FW 190D9 "Black 1" 14./JG 26

[Devil 505]

The only reward you get is the occasional attaboy on 200 or via PM.     Purely a hobby.   Like building model--only virtually. 

You didn't get the sheep? 

[Vraciu]

Vraciu, to be fair the criticisms of your yellow-tailed P-51 were first because the color itself was incorrect and second because we all thought the color washout in AH3 could be corrected - it can't. Darkening white can make it tolerable, but darkening yellow to the same level looks awful. We helped you find a tone that looked like the reference photo in most lighting - the washout can't be helped. That is what I see here. Look at the second screenshot where the vert stab is off angle to the sun, it looks fine. Once you found the correct tone for your skin, it looked fine off angle too.

As for the "mottle," yes the weathering on the underside looks good. I thought you meant the camouflage mottle.

I agree with the exhaust stain edge needing more feathering. But like I mentioned in my critique, the direction is off anyway so hopefully Fencer can correct both issues with another attempt at the staining.

Fair enough.   

[Vraciu]

You didn't get the sheep? 

LOL!   No, but I sure got the shepherd's crook! 

[lyric1]

 

[Fencer51]

Looks very good overall, Fencer. I think the yellow looks fine and the adjustment in the green tones is spot on. The cowl flaps look fantastic.

Yeah I ignored all the online RLM references and played with the colors until they "looked right".  I desaturated the yellow as well.  Cowl flaps are courtesy of the normal map.

1. Your 12mm barrels are green.

2. The fuel triangle should be smaller and on the door itself.

3. The wings and horizontal stabs ton't mesh with the fuselage well. Add some overspray to the fuselage where the wings meet and paint the stab fairing fully green.

4. I think your exhaust stain should follow the wing curvature more - also adding smoke staining to the wing near the root will also tie it together.

5. Unlike Vraciu, I don't think the mottling is subtle at all. It is too slab like. You need more overspray, but it needs to build up gradually. Use the airbrush tool with the 9 or 11 pixel radius fuzzy circle at about 40% opacity and work in small circles and scribbles to build up the color.  Also do this for the border of your top colors where they meet the underside color. If you are using a mouse, try varying the frequency of clicks while making the strokes to increase the randomness - sometimes just clicking rapidly in the same general area works wonders. I think you'll find the result much closer to the real aircraft.

1.  Opps

2.  Yeah and the bloody gimp removed the stoke of black as well.

3.  Ummm disagree here.  I have Crandall's excellent 2 volume set on the Dora, and from what I can discern via reading and reference photos the wings were painted separately and sometimes at a different factory.  The reference photos show no overspray onto the fuselage.

4.  I will work on this.

5.  Redone.

Devil, I have been skinning since 2005 but after a 3 year hiatus I am rustier than a P-38 driver's landing gear lever.  Appreciate your and everyone else's input.  EVERYONE should post skins here for review.

[Fencer51]

Do you get some kind of reward for making skins for hitech creation. Or is this just a hobby?

Bahahahahahaha 

[Devil 505]

3.  Ummm disagree here.  I have Crandall's excellent 2 volume set on the Dora, and from what I can discern via reading and reference photos the wings were painted separately and sometimes at a different factory.  The reference photos show no overspray onto the fuselage.

Yes. I am aware of how the real aircraft were manufactured. My suggestion was based purely on attempting to blend the wings into the fuselage without the stark transition. Unlike the other 190's 3D models, the wings of the AH Dora join the fuselage exactly where the fairing ended on the real aircraft. On the others, One could draw the upper portion of the fairing on the fuselage and give it the proper step at the join. Perhaps the smoke can help blend the two parts together. Or maybe you could add the upper lip of the wing fairing to the fuselage.


As making colors look right, the late war colors are very hard to find good reference on and they all are widely different anyway - probably due to great variance in the actual paint. Making it look right is all you can do, and good luck to anyone trying to prove you wrong. 

BTW does Crandall mention the colors used on the first production Doras? I've heard of some examples using the 3-tone gray scheme, RLM 74,75,76; or subbing Olivegrun 81 for Graugrun 74. I wonder if this plane would have actually been like that given this plane was the first delivered to a combat unit. I personally prefer the greens you have, but you might want to experiment with other combinations based on the earlier day fighter standard. Just food for thought.

[Fencer51]

BTW does Crandall mention the colors used on the first production Doras? I've heard of some examples using the 3-tone gray scheme, RLM 74,75,76; or subbing Olivegrun 81 for Graugrun 74. I wonder if this plane would have actually been like that given this plane was the first delivered to a combat unit. I personally prefer the greens you have, but you might want to experiment with other combinations based on the earlier day fighter standard. Just food for thought.

There is little that he does not mention, reference or diagram in these books.   He has full color 4 way views of every serial series showing the layout of the colors and markings.  My next Dora is W.Nr. 210119 which is an interesting combination of the early 210 series (late) manufacture from the Sorau factory.  I highly recommend these books, if you can only get one, get the second as it has the most reference material.

This plane was delivered as depicted by Truekill or Larry in his Dora 9 skin from JG54 "Red 1".  It was repainted in February 45 with RLM81 "Light" green replacing the RLM75.  Colors from the factory were RLM76 "Light Blue" on undersurfaces, RLM75 "Gray-Violet" and RLM83 "Dark Green" on upper surfaces.

There are three very accurate profiles in the first volume showing the aircraft in it's three iterations.  He has the pilot's logs as well has numerous interviews with him.

[Devil 505]

Ah, I knew Larry did the same plane, but I did not know that it was repainted during it's service.

Unfortunately, my book budget is reserved for class material right now. I have to resort to reference found on the net for my skins.

Which scheme is W. Nr. 210119?

[Fencer51]

Ah, I knew Larry did the same plane, but I did not know that it was repainted during it's service.

Unfortunately, my book budget is reserved for class material right now. I have to resort to reference found on the net for my skins.

Which scheme is W. Nr. 210119?

   Whut! You didn't read my description where I mentioned the repainting!  Scandalous.

210119 is a real neat one... patience..

[Fencer51]

Updated

[Fencer51]

Nicely done, Fencer!   

You've found a way to control the tendency of yellows to washout - was in the power map?

Yes.