Author Topic: Thoughts on a bare metal VIII? (Read 4362 times)

Kev367th · « **on:** June 21, 2006, 01:37:16 AM »

Found this pic of a crashed bare metal VIII from July 31 1944.

The guy who did a model from it came up with a light blue/white spinner, so OK I'll go along with that.

Quesiotn is about the tail -
He did it all bare metal.
It looks to me like it was white (not uncommon for RAAF), esp given the demarcation line below the horiz stabs shadow.
Any thoughts?

Based on my idea of the white tail I came up with (just a preview)
Plain I know, but they are as rare as rocking horse poop.

Guppy35 · « **Reply #1 on:** June 21, 2006, 02:00:07 AM »

I'd go with the white tail as it was the common look at that time.

Another silver bird

Kazaa · « **Reply #2 on:** June 21, 2006, 04:23:52 AM »

Amazing man, my mate loves to fly the Spitfire Mk VIII, he will go off his nut fore sure !

I like it too

Stang · « **Reply #3 on:** June 21, 2006, 10:10:51 AM »

Looks to me that there also might be white inside the circles as well?

DYNAMITE · « **Reply #4 on:** June 21, 2006, 02:16:48 PM »

I think you have to go with the white tail my friend...

Can't wait to give it a spin !

Krusty · « **Reply #5 on:** June 21, 2006, 02:35:27 PM »

I'd say it was likely the original tail had white on it. However, I think the demarcation you spotted is simply because the tail wheel doors are open and create an artificial demarcation.

By the wing root, where the metal is all washed out, you can see different shades and subtle tones -- none of these are visible on the tail, *suggesting* (not absolutely sure) that the tail was not the same as the wing root (that is, "not bare metal" -- probably white).

cav58d · « **Reply #6 on:** June 21, 2006, 03:48:23 PM »

IF I flew spits that would be my skin....but I hate spits.....looks really nice though

Kev367th · « **Reply #7 on:** June 21, 2006, 09:17:25 PM »

Okey dokey, changes -

Full white tail and empennage
Adjusted layer opacities
Reversed blue/white on spinner
Few minor tweaks

Krusty · « **Reply #8 on:** June 22, 2006, 12:13:51 AM »

Can you make the BMF darker across the board? I can't tell the tail's white at all.

Kev367th · « **Reply #9 on:** June 22, 2006, 12:32:05 AM »

I could do, the problem then is you lose the highlights on the BMF.

BIG problem is how the shinyness is done, being applied on the whole aircraft. If we had an alpha layer so we could define different areas to be shiny or matt the white tail would stand out a lot better.
As it stands the white tail is shiny also, so it kinda washes out a little.

I'll do a test a post it tomorrow, you'll see what I mean.

Or I might actually try white, I usually avoid using white (255,255,255) or black (0,0,0), instead I use colors just off those values.

Knite · « **Reply #10 on:** June 22, 2006, 05:20:15 AM »

Hey Kev,
I love the metal effect you got here. It's really nice. Best metal I think I've seen yet!

Krusty · « **Reply #11 on:** June 22, 2006, 11:07:46 AM »

Well, Kev, for this skin specifically (because you have white and you have your BMF) I'd suggest one of two things:

Shift the BMF from what it is to a more "grey" shade. That keeps the highlights relative, and it should still look good. Looking at it you have very light highlights and the median color is fairly light as well. Metal, while reflective, could come in many shades, varieties, etc etc. I think you could pull off a darker metal and leave the tail as-is. Pure white doesn't work too well, so just bumping the tail up doesn't help it look better.

Or

Make a new layer. Area select all of the other layers that have bare metal parts on them. Then paint bucket the new layer with pure black. Then set the black to (guessing) 3%-5% opacity, and put this under the layer with the tail's white paint. Tweak up or down to differentiate the BMF from the white. Not so dark that you start losing detail on the metal, but dark enough to see a clear demarcation from white to BMF.

Just a couple thoughts (first thoughts off my head)

Kev367th · « **Reply #12 on:** June 22, 2006, 11:57:30 AM »

OK -
Darkened metal slightly and used white (255,255,255) for the tail :

Krusty · « **Reply #13 on:** June 22, 2006, 12:17:17 PM »

Marked improvement!

I, personally, would say you could do what you did, just do it more, but then I have the luxury of not working on the skin and watching from the sidelines

P.S. what about the comment that the original picture looked like it had white inside the fuselage roundels?

P.P.S. unless.... you already have it? Hrm.. now I don't know lol

Kev367th · « **Reply #14 on:** June 22, 2006, 02:02:22 PM »

Tks.

It is white inside the roundels.