F-6C Mustang - 10th Recon Group (Skin Preview)

[Vraciu]

--------------------> Displayed in AH2 Format <------------------



I am working on this with my ancient latpop and AH2 Viewer.   Will add the proper AH3 files and post screenshots HOPEFULLY this weekend.  Just wanting to throw it out there since it actually almost looks finished...   Too bad I finally figured out material settings for non-bumped stuff *AFTER* AH2's demise.   LOL

North American P-51C-5-NT [F-6C] Mustang 42-103368 15th Tactical Recon Squadron (coded 5M-G) 10th Photo Recon Group, 9th AF . Assigned to Capt. John H Hoefker (unnamed) in June 1944 when he shot down three enemy aircraft. Capt. Hoefker became the 10th Photo Reconnaissance Group's first Ace with credits of 8˝ air victories, although (unofficially) he downed 10.5 enemy aircraft. This Mustang was later named "Nadine" when assigned to Lt. Henry Lewis in July 1944. This Mustang survived the war, only to be scrapped on June 26, 1946.

[Fencer51]

Take a look at this image, looks like your serial number is too large, not the correct font and does not match that which you quoted in your text.

[Vraciu]

I will tweak the font some more.    I apparently only did the serial on the right side.   Forgot to copy it to the left.   Good catch.

https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/originals/89/c0/d5/89c0d5b33b214130d477f82a3a0a40ff.jpg

[Fencer51]

There is a US serial font out there somewhere..  on some skinners page reference guide that has colors..

[Vraciu]

There is a US serial font out there somewhere..  on some skinners page reference guide that has colors..

I will look.  I did attempt to freehand it.  You can't see it in the screenshots since it's on the other side.   However, I need to make it narrower after another look.  Thanks for the prompt. 


I I'll look for that font.   

[Greebo]

Its looking good Vraciu. I'd suggest making the black markings a bit lighter and to maybe add a general grime layer or two. The photo is of a fairly dirty plane and your skin looks too clean to me, I can tell you an easy way to do this is you want.

[Vraciu]

Its looking good Vraciu. I'd suggest making the black markings a bit lighter and to maybe add a general grime layer or two. The photo is of a fairly dirty plane and your skin looks too clean to me, I can tell you an easy way to do this is you want.

Yes please.  Will do on the black. 

[Devil 505]

Is the spinner intended to look purple-ish? I can't tell if it's supposed to be black or blue. Looks black in the photo.

[Vraciu]

Is the spinner intended to look purple-ish? I can't tell if it's supposed to be black or blue. Looks black in the photo.

I have it as a very dark blue.  Can't decide what it actually is.  In later photos it looks blue and has blue/white checkering on the cowl

Lyric1? Paging Lyric1.

[Greebo]

Start a new raster layer and call it something like "Overall grime". Select the airbrush tool and set it to its largest size and a square shape. Set hardness, thickness and opacity to 100%, with density to 5%. Now select a dark brown colour and click near the centre of the skin. This will give a load of dark brown dots all over the skin. Next change the colour to a lighter shade of brown and repeat the single-click with the airbrush tool, then a third time with a mid grey. Now Gaussian blur the layer by 2-3 pixels. Once this layer's opacity is reduced to taste it creates a fairly random-looking dirty effect over the whole skin. If you make a second copy of this dirt layer and rotate it 180 degrees the combination of the two layers looks much more random.

[Fencer51]

I have it as a very dark blue.  Can't decide what it actually is.  In later photos it looks blue and has blue/white checkering on the cowl

Lyric1? Paging Lyric1.

They went with a blue and white color scheme later so I would suspect it is blue.

[Vraciu]

Thanks guys.   Will get right on this. 

[lyric1]

I have it as a very dark blue.  Can't decide what it actually is.  In later photos it looks blue and has blue/white checkering on the cowl

Lyric1? Paging Lyric1.

After looking at the images online & in a book I have.
The spinner and the band behind it on the engine cowling are black.

A few images of the same aircraft.
First one not much help.



Second one is a complete photo I found online not sure you have that based off the first image.



Third one is at a later point in time.



Now based off of the third photo I found other aircraft from the same squadron and these colour photos show some interesting facts on the checkers.






The squadron is 15th TRS.
The last image explains the later schemes.




So blue spinners became the norm when they painted the checkers on. 

[Vraciu]

Lyric1 to the rescue!

Thank you, sir!

  

[Vraciu]

There is a US serial font out there somewhere..  on some skinners page reference guide that has colors..

Good catch on the tail number.   Apparently I didn't do it on the right side either.   I got distracted and never went back to it.