Project : Heinkel Trojan Bubble Car

I've already painted a BMW Isetta Bubble Car. I bought a pack of 12x10inch box canvases, and decided to try to paint my other two favourite German bubble cars - the famous Messerschmidt Kr200 Kabineroller, and this, the Heinkel Trojan 200 Kabine.

The Heinkel Trojan looks pretty similar to the Isetta. There are differences - the rear of the car is more tapered on the Trojan, and although the front opens like the Isetta, the steering column doesn't move with the door as it does in the Isetta. I decided to paint it with the front door open, showing some of the interior.

Here's the sketch I started with: -

Heinkel Trojan 200 sketch

I find it really difficult to get a good scan of a box canvas sketch - this is the best I could get. I was pretty pleased with the quality of the drawing, though.

It did turn out to be a pretty fiddly painting to make. This was taken about halfway through, and it had taken several hours to get this far

Heinkel Trojan 200 - about halfway through painting

The basics of the background were done first, although none of the background is actually finished. I wasn't happy yet with the trees/bushes on the right. There were details still to be painted in on the road, the kerb, the gutter and the pavement. The bases of the buildings on the left of the background and the pavement needed to be added. That's without mentioning the car. At this stage I hadn't even finished the frame.

The finished painting

I have to say that I have an emotional attachment to the Isetta painting, but I think this one is better. You can see the difference it makes having put in the details in foreground and background. This isn't a great photograph since the flash glares off certain patches of paint. I posted this since it does give you an idea of the whole painting. The scan below gives you a better idea of what the car itself actually looks like : -

I will sell this one if anybody wants to buy it - if so email me at londinius@yahoo.co.uk - but I'm perfectly happy for it to keep sitting alongside my Isetta on my den wall. A comparison between the two is just below

Update - 5/1/16 - This painting has now been sold