I started creating a B-47E to being work on some Stratojet artwork. I’ve always believed the B-47 was one of the most beautiful, graceful looking aircraft ever designed.
The fuselage begins to take shape, then the tail, wings, and the canopy.
The engine nacelles were modeled next. The inboard engines first, followed by the outboard engine. The outboard nacelle appears to be pretty simple, but isn’t as straightforward to model as one might think. Nearly everywhere you look there is a curved shape where I didn’t think one existed.
The model is nearly completed. It’s time to begin cutting out the canopy frame and glazing, and to create the cockpit.
Here you can see the canopy frame and glazing have been added in addition to the aircrew. Also, the twin tail guns have been added…
As you can see, I started working on the textures for the bomber. At this point it was a simple, basic light gray and white. Eventually the light gray part will be replaced by a brushed, somewhat polished metallic texture. All of the control surfaces have been cut from the model and are now finished, too.
This will give you an idea of the level of detail I’m trying to achieve with this work. I’ve done enough work here to more than suggest the panel lines and rivets. Also you can see some of the stencils have been applied in the plane’s textures.
More panel lines and rivets. I’ve also added the lights fared into the inboard engine pods and the wing marker lights at this point. The inboard engine pods still need to be mapped to their textures can be applied.
Here all of the insignias, stencils, and other markings have been applied to the textures for the fuselage and work on the wings has begun. The next images will be posted after the two remaining engine pods have been completed. Stay tuned and, as always, I appreciate you stopping by and taking a look at my work here.
3/28/19
I’ve had a couple days to work on the metal textures for the fuselage and the vertical stabilizer. I’ve been trying to balance the shininess of the metal with reflections and the “grain” of the metal. Basically the same techniques used on my 335th TFW F-105B, which you can see elsewhere on my web site. Hopefully I’m achieving a realistic result.
No serial number markings on the nose or tail just yet since I haven’t decided on which ones to put on there. I did go a bit finer with the “grain” of the metal in the tail than I did on the fuselage, so I’m still deciding whether I need to go back into Vue and Photoshop and tinker with it a bit more. 
Looks nice, except for the little “dots” on the wing and inboard engine pod. That’s an artifact caused by settings in my rendering program and would never be present in a finished work. Well… time to wrap things up for today. Until next time, “adios!”
The shape and arrangement of the engine pods, for one, was something of a challenge to execute. Also the landing gear pods, which are located in the wings of the aircraft.
Matthews Aviation Art 
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