I know that I can be pretty slow sometimes when it comes to creating side view aircraft illustrations, but it really felt like this Dornier 328-110 template came together in 1200 frames-per-second slow motion. It all started back in mid December, immediately after wrapping up my Saab 340 drawings. As it normally happens whenever I finish an all new set of templates, I was feeling super gung-ho about cranking out another one and I couldn’t have been more excited!
It’s kind of like an addiction actually – it requires a lot of motivation to start a new template if I haven’t done one in a while (they are incredibly mentally challenging), but once I get the ball rolling, the momentum feels like an out of control freight train picking up speed as it rolls downhill. I love everything about illustrating airplanes, so things get fun when I’m “in the zone” and I feel like nothing can stop me.
But then, just as it happens every year at about this time, the Christmas and the New Year holidays derailed my plans faster than…well…a heavy freight train loaded with Dornier 328 templates and good intentions. And once the momentum and motivation was lost, it was extremely hard to get back into the groove. Case in point – I was supposed to post these templates four days ago but all I’ve been doing since then (for the most part) is watching cat videos on YouTube and contemplating the effectiveness of the dish soap we recently switched to. I’m not totally sure that brand of soap is working well enough for our needs, and something will have to be done about it…
But enough about me. Even this post has had little to do with Dornier 328 illustrations so far, I felt it was important to give you all a sense of how difficult it’s been for me to find enough attention to sit down and get this one done. Focus, Scott. Focus.
Ok. Let’s talk about what is arguably the best looking small / commuter aircraft of all time, shall we? To be honest I had completely forgot about how quirky and swoopy the Dornier 328 was until I started browsing the internet looking for good reference material to create these drawings. It’s definitely a lot more aerodynamic and sleek looking than any other of its competitors (such as the Dash 8 and ATR 42). And I quite like it if I’m being honest.
Launched in 1991 and released into commercial service in 1993, 217 328’s were built until production ceased in 2000. The short production run had everything to do with the financial difficulties Fairchild-Dornier was going through at the time, which is unfortunate considering how capable of an aircraft the 328 was. Especially with the release of the jet version (Dornier 328JET), which greatly modernized and extended the capabilities of the original turboprop. Unfortunately, Dornier went bankrupt in 2002 and that was the end of one of the most interesting aircraft types ever to exist (in my opinion anyway).
Well, sort of. Long story short, there were a number of companies that have held the rights to the 328 program since the demise of Dornier. Some went bankrupt, several companies merged together, and…well…it’s all pretty dry and not entirely the point of this post (even less so than the dish soap I mentioned earlier). All you need to know is that a Turkish company currently owns the rights and is producing updated 328’s with the names of “TR328” and “TRJ328”. Google that if you’re interested, and you’ll find hours of juicy bathroom reading material.
Anyway, to add further about my point of momentum derailment and lack of motivation, I should let you know that I was actually planning on posting the 328 and 328JET templates together in the same post. But…um…uh…I was unable to come through for this time, and I apologize greatly for that.
On the bright side, I can feel my motivation building again as 2019 kicks off with a bang, and I’m still on track to post the Jet version next week. It’s coming!
