B-17G 91stBG 323rdBS "Super Mouse"

[oboe]

Kind of an whimsical name for a bomber I guess, but an interesting nod to the comics of the day.   She is later War delivery so I've kept her finish a little cleaner and shinier than I normally do.  I'm wondering if I need to crank up the intensity of the red trim; I backed off the opacity to 85% and it may have dulled it too much? 

Joe Baugher's serial number catalog contains this information about her War record: 
43-38642 - 323rd Bomb Squadron, 91st Bomb Group, Bassingbourn (Station 121), Cambridgeshire 4Nov44.  Named "Super Mouse"– artwork of a coy little mouse in a blue suit, red feather and cloak on a yellow background circle. Painted by the pilot, David Hettema.  First combat mission 6Nov44.  She completed 15 missions.  Battle damaged on a mission to a communication center at Wittlich, Germany 29Dec44. Flak ripped through two engines.
As the plane started to lose speed and altitude the bomb load was jettisoned but, soon after, the pilot ordered his crew to abandon the plane. He remained at the controls and succeeded in crash landing near Nazons, France causing only minor damage to the aircraft.   Salvaged 21Jan45.

If you guys approve, this skin is intended to be an adoption replacement for Thunder's 91stBG/324thBS "Little Miss Mischief".   You might recall The "half and half" version of Little Miss Mischief is in game, skinned by ReDhAwK.  That one has the olive drab midsection.











Thunder's "Little Miss Mischief" (included from Aces High II)

[Devil 505]

She's a beaut!

[Banshee7]

I think It looks great! Maybe up the opacity of the red just a hair to give it that newer look as you said.

[lyric1]

 

[Vraciu]

Great job.

My only quibble is it appears a bit too smooth.   I'm thinking some aggressive panel line shading would make it pop a little more.

As for the red, I would put a paint mask behind it like Greebo does.   Red is a bear to get right.

[oboe]

Thanks guys.

I increased the opacity of the red trim a couple of points, and bumped up my rivet shadow and glare lines, in both the diffuse and spec files.  This gives the metal skin a little bit of a 'quilted' look, especially when looking at glare from an angle.

I also tried the rivet specularity trick I used on my last bare P-47 skin, where the rivets are light colored but I make them dark in the spec file.   This essentially makes them change color from light to dark as sun glare plays across the skin of the plane and keeps them somewhat more visible even through the glare.  Its an interesting, if subtle visual dynamic.

[Greebo]

Great looking skin Oboe. Perhaps the red is a little too faded for a 15 mission aircraft.

BTW I wouldn't use a layer mask to reduce the opacity of a colour unless it was for something that was thinly painted or worn through. For this I would use a saturation/brightness adjustment layer above the red so I could just use sliders to play around with the fade rather than actually changing the red colour.

[Arlo]

 

[Vraciu]

Great looking skin Oboe. Perhaps the red is a little too faded for a 15 mission aircraft.

BTW I wouldn't use a layer mask to reduce the opacity of a colour unless it was for something that was thinly painted or worn through. For this I would use a saturation/brightness adjustment layer above the red so I could just use sliders to play around with the fade rather than actually changing the red colour.

I use a mask underneath the red and play with the darkness of that (mask) layer along with the opacity above it until the color looks right.   Red is probably the toughest one to get right.

With Mustangs in particular there are so many angles being folded into the front fuselage that without the underlying mask you wind up with different shades of red where they meet.    This makes the seams too obvious.   

The mask also helps with things like national insignia, so that you have the faded look but it is uniform.    The variations in metal can show through at reduced opacity levels giving it weird look.

[SIK1]

You guys are great. 

Another beaut Oboe.

 
Sik