Skins under construction

[Krusty]

Bah!! It's looking good! You don't have to get every last detail correct. I had to make compromises on my skins to make up for the fact that they are AH2 skins. Do what you can, and keep up the good work!

[glenmorangie]

Thanks for the encouragement!  The last thing that irritated me was the realization that I can't weather the wing-roots properly because of the location they are skinned from ( two tiny little patches out on the wing panel ).

Anyway, I may have some time to work on it this weekend....

[rshubert]

Still working on getting the tones right on the panels, since I really don't like the representation on any of the natural aluminum birds in AH.  The problem seems to be mostly in representing the seam transitions without making the darn thing look like--well--a cartoon airplane.

[nopoop]

The Pony IS awfully reflective. Way too much. I did some work on a P47D-40 skin and the reflective layer is much better. But that was a 256 skin

Hopefully with updated skins they'll build a better and less intense reflective property to that layer.

[Krusty]

It would be nice to have an object_r.txt file, similar to the object_a.txt. Only, instead of an alpha, you could specify coordinates of what is to be reflective (or something) without monkeying with the colors themselves. That way you could remove reflectivity from planes you want to reskin (p51D, B17, P38) and add it to planes that don't have it (P51B, for example)

[rogerdee]

hi guys  i am in the  process  of doing  the  folowing skins

hurrican  mk1  111 squadron  1940
hueeican  mk1  billy drake   1940 battle  of france
romanian me 190e4
sea hurican mk1
spit v  douglas  bader
hurican mk1 douglas  bader 242 squadron
faa  tbm
tbf vt8 from  uss hornet  1942
ju88

all  with  bits  to do  but  some almost  finished
#

rogerdee

[glenmorangie]

Yak 9 in progress, new shots.

Not nearly done, not nearly happy with the weathering, but, better...

Comments?

[Krusty]

I think at this point "It's too clean" may be the response HTC gives you. I got a response from both the skins I submitted, and they were about as crisp as (if not more so than) your skin. Skuzzy said they were too clean.

Now, Russian paint never seemed to last very long, so I'd suggest trying some fade effects on the paint, and perhaps pick out scratches in silver where the paint would erode completely down to the metal. Just like around panel line joins, etc. That's the hard part, in my opinion, finding out WHERE the weathering would best be placed.

[glenmorangie]

Krusty,

Thanks very much!  I'm playing with the transparency on the effects and I have not quite got it right.  I need to go way overboard and then vary it at save.  It seems that the effects show much fainter in AHII than in PS6.

I also have not added scuffing.

I've looked at every picture I have for wear and it is rare on Russian aircraft.  A very few show many chips or wear. The wooden wings wore easily and they had a mat they put on the wing before climbing up to prevent it.  Maybe they just got shot down very quickly, before they showed wear.

The paint shows some variations, but not like American or British.  One of the books had a note that the Russian groundcrews took great pride in having a clean airplane and did not let them get very worn or dirty, and kept the paint up, which seems difficult in the field.  You almost never see patchy paint, for instance, like on American birds, where the new OD is a much different color.  Complete field repainting was also common.

I'm expecting some problem from HiTech with the lack of panel lines on the wings.  In fact, there aren't any, and there are none on the aft fuselage, either.  The airplane is covered in a wood laminate, filled and sanded smooth.  No joints show.  At least I've got the correct fuel gauges...

I need to "wear-it-up" somehow...  I've also got a bunch more screws to add to the wings and underside...

I'll have another draft in a week or so.

Thanks for the feedback!

[United]

Current Project:

[mechanic]

here is my lastest spitV

got to love invasion stripes

this one is of the 71st Eagles



is it good enough to submit?

still more work to do



Batfink

[rogerdee]

looks  very good  mate altho the  jpeg  wont do it justice.
  if  they  dont like it theyll  tell ya

nice  job

[Krusty]

Re: Spit. Looks nice! But.. wait.. am I wrong, or where there an odd-number of invasion stripes? Something's odd here. There were 5 right? Started with white, ended with white, right? Or were the stripes different for brit planes?

[mechanic]

Originally posted by rogerdee
looks  very good  mate altho the  jpeg  wont do it justice.
  if  they  dont like it theyll  tell ya

nice  job

ty sir!

its not that great as i did it in MS paint. lol

and its not very acurate to anything lol. i just made it up.

thanks again and big <> for our historicaly accurate 71st spitV Rogerdee. very good of you to make it sir
again

bat

[mechanic]

Originally posted by Krusty
Re: Spit. Looks nice! But.. wait.. am I wrong, or where there an odd-number of invasion stripes? Something's odd here. There were 5 right? Started with white, ended with white, right? Or were the stripes different for brit planes?

copy krusty, usually:
white-black-white-black-white

although i have seen a few with 5 very thin blacks and 3 whites.

will have to do something about that. TY for picking it up.
i had noticed but was hoping no one would notice it, and maybe there wasnt a set number of stripes.

will get onto that as soon as i have cooked my chicken fillets! mwwwawahaha

*drool*

bat

EDIT:  hows this ? little better. needs plenty more detail work though.