WIP: P-51C "Tuskegee Airmen" / "By Request" A4*2 - CAF

[Vraciu]

I'm breaking this out into its own thread.

This is what I have so far on the CAF P-51C "Tuskegee Airmen" / "By Request" -- it's still a rough draft.

I'm trying to make the silver on the skin look like paint.   The actual airplane has a silver paint rather than polished or natural metal.   It's basically a uniform gloss silver.   I have a lot to clean up but before I do that I need to nail this down.

There are three shades of silver you can see on the fuselage of the skin.

1) Forward of the sliding canopy.

2) Aft of the A4.

3) On the turtledeck behind the cockpit.

Any thoughts?

[Devil 505]

Is the lighter shade on the spine supposed to represent the highlight in the photo Hitech posted? That's just the reflection, not a different shade of paint.

Just paint your skin one uniform shade for the aluminium lacquer.

For the spec maps you will need to try light shades on both the P and S maps with a medium shade on the E map.

[Greebo]

Its looking good Vraciu. You need to add the CAF logo though. Looking at photos on the web I agree with Devil it should all be one shade of silver paint. There is a photo showing panels with different tones of silver on the lower engine cowl and parts of the wing/fuselage fairing but it also lacks its nose art so must have been taken shortly after restoration. Subsequent photos show these areas all painted the same shade of silver. The only variations seem to be the darker heat-treated metal around the exhaust that you have done and the highly polished exhaust fairing.

The other thing to bear in mind is that all the paint on the CAF aircraft looks to have the same satin/gloss finish so there should be no variation in tone between markings and silver areas on the P, E and S files. The only possible exception to this may be the olive drab anti-glare panel. Logically I'd have thought they'd have painted this in a duller finish to avoid solar reflections blinding the pilot. It's hard to tell from the photos though.

[Vraciu]

Is the lighter shade on the spine supposed to represent the highlight in the photo Hitech posted? That's just the reflection, not a different shade of paint.

Just paint your skin one uniform shade for the aluminium lacquer.

For the spec maps you will need to try light shades on both the P and S maps with a medium shade on the E map.

The lighter shade is just the original from my template.   I left it for comparison.

I may go for a shade in between the light and the dark.

[Vraciu]

Its looking good Vraciu. You need to add the CAF logo though.

Thank you, sir.

Yeah, the tramp stamp is the last item to deal with.  Should be fairly easy to use one off their site and adjust it.

Looking at photos on the web I agree with Devil it should all be one shade of silver paint. There is a photo showing panels with different tones of silver on the lower engine cowl and parts of the wing/fuselage fairing but it also lacks its nose art so must have been taken shortly after restoration. Subsequent photos show these areas all painted the same shade of silver. The only variations seem to be the darker heat-treated metal around the exhaust that you have done and the highly polished exhaust fairing.

The other thing to bear in mind is that all the paint on the CAF aircraft looks to have the same satin/gloss finish so there should be no variation in tone between markings and silver areas on the P, E and S files. The only possible exception to this may be the olive drab anti-glare panel. Logically I'd have thought they'd have painted this in a duller finish to avoid solar reflections blinding the pilot. It's hard to tell from the photos though.

Roger that.   I'll be back at it later today. 

[avionix]

Here is a photo for reference. I know paint is easier to maintain, but doesn't have the look of bare metal.

[Vraciu]

That's a great photo.  Thank you!   

[Vraciu]

This video shows the paint reflection.   

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=shg4zFLiJUY



HiTech: Fixed your you tube Entry

[Vraciu]

How about this for the paint color?   The spec maps will need tweaking to spread out the reflection some.

[Fencer51]

1. The paint is a single tone silver equal all over, yours has blue highlights or something, too dark overall.
2.  Missing text under and ahead of canopy port side.. "By Request"
3. The anti glare panel needs to narrow down as it nears the nose more. Wrong shade of green too.
4. Rudder trim needs to be darker yellow.
5. Fusalage fuel tank removed, so delete refuel cap.
6. Still need that gawdawful CAF trampstamp.
7.  Don`t forget the right side.. By Request and Tuskeegee refernce pics.
8.  The data text, left side forward below cockpit, is not formatted correctly....

https://www.flickr.com/photos/normangraf/32989225628/in/photolist-Sg9psd-dfFp2C-dfFoCU-2iid8DU-CafGpS-yaHVwE-dfFoLY-ehs2nk-fxpMGD-2g8ihEe-FYrpDU-dfFkSX-vY68ph-dfFjFx-dfFoUb-dfFjVT-n3eTA4-hCXPKR-2fhCt72-oc7WKn-2ayuLm5-opSknx-mcS1Hv-oGjQ6u-ELETUo-21St8X6-cn4r85-oGmu7F-Rwhn6F-EEM7Za-tqDtbd-oG68o2-oc3E9m-oGk4AL-6KG9se-obPEye-72HWJs-opTHEg-2hQYm3b-6KG8W2-EMttkN-6Z5TzA-ymo561-ynLJWU-mcRjJK-cndWNh-8MrX2r-ysw3hi-yppSdX-a4exts

And it has the malcom hood, Dale ya need a new model.

[Vraciu]

1. The paint is a single tone silver equal all over, yours has blue highlights or something, too dark overall.
2.  Missing text under and ahead of canopy port side.. "By Request"
3. The anti glare panel needs to narrow down as it nears the nose more. Wrong shade of green too.
4. Rudder trim needs to be darker yellow.
5. Fusalage fuel tank removed, so delete refuel cap.
6. Still need that gawdawful CAF trampstamp.
7.  Don`t forget the right side.. By Request and Tuskeegee refernce pics.
8.  The data text, left side forward below cockpit, is not formatted correctly....

https://www.flickr.com/photos/normangraf/32989225628/in/photolist-Sg9psd-dfFp2C-dfFoCU-2iid8DU-CafGpS-yaHVwE-dfFoLY-ehs2nk-fxpMGD-2g8ihEe-FYrpDU-dfFkSX-vY68ph-dfFjFx-dfFoUb-dfFjVT-n3eTA4-hCXPKR-2fhCt72-oc7WKn-2ayuLm5-opSknx-mcS1Hv-oGjQ6u-ELETUo-21St8X6-cn4r85-oGmu7F-Rwhn6F-EEM7Za-tqDtbd-oG68o2-oc3E9m-oGk4AL-6KG9se-obPEye-72HWJs-opTHEg-2hQYm3b-6KG8W2-EMttkN-6Z5TzA-ymo561-ynLJWU-mcRjJK-cndWNh-8MrX2r-ysw3hi-yppSdX-a4exts

And it has the malcom hood, Dale ya need a new model.

I appreciate the input. 

I’m aware of most of the stuff that’s missing (Tramp Stamp, By ReQuest (sic)—I’m still drawing it—N number, the Font on the 4 needs tweaking, the nose art needs rotation as well as duplication on the right side, wrong color green on the anti-glare, stenciling near left side fuselage-to-wing-root fairing, etc.).   This plane is barely 40% done.    It’s not ready for a critique on anything but the colors being used—silver, red, and yellow.   I appreciate the list though—good catch on the fuse tank cap—and I’ll refer to it so I don’t miss something, for sure.

[Also that’s the 2017 version of “By ReQuest” which begs the question, is that current?  I’m drawing the all-red diagonal version like that in the image Razor posted above.]

What I definitely needed was your comment on the silver paint as that’s my focus.   I will add what’s missing and clean up the red paint (it’s even on the forward section of the pylon, I just have not bothered to trim it yet).

Blue tone.   Are you talking about everything from the A4 forward?   The aft fuselage hasn’t been modified yet.   

Thanks for the feedback.   

[Vraciu]

Here's the latest.  THIS IS NOT THE FINISHED PRODUCT AS I'M STILL FOCUSING ON THE SILVER PAINT.   I went with the version of the "By ReQuest" nose art that Fencer posted.  I think the all-red diagonal version had to have been before the most recent mishap c. 2015-16.

I'm a little concerned that going with the uniform silver is not going to look as good in the game as a NMF version would.   I may wind up doing both and letting Hitech and the CAF gang pick the one that looks better.

Postimg is down so these will be somewhat degraded by the server compression on the forum.

[perdue3]

I know very little, mind you. To me, it looks like metal and not paint. The panel lines seem more defined than they would be on a painted aircraft as well. A good start though.

[Vraciu]

I know very little, mind you. To me, it looks like metal and not paint. The panel lines seem more defined than they would be on a painted aircraft as well. A good start though.

Yeah, until I get the paint right I'm leaving the panel lines alone. 

The problem I see is that making it a uniform color is going to flatten it into a depth-less blob.   I've been working with metal now so long that everything I try looks awful to my eye. 

Let me find another skin I did and post an early version.  Maybe that is closer to a paint look.

[Vraciu]

Is this more like paint?  Not the color itself just overall. 

This is from when I was still clueless about natural metal.

https://bbs.hitechcreations.com/smf/index.php/topic,386698.msg5139548.html#msg5139548