The gray background is normal. What I do is set a 256x256 image that color, then start setting the art in place. When I did the nose art for VMF-115 I changed the white background to that gray color. It shows up perfectly transparent, so instead of a gray box you only see the black circle. Just don't set anything else that color or it'll vanish in the game.
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Flakbait
Delta 6's Flight School"During the Battle of Britain the question 'fighter or fighter-bomber?'
had been decided once and for all: The fighter can only be used as a bomb carrier
with lasting effect when sufficient air superiority has been won." Adolph Galland [This message has been edited by flakbait (edited 01-17-2001).]