Me410 skin: 1/102 RHAF ZO+20 (Me210Ca-1)

[Krusty]

This is still in progress but I've got to the point I'm comfortable sharing. Still ironing out bump map and spec map kinks, still need to do some details and whatnot. Still a WIP.

This is 1/102 RHAF (Royal Hungarian Air Force). It was an experimental night fighter camo in 1944. The plane was a 210Ca-1, but all 210Cs had DB605 engines, slats, extended fuselages, and almost all of the corrections that the earlist models had. It was far closer to an Me410 than it was to an original Me210. Because of this HTC has given permission to skin 210Cs.

I have more in the pipeline, but here's the first 410.











There are a number of profiles, templates, and decal sets for this plane, but most stem from this one photo.



I've taken what I can and extrapolated some of the camo hoping to stick with the 2-part spray and splotch overpainting. I think I've done a decent job, but if anyone has additional resources it would be helpful!

[Dragon Tamer]

Looks amazing as always! 

[FuFiter]

Fantastic work Krusty!! So when you gonna come back flying with 71?  Miss wingin with ya buddy! 

[Devil 505]

Looks good so far Krusty.

Only fault I see is your smoke and oil trails. They are too stark in my opinion. The smoke in particular looks like paint.

[Krusty]

I have issues with them as well.

On the lower surface I'm just having a mental block for how I used to do them. I'll have to review some of my previous skins to try and remember my technique.

On the upper surface I'm struggling to make it actually look like an oil slick. It's hard. I kind of know what oil stains look like. I don't know quite how to replicate them. They have almost a gritty quality to them but they are liquid stains. They're transparent, sort of, but also make things look black. Sometimes they have a "lip" or "ring" around them as the oil has dried off and so forth. This is something a large % of 210s and 410s have coming out the back of certain panel lines on top of the engine nacelle. Apparently the design threw a lot of oil. Or it threw a little oil and these planes were pushed so hard there was no down time to clean them. Hungarian 210s especially seem to have an oil slick behind each engine. Some German planes too.

It's not something I've done like this before, and it's annoying me because I can't get it right. Though, I'm sure I can work on the exhaust smoke to make that look better.


P.S. Fu, I miss you all too. Can't right now, but I'm looking forward to when I can.

[Krusty]

Devil, one prime example... It's a grainy B&W photo, and may look a bit like smoke, but in other photos with more clarity it looks more like an oil slick. This just shows a good top view, where most show just the side of the engine from ground level.

[mechanic]

This is a good looking skin. I love the camo work on the upper surfaces. Keep us posted of course!

[SmokinLoon]

This will be good to have.  Nice looking skin.   

[Krusty]

If anybody is up for it, I'm looking for specifics as to the oil stains. WHY don't they look right? Wrong color? Wrong opacity? Texture? Looking for some kind of reference for how to revamp them.

EDIT: The top-of-wing stains, not the oil cooler stains. Those will be reworked differently.

[cactuskooler]

Here's a pic of the default skin 410.  You can see where the oil spews out pretty decently.  Though it's a bit different than the 210 shot above.

[Devil 505]

Krusty,
With your oil, I would first adjust your color with a little bit of dark green. Start at 100% opacity. Apply with your paintbrush tool where you want it to be heaviest. Then use your smudge tool to spread it out with strokes in the direction of airflow. Adjust opacity to get a better sense of the total effect. Apply more with the paintbrush if it spreads too thin. Also add some streaks to vary the appearance. Ask yourself if the oil slick is strait liquid or more a smokey oil stain. If strait liquid remember that the outside edge of the slick will have a thicker bead cause by liquid tension. If more smokey, use the blend tool to fan out the outside edge using small strokes in a semicircular motion in the direction of airflow. This is also useful for spreading out engine exhaust stains.

Here's a screen shot to illustrate the final effect. The strait oil is on the lower cowling, I exaggerated the smoke effect to help you visualize the effect.


Reference photo's from a 109G-2.

[Krusty]

Thanks for the ideas, cactus.

The photo of the default skin you list: I don't think that's oil. It's either there or not, and in this case it's not. Some were cleaned better than others. I think what you're seeing is liquid stains from the fuel filler caps, one of which is on top of the engine fairing, several of which are inboard of that fairing.

Examples that had it:


This 410 is developing an oil slick nicely, only reaching about halfway back on the engine fairing:


Same for this 210C in Tunisia:


And many others. I'm not saying all had it, but with this particular skin I want to show the heavy use that Hungarian Me210Ca-1s received. To this end, I would like to have those cowling oil slicks. It won't be a standard feature on my 410 skins.

I'll work on the stuff you gave me from the previous posts. Thanks!

[Greebo]

I think in general your stains should be less opaque the further back from the source they are, as the oil/exhaust would get dispersed by the turbulent airflow. I use a narrow low opacity airbrush tool to make exhaust stains, using lots of strokes to build it up, narrow and dense going to wider and less opaque. I set the tool to have low density and alternate between a darker and lighter shade of grey/brown. This makes it look more like a dirty stain and less like a shadow.

[Torquila]

I am so glad to see me-410 skins, but I am sad that the first new one shown wasn't a German one.

I don't know much about the Hungarian air force/etc but it does look very pretty.

[Debrody]

Too bad we had no D9s...