TSR2: Hell-For-Leather (or: Drive By Shooting Cold War Style!)

[Supah]

Fantastic work Ronnie

[Skyraider3D]

Hi guys, thanks very much for your kind replies! I am glad you like it!


Otters, I just finished reading "Cold War Tech War" about the cancellation of the Arrow and the bigger economic/political picture that surrounds it. Interesting read. Good news: I may actually have an Arrow commission coming up next year!
As for the Harrier cancellation.. that was a useless aircraft anyway, right?


Aircraftprofiles, the client indeed specifically requested a factory fresh machine. I added light scuffing around the canopy frame and other obvious places, but yes in principle it's a brand new aircraft rushed to the 'front'.
At full size there's actually a fair bit of grime in the textures (see attached 100% sample), but it's not showing up in the web-sized JPGs. I could've exaggerated it a bit I suppose. I have more plans for the TSR2 and will definitely make 'em grimey as hell next time! Desert Storm anyone?
The landscape is a modified photo I took on the evening after the Buncefield oil storage depot went up in flames! I was 40 miles away from the site, yet the smoke was right above me! The winter sunset and black smoke made for a truly apocalyptic scene, even without the nuke. Already then I knew exactly what I would be using those photos for (3D aviation art with a nuke that is!) and I hadn't even been commissioned the TSR2 yet!
The nuke itself was painted in Photoshop in under 2 hours. Some detail was added using self-made photos of clouds and airshow pyrotechnics.
The Shilka by the way was painted in 5 minutes. I took a picture of a Shilka from the web that roughly looked like the lighting and position I wanted, then blocked out highlights and shadows only, which went extremely quick. Next I motion blurred it and set the layer to Soft Light. I am so glad I didn't go through the efforts of modelling one in 3D, let alone trying to set up a nuke in 3D! Perhaps I should ditch 3D altogether and learn to paint properly. It's so much faster as there's only 2 dimensions to worry about!



Glad you like the profile too!

[gamary]

Very nice! You're one of the very few aviation 3D artists I know of who makes really convincing compositions.

[Otterkins2]

I've got it done in 4 view too Ronnie. I've got lots of photos too. The Harrier useless? I don't think so! It could get in and out of anywhere slightly larger than a postage stamp and was surprisingly small for a jet fighter. Brit pilots training here in Cold Lake took great delight in scaring the $hit out of the tower controllers. Imagine the shock of turning around and finding one of these tapping on the glass with the nose pitot when it didn't even show up on radar in the first place! At low levels nothing picked it up. It was stealth before stealth was vogue. Imagine the enemy crapping his pants when one of these pops up out of nowhere facing him with fully loaded rocket pods. One of the most forward thinking designs the Brits ever came up with. Hardly useless Ronnie.

[inkworm]

Don't forget with the Harrier the ability to avoid the heat seekers, by having the hot exhaust tucked in under the wing and half the thrust blowing cold air the heat signature was much smaller than any other a/c at the time.

Obviously the british government think it is rubbish however by scrapping them before their time.

Look forward to the Arrow

[JMSmith]

the british goverment are a load of lying thieving shit stabbing bastards.

or is that to much for the moderators
can we change the subject before i get on my soapbox.

[JMSmith]

just had a thought,

if ronnie as a arrow to due, i will take great delight in nitpicking his work, there aint no real ones left and works drawings! ask mr deafandbecker
i going to have fun ronnie

[Aircraftprofiles]

thanks Ronnie ! I have had trouble making explosions, so i think i´ll try out some of your ideas !

Good work mate !

[Ugo Crisponi]

WoWoWOW!!

[Skyraider3D]

Hehehe, I guess my use of sarcasm is in need of some improvement! No, of course the Harrier isn't useless. It's one of the most brilliant aircraft ever built. The sheer fact that the Americans are using a British aircraft says it all. And look at the hundreds (literally) of VTOL designs that were drawn up over the past 60 years - practically all failed. The Harrier is a fantastic aircraft and we can only hope that they'll change their mind before they're all scrapped (like the US changed their mind on A-10 retirement twenty years ago).


Thanks for the offer of Arrow references, Otter - and a very nice drawing! There's actually some bloody good high-res construction drawings available on the web, which I'll likely use as a base.