Doughguy

Would be nice, however, the AI would be a major PITA as it would fly just like during the day.

to some extend yes.

Some interesting things ive come across during todays research seassion while getting home. As ive read the RLM colors are rather chalky and dont chip as much as US counterparts which are rather thick in finish. Also heavy wear as on chipping doesnt seem to occur and appears to be heavily overdone in 3d and modelkits. The RLM colors wore rather down on abbrasion primarily it appears especialy on the wingroots where the usual textures show heavily flaky chipping. However they indeed are dirty af. Already collecting ref pics to use as base for getting dirty with this bird. Pics also show quite well how uneven the panels were and how much warping was going on. Also riveting thats rather uneven.

Pic of said Blue 12. You can easily make out some different colored patches and the mg housing has a replaced corner in bare metal.

Hi. Thx. Ive skimmed some literature and studies photos. Im no expert but you have to keep in mind its 44/45. Situation is dire. Rlm colors used as available. No primer used on aluminium surfaces but just thin layers applied by unskilled force labor workers. Very few veteran pilots left. Young pilots fall like flies in their new machines. So field repairs -if even necessary as losses were high and write offs a regularity- would devise anything the mechanics could get their hands on. So any color that somehow matched the original color. Primer or not. Or just left bare metal. Some holes might be just patched up with cloth patches like seen on the 190 gear covers. Other parts were cannibalized and cut to fit and riveted. The late doras and kurfürsts were real frankensteins. At least thats what ive gathered. So anything goes. Best documented example is fw190d9 blue 12.

Yup same approach i do. I just skipped redrawing lines as placeholders and just used exiting literature and photographs as guides. You need some adjusting here and there and i work panel by panel with some rough guiding lines so panels and rivets align but it works quite well. However, since the Mustang and Dora vary a lot from their real life counterparts its hard to follow said photographs so the in case ofthe Dora its gonna be some b@stard child of a focke wulf.. Think same case should be with the Mustang Yeah adjusting mismatched gaps across UV islands is easier since you can just select a point of each shape and accurately adjust it by movin it with the arrow keys on the keyboard. However it wont help with jacked UVW´s... if they´re faulty.. they´re faulty. You coult compensate but imho it just not worth it if its barely visible. The Dora suffers from skewed ,faulty and poorly laid out UVW´s alot...

Cheers bud. Half the job or even more is just observation. So gathering ref pics like a magpie on crack is what i do.

A mate of mine is using twist for rudder aswell. He has problems with breaks tho as cause they rather need an axis input.

Feel your pain with the dotting man since i do a 4k retex of the dora myself. Good work so far! As a note tho: If you´re going to use this map as a base for a normal map, make sure that some panels/parts overlap and are situated over the main panels. Usually renders in a not so visible line around said part. Usually its the wing filets and such. For that i work off of a grey base and adjust the protrustion of the panels/parts by either darkening or highlighting said part. It´s pita working in that old skewl way especially if you have skewed uvw´s.... so yeah cant help it but make the most of it.

Wing underside and part of the ventral fuselage. Noticed some panel errors here and there. Cant really split the panel around exhaust as the uvw´s are really skewed... sowwy..

Well well, riveting like rosie, And suddenly, overlappin UVW´s

On the 190s you dont have to pull back all the way to lock the tail. At 100 kph you slowly but steadily release on the stick to neutral. At 120 she takes off. Pull a bit on the stick as both 190s are rather nose trimmed. Also keep the stick to the right aswell about half way to counter rolling. Once she gains speed past 120 kph neutralize the stick aswell. Rudder full to the right aswell due to torque. But release once you start gaining speed. Dont have it slammed the whole way youll overdo! Rather slam, release correct a bit, release, correct etc. Basically youd do the same with the mustang if you dont trim the rudder. Only that the mustang responds a bit faster compared to the 190s. Coordination is a bit tricky but just treat her lightly. Shes a classic lady that needs to be carried over the doorstep.

Quick update. Ironed out the major kinks in the panel base. Some few small alignment errors left. Nothing spectacular. Have to see how the panel spacing works. Good thing about panel work is that one has better control about how the spaces between the panels look like. Old skewl approach of plane texturing is just drawing the nooks n cranies, but that produces uniform spaces which dont really happen irl. UVW´s are partially screwed which is a pita to remedy.... Started riveting work. Doing this click by click to produce an uneven result. Takes time, so i work panel by panel. Fact that the ED doras panel/riveting pattern are quite off to some of my sources means i have to prepare quite a lot. Also made a flat screw brush and made some tests with it. Will do a round head screw and bigger rivet brush as the dora uses quite an array for these things... just have to identify where is what. once that map is done itll serve as mask and cavity map for the diffuse as well as base for the normal map.For the latter i will add various dings to the surfaces to make it more uneven eg. stressed skin etc.

Some panel work. Some parts need to retouched but first impression is pretty solid imho. Atm panels are grey, also to act as a standin for a height map for normal map and also to sort each part to act as masks for the diffuse and the roughness map respectively.

Thx for the pics. I havent touched the rivets yet as these are the ED ones. I will tho. Thanks a bunch for the pics! They´ll help alot! Seems i wasnt far off with my exhaust staining. Will add that reheat stain. Id assume that special spot will be rather grey in color iirc from other pics, so not rainbow colored like some exhaust pipes seen on eg motorcycles. Will tone down the gun residue.

More work. Quite happy with the exhaust residue. Not so with the ejectionport residue etc... not found good examples of how it should look like in RL (halp plz). Added some more masks to have a library on possible finish combinations. Re done the wing mask. Re did the leading edge and made it so to be more compatible with further variations. Also partially "resprayed" the pattern in an uneven fashion to redo the "hasty late war slave labor" finish. Redid the spinner. Pixel density seems lower in that area. Pity. Added a fabric overlay over the control surfaces and some stand in generic red primer chipping on these. Fixed the marbling overlay layer and that led to less visible seams. They´re still pita, especially around the wheelbays and adding mud spatter around them will be pure masochism.. Some wonky stuff still going on on the left hand wing filet... not tracked down the culprit yet. Still have to fix some seams and paint fill errors here and there. However, gonna continue on workin on the panels and rivets tomorrow, before i can continue working on the diffuse. The new panel and rivet mask is needed for correct dust/grime masking and essential for doing some good chipping. Anyway,Pics:

Exhaust residue still gave me an itch. Nearly there! Used an old skewl trick to minimize seams. Copy and mirror a part and work from that. Tiny seam still visible on the center of the fillet... have to move that part of the texture a few pixel.s Front part of the wing root still to be adjusted, but thats a minor thing. Chipping isnt mine but ED default tex.

Quick update on the Numbers thats gonna be used. Its bit of a mish mash but wanted to show the "painted" effect of each numeral. Some staffel numerals will have painted rims. Some staffeln used different "fonts", eg. more square 8, not overall round 3 but with an edged top etc.. Not sure if ill to multiple versions of shape or just go along with the colors. Whats also visible is the fact that the numerals are too close to the balkenkreuz. In order to correct that and make the stabs versions work ill have to move the balken kreuz a bit to the aft,possibly sizing it down. Bit of a trade-off.

Some more work. Some minor fixes to the pattern here and there. Still tryin to allign the exhaust residue... ED decided to split UVW at the most inconvenient place... the wing fillet.. leaving one to allign pixel dust on 3 adjecant pieces *shakesfist* I guess ill tone it down on the wingroot and filet for the sake of optical integrety.... figured ive exagerated it on these parts anyway since most residue seems to appear on the fuselage sides anyway. Added some mud splatters as test.The bottom fuselage is a UVW seam nightmare aswell... wings,center piece, andrest of fuselage. *shakesfistevenmore* Gonna take a break from the diffuse map and concentrate on the panels and rivets, since i could gather good info and ref. All of the lables are subject to change. Seen enough references, where some particular labels arent present. Atm is just for the sake of them bein "complete".

Dont engage in turn fights. never ever. Climb above it in chandelles or dive on it. on pullin up, engage a shallow turn. spit might get you from a lag/barrel roll. From above just b&z it. you´re faster in the horizontal and can climb way better.

Aye hence the ominous. But your comment got me thinking. The basic color combo could be rlm 81/82 indeed if it was the doras early full color pattern and 81 indeed was a greener color. Youd then have green shade only top surfaces and once war situation deteriorated green pigments became scarce and predominantely rlm 81 brown was used for top surfaces. This would correspond eg. III./jg54 / IV./jg26 having rather greenish camouflage aswell as stabs doras compared to eg II. and III. Group / jg26 doras that were build by mimetall. The famous yellow.10 would follow the same pattern before bein mottled up with rlm 81 and rlm 82. The japo book follows this pattern/scheme aswell as for the underside leading edge bein covered on brown rlm 81. However the flyin heritage museum has the basic top surfaces painted in what appears a medium grey rlm75. Also colored images of the d13 on the book "yellow 10" support this. Boggles with ones mind...

Heres some interesting pics from the web ive came across. I think one of the greens is defo our regular rlm82. The other rather appears like a the ominous rlm83 which is darker green with a brown nuance in it. Unlike on the rudder that has brown specs on it. And these arent rust. Eventually said green color in question is rlm74? Which appears to be a pale dark olive green. Either way. This subject is rather highly speculative and on the end i wont fixate on single machines and replicate them but base known and used colors variations for a whole staffel. So theres gonna be a bit of mix n match for everyone. Ive laid out the color codes for each gruppe and staffel and it seems the 7./26 brown numerals of II. gruppe are rather an oddity as they actually should be yellow. Eg.: I. group 1. Staffel white 2.staffel black 3. Staffel yellow. 4. Staffel blue II. Group. 5. Staffel white 6. Staffel black 7. Staffel brown. 8. Staffel blue However III. /11. staffel has yellow numerals again, same as 15. Staffel. And no evidence of 16. Staffel so far. 4th staffeln also seem to have sported blue spinner housings. Would make for a nice change. Im not even sure if all staffeln were equipped with doras but for many i have photographic evidence of at least one example. Progress wise ive made fixes to the pattern maskings mainly. Tedious work doin it ol skewl way... At im also gathering reference on mud splatter as doras would basically taxi on muddy fieldways in the last weeks and also various scratch and chipping patterns ill be using as photoshop brushes for masks. i also decided to respray the camouflage patterns again on a way so theyre not even in opacity for that rushed late war look. The balkenkreuz and swastika seem to be sprayed on where as the b/w spinner and staffel numbers appear to be applied by brush. Gonna replicate that.

Cheers! Thatll help! Ill compare it to my rlm 81

Iirc khaki is basically a high content yellow and low content black. To produce brown youd need to add red and green yes, but it wouldnt really be khaki then, not takin in account slight tonalities. I also see a green and brown on a light gray or off-grey (too much direct light). The light plays a factor on determining correct colors but also how thickly and evenly a color has been applied. Late stages of war bein rather hasty color application would be accordingly. So rather thin and sluggish. So youll also have eg a green or brown layer at eg 90 percent opacity on the late rlm 76 making it appear totally different on shade.

Thats basically what ive concluded and what eg eduard models proposes. Whereas ive found pictures of that dora with different fuselage colors and wing surfaces being painted rlm 75 and 82. But yeah the 76 81 82 combo would fot several late dora models especially made by mimetall. Yeah gearwell covers are in shadows and rather dirty just like the fuselage. The nose part apparently was brown but then repainted green and the brown shines through. You can also see this by lookin at the wavy rim around the cowling. A bit of brown peekin out beneath the green cover up. The do 335 and me262 def have a pale dark brown on there to accompany the green. The correct shade is debatable since theres light shadow and the sheer low quality of the pictures. @DB 605if you can take a pic of that fairing on a cloudy but bright day thatll help alot. Flash is no good. Needs diffuse light.