New Plane Art

[Weave]

Looking at the screens of the new planes for 1.10, I'm struck by the difference between the Zero and the P-40. The P-40 is beautiful, the skin transistions smoothly from one section to another.

The Zero on the other hand appears chunky and crude. Was the Zero screen from an earlier build?  It dosen't even appear to be a new paint on the old Zero.

Just curious:confused:

[Soviet]

Now that the SPits got a new paint  job i think the 109s and maybe the 190s need a new paint job and maybe some art and cockpit enhancing too.

[Puck]

Yeah!  

Come on, Nate, Fly, you're doing good work, but you're not doing enough.  I agree you should have some balance between work and home, but I'll bet you don't spend 12 hours at work.  Let's have some balance here!

[Steven]

I personally think the P-51D and B-17 are in serious need of a facelift.  Just my opinion.

[Weave]

You guys can't start your own thread?

[Sombra]

Radials need at least 10 side models IMO. First thing i would do is update all 8 sided radials.

Greetings

[-=Silo=-]

In defense of the new A6M2 Zero, its a minor change from the current A6M5. So its stands to reason that instead of making a new airframe (as is the case with the P-40), they reused the older A6M5 airframe to get the A6M2. This is why the it may not have the quality of a brand new airframe.


With that said. There are two things that bug me about the new Zero.
(1) The white color. The Zeros downed at Pearl were not white, or even white-gray. They were a light grey/green. I have posted some actual Zero fragments which illustrates the color clearly.

(2) Early war Zeros were extremely well maintained. The amount of paint chipping (especially on the cowling) on the new Zero is waaay overboard for a plane of its time period. They were constantly painted to keep them looking pristine. Furthermore, all IJN planes had a red factory applied primer, so if the paint were to chip, it should reveal a red undersurface and not a silver one. Again, you can see this on the pics of the Zero debris I posted.

[fdiron]

Excellent post Silo.

[Samm]

I think you are right about the color of the zero fighters at pearl harbor silo . But how do you know that the new a6m2 is modeled after a pearl harbor zero ?

[-=Silo=-]

Originally posted by Samm
I think you are right about the color of the zero fighters at pearl harbor silo . But how do you know that the new a6m2 is modeled after a pearl harbor zero ?

Good. It appears that Mitsubishi and Nakajima painted their Zeros differently. One was a green grey, the other, another variation of grey green . Neither is white and both should have red primer. I dont know if that's supposed to be a Nakajima Zero, or a Mitsubishi Zero. However, that can be determined with a small bit of inquiry.

Zeros (as with all IJN aircraft) didnt use a lot of variation in paint schemes. The IJA was much more liberal in the paint department and produced a number of beautiful schemes. I seemd to recall reading a passage somewhere about Navy pilots regarding the Zero as "feminine" at first sight because of its smooth and rounded lines and paint scheme. Somthing about not looking like a sword (like the white A5M Claudes).

Anyway, A6M2 came from 1 of 2 plants, sporting one of two possible shades of the same grey-green.

[cajun]

I like it how it is, Ive allways like the white-white/grey seems they were more common in that also.

[Weave]

Thanks for getting back to the point of the thread.

Possibly the addition of some markings would improve the appearance of the "new" Zero. Maybe it's the color but the green Zero appears much better rendered.

[tonbi]

I also think that I want natedog to do his best more about the art.

And there are some worrisome points.

Type99  Cannon does not emit soot like M2 (.50 caliber).
The airplanes of Tainan flying group  were always polished up very much.
They  were trying hard in order to fly at high speed.
They wanted more speed , so  the antenna pole of radio  has been removed.
Radio of those days was of inferior quality.
And it was useless.
After the Tainan flying group changed the name into 251 flying group, Zero without an antenna were still used.


And  is new discovery here.
http://homepage2.nifty.com/amraam/ah/tmp/a6m2_v138.jpg
Saburo Sakai went to the Guadalcanal Island to attack, and he got seriously injured on August 7, 1942.
The tail letter of A6M2 which he had used then seemed to be "V-138."
This photograph was taken when he had returned to Rabaul.
Once, he was said to have used V-128.
And it was said that V-103 used when he went to Guadalcanal.
Probably, Sakai had used them.
However, he had used V-138 on August 7, 1942.

In this photograph, the platoon leader discernment mark (blue slanting line) in the body cannot be checked.
It seems that two blue lines have sandwiched the tail letter.