NZR Railcar RM123 'Blue Streak'

The 10th in my locomotive series.

RM123 entered service in June 1956 as one of 35 88-seat railcars. They were designed by Drewry, built by Birmingham Carriage & Wagon Company and were powered by Fiat diesel engines. In September 1968 a daytime service between Auckland and Wellington was inaugurated. The 'Blue Streaks' as they were known (because of their livery) were RM119, RM123 and RM131. In December 1972, the Blue Streak services were replaced by the new Silver Fern railcars and they were transferred to the Wellington to New Plymouth service where they continued until July 1977. RM123 was withdrawn in August 1981.

Datsun 240Z

I was intending to start work on an RNZAF C130H Hercules (it's their 50th anniversary this year) but the scale of the task became a little daunting so I thought I would try something for my daughter, Megan (she of The Edge's Workdays of Awesome) - a silver Datsun 240Z, probably the best looking design of all of the Z cars. It is essentially a monochromatic drawing, except that nothing is ever black and white. The chrome wheels have lots of reflections (mainly blues) but there is the odd splash of colour (eg, orange for the indicatiors) and I just didn't realise the 240Z had so many chromium strips and reflective surfaces. I'm sure I could've spray-painted an original 240Z in the time it took me to draw this. But it turned into an interesting challenge with many layers of warm & cold greys. I hope she likes it.

So, now I'll go back to the RNZAF C-130 Hercules that I've sketched up and start working on that. Because the plane is essentially white, I'll be adding a background - Rongotai & the Miramar Peninsular as they were a few years ago.

Transmission has resumed

A 'recent' personal issue has had a very detrimental affect on my creative abilities, hence the lack of any updates to this blog & my artwork. Hopefully it is behind me now.

I've unpacked my drawing equipment and sorted out my pencils - seperated the wax from the watercolours, organised the colours (eg, the greys, blues, blacks & reds (my locomotive colours)) and drafted up some new drawings - NZR RM123 Blue Streak, RNZAF C130H Hercules and a Datsun 240Z.

Watch this space.

Oh, and a portrait of an old mate (ie, a mate I've known a long time) that I tried my hand at...