Question on markings and decals

[Caesar]

Hey all,

 

I'm currently working on a 1975 VF-24 Red Checkertails scheme for the F-14 Tomcat and I had a few questions. (I may be slow to reply to suggestions/comments due to a dial-up connection)

 

Firstly, pertaining to the Checkertails colorscheme: I've got the tail and fuselage fine, but does anyone know if the radome was painted with the yellow/white stripe for the Checkertails (now Renegades) in '75? I managed to find a few pictures which shows a "clean" radome: it's light gull grey like the fuselage/wings, with the wavy white pattern below. But, on a few prints, the Checkertails 'Cats have the radome painted with the yellow/white stripe a-la VF-1. Being that I lean more towards pics than prints, if I can't get a definite answer I'll probably leave the nose clean, but if anyone knows, it'd be nice to find out.

 

Secondly, I haven't been able to figure out how to get the plane to have the numbers 2xx instead of 1xx. My two former skins were 1xx planes and I just used the base fighterplane numbers. I've already modified the numbers.lst file for 200-212 or so, but on the plane, it still shows up as 1xx numbers. Anyone know a potential cause for this? Or for that matter how to do custom decals for numbers (the Checkertails had black numbers with a red outline, and that'd be nice to do.)

 

Thanks in advance for any replies,

-Caesar

[FOTF]

Hey all,

 

I'm currently working on a 1975 VF-24 Red Checkertails scheme for the F-14 Tomcat and I had a few questions. (I may be slow to reply to suggestions/comments due to a dial-up connection)

 

Firstly, pertaining to the Checkertails colorscheme: I've got the tail and fuselage fine, but does anyone know if the radome was painted with the yellow/white stripe for the Checkertails (now Renegades) in '75? I managed to find a few pictures which shows a "clean" radome: it's light gull grey like the fuselage/wings, with the wavy white pattern below. But, on a few prints, the Checkertails 'Cats have the radome painted with the yellow/white stripe a-la VF-1. Being that I lean more towards pics than prints, if I can't get a definite answer I'll probably leave the nose clean, but if anyone knows, it'd be nice to find out.

 

Secondly, I haven't been able to figure out how to get the plane to have the numbers 2xx instead of 1xx. My two former skins were 1xx planes and I just used the base fighterplane numbers. I've already modified the numbers.lst file for 200-212 or so, but on the plane, it still shows up as 1xx numbers. Anyone know a potential cause for this? Or for that matter how to do custom decals for numbers (the Checkertails had black numbers with a red outline, and that'd be nice to do.)

 

Thanks in advance for any replies,

-Caesar

 

Do yourself a favor......do what every other skinner that has come before has done.....

 

Go download some other skins, and see how they do it.......

 

That is the absolute best way to learn

[Caesar]

Do yourself a favor......do what every other skinner that has come before has done.....

 

Go download some other skins, and see how they do it.......

 

That is the absolute best way to learn

 

Well, I agree with you: in many circumstances, DIY is usually the best way to learn. I had been wondering about the radome for a while and figured I may as well ask about the numbers. I'll figure out the number situation on my own.

 

Still wondering about that radome, though...it's looking more and more like it'll be clean.

 

Thanks for the reply,

-Caesar

[FOTF]

Numbers are easy.....

 

What I do is just create my own in Photoshop, or you can even just find the USNfighternumber you want to use...

 

Then, rename then something like "Nose" or something....stick them in you decal folder, and then make sure you reference them in your decal.ini.

[Caesar]

Thank you again for your replies, Paul.

 

The main issue I ended up having was that I couldn't figure out what a .tga file was; on my former skins, if I wanted something like carrier markings, I just painted them on and then used the games' stock decals for other markings. After some scanning I found that bit of info as well. I found that I can make .tga files in PSP8 (though, from what I understand, PSP8 is more difficult for decals than Photoshop or PSP7), and that I'll be able to get the numbers looking good with some practice...but first, Calculus (ah, summer semester .)

 

With most sincere gratitude,

-Caesar