AVIATION ART: "The Chicken Works" presents the first of many aviation art prints

Sentinel Chicken

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First things first, the beginnings of website for an online portfolio is up and running: www.thechickenworks.com As you can see, it's not up and running yet, but it should be soon. In the interim time, my premiere print will be depicting a Boeing 707 with special historical significance, the Braniff International 707-327C Operation Understanding "Peace on Earth" aircraft. Some preview images:


http://www.airlinebuzz.com/chickenworks/images/707320C_BNJBpoe_w.jpg
*Watermark image WILL NOT appear in the finished print

The above image shows the whole print. There will be three sizes available- 12x16, 16x20, and 18x24 inches in size. Below are some links of close ups of the print:

http://www.airlinebuzz.com/chickenworks/images/707320C_BNJBpoe2_w.jpg

http://www.airlinebuzz.com/chickenworks/images/707320C_BNJBpoe3_w.jpg

http://www.airlinebuzz.com/chickenworks/images/707320C_BNJBpoe4_w.jpg
*Watermark image WILL NOT appear in the finished print


A good friend of mine was a tremendous help in researching the history of the Perot charters flown during the 1969 Christmas season to bring attention to the plight of American POWs in Vietnam. He has been meeting with the actual pilots, cabin crew, and maintenance personnel that were involved with the three Perot charters and without his help, this print would not have been possible.

This is a museum-quality archival print- it's printed on heavy stock paper similar in thickness to an index card and it's commercial grade "giclee" printing. These prints are not made at home, I had them made by a commercial printer and the samples I have had made are vibrant in color and very detailed.


Some common questions:

What the hell is a giclee print, anyway?

Giclee printing is a lot like hi-tech inkjet printing, but on a commercial grade that's archival and more robust in durability. Unlike your average home inkjet printer, commercial print machines that produce giclee prints usually have anywhere from 8-12 ink colors which allow a very high-fidelity of color reproduction. Using high-resolution digital scans, giclee printing can be done on paper, canvas, and a variety of other materials.


So these are computer illustrations?

Yes- I did this illustration in Adobe Illustrator, a vector-based graphics program that's pretty much the industry standard for graphics design. By creating the image digitally, it allows for future variations in the base image and being vector based, different sizes of print can be created without any visible pixelation. So whether you get the 12x16 inch print or the 18x24 inch print, the detail and quality will be the same.


How many of this print will you be making?

For now it's strictly on the basis of demand. As demand increases, I may switch over to a combination of open-edition prints and limited-edition prints.


Three sizes, huh? How about a custom size?

Since this is my first print, I am offering three sizes to see which one is the most popular. Some of my future plans will only have one size, maybe two, a few will have three. It's all very fluid now, but I have samples of all three sizes and there's not one size better than the other in terms of quality. To give you an idea of the size of each, here's a picture:

http://www.airlinebuzz.com/chickenworks/images/ChickenWorksposters.jpg

That's a pen on the left and a 1/400 scale 747-400 to give you an idea of scale. Your eye might have been drawn to what's quite obviously not Braniff 707s in this picture. Those are prints in development that depending on a variety of factors, may or may not make it out into general release. Stay tuned.


So what went into producing this print, anyway?

I take pride in the fact that these prints are meticulously researched and pre-nitpicked before production. The aforementioned friend of mine, Forrest Tohill, spent countless hours in the course of his own research on the Perot charters interviewing the flight and cabin crews, the maintenance folks, and others as well as poring over Braniff's corporate archives at the University of Texas at Dallas. He was very gracious in sharing his research work with me in ensuring the highest accuracy for this particular print.

The colors were probably the subject of an untold amount of research work on our part, reviewing photos, modeling resources, a mixed mass of other sources, and finally showing former Braniff employees a series of color swatches we came up with to see which came closest to their own recollections. As some of you know, no color swatches or paint chips survive to this day that anyone knows about so the exact color of each of Alexander Girard's 1965 "Jellybean" schemes has been subject to a considerable amount of interpretation over the last 30 years or so.

http://www.airlinebuzz.com/chickenworks/images/GeorgePhillips_02.jpg

The above picture is me with Captain George Phillips. Of the three Braniff captains that flew the Perot charters in 1969, Captain Phillips is the only surviving one. He has had a tremendous career, beginning before the Second World War flying Lockheed twins for TWA when it was still called Transcontinental and Western Airlines. He then flew transports for the US Marine Corps in the Second World War and after the war, flew DC-3s for Trans-Texas Airways. He returned to flying for the Marines in Korea and following the Korean War flew in South America before joining Panagra as a DC-8 pilot and then ended up with Braniff, flying just about every plane in Braniff's fleet from the Convair twins to the DC-6s, DC-7s, Constellations and Electras to the 727s, 707s, DC-8s, to his retirement as a senior 747 captain. He even holds type ratings in the F9F Cougar and the F4U Corsair. He's a remarkable individual who has lived aviation history and it was a pleasure and honor to meet him.

As for the 707-320C itself, it was also the subject of countless hours of research to be sure every detail was as close as I could get it. I even enlisted the help of some other folks well-versed with the 707 family who nitpicked it to be sure it's as accurate as possible.



So show me the money! How much will this cost me?


It will depend upon the size you want-

12x16 inches - $30
16x20 inches - $40
18x24 inches - $60

For US addresses, shipping and handling will be $5, for Canada and international addresses, I will have to get you a shipping quote specific to your location. Each additional print above the first one is an extra $1 each.


How do I pay you?

Until I get the website up and running, the best way for now is to email me at jp@thechickenworks.com. Please include your first and last name in the subject line that way I can find you right away from all the emails I get on who wants this print. Let me know your address, which size print you're interested in, and you're preferred payment method. Right now since I am a lowly one-man operation I can only take PayPal, check, or money order.

If PayPal is how you want to pay, be sure to give me the email address I can send an invoice/PayPal request to. If you are paying by check or money order, I will give you the address to send it to.


How long will it take to get my print?

Approximately 2-3 weeks from the time of your order. I order on demand from the printer and then personally inspect each print to be sure it's done correctly. I then add my signature in the lower right corner so you know you're getting the real deal and from there, I'll ship it out to you. If you're paying by check, I'm sure you'll understand if I make sure your check clears first!


Spill it, what are you future plans for future prints?

How much you got? There are three main subject areas that interest me- the first of course, are commercial jetliners. The second area is military aviation and third area is my real passion- the unbuilt aircraft designs from World War II to the present as well as prototype aircraft that never made it into production or in service.

In the short term, there will be a series of prints on the other Girard "Jellybean" colors of the 707-320C. There were nine different colors used across the fleet and I've been slowly reconstructing which tail number wore which color when in its service history with Braniff International. I will also have ready within the next six weeks or so my first "what-if" print which will be for an unbuilt fighter design in hypothetical in-service colors.

For you whiff and military guys, I have as works-in-progress 9 unbuilt aircraft designs (7 military and 2 civilian), 2 prototypes (both military), and 4 military aircraft that did see active service.

For anyone in the North Texas area, I will have a vendor's table set up at the DFW Airline Collectibles show on April 14 at Sheraton Grand Hotel DFW Airport. Hotel is located at 4440 West John Carpenter Freeway, (Highway 114 & Esters Boulevard) Irving, Texas. I will have a series of different prints available for purchase as well as previews of some works in progress.
 
Sometime in the next few weeks I'll be announcing my next set of print releases. There will be FOUR of them for the month of March, and two of them will be what-if prints!

Stay tuned!
 
There's been a bit of a delay in getting the next set of prints. Hopefully the issues can be resolved by week's end......stay tuned..........
 
Re: AVIATION ART: "The Chicken Works" presents the first of many aviation art pr

I have to reformat my post to work with the forum software here, but for starters you can see my print offerings for March here: http://www.whatifmodelers.com/forum//index.php?showtopic=15024

Or here: http://forums.airlinebuzz.com/showthread.php?t=38174

Registration might be required at one of the forums, I know it is on Airlinebuzz, but it's free at both locations. I'll try and fix my post so I can add it here as well.
 
For the commercial aviation fans out there in the North Texas area, the World Airliners Historical Society will be having their 2007 DFW show on April 14/Saturday at the Sheraton Grand Hotel at DFW Airport from 8am-5pm (or 9am to 4pm, can't remember right off hand).

Link to the hotel: http://www.sheratongranddfw.com/

There isn't as much model kit stuff as there is at IPMS shows, but there can be good finds (one guy last year made off with a much sought after Otaki 1/144 Tristar) as well as books, magazines, various models (diecast and mahogany type) and tons of airline memorabilia.

I'll be sharing a table with a good friend where I'll be selling a bunch of different prints of mine- the Braniff 707 "Peace On Earth" aircraft, the Braniff 707-320C in Panagra Yellow colors, the DC-9-14 "Ship One" in Trans-Texas Airways colors, the prototype F-108 Rapier, and the Douglas XB-31. I will also have three more on sale at the show that I'll announce here on the forums that evening- those three are all commercial jetliners with one of them being a military adaptation of a jetliner.

Stay tuned, and if you're at the show, stop by and say hi. I won't be hard to miss.
 
Re: AVIATION ART: "The Chicken Works" presents the first of many aviation art pr

707320C_BNJBor_wprevA.jpg


703C_BNjbOR_t300A.jpg
703C_BNjbOR_t300B.jpg
703C_BNjbOR_t300C.jpg

*Watermark image will NOT be on the finished print
  • Braniff International Airways Boeing 707-327C (1969)
  • N7102, Orange colors
Sizes available: 12x16, 16x20, and 18x24 inches


DC910_TI_wprevA.jpg


D91_TI_t300A.jpg
D91_TI_t300B.jpg
D91_TI_t300C.jpg


View of the historical vignette at the bottom of the print: http://www.airlinebuzz.com/chickenworks/images/D91_TI_t900.jpg

*Watermark image will NOT be on the finished print
  • Texas International Airlines (1973)
  • N5726 "The Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex"
Sizes available: 12x16, 16x20, and 18x24 inches



C40_59DFW_wprevA.jpg


C40_59DFW_wprevB.jpg

C40_59DFW_wprevC.jpg

C40_59DFW_wprevD.jpg


*Watermark image will NOT be on the finished print
  • Boeing C-40A Clipper "City of Dallas" and "City of Fort Worth"
  • VR-59 "The Lone Star Express" NAS Fort Worth JRB, Carswell Field
Sizes available: 16x20 inches only




So show me the money! How much will this cost me?


It will depend upon the size you want-

12x16 inches - $25
16x20 inches - $35
18x24 inches - $55

For US addresses, shipping and handling will be $5, for Canada and international addresses, I will have to get you a shipping quote specific to your location. Each additional print above the first one is an extra $1 each.

How do I pay you?

Until I get the website up and running, the best way for now is to email me at jp@thechickenworks.com. Please include your first and last name in the subject line that way I can find you right away from all the emails I get on who wants this print. Let me know your address, which size print you're interested in, and you're preferred payment method. Right now since I am a lowly one-man operation I can only take PayPal, check, or money order.

If PayPal is how you want to pay, be sure to give me the email address I can send an invoice/PayPal request to. If you are paying by check or money order, I will give you the address to send it to.

How long will it take to get my print?

Approximately 2-3 weeks from the time of your order. I order on demand from the printer and then personally inspect each print to be sure it's done correctly. I then add my signature in the lower right corner so you know you're getting the real deal and from there, I'll ship it out to you. If you're paying by check, I'm sure you'll understand if I make sure your check clears first!

What about previous prints?

None of these are limited editions. So there's no missing out on past prints if you didn't get them than month. I will continue to offer past prints as long as I can keep this gig running! If you still want to order past prints, let me know.

Link to the Braniff International "Peace on Earth" 707-320C from February.

Link the the March prints (Braniff 707-327C Panagra Yellow, Trans-Texas DC-9-14 "Ship One", North American F-108 Rapier prototype, and Douglas XB-31).


 
For anyone in the DFW/North Texas area, I will have a vendor table at the IPMS/North Central Texas ScaleFest 2007 on Saturday, May 26, at the Grapevine Convention Center. Stop by and say hi, a good friend of mine will be sharing 4 tables with me to offload some of his kit stuff and I suspect there might be some whiff gems in his stash.
 
I'll have a new print available at ScaleFest 2007- I'm just waiting for the print samples to come in this week and see how it turns out before I commit to getting more made.

Some hints:

It's a jet.

It's a military design.

It's from the Vietnam War timeframe.

You can still see this aircraft today.
 

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