P-51D 332ndFG 100thFS Lt Spurgeon Ellington "Lollipoop II"

[oboe]

This is "Lollipoop II", P-51D-15-NA s/n 44-15648, flown by 1Lt Spurgeon Neal Ellington, 100th FS, 332nd FG "Tuskegee Airmen".  Based at Ramitelli Airfield, Italy 1944.   

[whiteman]

You've mastered that bare metal finish, and i can feel the texture in the panels. Great looking bird!

[Devil 505]

Looks fantastic.

One thing that would be a nice touch is to make the pilot African-American. I did this with my Tuskegee P-40F. I can give you the head file I used, if you'd like it. Looks to be the same template in both the P-40 and P-51.

[Nefarious]

You've mastered that bare metal finish, and i can feel the texture in the panels. Great looking bird!

It's absolutely amazing isn't it? Amazing attention to detail, Amazing example of BMF, Great work Oboe.

Looks fantastic.

One thing that would be a nice touch is to make the pilot African-American. I did this with my Tuskegee P-40F. I can give you the head file I used, if you'd like it. Looks to be the same template in both the P-40 and P-51.

  taking it another step. Good work Devil.

[Vraciu]

Good job, Oboe.  The panel wave effect is quite impressive.   The screenshot of it parked in the grass is superb.  It really shows off that metal detail.

I really like the subtle changes in the metal color within each panel.   If reminds me of the insides of the aluminum soda cans we would tear open as kids for no good reason.  Lol.

Looks fantastic.

One thing that would be a nice touch is to make the pilot African-American. I did this with my Tuskegee P-40F. I can give you the head file I used, if you'd like it. Looks to be the same template in both the P-40 and P-51.

I did that long ago with my Red Tail Mustang ("Bunnie") as well.    Even gave him a mustache just like the original pilot, Capt. Roscoe Brown.   My B (P-51C) "Tuskegee Airmen" also has a black pilot figure.

I adjusted his helmet color later, but it was fairly light in real life.  I've learned a lot from how Oboe draws pilots--they are first-rate all the way--so I'll eventually update the Mae West, harnesses, and buckles on my old skins.  The default is pretty boring compared to what he does with them.



https://bbs.hitechcreations.com/smf/index.php/topic,393816.msg5224960.html#msg5224960

There's a bug in the Mustang pilot that draws the goggles only where they touch the forehead.   The rest of the goggles don't show.    I haven't figured out a way to really fix this problem, assuming it can be done at all.

Edit in: Oboe has depicted the pilot as black, actually--he's pretty meticulous with the way he draws them.  I see a mustache as well.  Lt. Ellington just had a lighter complexion than someone like Capt. Brown.


http://www.americanairmuseum.com/media/24793

[Greebo]

Beautiful looking skin Oboe, great NMF.

[oboe]

Thank you for your offer, Devil505; the pilot is indeed African-American.  And you are absolutely right, its a nice touch to be able to do that.  Here's a closeup of Lollipoop II's pilot:



EDIT:  Vraciu, I think there is a second pilot-oriented bmp file you can modify to add goggles and make changes to the pilot's headgear.  I'm not at my work computer right now but I'll check when I get the chance.

And a few of the images I had for inspiration.   "Lollipoop II" is actually another of the P-51D skins I had worked up back in 2017-- I have quite a few of them, but back then they had no hope of getting in the game.  Thanks to Vraciu's efforts, that has changed.  The majority of the work dates from pre-Nov 2017, though I tweaked the power and specular files, and added some masking, etc.   I still have a bunch of '51Ds from back then, but I don't believe I ever showed this one.






 
Also interesting to note that this airframe, 44-15648, shows up with another name "Duchess Arlene".  The female figure artwork and side number "10" were retained.  Not positive which came first, but I *think* it was Lollipoop.   I think I read that Spurgeon Ellington was related to Duke Ellington somehow.

<S> to the Tuskegee Airmen.  Not only for their record as airmen, but for the obstacles they no doubt had to overcome just to get in the cockpits.   

EDIT: Nope, I misremembered.   Spurgeon was not related to Duke Ellington.  He was killed in an accident in 1945, but his widow Maria was a singer who later sang with Duke Ellington, and eventually married Nat King Cole.   She died in 2012 at the age of 89.   Found an obit in the NYTimes.

[Vraciu]

Thanks, Oboe.  That file will be a great help. 

https://bbs.hitechcreations.com/smf/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=401162.0;attach=33242

This is the exact image that came to mind with your screenshot.   

[Devil 505]

Thank you for your offer, Devil505; the pilot is indeed African-American.  And you are absolutely right, its a nice touch to be able to do that.  Here's a closeup of Lollipoop II's pilot:

(Image removed from quote.)

Ok, cool. You might want to darken the skin tone a bit more because it was very hard to tell from the earlier screenshots that you had changed the pilot.

For comparison, Here's a picture of the pilot face I created based on Lt. Charles Hall



The real Lt. Hall.

[lyric1]

 

[lyric1]

This is "Lollipoop II", P-51D-15-NA s/n 44-15648, flown by 1Lt Spurgeon Neal Ellington, 100th FS, 332nd FG "Tuskegee Airmen".  Based at Ramitelli Airfield, Italy 1944.   

(Image removed from quote.)

(Image removed from quote.)

(Image removed from quote.)

(Image removed from quote.)

I'm a member of the 332nd on Facebook his son had a few photos posted of his father. The plane later was renamed when given to another pilot.

[LCADolby]

Absolutely Superb 

[Mister Fork]

Absolutely Superb 

Agreed. Looks great Obee.

AND thanks for the background deets too Lyric

[oboe]

Nice finds, Lyric - thank you.   I couldn't establish whether Ellington actually had two kills, or if the Airfix model box artist mixed up the two skins.   "Duchess Arlene" has been depicted both ways, so I assume the kills came under that name rather than "Lollipoop II".

Vraciu - the name of the file is "USCLTH1.bmp" - it'll be in the default skin's directory.   That is where you can change the headgear, life vest, leather coat, trousers, etc.   Here's my version; I'm glad to share it since the original pilot figure doesn't even have goggles.   My version includes a pair of Polaroid B9 goggles on the pilot's head and a more detailed leather flying helmet with detailed earphones, life vest and parachute harness:



Devil505 - I hear what you're saying, but the pilot's face is based on a real person and I wouldn't feel right about artificially darkening his skin tone.   I think its probably more accurate to depict a variety of skin shades in the game, anyway.

Thanks for all the kind words, guys.

[Vraciu]

Thanks, Oboe.   Good stuff.


I agree with you on the skin tone.   I think it looks fine on my end.