Photo Interpretatio Help - P-51D "Janie" (Bill Price)

[Greebo]

I'd say red is the most likely for the Janie text, it looks to have a similar tone to the red on the checkers. If it has a drop shadow it looks to be to the right and above or maybe its just a thin black outline all the way round the red text.

If I were trying to copy that text exactly I'd use the WW2 photo for a reference. After importing it into my file I'd trace over the panel lines around the nose art directly onto the photo in bright red. Then I would use a combination of vertical and horizontal perspective, skew and resizing tools to anti-distort the photo until the panel lines on the photo matched the panel lines on the skin. At that point the text on the photo should make for a reliable guide, certainly a lot better than trusting a secondary source like a profile or a warbird.

[Vraciu]

I'd say red is the most likely for the Janie text, it looks to have a similar tone to the red on the checkers. If it has a drop shadow it looks to be to the right and above or maybe its just a thin black outline all the way round the red text.

Well, the nose checkers are yellow and black.    Did I misunderstand something?

If I were trying to copy that text exactly I'd use the WW2 photo for a reference. After importing it into my file I'd trace over the panel lines around the nose art directly onto the photo in bright red. Then I would use a combination of vertical and horizontal perspective, skew and resizing tools to anti-distort the photo until the panel lines on the photo matched the panel lines on the skin. At that point the text on the photo should make for a reliable guide, certainly a lot better than trusting a secondary source like a profile or a warbird.

I've got it drawn based on the WWII photo.  I have red over black and black over red.   I can adjust the colors easily if needed but I just don't know what they are supposed to be.

I went back and forth between the two so this is the red over black version that is "parked" on the skin until I finalize what it is.

[Arlo]

I'd say red is the most likely for the Janie text, it looks to have a similar tone to the red on the checkers. If it has a drop shadow it looks to be to the right and above or maybe its just a thin black outline all the way round the red text.

If I were trying to copy that text exactly I'd use the WW2 photo for a reference. After importing it into my file I'd trace over the panel lines around the nose art directly onto the photo in bright red. Then I would use a combination of vertical and horizontal perspective, skew and resizing tools to anti-distort the photo until the panel lines on the photo matched the panel lines on the skin. At that point the text on the photo should make for a reliable guide, certainly a lot better than trusting a secondary source like a profile or a warbird.

While great advice on how to render the shape, it still leaves the question of what the actual colors were unanswered. Without an accurate color photo of the original plane in the day we're pretty much left with secondary sources and our own interpretation (are we not?).

[Devil 505]

To me, the script looks to be black over red.

[Vraciu]

To me, the script looks to be black over red.

That was my initial thought as well...

[Greebo]

My bad, false assumption on my part regarding the red checkers, I'd still say your colours are correct. Not sure about the drop shadow being below the red though, the traces of a border line showing where the red has worn away appear to be above and to the right of the red. That might be a black drop shadow or part of a black outline that goes all the way round the red.

Yes Arlo it is rarely the case we get a colour photo or an eyewitness account for confirming these things so there's often some educated guesswork involved. I am always suspicious of secondary sources of info though. I have run across cases of aircraft that have been modelled, skinned, drawn, profiled or painted umpteen times over the years with a shared obvious mistake or that I know never even existed in real life. The first artist made a mistake or used a bit of imagination to make an interesting scheme and then all the rest just copied it without doing any research.

[Vraciu]

No problem, Greebo.

How about this version?  What do you think?

[Devil 505]

That looks good.

[Vraciu]

That looks good.

Thanks. I'll roll with it.   

[perdue3]

To my untrained eye, it looks like some of the squares are distorted and not square.

[Vraciu]

To my untrained eye, it looks like some of the squares are distorted and not square.

Correct. 

The shape of the nose on both the actual aircraft and the 3D model necessitates this.   There are four flat panels and one nose panel on the diffuse map that are bent together behind the spinner.    What you are seeing is the distortion this causes.   In order to make some checkers look square they're actually drawn as various trapezoids.



I haven't found a better way to do it and I've tried dozens.  From some angles distortion is unavoidable and the seams on the nose force one to work from the top down.   It's the nature of the beast.

As you rotate around the object you'll see the squares seem to shift as the viewer interprets the 2D shape.  This Mustang has more checkers and shows the effect even with smaller squares than JANIE has.




In effect it's the same problem cartographers have struggled with for centuries, just in reverse.