Bearcat
AeroPod #20 was commissioned as an anniversary gift for vintage aircraft race pilot whose favorite plane is a Grumman F8F Bearcat. This carrier-based fighter aircraft was introduced late in WW2 and is popular among air racers for its lightness and speed. From the start, my goal was to create a personalized and meaningful sculpture that would reflect many of the details that make the Bearcat unique, while at the same time appealing to the client’s own experience racing vintage airplanes.
One of those details is the surface texture of the aircraft’s skin, made up from multiple sheets of aluminum screwed to the frame that makes up the fuselage. By routing similar panel lines, screw heads and access covers into the AeroPod’s surface, a sense of familiarity was established, visible even under a few layers of paint.
Appropriately decked out in Navy blue, the “Bearcat” AeroPod proudly displays its custom-formed bubble canopy, which is also a distinguishing feature of the aircraft. The one-piece aluminum door and thermoformed window opens up to an instrument cluster of period-correct gauges, meticulously reproduced from scratch to resemble those found on the actual plane. A light touch at the top releases a magnetic spring latch, allowing the panel door to gently lower on an air piston and reveal its real contents, which in this case are fitted aluminum shelves for the client’s small collection of aircraft manuals and logbooks. Under the flap door is a crescent shaped drawer that is designed to fit all 23 aviation maps in the client’s collection, plus a few extra.
A special feature of the “Bearcat” embellishes the aluminum surface of the fold down door. The client had participated in the Reno Air Races in 1985, so I had the event logo accurately rendered and CNC routed into the metal, then filled with black epoxy for a permanent, flush surface. Unlike an applied or painted logo, this one will never wear off. It’s a small but significant detail that will no doubt be much appreciated by the client for years to come, and is one of the many things that make AeroPods so special in today’s world of mass produced objects.