444th BG 468th BS take 2

[Dragon Tamer]

Thank you for the compliment on my skin.  It made my day.

As for your suggestions, these are my responses in order:

#1.)  The bare metal finish has been reworked 4 times, it's just one of those things that I can't seem to get to look right.  I also believe that there will always be someone who is not satisfied with the out come but I will try to add some more age to the look of the skin.  I did have the bare metal modeled over top of the default skin and was told not to do that so I redid the whole thing.  I can try to increase the "shine" of it by increasing the opacity of the blue and white layer which seems to have disappeared in these screen shots.

#2.) Adding dirt to the panel lines is a great idea, why didn't I think of that?!  But I'm not quite sure what you mean by "review the thickness".

#3.) This is going to be tricky to do since the colors for the prop are already merged with the background layer (my reference layer for the rest of the skin).  It was an accident and I was tired, but I will try to reduce the yellow a bit.

#4.) I though so, if only there was a way to modify the material settings for the top and bottom separately.

#5.) I will get rid of a few of the points of weathering along the belly of the plane.  I won't remove it from around the bomb bay doors, I personally like that and that would have been an area of heavy wear on the real plane. I will use the wings as a reference of how it should look since I was very subtle on the wing weathering.

[Dragon Tamer]

When you said the top looked too much like plastic, did you mean that it looks 2 dimensional?  If so I can fix that issue very quickly.

I also finally got my skin working in the game, although it keeps saying that it's a downloaded skin no mater what I name the text file.  Oh well  I took 2 screen shots of the props and the top of the plane, you're right about the props, the do look a bit obnoxious, I'll give them another go.  As for the top of the plane, the only thin I can think of to do is darken the rivets a little bit.

[Plazus]

When you said the top looked too much like plastic, did you mean that it looks 2 dimensional?  If so I can fix that issue very quickly.

Yeah something like that. I guess it's just the illusion you get when you view the plane from a distance. Now that you have taken some up close pictures, I can see the panel lines and rivets very well. Now that I can see what you have, I think you might want to darken your panel line shadow effects on the bare metal finish a little bit. Don't darken them too much, but make it subtle so it isn't visually intrusive. Also I have an idea for the weathering on the underside of your aircraft.

Currently your weathering on the underside simulates dirt, grime, and chipped paint. What I would do is get rid of most of the chipped paint effect because in the photos provided, there isn't any noticeable chipped paint markings anywhere. Change some of the weathering details to a darker color, like dark brown (for dirt/grime) or dark grey (for wind erosion). There is too much light colored weathering details that really stand out too much, and I think that is why the weathering effects on the underside looks a bit unrealistic. I would make these changes to the whole underside of the aircraft (engine nacelles can be the exception as ground crew often work in the nacelles for engine repairs/tune ups).

Hope this helps.

[Dragon Tamer]

Thank you sir I does 

[Dragon Tamer]

I redid most of the weathering on the plane but I still have some left to do.  I'm posting right now because I redid the dirt on the underside of the plane and I'm not entirely sure I like it.

I am thinking about reducing the amount of dirt that is on the plane as I move towards the back.  It just seems a little more natural. 

The part of the dirt that I don't like is the color, I'm a little more inclined to make it a bit darker or do you think I should leave it as is?

[Tyrannis]

If it gets put in it will become my main b29 skin.

[Plazus]

Dragon,

You are on the right track. Keep up the good work. My advice to you is to make several different variations of your skin and fly them in game to decide which looks best. Remember that when this skin is submitted and accepted, it will be made visible to many AH players who download it. Try to capture the imagination of everyone's eye. Easier said than done, but I like where you are going with this profile.