Author Topic: Skinning resources  (Read 1544 times)

Offline Nr_RaVeN

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Skinning resources
« on: April 15, 2020, 07:32:59 AM »
Hi all
I find that I have much more free time now and I'm looking to get back to skinning aircraft .
it's been a long time and I can't seem to find very many websites out there with resources like there used to be.. websites similar to simmers paint shop which is now closed . Can any of you guys point me the right directions for skinning resources  like color swatches decals etc. Are there any new sites that provide good aircraft skinning resources ?
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Offline lyric1

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Re: Skinning resources
« Reply #1 on: April 15, 2020, 09:18:42 AM »
Facebook is a great resource for finding prospects that have not been seen before. So many groups of military equipment are there that have been posted by family members of vetrans.

Offline Greebo

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Re: Skinning resources
« Reply #2 on: April 15, 2020, 09:27:37 AM »
Welcome back to the skinning community Raven. Below are a few useful general sites. If there are any particular planes, air forces or theaters you are most interested in I may know some more specific ones as well.

For air force colours in general the nearest thing there is to the old Simmer's site is Urban’s Color Reference Charts. The problem is this site is really geared at aircraft kit modellers rather than skinners. So you can navigate to a swatch showing you the colour you want but there is no RGB info associated with it. To get round this I usually just take a screenshot of the swatch, load this into my image editing software and use the colour picker tool on it.

For LW colours only the Asisbiz LW aircraft colour page is pretty good. The rest of the Asisbiz site also has lots of info on LW planes and units, with lots of good reference photos.

There is a handy reference here for USAAF marking layouts and dates.

For Japanese aircraft the research pages on the J-Aircraft site is hard to beat.

For Soviet aircraft the Soviet Warplanes Forums are a good source of info. There is also this handy Soviet aerial tactical markings of WWII which lists the markings used by many VVS units during the war.

Offline Devil 505

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Re: Skinning resources
« Reply #3 on: April 15, 2020, 09:57:16 AM »
welcome back Raven.

Here's some cool Luftwaffe stuff to check out.

http://theprofilepaintshop.blogspot.com/   - Has some great posts regarding colors and camouflage patterns.

http://falkeeins.blogspot.com/   - A fantastic blog with tons of photos and other info.


And if you're into Soviet stuff

http://massimotessitori.altervista.org/sovietwarplanes/pages/index.html
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Offline Nr_RaVeN

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Re: Skinning resources
« Reply #4 on: April 15, 2020, 10:01:06 AM »
Awesome guys, much appreciated. Thank you very much!
 :salute
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Offline Spikes

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Re: Skinning resources
« Reply #5 on: April 15, 2020, 10:06:37 AM »
Welcome back Raven! I still fly your JG52 109K. :)
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Offline Nr_RaVeN

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Re: Skinning resources
« Reply #6 on: April 15, 2020, 11:37:51 AM »
Welcome back Raven! I still fly your JG52 109K. :)

 :cheers: from back in the day  ;)
Life is short. PLAY HARD...

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Offline Devil 505

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Re: Skinning resources
« Reply #7 on: April 15, 2020, 02:56:30 PM »
Here are some things to look out for with how skins display some colors in AH3:

Black will gray-out in shadows if you use a shade that is too dark on your bitmap. I usually lighten black by about 15% to avoid this.

Whites and yellows glow in direct sunlight if you use a shade that is too light. you need to darken these colors by about 30-35%.
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Offline FTJR

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Re: Skinning resources
« Reply #8 on: April 15, 2020, 10:10:17 PM »
Here are some things to look out for with how skins display some colors in AH3:

Whites and yellows glow in direct sunlight if you use a shade that is too light. you need to darken these colors by about 30-35%.

I wish i knew that earlier. lol....

good to know
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Offline Devil 505

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Re: Skinning resources
« Reply #9 on: April 15, 2020, 11:16:02 PM »
I wish i knew that earlier. lol....

good to know

Damn, I figured you had been reading all the conversations on the subject over the years.
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Offline FTJR

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Re: Skinning resources
« Reply #10 on: April 16, 2020, 05:28:10 AM »
Damn, I figured you had been reading all the conversations on the subject over the years.

No ones fault but my own... I missed that bit. :)
Bring the Beaufighter to Aces High
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Offline Devil 505

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Re: Skinning resources
« Reply #11 on: April 17, 2020, 10:43:19 AM »
Raven, be sure to check out Greebo's P-38 build log. He goes through the entire process of making an AH3 skin. I'm sure it will be a great asset for you.

https://bbs.hitechcreations.com/smf/index.php/topic,398074.0.html
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Offline Nr_RaVeN

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Re: Skinning resources
« Reply #12 on: April 17, 2020, 12:08:50 PM »
Raven, be sure to check out Greebo's P-38 build log. He goes through the entire process of making an AH3 skin. I'm sure it will be a great asset for you.

https://bbs.hitechcreations.com/smf/index.php/topic,398074.0.html

Thanks Devil :aok. Yes that's helpful , on it.
Life is short. PLAY HARD...

"Have patience. All things are difficult before they become easy."
Saadi