Aces High Bulletin Board

General Forums => Custom Skins => Topic started by: Nr_RaVeN on April 15, 2020, 07:32:59 AM

Title: Skinning resources
Post by: Nr_RaVeN on April 15, 2020, 07:32:59 AM
Hi all
I find that I have much more free time now and I'm looking to get back to skinning aircraft .
it's been a long time and I can't seem to find very many websites out there with resources like there used to be.. websites similar to simmers paint shop which is now closed . Can any of you guys point me the right directions for skinning resources  like color swatches decals etc. Are there any new sites that provide good aircraft skinning resources ?
Title: Re: Skinning resources
Post by: lyric1 on April 15, 2020, 09:18:42 AM
Facebook is a great resource for finding prospects that have not been seen before. So many groups of military equipment are there that have been posted by family members of vetrans.
Title: Re: Skinning resources
Post by: Greebo on April 15, 2020, 09:27:37 AM
Welcome back to the skinning community Raven. Below are a few useful general sites. If there are any particular planes, air forces or theaters you are most interested in I may know some more specific ones as well.

For air force colours in general the nearest thing there is to the old Simmer's site is Urban’s Color Reference Charts (https://www.ipmsstockholm.se/home/urbans-color-reference-charts-part-i/). The problem is this site is really geared at aircraft kit modellers rather than skinners. So you can navigate to a swatch showing you the colour you want but there is no RGB info associated with it. To get round this I usually just take a screenshot of the swatch, load this into my image editing software and use the colour picker tool on it.

For LW colours only the Asisbiz LW aircraft colour page (https://www.asisbiz.com/Battles/camouflage.html) is pretty good. The rest of the Asisbiz site also has lots of info on LW planes and units, with lots of good reference photos.

There is a handy reference here for USAAF marking layouts and dates (http://www.bowersflybaby.com/stories/army_paint.html).

For Japanese aircraft the research pages on the J-Aircraft site (http://www.j-aircraft.com) is hard to beat.

For Soviet aircraft the Soviet Warplanes Forums (http://massimotessitori.altervista.org/sovietwarplanes/board/index.php?board=12.0) are a good source of info. There is also this handy Soviet aerial tactical markings of WWII (http://wio.ru/simbols/sov-en.htm) which lists the markings used by many VVS units during the war.
Title: Re: Skinning resources
Post by: Devil 505 on April 15, 2020, 09:57:16 AM
welcome back Raven.

Here's some cool Luftwaffe stuff to check out.

http://theprofilepaintshop.blogspot.com/   - Has some great posts regarding colors and camouflage patterns.

http://falkeeins.blogspot.com/   - A fantastic blog with tons of photos and other info.


And if you're into Soviet stuff

http://massimotessitori.altervista.org/sovietwarplanes/pages/index.html
Title: Re: Skinning resources
Post by: Nr_RaVeN on April 15, 2020, 10:01:06 AM
Awesome guys, much appreciated. Thank you very much!
 :salute
Title: Re: Skinning resources
Post by: Spikes on April 15, 2020, 10:06:37 AM
Welcome back Raven! I still fly your JG52 109K. :)
Title: Re: Skinning resources
Post by: Nr_RaVeN on April 15, 2020, 11:37:51 AM
Welcome back Raven! I still fly your JG52 109K. :)

 :cheers: from back in the day  ;)
Title: Re: Skinning resources
Post by: Devil 505 on April 15, 2020, 02:56:30 PM
Here are some things to look out for with how skins display some colors in AH3:

Black will gray-out in shadows if you use a shade that is too dark on your bitmap. I usually lighten black by about 15% to avoid this.

Whites and yellows glow in direct sunlight if you use a shade that is too light. you need to darken these colors by about 30-35%.
Title: Re: Skinning resources
Post by: FTJR on April 15, 2020, 10:10:17 PM
Here are some things to look out for with how skins display some colors in AH3:

Whites and yellows glow in direct sunlight if you use a shade that is too light. you need to darken these colors by about 30-35%.

I wish i knew that earlier. lol....

good to know
Title: Re: Skinning resources
Post by: Devil 505 on April 15, 2020, 11:16:02 PM
I wish i knew that earlier. lol....

good to know

Damn, I figured you had been reading all the conversations on the subject over the years.
Title: Re: Skinning resources
Post by: FTJR on April 16, 2020, 05:28:10 AM
Damn, I figured you had been reading all the conversations on the subject over the years.

No ones fault but my own... I missed that bit. :)
Title: Re: Skinning resources
Post by: Devil 505 on April 17, 2020, 10:43:19 AM
Raven, be sure to check out Greebo's P-38 build log. He goes through the entire process of making an AH3 skin. I'm sure it will be a great asset for you.

https://bbs.hitechcreations.com/smf/index.php/topic,398074.0.html
Title: Re: Skinning resources
Post by: Nr_RaVeN on April 17, 2020, 12:08:50 PM
Raven, be sure to check out Greebo's P-38 build log. He goes through the entire process of making an AH3 skin. I'm sure it will be a great asset for you.

https://bbs.hitechcreations.com/smf/index.php/topic,398074.0.html

Thanks Devil :aok. Yes that's helpful , on it.