Cold War Attack Aircraft Challenge

Congratulations to TigerHunter1945 and to all who took part, it was a close contest with many good entries.

I like to give feedback too, especially for the FD scale forums as the difference in style and quality between artists seems wider than for SB-scale ship challenges.

Sp3ctra_star, HT-09: the over-the-top cannon armament really doomed any chance of this design being taken seriously, plus the rocket pods seemed an afterthought. As to the quality, the drawing is a basic FD style with shading etc., but with too many straight lines and I still can't quite understand the layout of the intakes, are they ramp intakes?

MitcheLL300, AV-30 Waverider: an interesting VTOL design, it reminded me of not just the Harrier but some other 1960s VTOL designs. Again, the design seemed to have too many straight lines, it just didn't look aerodynamic. Shading under the wing seems to be missing and for me the bubble canopy without a windscreen seemed very odd for a ground-attack aircraft, any birdstrike or bullet hit and that whole canopy will shatter and the pilot likely injured or killed. That lost realism points for me.

LtMaverick114, A-9 Buzzard: I liked this design but there are a few issues. The canopy should of had a black-colour-black 3-pixel surround rather than just being a glass panel. The choice of the J-85 engine was sound, but the long tailpipes mean thrust losses and aren't needed for a small engine, you could of used something like a CASA C-101 or Alpha Jet engine layout instead and it would have provided a more logical place for the main undercarriage bays too. The wheels look a bit blocky and need a little work.

KIKE92, A-7 Pantera: looks like a Mirage F-1 in style, I liked the design very much and nice to see some sensors in the nose for the attack role. From a style perspective it would be good to see less black lines used for internal lines like wing roots, tail fin roots and intakes. But its a good drawing otherwise.

Hood, Sparrowhawk: I loved drawing it and I don't think even looking back on it that I would change anything. Was a good shading exercise too.

Toxic Loki, HA-500 Alacrán: strongly reminded me of the Fouga Magister trainer in design. I liked the design a lot but was disappointed by the quality. Too little top and bottom shading, good use of shading under the wings but you missed the shadow under the tailplane and engine nacelles. The top-view was ok, but why where the leading edge panels so dark?

RaspingLeech, Ju-1287: a very interesting design with many A-10 references. I liked it and its generally very well drawn, a couple of instance of too many black lines for adjoining fuselage/tail surface roots but generally a good drawing. What spoilt it for me was having the tailplanes right in the exhaust wash from the engines, not good at all. Had this been a T-tail design then it would have been perfect in my view and scored higher from me.

ashebourton, A-1 Evil Eyes: very well drawn, the top view was good, perhaps not using black for the wing root join would have been better. Perhaps a bit too advanced for this contest in terms of capability. Wasn't quite sure why it was so loaded with EA-6B features such as ALQ-99 pods and to me this had the feel of an 'anime' design.

daemyrs, S61 Duisos: very strongly reminded me of the SOKO Galeb. Generally well drawn, again less black lines in the fuselage areas would have been better, dark grey would have been perfect. A little more tailplane shadow too. The cockpit colours were interesting (not bad, just food for thought). The rear fuselage looked too long to my eye, just felt it unbalanced the rest of the design.

APDAF, Ch-18: reminded me of the last aircraft you submitted in another challenge? A very basic drawing but got the basics right. More detailed panel lines needed. Not sure I would put the airbrakes on the engine nacelles though. Was expecting more cannon in the nose, right now this looks like a small jet bomber.

JSB, Seamew GR.2: there was something lovably about this oddity. The Seamew was a dog of an aircraft but this looks better in looks, I doubted whether adding a Double-Mamba and contra-prop would be feasible in real life without serious redesign. Good cockpit visibility though. Again, where is the tailplane shadow!? This lost points sadly for me, but I was surprised it finished so low in the rankings.

Thiel, A-8A-DK Buzzard: good to see Thiel back in action. I really liked the Draken-esque design and the camo scheme. Too many straight lines, the nose needed some curves to make it look realistic. Again too many black lines! Fuselage curves should be dark shades and not black, they are not sharp discontinuances. My general impression was that the aircraft was too small, for example the cockpit canopy is massive, especially on the two-seater. The result was too cartoony and spoilt it for me.

Yqueleden, HA-250 Lanza: very strongly channelling the Breguet Br.960 Vultur. Looks sleek but robust, looks good and well drawn - the visible pilot was very interesting. Loved the camo schemes too. I don't think that firing a cannon down the shaft of a turboprop is feasible or desirable (vibration = bad things in a turbine engine), but that wasn't enough to put me off this design.

acelanceloet, A-7 Avenger II: I liked the concept here a lot, it looks fugly but is very well drawn. Loved the camo schemes. The only thing I have to say is, what is going on with that odd kink in the rear fuselage bottom contour! A smoother curved line from the engine exhaust to the tail would have looked much better.

Aiseus, JM-374: strong SAAB BL3A vibes. A very good design and a basically well drawn drawing but needed a little more shading, better 3-pixel thick canopy sections and more attention to the curves and straight lines. The undercarriage doors should be outlined in black. I wasn't really sure what the big fin tip pod was for and the nose I guess housed a laser-rangefinder? Found it a bit odd that the side was chisel-shaped but rounded on the top-view. With work it could have been good.

thegrumpykestrel, WA.38 Taipan: Jaguar meets Yak-41 in style. I loved it. Ok so not 100% original but he owned the origins and made the Jaguar into something far more advanced and even sexier.

The_Sprinklez, Ma. 233: an impressive beast and well drawn. The ground profile was very interesting. Not sure if the Double-Mamba was the best engine choice but its good to see it getting an airing twice in this contest. The only thing was, although it was a B-25/A-26 end of a ground attack platform, it just felt too much like a bomber for me.

Charguizard, A7K Speervis: very well drawn and an interesting design, the origins from an ASW aircraft were certainly interesting. The result was something very much like a Skyraider.

Bordkanone 75, CASA 1.155 Bucardo: as a good FD artist I have to admit BK75 disappointed me here. Sure it looked a little like a Sea Fury but not half as sexy and a poor quality imitation. The rear fuselage shape was very boxy and no smooth contours, the wing was perhaps a bit too far aft and certainly too much wasted space between the engine and the cockpit. The panel lines are very basic and in places improbable for realism. The result just felt very rushed and I know the artist is capable of far better. Also, it was hard to tell whether this was a fighter with bomb racks or a proper ground attack type.

wb21, AA.6C: reminded me of the MiG-27 and the unbuilt Su-19M development of the Su-15. Very well drawn and a good design with suitable sensors and armament.

JCSTCap, Wo.20 Hapect I: a good design, but then it is a carbon-copy of the Su-25 so should be! Well drawn, needs a little more top and bottom contour shading but its a good effort from a new artist. The front view was nicely done too.

Armoured Man, Fujimoto AF-21: very well drawn, though I had to check whether the cockpit shading met the shading guidelines, which it does, just a new way of doing it. Nothing wrong here with the design or the artistry. I was surprised the specs mentioned a speed of 452mph when this looks like a Mach 2 fighter like the Mig-21, and for me that was the problem. The double delta wing would be ok for ground attack profiles but the whole design just felt more at home as a interceptor than a sturdy mud mover.

TigerHunter1946, Wiweko S56: very reminiscent of several Ilyushin and Alexeyev unbuilt projects, so while ungainly it is certainly not an implausible design and very well drawn (Amoured Man's cockpit style reappears here). the 'humpback' is perhaps a little overdone but the result looks interesting and suited for the role.

Imperialist, Ta 311 Wildkatze: very well drawn and very believable (perhaps a little too Ta 154-ish?). A shame we didn't seem some colourised versions with camo.

reytuerto, CA-11 Busard: failed to make the deadline but I am including it here for completeness. Looks a lot like the CASA C-101, and that is not a bad thing. Was a decent design overall, except for the hardpoint under the cockpit which is far too forward given the likely centre of gravity. Needs fewer internal black lines and more shading and again the poor tailplane has its shadow stolen!

My main take away points are;
1) don't forget to add shadow to tailplanes!
2) less black lines inside the internal shape; i.e. wing roots, tail fin roots, tail plane roots, intake and engine contours, all things that are not routinely opened (cockpit canopies, undercarriage doors) that are not hard 70-90 degree angle breaks and that are 'smoothed' into the cross-section should be very dark shades but not black.
3) good shading looks better, I have moved to 2x thick contour shades now, 1x is too narrow
4) we need to find some consistent approach to cockpit shades and style, lots of good examples but the variety is staggering

Shipbucket

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