One of the most prolific aircraft artists now has his own retrospective ‘bookazine’ series. CHRIS CLIFFORD inspects the first volume.
When you’ve created as many colour profiles and plan views as long-time illustrator Richard J Caruana – and you’re asked to pinpoint individual examples for a 50-page book – it must be incredibly difficult to choose. Art created by the venerable aircraft specialist has graced the pages of hundreds of magazine editions and books over the years, inspiring thousands of modellers.
In concert with Mushroom Model Publishing (MMP Books), the artist has embarked on a series of ‘Bookazine Collection’ softbacks, under the moniker The Flying Colours of Richard J Caruana, to showcase his voluminous body of work. It could run for years, I’m sure… and many a build of mine in the past found its roots in a Caruana profile. The first book, across 50 landscape pages, offers artwork of widely varying types. Fittingly, the initial colour page has a three-view of the Wright Flyer, but this is preceded by a page of black and white 1/72 scale plans of the Seversky P-35… terrific if you are planning builds of the type.
Each of the following double-page spreads has an opening title, mainly text on the left-hand side but…