[Vpmedia]

from my skinmods readme:

How to make a new default skin?:

I assume that most IL-2 fans got a large collection of skin already installed, so finding new defaults wont be a problem.

First, make sure, that in conf.ini parameter "ClearCache" is set to "0",
them launch the game and run QMB with the choosen skin.
For a summer Bf-109F4 skin you need the following files,
which will be automatically generated once you viewed a skin in the QMB, on the arming screen:

-skin1o.tga
-skin1p.tga
-skin1q.tga
-skin1o.tgb (these are different resolutions of the same skin, being switched when view distance is changed)

The location of generated files will be C:\Program Files\Ubisoft\IL-2 Sturmovik 1946\PaintSchemes\Cache\Bf-109F-4\

You must copy these files to C:\Program Files\Ubisoft\IL-2 Sturmovik 1946\files\3do\plane\bf-109f-4\summer\

Launch the game if its not running, check the skin.
If the game is running then if you alt+tab back to the game from the desktop after the copy-paste procedure the
new default should immediately appear on the arming screen in QMB.
If not you did not overwrite the files.txt with the new one.