‘BASEBALL PLANE’ from the cartoon TV Series ‘Dastardly and Muttley in the Flying Machines’ (1969)

Created and Directed by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera

Dastardly and Muttley in their flying machines was a spin-off from the Wacky Races starring two of the most popular character Dick Dastardly and his (sometimes loyal companion) Muttley.

It was set in WW1 and Dick Dastardly was the head of some sort of special air force - the Vulture Squadron’- that was assigned to ‘stop the pigeon’ The small team would deploy a variety of unusual and highly impractical aircraft. At least one new plan and new aircraft per episode. This is one of the most extravagant and memorable.

Wingnut Wings was a model kit company based in New Zealand and owned by film-maker Peter Jackson. They did a series of World War One biplanes – considered my many to be some of the best kits ever made. So a super highly detailed kit of this ‘cartoon plane’ seemed like a really fun idea! This artwork embellishes the original simple cartoon design to something a bit more suitable to a Wingnut Wings kit.

Designed by JERRY EISENBERG

Link to video ‘What If #11 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BWE8MpiFYWY&t=442s