DCS: WWII Assets Pack - B-17G Livery Competition

[II.JG1_Vonrd]

2 hours ago, MAXsenna said:

Deflated.

LOL!

BTW, not my words... Copy / paste from that website.

[MAXsenna]

LOL!
BTW, not my words... Copy / paste from that website.

Ah! I see. Haha

Sent from my MAR-LX1A using Tapatalk

[Captain Orso]

10 hours ago, II.JG1_Vonrd said:

8< .. inflated and deinflated (is that a word?) 8<

 

8 hours ago, MAXsenna said:

Deflated.

Of course that is a word. It's even the correct word.

A child's air balloon is inflated.

An air mattress is inflated.

A woman's bre... what's that dear...? too far...? yes dear.....

[Helles Belle]

Updated roughmets to take the shine out of the aluminium

https://www.digitalcombatsimulator.com/en/files/3332587/

null

Edited August 21, 2023 by Helles Belle

[Boosterdog]

57 minutes ago, Helles Belle said:

Updated roughmets to take the shine out of the aluminium

https://www.digitalcombatsimulator.com/en/files/3332587/

null

 

Nice!. Working out how the aminations work in the Model Viewer is a job for another time for me ---tooo many rabbit holes already!

[Helles Belle]

Entry for the competition

https://www.digitalcombatsimulator.com/en/files/3332646/

 

51 minutes ago, Boosterdog said:

Nice!. Working out how the aminations work in the Model Viewer is a job for another time for me ---tooo many rabbit holes already!

I remember seeing a list a long time ago for all the animations. Most likely out of date now. I just move the sliders until I get what I want.

[Leviathan0815]

Submission to the Livery Competition: B-17E assembly ship "Birmingham Blitzkrieg" of 379BG

Included are two skins:
B-17E Assembly Ship ''Birmingham Blitzkrieg''
B-17E Assembly Ship ''Birmingham Blitzkrieg'' Generic

 

Download Link:

https://www.digitalcombatsimulator.com/en/files/3332697/

 

"Birmingham Blitzkrieg" was first assigned to 414BS/97BG at Polebrook on April 11, 1942. Then transferred to 92BG at Bovingdon on August 24, 1942 and later assigned to CCRC 1/43; 525BS/379BG at Kimbolton, UK as formation aircraft, complete with bright paint scheme. She was salvaged on June 18, 1945. Her mission was to orbit the airbase to allow the rest of the group formation to form up after take-off. She would definitely be hard to miss!

 

[II.JG1_Vonrd]

After reviewing my skins I noticed some errors. The worst was missing Stars and Bars on the wings of the camo planes. Also some minor paint errors on Louie the Creep. Links to the updated skins:

Thunderbird: https://www.digitalcombatsimulator.com/en/files/3332180/

Texas Chubbie: https://www.digitalcombatsimulator.com/en/files/3332350/

Wee Willie: https://www.digitalcombatsimulator.com/en/files/3332471/

Louie the Creep: https://www.digitalcombatsimulator.com/en/files/3332565/

 

 

 

I'm almost done with two more skins... "Irish Lassie" and "Lassie Come Home".

After they are uploaded individually I plan to make a single upload with all of my skins for the contest. Hopefully this will make it easier for the Devs...

Edited August 23, 2023 by II.JG1_Vonrd

[Boosterdog]

11 hours ago, II.JG1_Vonrd said:

After reviewing my skins I noticed some errors. The worst was missing Stars and Bars on the wings of the camo planes. Also some minor paint errors on Louie the Creep. Links to the updated skins:

Thunderbird: https://www.digitalcombatsimulator.com/en/files/3332180/

Texas Chubbie: https://www.digitalcombatsimulator.com/en/files/3332350/

Wee Willie: https://www.digitalcombatsimulator.com/en/files/3332471/

Louie the Creep: https://www.digitalcombatsimulator.com/en/files/3332565/

 

 

 

Mate, On Texas chubby and possibly others I also noticed a layer error on the lower right airolon ciased by one of the baked parts layers cutting into the section and possibly some rogue toning layer brought acroos when the layer was originally mirrored. (cant remember exactly  what I did to fix it on mine) I dont know if you've also corrected this in the latest fixes but thought I'd mention it. 

[OLD CROW]

2 new entries for the contest:

1- 447th. BG, 709th. BS"Blonde Bomber II" Based in Rattlesden (UK) from 17/09/1944 til 06/'7/1945, credited with 75 combat missions and finally sold forscrap metal in USA 21/12/1945

The original nose art was based in a famous pin-up series known as "Vargas' Girls" published in "Esquire" by Joaquin Vargas. I've replaced the original copy from the ground crew artist with the original Vargas' one.... Now it has same style as her sister " A bit -o- Lace".

  Link: https://www.digitalcombatsimulator.com/en/files/3332703/

2- 398th.BG, 601st.BS "Aluminium Overcast" based in Muthamspstead (UK). Credited with 34 combat missions until it was shot down over France the 13th. of August of 1944.

Nowadays there's a flying survivor unit repainted like the WW2 original one. Link: https://www.digitalcombatsimulator.com/en/files/3332704/

[Helles Belle]

Here’s a final list of all the aircraft I am submitting to the competition.

They have all had their roughmets (speculars) updated this week and final tuning done to any diffuse files.

 

43-37907 “Carolina Moon”

 

42-40003 “Ol Gappy” aka “Topper”

 

44-8846 “The Pink Lady”

 

43-38412 “Webers Wagon”

 

42-30431 “Kwitchabitchin”

 

42-31143 “Satan’s Lady”

 

42-106992 “Baby Lu” aka “Grin N’ Bare It”

 

42-97976 “A Bit O’ Lace”

 

42-85784 “Sally B”

 

42-31863 “Miss B Haven”

 

44-6009 “Flak Eater”

 

42-31043 “Hells Belle” aka “Elsie Mae”

 

To round out the bakers dozen, this last one is NOT for the competition.

It is a bare aluminium & a bare olive drab aircraft.

I thought these might be of use for people wanting to fill spaces with aircraft of no description.

Hopefully ED could find them useful as well.

The fictional aircraft is one I did a while ago, it’s from the 379^th BG – 527^th BS.

It’ll fit in with all the other 379^th BG aircraft that have been produced I hope.

B-17G Bare Aluminium & Olive Drab + One Fictional

 

[OLD CROW]

Out of Contest I leave in user files my version of the 379th.BG, 525th.BS Lead Assembly Ship "Birmingham Blitzkrieg". Those units did a capital role assembling the massive amount of planes needed in those gigantic missions over occupied Europe. 

Due DCS limitations we only have available the G version of the B-17 (Thanks God) cause IRL this role was done by older E or F models, with no gun turrets and extra fire power. This game limitation doesn't mean we have to restrict "content creators" due historical-hystherical reasons... all the opposite.

 Generic paint

Link: https://www.digitalcombatsimulator.com/en/files/3332702/

 

Edited August 24, 2023 by OLD CROW

[Boosterdog]

COMPETITION ENTRY 

https://www.digitalcombatsimulator.com/en/files/3332722/

This is my only entry for the Livery Competition as I need a good long lie down now.

B-17G-35-BO 42-32024 WA – L, “Swamp Fire”­ 524th Squadron, 379th BG, 41st Combat Wing of the 8th USAAF based at Kimbolton, Cambridgeshire Feb to Dec 1944.

Completed on 15th January 1944, she was flown to England on Valentine’s Day and 1 week later began her active service. In just short of 10 months, Swamp Fire completed 117 missions, becoming the first 8th AF aircraft to achieve 100 missions without an abort on 1st November 1944. In December 1944 she was damaged in a landing incident by a rookie crew and struct off. But her service wasn’t over and she went onto fly a further 30 weather observation missions before finally returning to the US on 12th July 1945 where she was sold for scrap in December 1945.

In her time with the 379th, Swamp fire had 20 engine changes, a new tail, 3 wing replacements, large sections of a new nose and over 1000 patch repairs. The feat of keeping her flying without fail earned her crew chief, M/Sgt Dominic DeSalvo, the Legion of Merit.

As Depicted

Swamp fire is depicted after her 99th mission as we already have a 100-mission skin. This episode of her life is well documented photographically enabling me to match wear and tear quite accurately to the real deal across many parts of the airframe. She’s depicted with a replacement tail, the new outer port wing installed after her 69th mission and replacement port cheek turret (something, along with the tail that was replaced within her first 25 missions). De-icing boots have been removed and the bare metal overpainted.

In making the skin, I referenced around 20 photos of the aircraft along with about another 50 of contemporary aircraft. There is very little paint flake seen. I put this down to a good build, a pretty young aircraft (she was under 8 months in service at this point) and the well documented flow of replacement parts.

Wear and Tear

The skin uses several wear layers that I’ve created just for it including:

Service wear on the wings and over the saddle of the plane just behind the dorsal turret. This is referenced from photos of Swamp fire.

Chips and scratches. Quite subtle. I have attempted to match these to photos of the real thing, especially around No2 engine and the port side nose and port horizontal stabiliser.

Patches. As above, Ive tried to match the patches seen on the real thing to the skin. Patches are also given some depth through their inclusion in the custom Normal DDS. These also some Duct Tape in there too as it appears to have been used on the most obvious patch on the nose.

Mud and grime around the undercarriage.

Stencils and nose art.

The nose art and stencils have been created from scratch. The additional “graffiti” is based on what I could make out in the photos and what I deemed highly likely. Some decal and colour plate references have additional art but I can find no evidence elsewhere so have not included it. The name “Emma” on the chin turret is a guess based on 2 images that I found.  The Victory Cross is deliberately poorly drawn and replaces the equally shonky Swastika to better suite modern sensibilities.

Generic Skin

This retains the old, overpainted code triangle. An image of Swamp Fire after mission 69 shows the larger yellow Code triangle still absent so indicates it was a later addition to all BG aircraft. I’ve made the assumption that Swamp Fire isn’t showing this marking because of a tail refit and that it was likely a widespread feature on many original/older aircraft in the BG.

Template alterations and corrections

At least half of the 220 hours I’ve worked on this has been spent on editing the existing layers to both better suit an Olive Drab scheme and fix a few faults. Not a full list but this includes:

Editing the bright highlights intended for bare metal finishes present on the engine cowls, cheek turrets and saddle joints.

Editing the baked part layers to suit the painted scheme and correcting rogue shading (on the starboard lower aileron for instance)

Editing many of the general and weathering texture layers to reduce rogue elements near skin joints.

Correcting the Seam layer on the wings that is combined with a general texture treatment in the stock template. This eliminates the effect that makes the starboard wing look darker in game.

Created the missing identification lights under the fuselage using edited lighting elements from the template.

Editing some of the pant layers (clack mainly) into components to better control representation.

 

WARLORD64’s JSON mod.

The skin is a compromise between what is standard and this mod. Spec maps are adjusted to tame the effect of the mod if used but not so much the aircraft appears completely flat in the standard game. Much of the chipping has been given a matte treatment in the Spec as I don’t like the in-game darkening effect in certain lights and am not convinced those areas would be so reflective in any case. So it really only affects larger, factory present, bare metal areas.

 

THANKS

To everyone for the help and advice.

Special thanks to Helles Belle for sharing his Hex code for the Olive Drab.

 

Edited August 25, 2023 by Boosterdog

[Brigg]

Very nice Boosterdog

[II.JG1_Vonrd]

4 hours ago, Boosterdog said:

Editing the baked part layers to suit the painted scheme and correcting rogue shading (on the starboard lower aileron for instance)

@Boosterdog... this is driving me nuts on the aileron. I can't seem to find the cause of it in my skins. Can you share your findings and how to correct it?

 

Fantastic skin BTW! I think that you are correct in minimizing the paint chipping. It really looks authentic in comparison to the photos.

[Boosterdog]

17 minutes ago, II.JG1_Vonrd said:

@Boosterdog... this is driving me nuts on the aileron. I can't seem to find the cause of it in my skins. Can you share your findings and how to correct it?

 

Fantastic skin BTW! I think that you are correct in minimizing the paint chipping. It really looks authentic in comparison to the photos.

Gimme 30 mins and I'll look thrugh the templete

@II.JG1_Vonrd its a matter of just clipping  the mask of  this layer   Основной проявочный  копия (Main Developing Copy in my pigeon Russain).  In the diffuse down at the bottom, third one down in the "AO" secion. Basically a shadow layer gone a little "whey" when mirrored. 

Edited August 25, 2023 by Boosterdog
didnt take 30 mins :-)

[II.JG1_Vonrd]

@Boosterdog many thanks Sir!

[Boosterdog]

I have a 3 week backlog of jobs and favour to gain with Mrs Boo but........................its soooooo tempting!

 

[Aqil Huseynov]

11 minutes ago, Boosterdog said:

I have a 3 week backlog of jobs and favour to gain with Mrs Boo but........................its soooooo tempting!

 

looks cool

[II.JG1_Vonrd]

1 hour ago, Boosterdog said:

favour to gain with Mrs Boo

It's easier to get forgiveness than permission... but you might pay for it    

[II.JG1_Vonrd]

No.1:
This is a submission for the B-17G Livery Competition. It includes two skins, one a detailed 'Irish Lassie' and a second one plain and without the distinguishing markings of 'Irish Lassie" and named "322nd BS - 91st BG_Bare Metal_Plain". Speculars are used but I will change to roughmets if the developers decide to upgrade the B-17 to PBR. The detailed skin depicts Serial number 44-8475, a B-17G-65-VE, code: LG-C, nicknamed "Irish Lassie". The plane flew with the 322nd Bombardment Squadron of the 91st Bombardment Group and is depicted with 18 combat missions.

I could find only black and white photos so the colors are my best guess.

DCS: World War II Assets Pack is required.

Please Note: This skin will work with the default JSON file included in the game but to see the skin at it's best, use the improved Metallic look MOD by Warlord64 available here : https://forum.dcs.world/topic/319116-specular-reflectivity-from-brushed-to-mirror-effect/#comment-5150016

Never Forget...

Irish Lassie (44-8475) Falkenmayer Crew, 324th BS, 91st S/Sgt. Walter S/Sgt. Walter Walker, Ball Turret Gunner; S/Sgt. James Wyant, Waist Gunner; S/Sgt. Lawrence Spanbauer, Waist Gunner; S/Sgt. Edward Shea, Radio/Gunner; S/Sgt. Ralph Burke, Top Turret Gunner,  1st Lt. Monty Armando Grosa, Co-pilot; 1st Lt. Charlie Falkenmayer, Pilot; 2nd Lt. Bob Lyle, Navigator

Link: https://www.digitalcombatsimulator.com/en/files/3332762/

 

 

No.2:

This is a submission for the B-17G Livery Competition. It includes two skins, one a detailed "Lassie Come Home" and a second one plain and without the distinguishing markings of "Lassie Come Home" and named "322nd BS - 91st BG_LG  Plain". Speculars are used but I will change to roughmets if the developers decide to upgrade the B-17 to PBR. 

The detailed skin depicts Serial number 42-31673, a B-17G-25-BO, code: LG-C, nicknamed "Lassie Come Home". The plane flew with the 322nd Bombardment Squadron of the 91st Bombardment Group and is depicted with 69 combat missions.

I could find only balck and white photos so the colors are my best guess.

DCS: World War II Assets Pack is required.

Please Note: This skin will work with the default JSON file included in the game but to see the skin at it's best, use the improved Metallic look MOD by Warlord64 available here : https://forum.dcs.world/topic/319116-specular-reflectivity-from-brushed-to-mirror-effect/#comment-5150016

Never Forget...

B-17G-25-BO, Lassie Come Home (42-31673) Lt. LaHood's Crew, 322nd Squadron, 91st BG 

BACK ROW - LEFT TO RIGHT: Homer Glass, Navigator; 1st Lt. Louis LaHood, Pilot; Joe Stolber, Co-pilot; Manuel Canter, Bombardier 

FRONT ROW - LEFT TO RIGHT: Gail Garner, Ball Turret; Ernest Ellington, Waist Gunner; John Anding, Engineer; Bob Megchelsen, Tail Gunner; Bob Hettinger, Waist Gunner; Norman Mansfield, Radio Operator

 

Link: https://www.digitalcombatsimulator.com/en/files/3332763/

Edited August 27, 2023 by II.JG1_Vonrd

[OLD CROW]

8th.Air Force 385th.BG, 550th.BS. Delivered Hunter 17/8/44; Grenier 4/9/44; Assigned 550BS/385BG [SG-G] Gt Ashfield 8/9/44; Returned to the USA Bradley 26/6/45; Sth Plains 28/6/45; Reconstruction Finance Corporation (sold for scrap metal in USA) Kingman 5/11/45.

       Link: https://www.digitalcombatsimulator.com/es/files/3332758/

 

[SOLIDKREATE]

10 minutes ago, OLD CROW said:

8th.Air Force 385th.BG, 550th.BS. Delivered Hunter 17/8/44; Grenier 4/9/44; Assigned 550BS/385BG [SG-G] Gt Ashfield 8/9/44; Returned to the USA Bradley 26/6/45; Sth Plains 28/6/45; Reconstruction Finance Corporation (sold for scrap metal in USA) Kingman 5/11/45.

       Link: https://www.digitalcombatsimulator.com/es/files/3332758/

 

It’s turns my stomach to think of this plane getting scrapped.

[OLD CROW]

15th. Air Force 99th.BG, 346th.BS "2nd. Patches" took part in Operation Frantic, the first shuttle mission to the URRS on 2 June 1944, Landing in Ukraine. This unit gained her nickname from the amount of battle damage it suffered and the extensive new metalwork applied, including a new fin and rudder and a rear crew entry door donated by a cannibalised natural metal aircraft and never repainted in green camo.
Delivered Denver 13/1/44; Lakeland 1/2/44; Morrison 9/2/44; Assigned 815BS/483BG Tortorella 30/3/44; transferred 346BS/99BG Tortorella 31/3/44, then 429BS; 41m two killed and 8 RTD when ship skidded on airfield PSP into railway embankment and broke up crashed on take off for Pardubice, Czecho. 24/8/44 and sal.

 

Link: https://www.digitalcombatsimulator.com/es/files/3332760/

 

 

[Boosterdog]

COMPETITION ENTRY 

https://www.digitalcombatsimulator.com/en/files/3332778/

So I lied. This is my second entry for the Competition!

42-31636 “Out House Mouse”, 323BS/91BG [OR-N] Bassingbourn, Cambridgshire, UK, 1944.

Delivered on 30/11/43 she was transferred to 323BS/91BG on 12/3/44. One of the famous high scorers of the 91st with 139 mission, Out House Mouse returned to the US on 26/5/45 and sold for scrap on 30/11/45 though this didn’t happen for nearly 20 more years. She has the distinction of being the first heavy bomber attacked by an Me163.

As Depicted

Lets be honest here. For such a famous aircraft there is precious little to go on in the interweb and I didn’t have time to go lookin elsewhere. In the end I took a single high quality image taken after her 44th mission and based the rest on a Monogram 1/48 reissue.  

Wear and Tear

Wear is light. At this point the aircraft is less than 3 months in service. Still she carries battles scars in the form of an overpainted and patched perforated skin which I tried to match as accuratly as possible and give life to with an amended Normal Map. 

The skin uses several wear layers the I created for “Swamp Fire” and a few that I’ve created just for it including:

Service wear on the wings and over the saddle of the plane.

Chips and scratches. Quite subtle. I have attempted to match these to photos of the real thing, especially around No2 engine and the port side nose and port horizontal stabiliser.

Patches. As above, Ive tried to match the patches seen on the real thing to the skin. Patches are also given some depth through their inclusion in the custom Normal DDS. These also some Duct Tape in there too as it appears to have been used on the most obvious patch on the nose.

Mud and grime around the undercarriage and wheels.

Template alterations and corrections

Not a full list but this includes:

Editing the bright highlights intended for bare metal finishes present on the engine cowls, cheek turrets and saddle joints.

Editing the baked part layers to suit the painted scheme and correcting rogue shading (on the starboard lower aileron for instance)

Editing many of the general and weathering texture layers to reduce rogue elements near skin joints.

Correcting the Seam layer on the wings that is combined with a general texture treatment in the stock template. This eliminates the effect that makes the starboard wing look darker in game.

Created the missing identification lights under the fuselage using edited lighting elements from the template.

Editing some of the pant layers (clack mainly) into components to better control representation.

WARLORD64’s JSON mod.

The skin is a compromise between what is standard and this mod. Spec maps are adjusted to tame the effect of the mod if used but not so much the aircraft appears completely flat in the standard game. Much of the chipping has been given a matte treatment in the Spec as I don’t like the in-game darkening effect in certain lights and am not convinced those areas would be so reflective in any case. So it really only affects larger, factory present, bare metal areas.

I do recommend the mod however as it does more than just make metal. Matt tyres anyone?

THANKS

To everyone for the help and advice.

Special thanks to Helles Belle for sharing his Hex code for the Olive Drab and to Warlord64 (Keefy) for years of supporting us skinners!

 

 

 

 

Edited August 29, 2023 by Boosterdog