DA's TOTALLY TERRIFIC THREAD OF STICKERIFFIC IMPROVEMENTIFICATIONS. and stuff

[+daddyairplanes]

the little things you can do when you have the slots open

[Nightshade/PR]

552nd out of Tinker?

[+daddyairplanes]

yup, circa '04-06

the guy that was silent in the last beta test thread of ours put the bug in my ear to do it. or specifically, i started looking at the ESSM pods (a fake pilot add on), then fiexed them, then looked at pics from 2003-2007...... you get the picture

The NATO ones were actually much simpler to do, as they dont differentiate tween the 3 squadrons. just 1 NAEWF. and i did the research on that years ago.

but since i had the decal slots open, i put in a data plate with serial num and model (B or C)

right now im just waitin on a couple answers from said guy to complete. all the tgas are already made, whole wing skin done,  and squadron skins are just a matter of copy and ini edit.

Edited January 16, 2024 by daddyairplanes

[+daddyairplanes]

and more pieces come together

aaaaand i gotta tweak that Viper up just a little more......

[+daddyairplanes]

been back to stickers for this one. i mean i do already have them dialed in pretty good

[EricJ]

For some reason I won't fly SF2 Hawgs. I don't know why but maybe I like the gadgets and doohickeys of the DCS plane better, even though I never flew in an online squadron. Anyway it's looking pretty good DA

[+daddyairplanes]

mix flight, 4 types, now with tanks for all

again, big tanks thanks to yakaro79 for showin me a better way

[+daddyairplanes]

nothing too complex today, just some Hogs that moved in to Knob Noster from Dickie Goober.....

 

[+daddyairplanes]

not quite ready for prime time, but its a start

[+daddyairplanes]

back north for a moment

so, i am doing serials for PACAF Mod Eagle. where the markings are supposed to be opposite of whatever color theyre on (most of ACC and USAFE ingnored this)

but light serials dont do good on dark surfaces

so i

cut out a box on the mod eagle skin

 

made a box in a decal, and cut the serial number out of the box

insert  via ini

 

 

and it dont look too bad

 

[+Menrva]

@daddyairplanes Clever solution. I want to point out that decals use their own shader for rendering, though. They get a different lighting compared to the rest of the aircraft's textures. This means that under certain angles of sunlight, you might be able to see the box being illuminated differently.

[+daddyairplanes]

oh i know, and in lodviewer its pretty evident especiall at some distances  and angles.

in game and in several lighting conditions  its pretty hard to tell unless you get very very close. like rivet counting close, not any kind of gameplay close. my last two posts in the main Screenshot thread are from test runs on the first few decals for this

creating the decal itself is a little more complicated than the usual.  not pick a color and opacity, rather

Box with a base color, then black numbers. Make copy from visible and hide the origianl group of layers. Select the base color, then invert selection and delete (eliminates every trace of the black num). Copy that layer. Use bucket fill to change to a lighter color (the color bleeds, but at 200px image size, the bleed adds slight fuzz that eliminates the hard edges and isnt as noticeable as if say a 1024px image). Reduce opacity to ~30%. reduce the dark base copy between 2 and 10% for some variance.

Rinse wash and repeat 37 times

tonight i wrap up with the unit marked birds. this is wher it'll get a bit more interesting....

[+daddyairplanes]

more bosses

[+daddyairplanes]

couple of fixes, some patient work off an old photo  and we're back on track

[+daddyairplanes]

subtle difference in just one years time, 86 vs 87

wait til you wee the first one in 88,,,,,,

[Nightshade/PR]

I do like it. I'll like it even better after having dropped this with it:  

[+daddyairplanes]

well, you might want to go old school then

the ARNies and _88 wont have centerline pylons, therefore no nukes

but the LORAN and _75 (and earlier) will

[+daddyairplanes]

i think the Wing CO liked the nose art when 567 wnet to Zweibrucken. cause it stayed on and stayed the Wing King until 567 went to the paint shop to go gray in 88......

Edited May 5, 2024 by daddyairplanes

[+daddyairplanes]

finally got a good(ISH) image of the 38th patch as it was in Desert Storm

we've been doing it wrong

  our old version, as on skin in past and tga recently

  this is closer to what it look like i think.

Edited May 7, 2024 by daddyairplanes

[EricJ]

Looks reasonably like it

[+daddyairplanes]

heavy duty scientific wildass guess time

the Kadena RFs went to Taegu in 1989,  being stationed there for one year before the 15th TRS disbanded

the squadron stayed the 15th TRS, and took all the aircraft that were at Kadena .but changed units from the 18th Tac Fighter WING to the 460th Tac Recon GROUP

this is based off of book reseach and two (yes only two) pics.   so the GU skin will be highly.... suppositional. not what if but not as spot on as i like either.

one of two pics i can base off of

 

[+daddyairplanes]

almost done with active duty. just 3 more skins to go.....

 

then its the ANG. so much Guard Recce.....

[+daddyairplanes]

[Nightshade/PR]

You know that "KY" Tailcode makes me laugh

Out of curiosity, will this one be included?

Edited May 31, 2024 by Nightshade/PR

[Blade]

On 2024. 05. 11. at 8:49 PM, daddyairplanes said:

this is based off of book reseach and two (yes only two) pics.   so the GU skin will be highly.... suppositional. not what if but not as spot on as i like either.

Do you need more photos?

Edited May 31, 2024 by Blade