A6M3s

[Fencer51]

A6M3 of 25 Koku Sentai, 251 Kokutai, Rabaul April 1943 flown by Hiryoshi Nishizawa





A6M3 of 2 Kokutai, late 1942 early 1943 at Lae New Guinea





Not sure that I am 100% done with weathering, still looking at examples.

[GNucks]

They both look great but the second one is a beaut 

[Wmaker]

Thank you again for your efforts Fencer!

I like them very much.

[Greebo]

Very nice skins Fencer. 

Just one thing I'd consider changing though. The fabric effects on the control surfaces look too heavy to me, particularly on the green skin. Maybe tone down the highlights 50% or so on that one.

[Dragon Tamer]

I don't see any wear on the leading edge of the control surfaces or is that something that you diliberately left out?

But other than that looks good! 

[Krusty]

Fencer, is it just the screenshots, or does it look a little "posterized" in-game too? Not sure if that's just the preview or the skin itself. Looks a bit splotchy, and a little muted around the meatballs. This could simply be the JPG quality, so I'm not sure.


2 areas I'd make mention of on this skin:

One thing that really jumps out... You have these huge bolts, or dome-head rivets of huge size, where there ought not be any. These are around the tail joints and on the gun access panels. This makes no sense to me. Some of the highlight/shadows seem reversed from port to starboard near the tail, and overall they were not there.

No giant rivets on tail:
http://lemairesoft.sytes.net:1945/webfr/photo/avion1/102013622.jpg

Smooth wings and tail:
http://ww2db.com/images/air_a6m37.jpg

No light or shadows on top of the wing or near the tail:
http://www.daveswarbirds.com/Nippon/photos/Hamp.jpg


Control surfaces: You also have no demarcation/end/joint line where the movable flight surfaces meet the unmovable flight surfaces. Ailerons look like they're integral to the wing, and top of the rudder as well. Now, you said you're still working with weathering so I know you might still consider that "weathering" but from my own frame of reference I do not. I wanted to mention it. Also you cannot see huge sagging areas in any of the control surfaces on the real thing. See photos above but specifically here's a good shot:
http://www.warbirdphotographs.com/NavyBWZeros/A6M5-M52-6.jpg
Note there is no disruption of the light, no shadows on any of the flight surfaces. The skins have this excessively. Especially the rudder. See pictures above as well as any of the photos at Rod's Warbirds here:
http://www.ijnafphotos.com/jbw5.htm


Those minor issues stated, I do like the overall skins. I like the white one especially, with the double red chevron.

[Fencer51]

Thanks for looking Krusty, I am a little rusty with planes having been doing tanks for a while.

BTW that first picture you posted is Nishizawa's Zero!!  I found that same picture in another book last night!  I am going to modify the skin to represent that wear and tear.

I have some good sources namely Aero Detail 7 and Arthur Lochte's Modelmania 6.. I am not seeing any demarcation lines per sea like you would expect for a rounded control surface tying into the wings, tails, elevs etc.  And no thats not weathering.





Now I can add them, if its going to make things "more realistic" in the game.

As to the big rivets, see below..



I will check the shadows and reduce the opacity some.

Greebo!  Thanks man, I will do as you suggest.

BTW, that's not white.  There were two different colors for the Zeros like that based on which manufacturer made them.  Its a grey-green gloss which was mistaken as white for years.  The Mitsubishi version was somewhat greener and the the Nakajima more tan.  Evidently this is only evident when they are side by side.

Cheers!

[Krusty]

I realize it's technically a grey, I just used "white" loosely

What I mean with demarcation is that there's not even a panel line or heavy panel line to show the aileron gap. While it's a pretty close and smooth transition, you still have the point where the wing stops and the aileron starts. In the screenshots it looked a bit more like there was no moving surface, only a solid wing.

I don't know if I'd trust those "rivets" shots, as they look to be from a museum bird that's banged to heck and back. You just don't seem to have these on any photos of the real plane. They show the rivets actually quite well in some cases, but not these.

Example:
http://www.warbirdphotographs.com/NavyBWZeros/A6M5-M52-19.jpg
and:
http://www.warbirdphotographs.com/NavyBWZeros/Zero-127s.jpg

Good example of heavy worn plane, detail of rivets and panel lines being visible:
http://www.warbirdphotographs.com/NavyBWZeros/A6M5-M52-20.jpg

Idea for later-model A6M5 weathering (probably translates to early models too):
http://www.warbirdphotographs.com/NavyBWZeros/A6M5-52-30.jpg

If you want, you can beat it to heck, and add a bit of the "billow" on the rudder, as seen on this crashed, rebuilt, and heavily tested US plane:
http://www.warbirdphotographs.com/NavyBWZeros/Zero-75.jpg

Just in case you had your heart set on it.

[oboe]

Nice, Fencer.  Q: The Grey-Green "Gloss" - if it's really a 'gloss' coat do you set the material.txt file for a bit more shine than a flat finish?   They both look more flat-finished than glossy to me.

Can't tell - did you give the leading edge of the horizontal surfaces a spray-paint line?   Some skinners just do the upper wing surface one color and the bottom wing surface the underneath color, then in game we see a perfectly straight-edge border between the two surfaces as if it were taped before being painted.  Your great closeups show the leading edge of the horizontal tabs beautifully-- and its definitely an uneven, sprayed finish on the upper surface color.

[flatiron1]

alrighty then.
 move them to the front as the a6's have no skin options at this time.

[Krusty]

Good point on the materials Oboe. I was thinking something like that myself but you put the finger on it for me. Looking at those WW2 photos you see the highlights. It's not necessarily "shiny" but it does bounce some light. Enough to make it look a little more 3D. Sometimes if you turn materials files all the way down (or off or whatever) it makes the underlying skin look a little flat. It doesn't flatter your work!


P.S. I've been guilty of the leading edge comment too, but some skins are more suitable to the task than others.

[oboe]

Good point on the materials Oboe. I was thinking something like that myself but you put the finger on it for me. Looking at those WW2 photos you see the highlights. It's not necessarily "shiny" but it does bounce some light. Enough to make it look a little more 3D. Sometimes if you turn materials files all the way down (or off or whatever) it makes the underlying skin look a little flat. It doesn't flatter your work!


P.S. I've been guilty of the leading edge comment too, but some skins are more suitable to the task than others.

The leading edge thing is one of the hazards of following the default skins too closely.   It's a small detail but one of the things I notice on skins now.   I also agree with your comment on the seeming lack of an aileron gap.   

Given the poor quality of Japanese paint and the harsh environment we also might expect to see more scratches/chips/paint wear - esp in the green skin along panel seems, rivet heads, etc (also noted this in the photos - on the green skin, light rivet heads are noticeable).   But as Fencer stated he wasn't quite done with the weathering effects. 

I don't know about the red/green treatment of the raised fairing/covers on the wing upper surfaces.  They've been treated as if they are nav lights but I don't see evidence of that in the photo closeups.  I'm not sure what they are though.

These look to be both finely-detailed skins.   Anxious to see the the finished product in the game!