[Dr. Strangelove]

B-17G 44-8543 Vintage Flying Museum, Ft. Worth, Texas

Download > B-17_Chuckie_v_3.zip (The link is inoperative)

Sorry folks, no screens, but feel free to post some if you wish...

Don't hesitate to leave comments or suggestions!

Thanks
~ Strangelove

*Currently a WIP. :mrgreen: Stay tuned. Thank you!

[RRuger]

Nice job Dr. thank you...

[Bwf.]

Very Nice Job Doc!..Thanks!

Best Regards, Bwf.

[cheruskerarmin]

Hi, as far as i see you used a template (nnavirex) to make this skin. So it should be easy for you to place the rivet/lines/weathering/dirt layers on top of all the markings and paint layers, where they are supposed and used to be! This skin would look much better if the lines/rivets/weathering/dirt would be visible in the markings and all paint.
Regarding the uneven serial numbers there are a lot of fonts available at simmerspaintshop, amongst them the US stencil fonts. I therefore suggest downloading them and using them for making the serial of this skin.
I personally would reduce the brightness of the yellow paint (opacity, contrast, chroma i. e.) , looks to much 'aggressive' to me (compare with your photos!), but this is a matter of taste.
I wonder why this bird didn't have the OD paint (anti-glare) on the inner sides of the engines, but refering to your readme-file it wasn't used for war duties.
The 1945 unit markings (yellow/red wing stripes) are appearing in a very uneven shape. This seems very unusual. I saw a lot of 486th BG skins before, all of these had them painted on in a geometrically even shape.

Hope this helps
Best wishes

[Dr. Strangelove]

Thank you very much for your kind words, Ruger, Bwf, and Armin!

I will see what I can do about the weathering/rivets/markings and all that... I will take a trip to simmerspaintshop next time I have a chance! :wink:

Armin, you're probably looking at the tail and noticing the absence of rivets... In real life they should be there, but there is simply no availability of quality photos to work off from. I could only find the two panel lines. I just wanted to go for more of a "simple" look, and not overwhelm myself or others to stare at all the rivets in the tail. Probably a dumb excuse. 8)

I will also revisit the color situation, I remember when I started I had a more "American cheese" shade ripped directly off one of the photos, but with all the different angles + lighting differences in the pics I decided to tweak it myself. Perhaps you can find the tidbit of the old shade in one of the skins?

As for the stripes, I never really got them perfect, that's kinda hard to do since there is a very subtle curve to them. I thought it odd in the same fashion as you, Armin, that they were not perfectly straight, but the photos appeared to show a little bit of curvy...

Also, on the "F" version, you might find the radio mast is yellow, when it has no right to not be chromed as with the rest of the fuselage. Skin mapping issues, of course... :|

This might take a while to tweak, so please bear with me, peeps.
I might also set up an account on a photo-hosting site. That always helps, as I don't even download skins without taking a look at whatever I'm getting into! :wink:

[Phas3e]

Had a quick look last night

Did you use a template PSD file? it looks like you only used a blank skin file, a .BMP and painted directly on it, explaning why you cant see any rivets or panel ines and had to do the lines yourself.

I would suggest going to simmers paintshop mission4today and flying legends and grab some B17 templates and get GIMP if you havnt already and skin using that

[cheruskerarmin]

Yes, that was my first impression too, he was working from a nnavirex skin. But in his readme he states credits to nnavirex, therefore i thought he must have had the template.

Working from blank or other skins is always a very difficult business. I do that oftenly when completing some flights and having just one single skin for it. Much easier is working with 'ready to use' templates which other skinners made and uploaded once for public use. Such templates (.psd files) are available i. e. at simmerspaintshop or other Il-2 websites (mentioned above).
If you like to use the nnavirex-baremetal-B17-template go to his site (use google with 'nnavirex', les chevalets du ciel website). On the right there are the bare metal templates for download. Just click on the B17 and you get it.
Which paint program are you using?. As phas3e stated, GIMP is a free program and available at simmerspaintshop. Whatever program you use, it has to be be one working with layers.

Best wishes

[Dr. Strangelove]

Heheh, I won't tell you guys what program I used, because you'll laugh me out of the building! :wink:
As soon as I learn how to use GIMP to it's fullest (I only know how to make smudgies), perhaps I shall come back and tell you how much easier it is to skin aircraft? :lol:

In all seriousness, though, you're right: layering is essential (something I knew but ignored). Fortunately they have a few tutorials at simmerspaintshop for peeps like me.

What say you about weathering next time around? This plane should be well maintained, so would it be likely to have much weathering on the plane? The pics show it in pristine condition, but I've been wrong before, so...

[cheruskerarmin]

I would add just the weathering which is visible on your photographs. If you want to make a skin close to reality you have to refer to your photographs.

Regarding skinning with template layers/GIMP you very surely will tell us how much simpler it is to make good skins.
I use photoshop and wellmade public templates whenever possible. Some of them - like the nnavirex B17baremetal-template or the jarink B17template (available at m4t) - are nearly complete, you just have to insert your yellow wingtips and vertical stabilizer layers, fuselage/wing stripes, noseart and serial/codes - voila, ready is your skin! Lines/rivets (often national markings/weathering/dirt etc. too) already were made by the skinner who made the template. Making a good quality (!!!) template from the first layer all by yourself is a job to do when your skinning skills are on very advanced level - and you got masses of time!! This is my opinion.

Looking forward to more works
from you

Best wishes

[BomberBoy]

As for the stripes, I never really got them perfect, that's kinda hard to do since there is a very subtle curve to them. I thought it odd in the same fashion as you, Armin, that they were not perfectly straight, but the photos appeared to show a little bit of curvy...

The curve seen in the photos is due to the airfoil of the wing. The stripes should be straight.

[Dr. Strangelove]

Ah, that makes perfect sense, Jarink!
Thank you very much, that will make the job quite a bit easier.

Too bad about the skin mapping... I believe the ailerons don't like to be painted on. Please, correct me if I'm wrong!

Thanks.