Absolutely fantastic work. I'm sure we all appreciate your fine work as we do the other skinners of the detail put into these skins. Bout 10 to 12 years ago I purchased Corel 10 and was going to get into skinning as a hobby since I retired. I still have the program but I can't open it due to the fact I lost the log-in numbers needed to use the program. As it looksnow I have another Coaster. Ashame. For over 60 years I've studied Histories of fighter squadrons and individual fighters performance using various sources including the NASM. And this is a tragedy to me because now that I am retired I do have the time. One thing I realize is that what I would attempt would fall far short of what the skinners do in this game. Thanks again for your efforts. When I do select an aircraft in the Hangar I do so by looking for the names of the skinners.
Oh, trust me, we all failed miserably at first. But through trial & error, effort, and a lot of mentoring you can definitely learn.
There are plenty of free programs out there, including PaintShop Pro (which a number of skinners use, myself included) and Gimp.
Dive in. The water is fine.