WiP P-51B Snoot's Sniper

[oboe]

I'd reserved this one back when there were still open '51B slots, but wasn't able to finish it before the slots filled up.  I got close to finishing though.  I still like the skin and figured I'd use it to keep working on bare metal appearance and weathering techniques.  I don't think I've ever had such good, color photos of a plane to work from:



I still have a handful of changes and adjustments I'd like to make before I call it done and put it away; these are from my latest batch of screenshots.     

[Devil 505]

Great job. Too bad this one never made it in.

[Vraciu]

Those stripes must have been a nightmare to draw.   

[lyric1]

 

[Greebo]

Its beautiful Oboe, really nice bare metal too.

[Nefarious]

Outstanding!

[oboe]

Thanks guys.  Those stripes were tedious indeed. 

I thought it might be useful to finish it and document my steps for bare metal in the Spec, Power, and Env maps.  Here I'm pushing the Env value higher than I normally go.  I also blued the aluminum a little bit, which helps a lot but seems to make the rudder color look off.

[Vraciu]

I use the following values for maps based off a grayscale diffuse (after adjusting individual layers for things like paint):

- Spec = Grayscale Diffuse -15%
- Env = Grayscale Diffuse -30%
- Power = Negative Image Grayscale Diffuse -45%

This seems to work the best of all methods.  For the P-51B my Env is a solid gray.   For some reason identical values on the P-51B flare up to an almost obnoxious level, whereas they're just right on the P-51D.   There must be some compression somewhere in the P-51B 3D shape.   

[Guppy35]

Same barber pole on Preddy's last "Cripes a Mighty" as he had the same guy as crew cheif

[oboe]

Same barber pole on Preddy's last "Cripes a Mighty" as he had the same guy as crew cheif

I thought that looked familiar!  Preddy's last mount got the "Snyder treatment".   Well she's finally done; time to put her away as part of my private collection.   Here are the final promo shots:









Vraciu, I've gone through so many different settings for this and its always a trade-off.   I don't know if our numbers are directly comparable since I use Photoshop CS6; if I dial back brightness of a layer, the maximum negative value on control scale is -150, so it may not be a percentage.   I went with -33 on the specular grayscale and -200 on the power map's grayscale.    Interesting technique to invert the power from the specular grayscale.   I maintain the individual layers as I emphasize different layers over others depending on the map.   My environment map remained at the original brightness, but ends up much darker due to all the manipulation I do to the layers.  I think I maxed the contrast on the metal at least twice for example.   I'm trying to introduce lots of subtle variation in the maps.

[Vraciu]

I think that shine is much better.   

[bangsbox]

looks really nice

[BFOOT1]

This looks amazing! Will it ever make it in to the skins list?

[bustr]

If you are trying to introduce micro wrinkling of the aluminum like you see in some flight photos, you are pulling it off in spades. You are correct about the rudder panel. Why doesthat have a different response? Were the rudders on the 51B fabric covered?

[Vraciu]

If you are trying to introduce micro wrinkling of the aluminum like you see in some flight photos, you are pulling it off in spades. You are correct about the rudder panel. Why doesthat have a different response? Were the rudders on the 51B fabric covered?

Rudders and elevators were fabric covered until late when the elevator (only) switched to metal.