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 RM123 was withdrawn in August 1981.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...

RNZAF 75th Anniversary - revisited

I visited Ohakea yesterday (31/03/2012). Around seventy thousand people braved what turned out to be a very hot day with the airforce base gridlocked for hours. I have managed to sell both my offerings (the Catalina & the Skyhawk). Very satisfactory, especially those little red stickers...

RNZAF 75th Anniversary

The RNZAF was formed from New Zealand components of the British Royal Air Force, becoming an independent force in 1923, initially as the New Zealand Permanent Air Force (a part of the Army). The NZPAF was renamed the Royal New Zealand Air Force in 1934 and became an independent service on 1st April 1937.

As part of the 75th Anniversary celebrations (to be held at Ohakea & Wigram) there will be an art exhibition of paintings relating to the RNZAF. I have submitted two works, both of which will be for sale.

One is the Catalina GF-C and the other is a new work especially for the exhibition - the landing of the initial batch of 14 Skyhawks (consisting of 10 A-4K and 4 TA-4K aircraft) that were delivered to Auckland in 17th May 1970 (as deck cargo wrapped in protective plastic cocoons aboard the carrier USS Okinawa) and then towed by road to the RNZAF base at Whenuapai:

NZR Ka945

Another locomotive, the 9th to date.



The NZR Ka coal burning steam locomotive was a class of mixed traffic 4-8-4 engines that operated primarily on New Zealand's North Island Main Trunk railway as heavy freight and express passenger service locomotives.

Building of the 35 locomotives commenced in 1939 and main construction and assembly took place at the Hutt Workshops. Withdrawals began in 1964 lasting until 1967.

Ka945 was the first of the Ka locomotives to be completed and was withdrawn after 28 years service in December 1967. It was purchased by Len Southward who stored it at Taumaranui and then at Steam Incorporated, Paekakariki. Later he gifted Ka945 to Steam Incorporated (http://www.steaminc.org.nz), and they began slowly overhauling it to working order. In 1985, Ka945 returned to steam on the main line. In the 10 years that followed Ka945 ran numerous excursions all over New Zealand. It was withdrawn in 1995 for a 10-year overhaul, which has yet to take place.

Bugatti & Stampe drag race.

And now for something slightly different - a car and aircraft combination.


The drawing depicts a drag race between a supercharged Grand Prix Type 51 Bugatti (the last T51 built, driven by Geoffrey St John) and a Stampe et Vertongen SV4C biplane (which is very similar to a de Havilland DH82 Tiger Moth (Stampe was once a sales agent for de Havilland), piloted by Victor Norman). The race was a standing quarter mile - not surprisingly, the Bugatti completed the distance in 13.8 seconds whereas the Stampe took 16.3 seconds - and took place at a disused airfield in 1984.