How to make an X-Wing fighter in two weekends

So, today I started on the acrylics. Given the medium, these are all modern paintings by modern painters and, therefore, not quite so easy to research. I know that sounds odd but it’s true. There’s a lot of information about long dead and famous people (and things) but precious little about those that may still be living. Or only just dead.

The subjects are also modern. A buccaneer jet landing on the aircraft carrier, HMS Ark Royal or a cross section of an animal cell, being just two examples.

As well as struggling to find the people who created these pieces, I also had a bit of job finding out information regarding the subjects. You’d think something as big and well known as HMS Ark Royal would be simple however, there has been more than one.

The first one was originally built for Sir Walter Raleigh but was purloined by the crown and called the Ark Royal in 1587. This one didn’t have planes landing on it so it can easily be discounted. The next one was built in 1914 as an aircraft carrier but then, in 1934 she was renamed the Pegasus because they were building another Ark Royal. The next one was sunk by the Germans in 1941. Finally, number four was launched in 1950 but was a bit old fashioned by 1978 when they decided to build the biggest, meanest Ark Royal of them all!

The one in the picture I was researching was only decommissioned this year (it was all over the news at the time) but, even so, I had to sift through a lot of information before I could find something worth using. And the whole day was more or less the same.

One frustration that always galls me is the fact that I cannot access academic journals. I had been searching in vain for information about a medical illustrator called Cynthia Clarke. I found a few small references to her but nothing substantive. Then I found an obituary but it was in a journal! So I couldn’t actually read it. Fortunately her relevant dates (birth/death) were in the title but that was it. I could have had lots of delicious information. Now it just means the record is incomplete which upsets me. A lot!

Just to show my Masters wasn’t a complete waste of time…today Nick spent quite a long time on the phone trying to trace a woman who used to work at the Science Museum. He tried her last known employer and talked to lots of different people. I couldn’t help but overhear her name – he said it many, many times in the course of many, many conversations. I found her on linked in (she’d changed her name and her job) and sent him the link. It took me about three minutes. Thank you City University!

Anyway, one bit of fun was had with a painting of an annual show day at the Wroughton branch of the Science Museum. It was held by a group called the Light Aircraft Association and pictured was something called a Quickie Q1.

There isn’t always an image with the record so sometimes (as in this case) I have no idea what it looks like or, sometimes, what it is. So I did a search on Quickie Q1 and discovered that it was a kit plane which hobbyists would buy, then build over two weekends and, finally, fly. It can only seat one person and flies just over 200mph with a cruising speed of 194mph but it looks very cool. Here’s the page on it from the Museum of Flight.

Burt Rutan, one of the men who designed it, has said that they based the Quickie Q1 on the X-Wing fighters from Star Wars and, if you look at it from the front, it does look similar. They were very popular and even now there are many online forums with people swapping ideas on how to improve the engine or with help on what to replace pieces with that are no longer made.

Burt Rutan now works on civilian space craft (like the Virgin one) and his website is suitably space age. He seems like an amazing guy but is probably a pain to sit next to on a plane.

Speaking of aircraft, I realise I haven’t answered Mirinda’s question about what the Fokkers were made of. The construction was a timber frame covered with canvas. The engine and related bits were, of course, metal. Here’s a picture of the one that crash landed in England, had the insignia swapped and, after the war, used for sky writing.

The Fokker S.E. 5A converted for use as a sky writer

And of course, the latest gladdy update:

Gladiolus - day five

This time I took it from the other side! I have now run out of sides. Any more complaints and you’ll just have to wait for it to blossom!!