Bat Bird, Iron Hand – New WIP

I’ve actually been working on this project rather sporadically for about a year now.

I read the book “When Thunder Rolled” by Ed Rasimus a couple of years ago, and thought some of the stories he told might make a great scenario for a drawing. About a year ago, I met Ed via Facebook, and this is the result.

The primary aircraft in this piece is Ed’s F-105D – named “Bat Bird”. Ed is flying the #2 position on an F-105F Wild Weasel.

My composition depicts the Weasel leading the formation into a right turn around a formation of thunderclouds – somewhere “Up North”

Here’s the basic perspective plot:

I did this sans weapons – actually took multiple attempts to get the offsets to match the picture in my mind.

Here’s a look at the final plot of the “D” – with all weapons:

Since starting this project, I’ve decided to change the composition to a single aircraft “portrait”.

Here’s the first pencil study:

I made a few errors with the camouflage pattern, but I like the way this came out.

Here’s a closer look at the forward fuselage:

After Showing this to Ed – we agreed that the centerline pylon carrying CBU-24 cluster bombs would be a better representation of the Iron Hand missions he flew – so I’ll make that change on the color study.

And here is the color version:

And a detail shot of the forward section:

I have to get a better camera!

I’m going to try a new technique for the sky & clouds, but I need to practice a couple of times first. Since the view through the canopy depends on the background, I’ll do the cockpit area when I do the sky.

I’ll be putting this one on the back burner for a bit while I work on a large commission.

Thanks for looking!

Chris

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