SkyChimp said:
I don't need help im learning but i got it down just need to get better at it.
Well, looking at your Tony skin pic, I'd say you could use some tips on panel lines and rivets, so here's the BH philosophy on these features. This is based on having spent many years cleaning, building, and repairing real planes, with my eye for detail guided by my addictions to modeling and now, skinning.....
General MethodI do skins the same way planes are built: I put the structural features on layers below the paint layers. I find this gives much better results than the other way around, although it requires more tweaking towards the end. This is because the structure shows up less well through light colors than dark colors. Thus, once you have the paint on, you need to go back and emphasize the structural stuff under the lighter colors. But because you have to make the paint layers about 85% opaque for the structure to show through, you get a better color for the size of the model, like thinning paint on plastic.
1. Panel LinesThe most important thing here is to realize that not all panel lines are equal, so should not all appear the same. Some should be much more distinct than others, because of such issues are the panels being removed/opened (more or less frequently) or permanently fixed, and the quality of parts fit of the actual plane. To get your lines right, therefore, you not only need a good line drawing of the plane so you know where they go, but you need to identify what type of panel the line borders, how it was attached, how frequently it moved, and how well it fit. For that, you need to look at pics of the real plane, and also real planes up close (even of a different type--little has changed since WW2 for metal planes).
A. Frequently Removed Panels
This is for cowlings, gun bay doors, etc., that get opened and closed before and/or after every sortie. Usually, these panels get slightly bent out of shape after a while, so they end up with relatively big gaps around them. These lines, therefore, should be black, and all paint erased from above them. Also, the edges of these panels should have a relatively high amount of paint chipping around there edges, their fasteners, etc.
B. Infrequently Removed Panels
These are things like inspection covers around control linkages, handholds in the wing underside, access doors to fuel tanks, etc. These would only be opened during periodic inspections/maintenance, or for necessary repairs. On a given WW2 plane, which only lasted a couple of months on the line, some of these might never be opened at all, and the rest only rarely. However, they're all designed to be removed, so have bigger gaps than permanent panels, more prominent fasteners, etc., even if they've never been opened. Again, I go with black on these, so the lines show up darker than for permanent panels. If the panel's been opened, erase the paint over the lines, then reapply the same color with a very narrow airbrush using about 50% opacity or less, so it's even darker, but not the clean black around a cowl panel.
C. Permanent Panels
These are purely structural joints in the skin, permanently riveted to underlying structure. These lines should be relatively faint. I usually use 120/120/120 for them. In real life, while there's about a 1/8" gap between the edges of adjacent skin panels, this gap is usually filled with putty for waterproofing, so the line is actually nearly smooth on the surface, NOT incised like on plastic models. It's more of a discoloration in the paint than a 3D effect. NOTE: most early-war Russian and some late-war German planes didn't have the putty, so these lines would be more noticeable. Again, this is something you have to research.
D. Hinges
Some removeable panels on some planes had a hinge on 1 edge. I do hinges with a single line of 80/80/80 but antialiased, so it's 2 pixels wide. Later on, I go to the paint layer and and drop a shadow in the paint over this 2-pixel-wide line. This gives the hinge a nice, but slight, 3D effect and accents it on the paint.
E. Cowl Flaps
These usually have an internal hinge on the front and black gaps around the other 3 edges. Because the hinge is internal, you don't do the above to it, you just draw it in 120/120/120 with paint over it, and the back line in unpainted black. The side lines, between adjacent flaps, however, need special treatment because in real life the gap is slightly tapered. Blend the line evenly from 120/120/120 at the front to 0/0/0 at the back and remove any paint above it. This gives a nice, tapered gap on the finished skin.
2. FastenersSome fasteners are always visible, such as dzus fasteners around removeable panels, big screws along wing fillets and inspection panels, etc. However, these are the exceptions. By and large, rivets were nearly invisible on most WW2 planes, of usually it's a waste of time to put them in the skin. On most WW2 planes, rivets were only visible within a couple feet, and should not be seen at the distance of any full-plane screen shot or combat range. This is because almost all WW2 planes used flush rivets to reduce drag, and the paint over them pretty much hid them completely. Late-war German planes, however, often had visible flush rivets due to shoddy workmanship.
A. General Rules
If you're going to put rivets on, you need to size and space them correctly. In real life, a rivet head is like 1/4" or 3/8" wide, and they're spaced about 1" apart. Thus, even at 1024 textures, 1 pixel is too big to be realistic. Therefore, NEVER use more than 1 pixel for a rivet, and because of this size, you have to space them further. I usually put 2 blank pixels between my 1-pixel rivets. This seems to give the best balance between size and spacing within the 1-pixel size limit. Basically, I draw a line where the rivets will go, then erase 2-pixel gaps in it. This is why you need the rivets on a different layer than the panel lines.
B. Non-flush Rivets
Domehead rivets should be a color that shows up quite well through the paint. Because in real life they stand proud of the surface, they should be more visible than permanent panel lines, but not as visible as removeable panel lines. I usually use 80/80/80 for them.
C. Dimpled Skins
From looking at a lot of photos, it looks like the Germans went to dimpling rivet holes late in the war, instead of countersinking them. This is why, I think, that late-war FW rivets were so visible even though they were technically flush. The dimpling was wider than a countersink, a line of many dimples almost made a crease in the skin, and the flushness wasn't as good with the rivet. To get this look, I use 150/150/150 for the rivet (or 120/120/120 under light paint). Under the rivets, I make another layer where I use a 3-pixel airbrush at 50% opacity to trace along the lines of rivets. Then I Gaussian blur this at a factor of 3 or 4. This gives the running crease effect and makes the rivets themselves appear less flush. Use 0/0/0 under light paint and 120/120/120 under dark paint, or where you have many rows of rivets close together regardless of the paint color on top.
