PIC REQUEST: Tech illustrations for vintage speed equipment

Was hoping you guys could help me out. I'm looking for technical illustrations of vintage speed equipment. Intakes, cams, exploded views, cutaways/sectioned views of chassis, engines (flatheads, Hemis, etc.), rears (banjos, quick changes, etc.) blowers, vintage carbs, whatever. Even O/T stuff like WWII airplane parts and assemblies, steamers, hit or miss engines and parts, etc.

The style I'm really looking for would be line drawing illustrations. NOT CAD STUFF, but actual hand drawn illustrations done in ink, pencil or pen. If you have have some you could share, post 'em. This stuff is really neat and to me is art. I guess the love started with an old service bulletin book I have put out by Ford to show service tips and updates for early V8 fords. What better place to request pics of this type of stuff than here...

Lets see 'em! Here's a couple I have already from another thread on Halibrand QC's that a HAMBer posted...



Especially this style with the shading and details (airplane part of some kind). This is REALLY what I would like to see. The more detailed the better.


Thanks guys!

Scooter

 

more of what I was thinking...









You get the idea... 3D stuff is SUPER cool in this style.

Thought this thread might appeal to some people.

 

It's probably not you want but it's pretty cool:

 

Not exactly but I hope people will post this stuff too! I want to see it! Very cool!! Cool ad for Mooneyes too!

 

Anyone know any artists that specialize in this type of style? Who did the HAMB shirt artwork? That's right in line with the pic request.

 

http://www.lindsaybks.com/inq/index.html
The free catalog alone has lots of cool old technical/automobile drawings. Also look in old drafting textbooks, I have some somewhere.

 

Our very own Tuck.

 

YES! I have their catalog! It's awesome! I have a few drafting/technical drawing textbooks as well. That's really where I first discovered the style. One of the books I have is from the 40's and has some REALLY old drawings that have been passed on throught textbooks for years. Maybe decades. Very cool! The most unique part is how they did some of the shading. I've actually done some of these type of drawings in a class I took and they're very time consuming, so I can really appreciate what is going on with them. It's amazing to think that people sat down all day and did drawings of parts and assemblies like this. Must have taken all afternoon just to detail a small assembly or maybe even a single component. My how times have changed. Wasn't just the craftsmanship of the designed component that was supurb back in the day, but also the drawings associated with the parts/components! I think I'm living in the wrong era...

 

I was a Tech Illustrator in the pre-computer days. Actually have a degree in Tech Illustration. I still have scars on my fingers from X-acto blades and little black dots under my skin from sticking myself with Rapidograph pens. Hell, I have a couple of vintage Leroy lettering sets at home. Anyone remember those. Now I manage the computer system that does the illustrations. I have lots of aircraft stuff dating from WWII and into the '60s. When they cleaned out the tech archive at North American when I worked there a couple buddies and I went dumpster diving. Got a little dicey getting it out the gate in that some of the pieces were marked "Top Secret" even though they were 30+ years old. I'll have to dig some of it up for you.

The WWII stuff is probably the best from an artistic point of view. Shading and some use of color. Some of the manuals even had cartoons in each section. As the industry moved forward into '60s and '70's the illustrations got simpler, even using single line weights. It was all to cut cost. I remember we had an Air Force guy who couldn't understand why it took so long to ink an illustration. So we set him down with a set of pens and templates and let him try it. It was hard not to laugh.

May take me a day or two to find some stuff but I'll throw some up here for you.

Kurt

 

Awesome!! PLEASE do! I would love to see this stuff! I've not seen much that used color. Those would be cool to see!

 

beach bum, I'd love to see what you've pulled out of the trash also. Man if you've got any p-51 stuff my dad would bust a nut over that.
Looking foward to seeing what you got.

 

Beach Bum,any drawings of a good "bomber seat" like a lot of current rods seem to use?My nephew,wants me to make one for his project,but i'd like to agree on the style of seat,before doing all those rivets!!! Thank You,if it's possible.

 

My neighbor just dropped off several old Clymer Auto books in hardback. I haven't had a chance to do more than just glance through them but they have alot of really cool stuff. When I get time to look closer I'll see if I can somehow scan or reproduce some of the stuff. Floyd Clymer was a real hot rod pioneer.

 

Well - it's none too up to date, I bunged this site up about 6 years ago - but here's the stuff I still do in between everything else...

www.figureone.co.uk

 

In my early career and then later on, I spent my time as a patent draftsman. I would suggest that you get access to any old U. S. patent as they would be packed full of the types of drawings that you are looking for. It is a requirement of the U. S. Patent and Trademark Office that all patent applications (when appropriate) be accompanied by detailed drawings. All of the drawings need to be appropriately shaded to assist the people in reading and understanding the patent application. Easier said than done, as most all applications are written in Swahili or some such language. Ask me how I know - I was a patent agent in between my stints as a draftsman! I wrote all that jibber jabber that is in the patent application itself.

Anyway, the drawings, especially from older patents, are just works of art. They all would have been done by hand with pen and ink - no computers whatsoever!!! The patents are easily accessible at many of the local libraries for a small fee.

Beach Bum - I sure do remember the Leroy lettering sets, I have three of these beauties. Also, I lovingly remember the Rapidograph pens. They were such a blessing as I started out using old fashioned ink pens. What a royal pain in the arse those things were. But, as I had to ink every drawing I did, I had no choice but to use those things. No room for error on those babies.

 

Me, too. My dad had an office building and leased space ot an engineering firm, I was the janitor from 5th-10th grade, before school every day. I used to paly with those (carefully)when no one was looking, always dreamed of having a set myself, but I only made about a dollar or two an hour. They also build models of the chemical plants they designed there. As a car model builder, I was fascinated, and wanted to do that for a living when I grew up. Professional Model building has all but died with solid modeling computers and all, but I did become a draftsman.

 

Nice work, do you use a computer? What software?

 

I love this stuff as well. I just walked over to the bookcase here at the engineering firm where I work, and pulled "Technical Drawing including Aeronautical Drafting" 2nd ed. 1940-1942 off the shelf. Some cool stuff in there.

 

I love technical drawings-
I have a degree in industrial design- we had an illustration class and had to draw products and present them in a specific way with a strong stroke around the art- all in pen and marker... and it had to be perfect.

I've always liked that product illustration look-

the old cut-a-ways in hot rod magazines of the late fifties RULE- It would take me forever to draw something that technical- but thats why I did the hamb art the way I did...

One of the coolest artists of all time is Artzybasheff when dealing with machines...




he uses human features with machines- anthropomorphic art.

this guy is a RULER.
look how hes dressed... proof that you don't have to dress cool to be cool haha... this guy had class.




Tuck

 

That is AWESOME!!!! Thanks for posting that Tuck!!! I need to know more about this guy!!

 

Yup - I run an old copy of Itedo Isodraw on my Mac.

 

I know I have a copy of the flight manual for a P-51C on the shelf along with one for a B-25. The P-51 manual has a nice color cutaway foldout in the front. I'll scan that when I get home but it's small, only about 8x5. I also have copies of the flight manuals for the later P-51H as well as the X-15! I have the complete mainteanace manual for a later B-25, H model I think, size of a phone book, hardbound. That and most of the other stuff is in storage. I'll see what i have that show crew seats. I have some F-86 and F-100 stuff as well. Some of it are complete manuals and some are the master pages that the art department produced. The real prize to me is a set of top prints for the XB-70 Valkyrie bomber.

Kurt

 

Here's one. Hope this helps.

 

As an old-time 'hand draftsman' (started in 1960) I love the old technical illustarations

I've got parts books from the 30's and 40's for Farmall tractors that show EVERY part and ass'y.

Also a book on the Pratt & Whitney R-2800 radial engine with detailed illustrations

Almost 'lost art'; I work with CADD everyday, and appreciate what it can do, but it will never have the 'soul' of something drawn by hand

 

I'm a sucker for hanging onto to old parts books too - can't throw away anything with an exploded diagram in it...!

 

Amen, Dave. Me too. A fun place is patent office sites with patent drawings of weapons

 

OK guys, looks like all my aircraft manuals are in storage and I can't get there until tomorrow. But while I was looking for that I found this.



This was my term project for advanced airbrush class at college. This is from a B/W neg the instructor shot for a class catalog. The original is 20x30, full color. It's airbrush watercolor, transparents and opaques. More tomorrow.

Kurt

 

Wow I remember watching that car race in person. That was when
f-1 allowed racing instead of a fast parade!

 

http://www.vanpeltsales.com/FH_web/flathead_drawings_engines.htm

 

Im a Technical Illustrator. I´m sitting here (theoretically) drawing sheetmetal parts of the next Mercedes C class. Don´t really have any line artwork to share, but I can do anything you might need.

Working on a computer with Isodraw rules, compared to the bad old days of inkpens, sticky sheets of shading, rostrum cameras and letratone colours. Ugh!