(I wanted a black skin, but no KI84's were black, yes I know some sources say their were black skins, but I am pretty sure they are wrong 
)
as far as the weathering goes, I allowed it to show though the layers, I was thinking about getting rid of it, seeings how this is a kamikaze plane and would not necessarily be around long enough to get weathered, but I did not, just because I think it looks better with the weathering....
they way you describe using layers is not the way I did it, when it comes to art work and using GIMP I do it different, I need to get it done in a reasonable amount of time with good results, I know this is not the "end" product, I am still experimenting with the many different ways of doing it, your "way" is definitely not the only way of getting it done, I am not saying your way is "wrong" just too damn time consuming for me.
I only used 3 "layers" to build it up.
I could go in and "change" the weathering "pattern" but the default skin is so badass and looks awesome I decided to let it show, I see now that was a mistake.
I snipped just a few of your responses there.
1) You are right they were not black. However it was not a kamikaze plane. That was the thought when I did my Ki-84 skin, however it turns out with a bit more research the Ki-84s were too valuable to use for that purpose (and there were plenty of other older craft to do the job). These Ki-84s often escorted the kamikaze groups, but were the cover against US planes, rather than suicide pilots. They would have some weathering due simply to the heavy use and the weather and the quality of paint/primers in Japanese use.
2) I think I'm safe in saying that, while there are MANY different roads to take, yours is in fact the wrong one to take. You're not skinning a plane, or applying much actual paint. 3 layers? That's literally doing almost nothing. While you put effort into it, you really need to put some of your own effort in, rather than using 95% of the original. You need to paint your own parts, put on your own markings, etc. Even if you get creative with the mixing of details, with how you want to mimick what's on the default, you still need to do the work yourself. That's not subjective, that's just the right way to do it. You have to do it yourself. The first one is always daunting, but once you get over that uncertainty you'll find it's much easier than you thought it would be. Time consuming or not, that's how you do it. The thing about skins is there is no race. There is no time limit on it. If you only get so much done in a week, a month, a year, you just keep doing it when you have the free time. You don't need marathon sessions.
3) I mean this with no insult or ill will, simply as an attempt to help somebody get on the right path to figuring out how to skin....
The mistake was simply covering up part of the default. I'm not trying to be elitist nor to be snobbish or anything, but that's not skinning. Even if you make something look like something else that has already been done, or even if you want to do the exact same subject as somebody else,
you have to do it. Otherwise it's like stealing somebody's work. I've heard one or two cases of that happening with AH skins in the past and the person copied was not happy at all.
Granted the default skins are there to use as a template, so it's a bit of a fine line, but I think if you want to work with skins you need to do much more than you have already. Work on just getting the solid colors in place, then work on the details. As you now the software that will help you greatly in figuring out how to do it. The "how" you do it is up to you, and this goes back to your subjective comments. It is subjective, and for the most part there is no wrong way as long as the results hold up (and as long as you didn't rip off somebody else's work). They just don't hold up here, and the effort isn't there.
I'm not picking on you, it's just not very good to try to skin that way. I wanted to comment on it to help (possibly).
