49.All Aboard To Middle Earth!
In terms of aviation art and movie promotion, this Lord of the Rings-inspired aircraft is a singular success. With amazing attention to detail, the complex design captures the core of Middle Earth and turns a contemporary aircraft into a soaring monument to Tolkien's mythical world. Although the funny remark on Frodo's trip being simplified by air travel makes one chuckle, the real success here is in the superb paint job execution. Working within the pragmatic limits of aircraft painting, the artists have been able to convey the imaginative aspects of the story. Characters and situations from the movies are deftly combined in the design to form a coherent story that spans the whole fuselage. This aeroplane is a flying billboard that properly respects the epic scale of the original material since the technical ability needed to preserve accurate proportions and detail on such a large curved surface is rather amazing.
