F14 Skinners thread (Paintkit in 1st post)

[_YaeSakura_]

Someone ask for an Operation Frequent Wind VF-1 package?

https://www.digitalcombatsimulator.com/en/files/3319604/

[Quid]

30 minutes ago, _YaeSakura_ said:

Someone ask for an Operation Frequent Wind VF-1 package?

https://www.digitalcombatsimulator.com/en/files/3319604/

Dude...that is friggin' incredible!

[ShinyMikey]

On 11/26/2021 at 12:20 AM, Esac_mirmidon said:

Much better Isoko ¡¡¡

If this is not taking to much time from you, just offer the same edit files for the rest. 

 

Thanks a lot mate.

 

If you are having this problem with Isoko's great skins, it is easy to fix. Open the .dds files in paint.net and resave (ctrl-s), but change the compression to BX3 (Linear, DXT5) and check "generate mip maps". The new file size for the large .dds files should be 21.3mb. I did this for all my Isoko skins yesterday, and it totally fixed the problem for me.

Edited November 28, 2021 by ShinyMikey

[LanceCriminal86]

Re-saving DDS files loses quality. It would be better for Isoko to natively re-export as BC7 with mips.

[RaisedByWolves]

22 hours ago, _YaeSakura_ said:

Someone ask for an Operation Frequent Wind VF-1 package?

https://www.digitalcombatsimulator.com/en/files/3319604/

Nice job. I have frequent wind after eating at Taco Bell.

[vladimusmaximus]

Guys, is there a way or util to auto-generate an LOD file? I can't seem to line up the images correctly on there, if they are off even by a pixel it seems to mess everything up

[LanceCriminal86]

Use snapping in Photoshop, then drag the actual DDS files from the skin folder onto the 3 in 1. Photoshop will link those files, and as they are updated in the folder you can have it auto-update them. I got it working to where I could move the psd from one skin folder to the next and it would update based on whatever folder it was in, for the most part.

Also work methodically top left to right. If you have snapping on, it will snap the first one to the top left corner, then the next one right next to it, etc.

[yewls]

Wouldn't be right to have Wolfpack without Bullet! 

VF-2 Expansion done in similar vain as VF-1, all based on the awesome work of Reflected.  In the colors of their 89 cruise, NE200, 203, 205, and 206 in HiVis gull grey.  In LoVis tactical scheme, NE210, 212, and 215.  There are already great LoVis skins out for 213 (Reflected) and 211 (Seahawk), so I recommend using these alongside them. 

Canopy names currently omitted, and BuNos left as is from the base skins.  Over time, I plan to go back and make these as correct as possible.

This won't exactly be an exhaustive expansion, as I can't find many/any pictures of 204, 207, or 214 of the time.  The idea is that combining these with the base skins, you'll have about 12 jets to choose from/fill out the deck with for both VF-1 and VF-2.

Edited November 29, 2021 by yewls
Grammar

[Nealius]

Time for me to make a CVW-2 cyclic deck with the CV61 reskin on the Forrestal once that Bullet pack is available. Just missing the A-6 liveries (and maybe Hawkeye) now. Guess it will be all Tomcats on the deck....and I can hear my CPU crying already.

Edited November 29, 2021 by Nealius

[R. Winters]

18 minutes ago, yewls said:

Wouldn't be right to have Wolfpack without Bullet! 

VF-2 Expansion done in similar vain as VF-1, all based on the awesome work of Reflected.  In the colors of their 89 cruise, NE200, 203, 205, and 206 in HiVis gull grey.  In LoVis tactical scheme, NE210, 212, and 215.  There are already great LoVis skins out for 213 (Reflected) and 211 (Seahawk), so I recommend using these alongside them. 

Canopy names currently omitted, and BuNos left as is from the base skins.  Over time, I plan to go back and make these as correct as possible.

This won't exactly be an exhaustive expansion, as I can't find many/any pictures of 204, 207, or 214 of the time.  The idea is that combining these with the base skins, you'll have about 12 jets to choose from/fill out the deck with for both VF-1 and VF-2.

 

Looking forward too the VF-2 skins!! Here is a link to the CVW-2's 1989 cruise with the Bu-NE1989 (gonavy.jp). Numbers of VF-1/2. Here is the VF-1 1989 cruise book with all the names-USS Ranger (CV 61) WestPac Cruise Book 1989 - VF-1 (navysite.de). And here is VF-2's-USS Ranger (CV 61) WestPac Cruise Book 1989 - VF-2 (navysite.de)

[Reflected]

https://www.digitalcombatsimulator.com/en/files/3319594/

[yewls]

Thanks to those who have linked me references for the BuNo's I've been able to correct almost all of the VF-1 jets.  But..... how the hell do you guys do the names on the canopy?  I'm looking at a picture of NE101, and I can make out the name of the skipper "CDR GEORGE MOE" and "Leader of the Pack", but its too blurry to tell what the RIO's name is, and this goes for pretty much every other picture of every other jet.  How do you guys figure out which name is which, and who's name is on which jet?

[Reflected]

21 minutes ago, yewls said:

Thanks to those who have linked me references for the BuNo's I've been able to correct almost all of the VF-1 jets.  But..... how the hell do you guys do the names on the canopy?  I'm looking at a picture of NE101, and I can make out the name of the skipper "CDR GEORGE MOE" and "Leader of the Pack", but its too blurry to tell what the RIO's name is, and this goes for pretty much every other picture of every other jet.  How do you guys figure out which name is which, and who's name is on which jet?

Check the deployment books on navysite.de, and even if the names in the photo are a little blurry, you may be able to find out who it is by looking at the names in the book.

 

https://www.navysite.de/cvn/cv61deploy.htm

Edited November 30, 2021 by Reflected

[captain_dalan]

On 2/23/2021 at 10:43 AM, Tomcatter87 said:

I finished a VF-213 Black Lions bird from the early 80s. Featuring custom drop tanks and correct bureau number.
Since it was hard to find any Hi-Res pictures of the old school lion, I bought some scale modelling decals to build my tail design on. Thanks to Reflected Simulations for allowing me to use one of his liveries as a base for that livery. The bird is great company for Reflected's Aarkvaard-Tomcats.

Just have to finish the pilot's helmets, then I can upload it.

Ooh, just what i needed! With shiny helmets as well! Thanks!
Question:
Shouldn't the blue rudders be less indigo and more ultramarine-lapis? 
 

[captain_dalan]

Wishlist:
Anyone willing to tackle the VX-4 Ferris variant used during the AIM/ACEVAl in the late 70's and early 80's? It would be much appreciated! 

[yewls]

On 11/30/2021 at 3:02 PM, Reflected said:

Check the deployment books on navysite.de, and even if the names in the photo are a little blurry, you may be able to find out who it is by looking at the names in the book.

 

https://www.navysite.de/cvn/cv61deploy.htm

 

Thanks for the link, would be nice if they had the callsigns in there too, but I guess the cruise book is more of a formal thing.  It's looking like I might only be able to do correct BuNos for VF-1 ... luckily in a lot of the pictures the jets are nameless

[Tomcatter87]

8 hours ago, captain_dalan said:

Ooh, just what i needed! With shiny helmets as well! Thanks!
Question:
Shouldn't the blue rudders be less indigo and more ultramarine-lapis? 
 

The lower picture is kinda high key, I don't know if it is a good color reference. The upper one is better, I admit. Those pics were also taken a few years earlier. Still, I'll check my sources and correct the color if necessary - I plan to make a slightly updated version anyway because I noticed two mistakes I should fix. 

[captain_dalan]

13 hours ago, Tomcatter87 said:

The lower picture is kinda high key, I don't know if it is a good color reference. The upper one is better, I admit. Those pics were also taken a few years earlier. Still, I'll check my sources and correct the color if necessary - I plan to make a slightly updated version anyway because I noticed two mistakes I should fix. 

Went to my DB and found these 3, that should be representative of the high-viz schemes for the early 213s. First one is Kittyhawk 1977-1979, second is America 1979-1981 and the last one is Enterprise 1982-1984. There doesn't seem to be any difference between the color palette used in this period, at least for standard birds. The one with the Varks (1984) appears to be the latest photo i could find with this scheme. They probably transitioned to the low-viz schemes shortly afterward. 

1280px-F-14A_Tomcats_on_USS_Enterprise_(CVN-65)_1984.jfif

Edited December 2, 2021 by captain_dalan

[Swordsman422]

Photos are great for detail references, but not so great for colors. Lighting conditions, exposure time, and many other factors can affect the true colors. The absolute best thing to do is actually get color swatches or paint codes for the colors required.  According to Geoff at Furball AeroDesign, the VF-213 rudder is FS35183 Medium Blue.

Edited December 2, 2021 by Swordsman422

[LanceCriminal86]

47 minutes ago, Swordsman422 said:

Photos are great for detail references, but not so great for colors. Lighting conditions, exposure time, and many other factors can affect the true colors. The absolute best thing to do is actually get color swatches or paint codes for the colors required.  According to Geoff at Furball AeroDesign, the VF-213 rudder is FS35183 Medium Blue.

 

Also fun is that when trying to turn FS colors to Hex or RGB values, you will find a few different versions and standards out there. TPS colors I have like 3 different Hex value sets and all 3 have different looks. Then sampling model reference sheets and paint company samples you get another set of shades.

Kodachrome was an iconic film and most of the great Tomcat pics were taken with it, but it makes things really rough trying to figure out the colors for making skins.

There's also some photos out there from 1981 of VF-142 and VF-143 that really look like they were experimenting with different grays and blues for the TPS scheme, maybe even using the same blue as the Farris scheme did.

But, again, it could be photo processing and the actual film making Medium Gray FS35237 look really blue, though it seems there is still a darker blue/gray on top. It could also be a different color than dark ghost gray on the sides and tails, and on the sides of the intake.

[Swordsman422]

2 hours ago, LanceCriminal86 said:

There's also some photos out there from 1981 of VF-142 and VF-143 that really look like they were experimenting with different grays and blues for the TPS scheme, maybe even using the same blue as the Farris scheme did...

First off, wow, that's only the second photo of that livery I have ever seen. Second, yeah, I can confirm for you that those aren't the same standard TPS colors. Not sure what the top or side colors are, but I know that the bottom is actually FS36373. The early 1980s were an interesting transitional time where they were pitching paint colors at the wall to see what worked.

 

You can only trust the official Federal Standard paint chips when it comes to not just color but specular quality. Any copies put out by other entities are suspect at best, as I'm sure you've noticed.

 

Edit: Checked with some of my more knowledgeable buddies in the hobby. That VF-143 livery is, top to bottom, FS35237, FS36375, and FS36373. The aircraft itself is an 85GR manufactured in 1975 and delivered directly to VF-143. You can still see she's lacking the L-bracket tail stiffeners and alpha probe on the nose, so at the time of this photo is unmodified. I wish I could find a photo of her port side. I'm betting she still has 7-hole GGVs.

 

Edit#2: Here's AG107 from the same cruise. This jet is from the 80GR production block and still has the 7-hole vents.

Edited December 3, 2021 by Swordsman422

[Nealius]

That particular VF143 photo looks like someone digitally post-processed it. I’ve manually developed film before and the colors, black points, etc of that photo look more like a Photoshop or GIMP attempt at HDR than it does actual film processing. Whatever it is, it is not a standard 35mm shot. I would guess curves adjustments to boost shadows and saturation to exaggerate the colors.

Edited December 3, 2021 by Nealius

[LanceCriminal86]

But the rest of the guy's shots aren't really like that. I've seen some actual super blue shifted photos where old Kodachrome slides were scanned and they didn't do the tungsten color offsets, and this does not look like that.

Here's VF-142 from the same year, looking at the Light Gull tails in the background, those are pretty damn close to the same shades of LGG I've seen in all kinds of photos so far, to include the VF-31 or VF-101 jet that got it at the end and went on display in California:

It doesn't look over saturated or fake HDRd to me, but it does seem like the colors are quite different from the typical Medium Gray, Dark Ghost, and Light Ghost we see.

Here's his album, he's got some great stuff on Flickr to include one of Gunfighter 160 in the Light Gull scheme. I really don't think these two pics were overprocessed.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/147668976@N06/albums/72157668182600938/with/39862897610/

 

[Swordsman422]

The bottom color is light grey vice light ghost. Any other variation can be chalked up to production dye batches, which is another PITA we have to deal with. FS35237 has an official chip, but various dye batches won't always match exactly. Judging by the dates, CVW-7 had just returned from a deployment, so weathering, corrosion control layers, and sun fading are all playing a factor in how the paint looks. This cruise was an evaluation for TPS concepts, so we aren't seeing final patterns or paint colors here either. This is the crap that makes skinning for DCS so damned hard. The actual paint doesn't always match the chip, and can be several percentage points off in tone, then add in the other factors that affect paint, and then how those colors appear in the DCS environment, and you have a real challenge. One of the pictures I frequently look at to remind me of this fact is a VF-14 bird from the early 1980s that is "supposed" to be FS26440, but the corrosion control touch ups look almost sky blue and the story is that the CC paint cans in the shop were from a different batch than the depot, but it was labelled the same color.

[Nealius]

The blue gray on the top/middle looks exactly what my model kits look like when I go by official FS numbers using Vallejo's paints. Way more blue than what you see in most TPS schemes.