Krusty...in reference to your last reply (#104)
I respectfully disagree with just about everything you said.
HTC said that skins must be "historically accurate". What exactly does that mean? I take it to mean that all markings must be real and come from a documented flight wing. Usually the proof is a photo or other type of historical documentation such as written descriptions by eyewitnesses or official government descriptions. Obviously this means we cant just make up an imaginary flight wing..it must have existed in real life.
I do not think HTC meant to totally remove the ability of the artist to depict the skin in his own artistic way.
Your definition of "historically accurate" and my definition of "historically accurate" differ by a significant amount.
You posted this image
This skin is exactly the thing we should try to avoid....although historically accurate it is quite boring from an artistic point of view. It may be historically accurate by your standard but has little artistic flare.
About the photographs - They are of poor quality. It is impossible to tell EXACTLY what kind of condition the planes were in. And IT DOESNT MATTER anyway....hell why don't we just make all planes look the same just like they rolled off the factory floor? Why put any weathering on the skin? Why does the plane have to look exactly like the only picture of it....why cant the artist impart his vision.
I argue that it is possible..in fact very possible that not ALL Japanese planes were maintained in perfect condition. We know that the Japanese were fanatical about maintenance. I do not dispute this.
It is also possible that a plane could re arm during combat having sustained combat damage such as bullet holes...mechanics may have opened the cowl of the engine to check it....oil may have been tracked on the wing by the mechanics giving the pilot water or food. These features would be left on the plane and perhaps removed later or perhaps not..maybe they just didn't have time to worry about that..maybe they needed to put more bullets and fuel in.
What if the plane hit tree branches or tall grass in a on the deck fight....maybe it belly landed on an island....was repaired on site and returned to its unit....would the plane not sustain things like deep scratches, dings, nicks. At the end of the war did they really have time or resources to fix insignificant damage?
The point is can we have some artistic lee way here for gods sake.
Some say the weathering is "overdone" some say it is not. But all agree that it looks bad arse.
Ink's vision was one of a plane that has been flown to its maximum in combat many times and is still flying...in Ink's words "battle hardened". I argue that it is not overdone...and in fact looks quite real....most definitly more real than any other skin.
Next think that will happen is he will make a skin that is "too new looking" too "shiny" ...."they never looked like that off the factory floor"....cant wait to get into that post.
