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Amazing Aerospace

The "Amazing Aerospace" collection. An alternative history and the future of human flight.

Signalman - I see you, part of Pen Pencil Bristles.

Pen Pencil Bristles - artistic endeavours without computers.

The Orlando Jax website

Orlando Jax - a rollicking space adventure with pirates, ransom and despicable deeds.

Works in progress

Archangel II Fuselage

10 October 2024

Archangel II's fuselage is taking shape.

Building the top and bottom half of the fuselage separately, following a common profile shape.
Building the top and bottom half of the fuselage separately, following a common profile shape.

Crucially the fuselage is asymmetrical, so you can't build one side and then mirror it. Parts have to be built separately and then brought together. That is making for some interesting challenges.

One door near the nose on this side, but three on the other.
One door near the nose on this side, but three on the other.

Watercolour doodles

29 September 2024

This little doodle of the Middle East makes it look cute and peaceful. How wrong that is at the moment.

A little watercolour of the Eastern Mediterranean and the Middle East.
A little watercolour of the Eastern Mediterranean and the Middle East.

A bit of whimsey - dolphins in Lighthouse Cove.

Dolphins in Lighthouse Cove.
Dolphins in Lighthouse Cove.

Starting Archangel II

15 September 2024

Archangel II - another build for Cyber-Toulouse, in the heart of the French space precinct.

The blueprints for Archangel II laid out in Cyber-Toulouse (Blender).
The blueprints for Archangel II laid out in Cyber-Toulouse (Blender).

In Archangel II the passenger sleeping cabins double as "life boats". In an emergency a cabin can be jetisoned into space to get people away from whatever disaster is unfolding on the ship. Each of the cabins has the life support equipment needed to keep people alive till they are rescued.

That means that the outer wall of cabins form an integral part of the hull of the ship. I could have used a simple texture to show that they are there, but decided to actually build them into the geometry. This is a lot more complicated, but makes it easier to create a scene with the cabins leaving the ship - if I want to at some later date.

A single and double cabin door.
A single and double cabin door.
The cabin door frames. They add some extra geometry to the model.
The cabin door frames. They add some extra geometry to the model.

Fiji dreaming

28 August 2024

I've mentioned before that it's a cute thing to do to take watercolour postcard sized paper with you on holiday. Then knock out a few simple pictures - memories of your time away. I did just that recently. We escaped to an island in Fiji. These are some of the results.

Bure 22 at Octopus Resort, Waya, Fiji.
Bure 22 at Octopus Resort, Waya, Fiji.
Hibiscus flower, Octopus Resort, Waya, Fiji.
Hibiscus flower, Octopus Resort, Waya, Fiji.
Banana plant on the way to breakfast, Octopus Resort, Waya, Fiji.
Banana plant on the way to breakfast, Octopus Resort, Waya, Fiji.

Four from six

16 June 2024

When I finish a poster I hang it on the wall. But this is not about sitting back and admiring my great works (hardly). This is all about making sure the thing is finished - or at least as good as it can be. I've found that you have to hang a picture to really give it a decent assessment. Sometimes it might be six months before you realise that something isn't quite right. Then I believe it's perfectly OK to go back and change things if you decide it improves the work.

I have a wall at home that acts as my poster assessment gallery. They sit on that wall for around six months. If, at the end of that time, I can't see how things could get better (other than to throw away and start again), then they become my "definitive" version. Right now I'm seriously pondering that dark triangular shape at the top of Mondiale Rendezvous. I'm thinking it's not quite right, but what to do about it?

My travel poster assessment gallery.
My travel poster assessment gallery.

Now to start a great leap beyond the Earth, to Mars, with Archangel II, Mars Line.

Archive 01
Archive 02
Archive 03
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