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This Dragstar belongs to Alan in Blackburn. I had previously painted his Virago Trike with images from Braveheart but when Alan took the trike to a rally north of the border an eager Scotsman made Alan an offer he couldn't refuse. The trike stayed in Scotland whilst Alan went looking for a replacement machine with his newly acquired bunch of cash.

The replacement machine was this Dragstar. Alan likes to have a machine that stands apart from whatever it's parked up next to. He wanted an American theme and had seen other bikes with the Stars & Stripes flag incorporated into the paintwork. I had seen a very good piece of work on a Harley V-Rod petrol tank by American airbrush artist Pamela Shanteau and I used that as inspiration for Alan's tank. I didn't make a direct copy but made my own design based on how she had done hers. I then freehand airbrushed the Statue of Liberty over the flag and added the banners with text.

The bald eagle on the front fender was taken from a photograph and is one of the most striking images on the bike. The rest of the bike was covered with the Stars & Stripes.

The tank has been back to me a couple of times since to have more detail added as Alan got more inspiration. The Empire State was airbrushed onto the top of the tank, still with the banner going over the top. Then, as a wind-up for Harley owners, the words "Hardly Davidson" in a nice scrolling font were added to the tank sides. As Harley owners are a large part of my customer base, I'm staying neutral on that one!!

Alan's hoping to get a shorter rear fender made up for the bike next so I'll be painting that for him. I'll try to obtain photos of the whole bike and will put them on this page when I have them.

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