by a former body man and friend of the family, Jose Romero. The uphulstery was done by Mean Machine Uphulstery of Porterville. My Dad and Sister also helped out quite a bit. They did most of the rest of the interior, too.
The blue one in my 68 and I also did some work to it. That picture was taken 6 years ago and I badly need to do paint and body work to it. Anyway, I replaced the intake(for weight savings), installed an electronic module to replace the points in the distributor and got rid of the 2 into 1 exhaust in favor of a dual exhaust with glasspacks and 3 tube headers. I removed the "super turbine 300" 2 speed trans. and rebuilt a TH350 with B&M parts and a shift kit, modified the valve body and installed a higher stall "truck" converter. I also put a rear end from a Nova in with an Auburn limited slip and Richmond 3.36:1 gears and new leaf springs. I also put in a later model internally regulated alternator and installed a K&N air filter. :wave:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v133/sethbergen/scan0001-small.jpghttp://img.photobucket.com/albums/v133/sethbergen/scan-cut-small.jpg

The ultimate finishing touch would be a "KILLER" sound system mounted in the back doors that could be opened and used as a PA system. Or if I'm sitting at a stop light and someone comes up behind me with one of those "thumpers" I could open the back doors and shatter his front windshield with HENDRIX!!!!! :thumbsup:

That is funny. Send your idea to Jesse James at Monster Garage.

ClearHooter, impressive job that you did to your van.
The mural on the side gave me the chills too.
Very real looking.
It is the type of picture that you would not soon forget when you saw it as you passed by.
The glass etching of the flag raising is fantastic.
As someone else stated, show your work to the members over on the JL forum.

Cheers. Cobra

It got a great response at the "Auto Fair." I had one guy come by and said he'd heard about it on the infield. We were outside the track in one of the parking lots they had set up for vendors. We were at the end of a straight drive that was about 1/2 mile long. I could see it from 1/2 mile away. Many people came buy just to see it. I wished I'd had time to completely finish it. By the Fall Auto Fair it will be. Oddly enough though I had many admirers of the automotive etchings the only thing I sold was my WWII aviation art prints. If your in the region, and into cars of any nature this is the place to go. I'll post the date for the Fall adventure when it comes up. If you've never been to this thing it is unbelievable. As I said inanother post HUGE!!! If I'd had three days to do nothing but walk the roads I don't think I could have seen it all. Out of what I did see I saw nothing like what I had. Here's some more pics....Still not finished but a lot closer.

I wanted to give everyone that had never been to the Charlotte Auto Fair at the Speedway an idea of how big this thing really is.

One of these pics is the overall view of the map of the Speedway facilities. This does not include ANY spectator parking. Even that can be somewhat of a show. What is in black are arrangements of 10'x50' "spots." You may purchase as many of these spots as are available. But usually someone has to die or some other catastrophy for one to open up. This means that usually no more than two adjacent "spots" are available at any one time. I'm sure there are exceptions but not many. All around the track on the inside and immediately out as well as on the pedestrian walks in the front grand stands are restored, classic, antique and specialty cars for sale.

The other pic is of the "Red Field. This is the smaller field on the outside of the track shown in the overall view. It gives an idea of how all of the selling areas throughout the fair are broken up into "spots."

The speedway is rated at 1.5 miles around, as I recall.