Aces High Bulletin Board

General Forums => Custom Skins => Topic started by: Greebo on August 24, 2007, 07:07:42 AM

Title: B-25 skin substitutions
Post by: Greebo on August 24, 2007, 07:07:42 AM
Skuzzy, would it be acceptable to use B-25G schemes on the B-25H? The G has the 75mm nose but has the same turret layout as the D.
Title: B-25 skin substitutions
Post by: Sweet2th on August 24, 2007, 11:01:03 AM
How about this one for an Idea.



(http://i229.photobucket.com/albums/ee262/BukkNasti/B2575mm.jpg)
Title: B-25 skin substitutions
Post by: Treize69 on August 24, 2007, 12:39:01 PM
(http://www.neam.org/images/b25_lg.jpg)

Hey, lookie what I found. :D

Well done Fester :aok
Title: B-25 skin substitutions
Post by: Greebo on August 24, 2007, 12:55:59 PM
Sweet2th, that's a B-25G. The H has the rear turret and the upper turret ahead of the wing. There seems to be a fair bit of info on interesting B-25C/D, G and J schemes, but B-25H stuff is a bit thin on the ground.
Title: B-25 skin substitutions
Post by: Sweet2th on August 24, 2007, 01:25:30 PM
Quote
Originally posted by Greebo
Sweet2th, that's a B-25G. The H has the rear turret and the upper turret ahead of the wing. There seems to be a fair bit of info on interesting B-25C/D, G and J schemes, but B-25H stuff is a bit thin on the ground.


Thanks for pointing that out.I just really liked the design and was hoping you would skin it.
Title: B-25 skin substitutions
Post by: Greebo on August 24, 2007, 03:12:29 PM
I'd like to skin that 498th BS Sweet2th, if HTC allow B-25G schemes or I can find a picture of a similar H. However if someone else wants to skin it, I'll step aside. What I really want to do is skin a 499th BS B-25H, with the bat out of hell noseart.

There's some really nice noseart for straffing nosed B-25s, just having trouble finding any for the H.
Title: B-25 skin substitutions
Post by: Treize69 on August 24, 2007, 03:34:18 PM
I dunno if the linking will work, if not I'll host them and repost later on. Heres a couple ideas for G/H strafers though...

(http://80thfs.homestead.com/3_27.jpg)
(http://80thfs.homestead.com/3_32.jpg)
(http://80thfs.homestead.com/3_33.jpg)
(http://80thfs.homestead.com/3_34.jpg)
(http://80thfs.homestead.com/3_14.jpg)
(http://80thfs.homestead.com/3_40.jpg)
Title: B-25 skin substitutions
Post by: Guppy35 on August 24, 2007, 03:46:11 PM
Quote
Originally posted by Sweet2th
How about this one for an Idea.



(http://i229.photobucket.com/albums/ee262/BukkNasti/B2575mm.jpg)


Not a G or an H.  That's a C/D strafer
Title: B-25 skin substitutions
Post by: Guppy35 on August 24, 2007, 03:47:09 PM
Personally I would NOT sub the G for the H.  Too different of a bird. There are plenty of H skins that can be done including USN versions.
Title: B-25 skin substitutions
Post by: Krusty on August 24, 2007, 03:57:06 PM
I think I agree with Guppy. I recall wanting to skin a certain model then finding out there were several different models that all had similarly interesting skins. You can pretty much find what you want on what we've got.
Title: B-25 skin substitutions
Post by: Widewing on August 24, 2007, 04:20:23 PM
Perhaps someone has the time to do Barbie III... Only one member of her crew is still alive, Chuck Baisden. Chuck was the crew chief and top turret gunner.
(http://80thfs.homestead.com/3_14.jpg)

In the photo below is the crew of Barbie III. The B-25H was named after R.T. Smith's wife. Chuck is in the center, with R.T. to his left (your right in the photo).
R.T. Smith was one of Flying Tigers top scorers prior to transferring to the USAAF and the 1st Air Commandos. Chuck was also a Flying Tiger, one of the 3rd squadron's armorers.
(http://home.att.net/~C.C.Jordan/Baisden11.JPG)

Chuck is a friend of mine and a great gentleman. You can read a little about his career here. (http://home.att.net/~C.C.Jordan/Baisden.html)

My regards,

Widewing
Title: B-25 skin substitutions
Post by: Treize69 on August 24, 2007, 05:19:02 PM
Give him a big for me, I've always been a huge fan of the AVG.

Used to have an A2 with the Blood watermelon on the back, was amazing how many people would start talking to me about it. Especially the local Chinese (Taiwanese?). They always asked me about it and were amazed that I knew

A) The Flag was China before 1947, now Taiwan, and

B) That the AVG even existed. It seems to still be a much bigger deal among the Chinese than it ever was here. They adore them.
Title: B-25 skin substitutions
Post by: MstWntd on August 24, 2007, 11:23:48 PM
Quote
Originally posted by Treize69
(http://www.neam.org/images/b25_lg.jpg)

Hey, lookie what I found. :D

Well done Fester :aok


Nice job Fester!
Title: B-25 skin substitutions
Post by: Sweet2th on August 25, 2007, 12:33:22 AM
Quote
Originally posted by Treize69

(http://80thfs.homestead.com/3_32.jpg)

 


This one really kicks *** i vote for that one.




You know since i'm a Shades account and all.:D
Title: B-25 skin substitutions
Post by: Greebo on August 25, 2007, 04:46:22 AM
I'm going to go for Barbie III. I like Clana Louise but haven't found any photos of it yet. I've ordered a 345th BG book so maybe there will be something in there. Most of the other profiles are Gs, so they are subject to HTC approval I guess.

There is some inconsistency between the photos and profiles of Barbie though. The profiles I've seen of it show an olive drab/neutral grey scheme. However the photos of Barbie III and other 1st Air Commando B-25Hs seem to show them olive drab top and bottom. The Barbie III warbird seems to be OD all over too so I'll go with that scheme for now.
Title: B-25 skin substitutions
Post by: Widewing on August 25, 2007, 11:05:43 AM
Quote
Originally posted by Greebo
I'm going to go for Barbie III. I like Clana Louise but haven't found any photos of it yet. I've ordered a 345th BG book so maybe there will be something in there. Most of the other profiles are Gs, so they are subject to HTC approval I guess.

There is some inconsistency between the photos and profiles of Barbie though. The profiles I've seen of it show an olive drab/neutral grey scheme. However the photos of Barbie III and other 1st Air Commando B-25Hs seem to show them olive drab top and bottom. The Barbie III warbird seems to be OD all over too so I'll go with that scheme for now.


I have several photos of Barbie III from Baisden. It was painted completely in  OD green, as was the other 10 B-25H bombers assigned to 1st Air Commandos.

Barbie III was a B-25H-1-NA and was delivered with only two side-mounted "package" guns on the right side. The second set of "package" guns on the left side didn't appear until serial number 43-4405 (tail number 34405).

One note about serial numbers. Some profiles and the currently flying B-25 in Barbie colors show 34380 as the tail number. However, Baisden states that the tail number was 34280, but photos show otherwise.

(http://home.att.net/~c.c.jordan/BarbieIII.jpg)

I greatly appreciate you doing this skin. When it's added to the plane set, I'll e-mail Chuck some screen shots.

My regards,

Widewing
Title: B-25 skin substitutions
Post by: Guppy35 on August 25, 2007, 12:39:58 PM
Sure looks like you can see the demarcation line for the neutral gray on those Hs Widewing.  The second in line in particular.

I do like the masking tape to keep the moisture from getting behind the armor plate look though :)

Greebo.  What 345th book are you getting?  If it's the Lawrence Hickey book, you'll not regret it.  A million photos and profiles.  One of the best, if not the best group history I've ever seen.
Title: B-25 skin substitutions
Post by: Widewing on August 25, 2007, 01:21:21 PM
Quote
Originally posted by Guppy35
Sure looks like you can see the demarcation line for the neutral gray on those Hs Widewing.  The second in line in particular.
 


It doesn't look like a demarcation line to me as it ends.. There's no hint of gray on Barbie III...

(http://home.att.net/~c.c.jordan/BarbieNose.jpg)

My regards,

Widewing
Title: B-25 skin substitutions
Post by: Greebo on August 25, 2007, 02:06:31 PM
There's a hint of a line on Dolly. I'd guess the aircraft were originally painted OD/Neutral grey and then overpainted in OD at a forward depot. Perhaps that's just the grey showing through a bit.

Only problem I can see is that the five stripes look like they meet at an angle top and bottom. There is some banding on the fuselage at that point, so they'll be squared off a bit on the skin.

That photo is a good reference for stuff like the staining on the nacelles. If you have any shots from different angles I'd appreciate it if you could post them Widewing.

I've ordered the Kagero book on the 345th BG Guppy. Couldn't find anyone who had the Hickey book in stock in the UK but I may order it given your recommendation.
Title: B-25 skin substitutions
Post by: Citabria on August 25, 2007, 10:33:08 PM
I can see neutral grey demarcation line on barbie III in last photo. is faint and hard to discern but it is there.

looking forward to the b25 skins greebo :)

personally I dont want to look at a b25 skin project for a long time im burned out on them :D
Title: how about these?
Post by: lyric1 on August 30, 2007, 09:49:13 PM
(http://www.picburst.com/uploads/df991256db.jpg) (http://www.picburst.com)(http://www.picburst.com/uploads/5e2653ef89.jpg) (http://www.picburst.com)
Title: Or this.
Post by: lyric1 on August 30, 2007, 09:53:01 PM
(http://www.picburst.com/uploads/420ac79689.jpg) (http://www.picburst.com)(http://www.picburst.com/uploads/6a53f0a1ae.jpg) (http://www.picburst.com)(http://www.picburst.com/uploads/91efce8057.jpg) (http://www.picburst.com)(http://www.picburst.com/uploads/df9bc9afae.jpg) (http://www.picburst.com)
Title: Cartoonist who did the b25
Post by: lyric1 on August 30, 2007, 10:26:26 PM
http://tarawatheaftermath.com/PhotosFoxholeA.html http://tarawatheaftermath.com/PhotosFoxholeB.html
Title: B-25 skin substitutions
Post by: whiteman on August 30, 2007, 10:40:40 PM
That would be my favorite skin ever :rofl :aok
Title: B-25 skin substitutions
Post by: USRanger on August 30, 2007, 10:46:58 PM
That's awesome lyric!
Title: B-25 skin substitutions
Post by: Guppy35 on August 31, 2007, 09:20:21 AM
Ink Squirts is a later J model.  The silver C is a war weary non combat aircraft.
Title: B-25 skin substitutions
Post by: lyric1 on August 31, 2007, 03:46:35 PM
Quote
Originally posted by Guppy35
Ink Squirts is a later J model.  The silver C is a war weary non combat aircraft.
 Ok how can you tell what model is what? I have seen pics of c models with all glass noses & like the whodunit b25 it is only a partial glass nose. Also the j models came in solid & glass nose configurations but had a lot of guns mounted in the nose. Although I dont see the ink spots b25 with that many guns on it's front end. I will admit it's only a partial picture of the plane & the guns may be obscured also they may be stripped as I think these aircraft shown are on the way to the scrap heap in Indonesia.
Title: B-25 skin substitutions
Post by: Krusty on August 31, 2007, 03:51:56 PM
Js had dorsal guns behind the cockpit, tail guns, staggered waist guns.

Note that Whodunit 2 has no guns at all. It's probably a transport or ... whattaya call'em?... It's a term where they have a ride just to fly places with. A hack? Whatever.
Title: B-25 skin substitutions
Post by: Guppy35 on August 31, 2007, 05:13:25 PM
Quote
Originally posted by lyric1
Ok how can you tell what model is what? I have seen pics of c models with all glass noses & like the whodunit b25 it is only a partial glass nose. Also the j models came in solid & glass nose configurations but had a lot of guns mounted in the nose. Although I dont see the ink spots b25 with that many guns on it's front end. I will admit it's only a partial picture of the plane & the guns may be obscured also they may be stripped as I think these aircraft shown are on the way to the scrap heap in Indonesia.


Giveaway on the C/D Whodunit is the window behind the cockpit and the astrodome for the Navigator as his spot was right there on the B/C/D models  The partial glass just tells us that it is a retired strafer version that no doubt is a squadron or group "Fat Cat' transport for hauling cargo, passengers, booze or whatever.

Ink Squirts clearly has a twin tail gun position.  That and it's still combat loaded and it's NMF with out OD/Gray camo.  The H's and Js are the only ones that were delivered NMF.  You'll find stripped C/D models like Whodunit, but they aren't combat ready.

The rare exception is Dirty Dora II which was a refurbished D model that had a J model gun nose grafted on and was used for ferreting out Japanese radar positions.  That one was NMF and the only B25D-3 in existance.
Title: B-25 skin substitutions
Post by: lyric1 on September 01, 2007, 12:02:56 AM
Thank you.  I learn something new every day in this game. To bad on the ink squirts would have made a cool skin. Any ideas as to what group that plane was in curious now to find out.
Title: B-25 skin substitutions
Post by: Bullethead on September 01, 2007, 12:55:32 PM
Guppy35 said:
Quote
The rare exception is Dirty Dora II which was a refurbished D model that had a J model gun nose grafted on and was used for ferreting out Japanese radar positions.  That one was NMF and the only B25D-3 in existance.


Another relative rarety were the glass-nosed Js that got turned into strafers the old way instead of having the solid nose mod kit put on.  In some of these, they didn't even bother painting over the glass.