New England Air Museum
B-29 Restoration Project

Nose Art painting phase Jan. 12-24, 2002

Photo 1

After cleaning the area to be painted, measurements are taken and noted from original photos of the a/c and marked on the nose. Then using an alcohol based marker, the design is sketched on the skin.

Several attempts and corrections are made so that all elements of the design are kept in scale relation to the original rendition. This process takes about 3 hours.

Photo 2

This is a close-up of the first caricature. You can clearly see the sketch lines here. The reason for an alcohol based marker is used is because after the base color is applied, the lines can simply be wiped off leaving no residue.

There is no specific reason why I chose blue as the marker color. It just seemed logical to me because it would stand out better on the metal skin.

After the sketching was done, I started with the black paint and proceeded the do the hair on all 11 crew members followed by the eyes.

The yellow/brass colored radiator was painted to finish up the day.

Photo 3

At this point (day 2), I measured and sketched the name "JACK'S HACK" at the proper location. I then painted it red.

The main body of the car was done next. I stopped by the caricature pumping air into the rear tire and rendered the wheels.

The wheels are purposely exaggerated as per the original design.

Photo 4

Days 3 and 4 was dedicated to painting all the crew members.

The black shadowing was also added to the name.

In this photo, the design is nearly complete. The outlining is the final step.

There is a repair being made on the lower left of the nose. This damage was done from a Hurricane some years ago.

Photo 5

Day 5. The completed art work.

As can be seen, outlining makes the design 'Pop' out. This is achieved when you do this last. It cleans things up and adds sharpness.

To the left are the 19 missions symbols. The funny looking tool box (I'm assuming) are the static ports for the a/c.

I was given skin from this a/c that was replaced with new panels. I will be doing something special with this in the near future.

Gary Velasco