Geezer

OK - thanks Steven. OK, I'll put it in the stack of "stuff to do - someday."

No problem - that was many years ago so most people have forgotten. Below is my online image website. I used to use Photobucket but, like so many guys, I gave up on them when they raised their prices without improving their service. You might have to register to view, but it is free so it will only take a second. https://postimg.org/files

Heh - Laton's old CL4 is one of my first 3D models! Back when I was using my many years of drawing board and CAD drafting experience to learn 3dsMax, Laton agreed to map and release the CL4. By my current standards, it needs modernizing. At that time, I'll probably modify the wings and details to make a CL2.

I work with VonS, who is developing some very sophisticated FMs for these aircraft. He also suggested a new Sopwith Triplane/Pup, in addition to a new Caproni Ca 3. I would also like to hear from Stephen1918 to ensure we do not duplicate each other's efforts.

Depending on the complexity and references, 200-300 hours. But, once completed, the models can often be modified to make a different aircraft faster than before. Samples below: the Nieuport 17 and Pfalz D8 are developing faster because I can use many parts from the Nieuport 24 or Pfalz D3.

I continue my experiments with terrain tiles in an effort to make FE2 sorta/kinda resemble the flight sims of the mid-oughts. I've successfully tested 2048 airfield tiles and using jpg files drastically reduces the amount of data to be processed, so I'm hoping it will be possible to use 2048x2048 jpg terrain tiles for the entire map. The latest test 2048 art looks promising even though I need to improve the roads, cobblestone streets, furrows, etc. Click for hi-res images.

I continue to work on the skins. If I don't burn out on the Pfalz, I may look into streamers for the struts.

What's needed is a full, or nearly full, frontal shot of the actor's face. Angled shots, showing the side of the actor's face, are too difficult. Go back a page or two and see the shots of George Peppard - one shot is almost looking straight into the camera.

As you pointed out, the SPADs were delayed so the Nieuport sesquiplanes continued in use long after they should have been retired. Probably. As I can make two aircraft by adapting the 24 backwards to a 17, I may as well make a decent cockpit that both models can use. Also worked on the Pfalz cockpit.

Today, I worked on the French version of the Vickers gun and Alkan-Hamy synchronizer gear.

When finished, it will run in either FE1 or FE2. The LODs are done, the baseline art is nearly done, and the cockpit is under construction.

Took a break from the Pfalz and Caudron, and started a Nieuport 17/24 - 24 is shown below.

Disregard above question about R11 horizon-blue fittings. The answer - YES - was buried deep in a section I did not read thoroughly.

I stopped being lazy and got out some of my references. I found some digital RGB numbers for French camo colors, so I can alter the camo when I resume work on the R11. I also found out that horizon-blue was frequently used as a primer on many metal fittings. BUT, not all manufacturers used horizon-blue as a primer, so the variation in museum restorations would seem to be historically accurate! I still don't know if Caudron used horizon-blue, or some other color.

Also been tinkering with the Caudron R11, and have a question for experts on French WW1 camo. Note the metal fittings in the shot of the M-S Type AI - is the blue-gray paint typical?

Been taking some mood shots for the intro screens.

Below is a shot of Quack74's 1024 size art on a standard FE tile. I dropped some of my buildings onto the tile for scale effect. By increasing the art size to 2048, the increase in pixel density should be enough to sorta/kinda look realistic. Note this increase will only work in FE2 - only second generation games can run dds and jpg format art on ground tiles.

Quack74 has done some very creative work on his WIP Verdun map. He carefully made a city street grid match the building layout. I intend to explore this concept further, as it is the only way to make towns/cities look realistic.

Another consideration is jpg format degrades the depth of color. See below for the three main types of art files - bmp, dds, jpg - and their effect on the image. I can compensate for that to a limited degree by reducing the brightness of the finished art by just a hair.

When the Caudron R.11 is nearly finished, can I pick your brain about mixed formations? I did not someone had figured it out.

True. But then you could not recognize George Peppard.

Got a good start on the lozenge camo for the wings. Click for hi-res images.

Finished the LODs and pretty much finished the silver-gray fuselage art, but still gotta finish the wings art and make the cockpit. Shots below are of an experiment - the silver fuselage was converted to red to see how it looks. As usual, click on shots for hi-res images.

Fixed it - thanks for catching that.

Fool!