Bananimal Posted April 8, 2019 Share Posted April 8, 2019 VFA-106 Gladiators Inbound Well, seeing as I was tired of sitting around waiting for the F-14 templates to drop, I figured I crank out another F/A-18 set. This time, it's the Gladiators. Started work on this one yesterday. Just about wrapped it up today. Still need to do the pilot and BuNO on the dash. Other than that, she's complete. This is one of my favorite schemes. I built a Minicraft Hasegawa kit in 1/32 of the very similar prototype scheme when I was a kid. Seeing it come to life in the sim is just fantastic. It's truly stunning cruising along in the sim. Next is the CoNA bird, followed by a few CAGs, XOs, and line birds from various years. Probably will be thirty or so in the packs once I release them. Enjoy this one as a teaser. ___________________________ Bananimal's DCS Mods and Skins Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
_mu110_ Posted April 8, 2019 Share Posted April 8, 2019 I was just looking at pictures of that Hasegawa kit 30 minutes ago thinking about recreating that Navy/Marines test livery. Looks you you got there first! Great looking skins as always, can’t wait till the full pack gets released. Check out my skins and mods on the User Files. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DmanGIV Posted April 8, 2019 Share Posted April 8, 2019 Awesome! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CHSubZero Posted April 8, 2019 Share Posted April 8, 2019 Was already done August 2018: https://www.digitalcombatsimulator.com/en/files/3300628 Let's see if you can do it better ;) My Mods: DCS User Files Modules owned: EVERY Module :pilotfly: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mrjollyroger103 Posted April 8, 2019 Share Posted April 8, 2019 Yeah his will destroy any other paint job that was done. His attention to detail says it all. I can’t wait for this pack to be done Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bananimal Posted April 8, 2019 Author Share Posted April 8, 2019 (edited) Was already done August 2018: https://www.digitalcombatsimulator.com/en/files/3300628 Let's see if you can do it better ;) Yes. I have that one and while it is a decent effort, it is not done correctly. The hornet graphic on the nose and the helmet on the tail are mis-shapen and inaccurate. As are the layout for the striping on the vertical and horizontal stabs. The roundel on the left wing upper is not slanted. The anti-glare visor is not correct. It's missing proper stenciling as well on the wings, etc. And the colors are off. Then again, that is a 40 year anniversary skin and i have not seen the real bird. Therefore, the one I am doing has technically NOT been done yet as it is a 30 year anniversary skin. When I do a skin, I do it down to the hinges, bolts and washers on the model. Spent 2 hours yesterday hunting down a washer that needed to be painted. I guess I'm nuts. Pun intended. LOL!! Edited April 8, 2019 by Bananimal ___________________________ Bananimal's DCS Mods and Skins Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tailhook Posted April 9, 2019 Share Posted April 9, 2019 Colors on both are wrong. The navy blue and gold only looks brighter in direct sunlight. Intel i9-13900K : ASUS TUF RTX 4080 : 32GB G.Skill RipjawsV 4000 : TM HOTAS Warthog : HP Reverb G2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bananimal Posted April 9, 2019 Author Share Posted April 9, 2019 (edited) And my pics were in direct sunlight. In the sim with Reshade, the colors on mine go dark in shade as in the picture above. It depends on the lighting in the sim. I lifted the colors directly off of a photo in the sun. While I understand that it depends on the lighting and the camera that was used to take the photo, researching all of the photos indicates mine is very, very close to accurate, if not accurate. Post a pic of the real bird in the sun and you'll see how much the blue and gold changes. Here's an example Note how dark the stripe under the wing is when in the shade. Much like your photo above. My colors behave this way in the sim. You'll see when you fly it! :-) Or take a look at the colors on the vertical stab and the anti-glare visor on the nose in the third picture I posted above. Edited April 9, 2019 by Bananimal ___________________________ Bananimal's DCS Mods and Skins Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CHSubZero Posted April 9, 2019 Share Posted April 9, 2019 (edited) Then again, that is a 40 year anniversary skin and i have not seen the real bird. Therefore, the one I am doing has technically NOT been done yet as it is a 30 year anniversary skin. You are right :D Haven't seen this small detail :music_whistling: Edited April 9, 2019 by CHSubZero My Mods: DCS User Files Modules owned: EVERY Module :pilotfly: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Woogie Posted April 9, 2019 Share Posted April 9, 2019 If you need some reference pics of 106 jets drop me a line. I have plenty Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bananimal Posted April 9, 2019 Author Share Posted April 9, 2019 (edited) You are right :D Haven't seen this small detail :music_whistling: That's alright man. I'll let it go this time. LOL Just horsing around. :megalol: It's interesting that in the two photos you posted in full sun, one is the color you expect and the other is the colors I used to paint this particular skin. It came down to this. I looked at decal sets for this scheme and most of them used a more blue as opposed to the dark navy blue. So, I was more inclined to assume that the color is supposed to be as depicted in your second photo. Unless this bird is sitting in front of me where I can see it with my own eyes, I'm not so sure the exact color can be determined. If anyone has seen this bird in person, please chime in. It's not too late for me to change the colors on it. :thumbup: Edited April 9, 2019 by Bananimal ___________________________ Bananimal's DCS Mods and Skins Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bananimal Posted April 9, 2019 Author Share Posted April 9, 2019 If you need some reference pics of 106 jets drop me a line. I have plenty Definitely would be interested if it is of no trouble for you. The more I have, the more I can paint. Going to be starting the CoNA bird tonight. It should go fast. ___________________________ Bananimal's DCS Mods and Skins Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bananimal Posted April 9, 2019 Author Share Posted April 9, 2019 (edited) Here's the difference between my version of this scheme and the other. You can flip back and forth between the pictures using the previous and next buttons to see how much of a difference there is. Especially with the striping layout and stenciling. I presume one will most certainly be a better rendition than the other. Edited April 10, 2019 by Bananimal ___________________________ Bananimal's DCS Mods and Skins Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bananimal Posted April 12, 2019 Author Share Posted April 12, 2019 (edited) Finished the CoNA bird night before last. Making some changes and spent some time taping the helmets. I also am 2/3 finished first XO bird. Tonight I need to learn how to create vector images of the stenciling as I am not happy with the loss of readability of the text. Once I figure that out, if it is even possible, I will reapply the danger and warning stencils to all aircraft. I also received a very cordial PM from Grimes, the creator of the other skin. He pointed out that my post looks vain. As I explained to him, I did not post to berate, but to show other skinners what to look for when skinning. Also, to show non-skinners just how much consideration needs to go into a skin to get it right. I could put it in text, as I did, and it's not the same as a side-by-side comparison. A picture is worth a thousand words and I saw it as an opportunity to show just how much work goes into my skins. It ain't easy. Sorry if it came off as an insult Grimes, but if we can't point out how to become better at what we do, then the entire community loses. That's my thoughts on the subject. I'm sure my skins could be picked apart too. In fact, the guys I fly with do just that, and I welcome it. It's how I get better. Anyway, here's some pics of the CoNA: EDIT: These pics were before it was completed. It has since received the "MARINES" decal on the right side of the tail. Edited April 13, 2019 by Bananimal ___________________________ Bananimal's DCS Mods and Skins Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Weegie Posted April 13, 2019 Share Posted April 13, 2019 You know I am a huge fan of your skins and cannot even begin to appreciate the effort Cannot wait and the CONA skin looks "The Dogs" as we'd say here Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DonJosh Posted April 13, 2019 Share Posted April 13, 2019 Your love for your work is stunning. I really like how you point things out and explain your work. Thank you. Can't wait to see your first f14 skins. Gesendet von meinem BLA-L29 mit Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mrjollyroger103 Posted April 13, 2019 Share Posted April 13, 2019 You know I am a huge fan of your skins and cannot even begin to appreciate the effort Cannot wait and the CONA skin looks "The Dogs" as we'd say here Wait until you see what the rest of the pack will look like! LOTS of line birds coming out way!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RaisedByWolves Posted April 26, 2019 Share Posted April 26, 2019 Looks great. Will it be available on this site? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bananimal Posted April 26, 2019 Author Share Posted April 26, 2019 Yes it will. Sorry for the delay in updates. We've been having really bad severe weather down here and that kind of takes my mind away from painting. Gotta stay alive to be able to paint. I've been having significant difficulty in aligning the "GLADIATORS" text on the spine of the last XO bird I'm doing. The UV stretching is making it almost impossible on this one. The seam cut's right across the R on the left side and the R is both too big and too small at the same time. Uggghhh! ___________________________ Bananimal's DCS Mods and Skins Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bananimal Posted April 28, 2019 Author Share Posted April 28, 2019 (edited) Alright, Gents. I've got a slew of pictures for you. All are XO birds from 2004, 2006, 2008, and 2014. I still have to do the latter birds. But these are done. Finally got through the retarded UV mapping issue on the spine of this model. I like to died when I realized that they used three different fonts across the spine. And, they are located differently for each. PITA! The frustration of dealing with that and dodging severe weather the last few weeks had worn me down so I put painting down for a bit. Glad I did, as when I hopped back in today, I saw a few issues that needed to be addressed. The size of the roundels, incorrect font alignment, The size of the numbers on the wings, and a few names corrected. Each one is different. Here's the first one. 2004. Edited April 28, 2019 by Bananimal ___________________________ Bananimal's DCS Mods and Skins Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bananimal Posted April 28, 2019 Author Share Posted April 28, 2019 The second, 2006 ___________________________ Bananimal's DCS Mods and Skins Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bananimal Posted April 28, 2019 Author Share Posted April 28, 2019 The third, 2008. ___________________________ Bananimal's DCS Mods and Skins Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bananimal Posted April 28, 2019 Author Share Posted April 28, 2019 And the last of this batch, 2014. Next will be 2016-2018. ___________________________ Bananimal's DCS Mods and Skins Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
_mu110_ Posted April 28, 2019 Share Posted April 28, 2019 Those are lookin really great man! Check out my skins and mods on the User Files. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bananimal Posted April 28, 2019 Author Share Posted April 28, 2019 (edited) Thanks. The warning and stencil decals you hooked me up with made things go much quicker. I am torn between modifying them on these though as the decals for these IRL are not as rectangular. Haven't decided yet as that's a lot of work. Knowing me, I'll probably do it. I've got that one XO bird left to do with the newer shield graphic. Once the XO birds are done it's just a matter of copying the folder and changing the colors on the graphics and the pilot names and I'll have line birds for each variant. Also, the only CAG bird I could find was on a Alpha model back in 1991. I also found a more current 300 bird but it was a Delta model. I'm assuming they used the Delta for the CAG bird. I'm not sure If I should paint up a Charlie CAG since we'll never have a Delta in the game anytime soon. Thoughts? I do have a 2016 Charlie CAG to work off of. Thanks, Carl. Edited April 28, 2019 by Bananimal ___________________________ Bananimal's DCS Mods and Skins Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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