TIGHAR

Amelia Earhart Search Forum => News, Views, Books, Archival Data & Interviews on AE => Topic started by: Ric Gillespie on February 07, 2015, 07:58:01 AM

Title: No Cigar
Post by: Ric Gillespie on February 07, 2015, 07:58:01 AM
This article (http://www.warbirdsnews.com/warbirds-news/aviation-artist-ron-coles-amelia-earharts-electra.html) about a new painting of NR16020 is interesting.  The artist is torn between Crashed & Sank and Died as a Castaway.  He apparently used the Finch/Kammerer/ Museum of Flight replica for his model - which resulted in a glaring error in the painting.
Can you spot it?
Title: Re: No Cigar
Post by: Andrew M McKenna on February 07, 2015, 08:23:38 AM
Ric  Your link doesn't want to go anywhere.  ??

This one might get you there

http://www.warbirdsnews.com/warbirds-news (http://www.warbirdsnews.com/warbirds-news)

amck
Title: Re: No Cigar
Post by: Ric Gillespie on February 07, 2015, 08:26:08 AM
Ric  Your link doesn't want to go anywhere.  ??

Hmmmm ... works for me.  Try this.
http://www.warbirdsnews.com/warbirds-news/aviation-artist-ron-coles-amelia-earharts-electra.html
Title: Re: No Cigar
Post by: Andrew M McKenna on February 07, 2015, 08:32:36 AM
Propeller hubs aren't right?

And it's hard to fly without them turning?  I suppose (helps to read the text) this represents the moment after she ran out of gas, but even then would the props simply stop?

and, we might argue that the belly antenna shouldn't be there.....

amck

Title: Re: No Cigar
Post by: Joe Cerniglia on February 07, 2015, 08:38:04 AM
This article (http://www.warbirdsnews.com/warbirds-news/aviation-artist-ron-coles-amelia-earharts-electra.html) about a new painting of NR16020 is interesting.  The artist is torn between Crashed & Sank and Died as a Castaway.  He apparently used the Finch/Kammerer/ Museum of Flight replica for his model - which resulted in a glaring error in the painting.
Can you spot it?

He has the props feathered, I think.  If this illustration  (http://www.airpages.ru/eng/mn/b20_26.jpg) is a correct rendering of the feathering concept, then Cole's drawing looks like the one one the left.  You once said the propeller blades could not be feathered.
http://tighar.org/smf/index.php/topic,517.msg6814.html#msg6814

(I think.  No aircraft design expertise here talking.)

Joe Cerniglia
TIGHAR #3078ER
Title: Re: No Cigar
Post by: Andrew M McKenna on February 07, 2015, 08:43:58 AM
Nevertheless, I wouldn't mind having it hanging on my wall.  I'll just assume the reflection on the nose is Nikumaroro.

amck
Title: Re: No Cigar
Post by: Ric Gillespie on February 07, 2015, 08:45:07 AM
Propeller hubs aren't right?

Bingo.  The painting shows the airplane with feathers props and domed prop hubs for full-feathering props (like Finch's).  NR16020 had constant speed, counter-balanced props but they could not be feathered.

And it's hard to fly without them turning?  I suppose this could be the moment after she ran out of gas, but even then would the props simply stop?

He's showing the airplane with stopped engines and feathered props just before it hits the water.  Without the ability to feather the blades (turn them knife-edge to the wind), NR16020's props would windmill - greatly increasing drag.  That's why feathering was later invented.

Title: Re: No Cigar
Post by: Joe Cerniglia on February 07, 2015, 08:47:21 AM
Hmm.  Seems I got something right there.
Title: Re: No Cigar
Post by: Ric Gillespie on February 07, 2015, 08:49:26 AM
Hmm.  Seems I got something right there.

Yep.  Good work.
Title: Re: No Cigar
Post by: Ric Gillespie on February 07, 2015, 08:57:09 AM
Here's a better picture of the prop hub.
Title: Re: No Cigar
Post by: Bruce Thomas on February 07, 2015, 08:57:37 AM
A frequent Forum poster has said (http://tighar.org/smf/index.php/topic,1426.msg31926.html#msg31926) that the cowlings on the Finch/Kammerer replica are also wrong. Can the difference in the cowlings be discerned in this painting, and described here by that poster?
Title: Re: No Cigar
Post by: Ric Gillespie on February 07, 2015, 09:18:33 AM
Can the difference in the cowlings be discerned in this painting, and described here by that poster?

Finch used North American AT-6 cowlings for her R-1340s.  They're different from the Lockheed cowlings.  The painting shows Finch's cowlings. 
Title: Re: No Cigar
Post by: Martin X. Moleski, SJ on February 07, 2015, 09:47:47 AM
Another "glaring"  ::) inaccuracy is the shiny aluminum of Finch's Electra.
Title: Re: No Cigar
Post by: Joe Cerniglia on February 07, 2015, 11:45:21 AM
I couldn't help noticing that loss of thrust from a propeller due to "auto-feathering" subsequent to power loss in one engine was apparently one component in the chain of events leading to this week's Taiwan air crash. 
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/feb/06/transasia-air-crash-both-engines-failed-taiwan

Joe Cerniglia
TIGHAR #3078ER
Title: Re: No Cigar
Post by: Ric Gillespie on February 07, 2015, 12:37:33 PM
I couldn't help noticing that loss of thrust from a propeller due to "auto-feathering" subsequent to power loss in one engine was apparently one component in the chain of events leading to this week's Taiwan air crash. 

Don't get me started. This was pilot error on a grand scale.
Title: Re: No Cigar
Post by: Krystal McGinty-Carter on February 07, 2015, 12:59:22 PM
The feathered props were the first thing I noticed.


But I have to say, I fail to see the Niku reference. It says that there is a reflection of an island  but I don't see it. To me, it looks like a sea bird getting ready to meet its maker is a very abrupt and messy way. Now Im going to be sitting here staring at it like one of those Magic Eye prints.

Its a nice painting though. Artist is definitely talented.
Title: Re: No Cigar
Post by: Craig Romig on February 08, 2015, 10:54:10 PM
As a work of art I liked it. It is a very nice painting. The one thing i saw was the sun rising in the east as the plane was pointed north. But i am not here to argue other's points of view. Thank you for the link to the picture.
Title: Re: No Cigar
Post by: Tim Collins on February 09, 2015, 06:43:02 AM
Another "glaring"  ::) inaccuracy is the shiny aluminum of Finch's Electra.

What? After all the back and forth about there being reflections in the fotos showing the purported 2-2-v-1 or whatever the damn thing is being called, now Electras can't have shiny aluminum skin? You guys are pathetic.
Title: Re: No Cigar
Post by: Martin X. Moleski, SJ on February 09, 2015, 08:12:38 AM
What? After all the back and forth about there being reflections in the fotos showing the purported 2-2-v-1 or whatever the damn thing id being called, noe Electras can't have shiny aluminum skin?

Finch's Electra demonstrates that aluminum can be highly polished, as shown in the painting.

The photos from the round-the-world flight show that AE's Electra, in fact, was not maintained in a highly-polished state.

That is why the shiny patch sticks out like a sore thumb shortly after it was installed.

The painting is intended to represent not Finch's Electra, but AE's.  One discrepancy between the painting and the real Electra is the shiny surface depicted in the painting.
Title: Re: No Cigar
Post by: Tim Collins on February 09, 2015, 09:22:58 AM
Finch's Electra demonstrates that aluminum can be highly polished, as shown in the painting.

Ok, I'll bite. How, specifically, does it do that? It's a painting, an artists representation It can only demonstrate the artist's painting ability, specifically in this regard his ability to paint what may be considered a realistic representation of reflective surfaces, among other obvious aspects (airplanes, water etc).

The photos from the round-the-world flight show that AE's Electra, in fact, was not maintained in a highly-polished state.

That is why the shiny patch sticks out like a sore thumb shortly after it was installed.

The painting is intended to represent not Finch's Electra, but AE's.  One discrepancy between the painting and the real Electra is the shiny surface depicted in the painting.

Did I mention that it's a painting? Didn't you take aesthetics in college?
Title: Re: No Cigar
Post by: Greg Daspit on February 09, 2015, 11:28:28 AM
Although not an accurate representation of AE’s plane, one of the effective techniques the artist used to illustrate shiny metal is the use of reflections. For example, note the reflection of the wing and nacelle on the fuselage. The artist also distorts the reflection to help illustrate the curvature of the fuselage.

 The patch on AE’s plane was clearly more shiny than the rest of the plane as can be seen in the historic photographs.  Although some have interpreted some of these photos as indicating big dents in the patch,  I think they are simply reflections, and if you look at the context can better understand them. For example, the patch seen in the Miami ramp photo is reflecting a crowd of onlookers and the Darwin Hangar photo is reflecting the starboard wing and hangar structure.  Both reflections in those photos are slightly distorted due to the curved surface, similar to how the artist illustrated reflections in this rendering. IMHO
Title: Re: No Cigar
Post by: Martin X. Moleski, SJ on February 09, 2015, 12:24:06 PM
Finch's Electra demonstrates that aluminum can be highly polished, as shown in the painting.

Ok, I'll bite. How, specifically, does it do that? It's a painting, an artists representation It can only demonstrate the artist's painting ability, specifically in this regard his ability to paint what may be considered a realistic representation of reflective surfaces, among other obvious aspects (airplanes, water etc).

The painting corresponds to what is observable in pictures of Finch's Electra.  I grant this is not a perfect "demonstration." 

Ric asked what differences people could see between the painting and the AE's Electra.

My answer is "shiny aluminum skin."

Quote
Did I mention that it's a painting? Didn't you take aesthetics in college?

Yes, I know it's a painting.  Yes, I took courses involving aesthetics.  Both of these truths are irrelevant to the question you asked: "After all the back and forth about there being reflections in the fotos showing the purported 2-2-v-1 or whatever the damn thing id being called, noe Electras can't have shiny aluminum skin?"

I did not say, "no Electra's can have shiny aluminum skin."  (I am assuming this is what you meant to type.)

I concede that Linda Finch's aircraft has a shiny aluminum skin.

The painter seems to have used her aircraft as a stand-in for AE's.

It is purportedly a painting of AE's Electra in the last seconds of flight before splashing into the ocean.

He got the detail wrong about the kind of props on AE's aircraft, probably because he copied what is on Finch's aircraft.

He got the detail wrong about the shiny skin, probably because he was using Finch's aircraft as a model.

I don't feel that I've had to reach deep into my training as an English major, a master's of philosophy, or as a Ph.D. to spot this difference between the painting and AE's aircraft.  I seem to remember pairs of cartoons in the Sunday comics that challenged the reader to list differences between one panel and the next.