SBD Dauntless w.i.p
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There's several restored SBDs that hang from ceilings. You'd think there'd be more photos of the belly on the web!
I did find a few pics of the one at Midway Airport:
https://plus.google.com/photos/+VasilyEremenko/albums/5926175772297845889 -
That's exactly what I've been thinking! Thanks for the link, hopefully I'll update the template this evening.
Jarink
You'd think there'd be more photos of the belly on the web! -
I've adjusted the centre line bomb rack and added the star'n'bar markings (although they're above the weathering layer at the moment hence why they look too fresh) as the RNZAF simply painted their markings straight over the top of the US ones, the bars were kept as is and the star covered with the roundel.
I've also worked on the weathering, not much paint chipping but plenty of discoloured/faded paint.
HB -
Time for an update which is, unfortunately, not much of an update at all. Because of real life b.s. over the past two weeks I've had zero time (apart from a few hours during the weekend) for anything, let alone skinning. The result of this means that the template is 99% complete but with only a few days until ANZAC Day there's no chance of having the squadron pack done in time. Needless to say I'm pretty disappointed as it's the centenary of the Gallipoli campaign this year which is a big deal here in NZ and Australia, and I had really hoped to do something special for it by releasing this skin pack.
As it stands I've got two options: either have a couple of SBD skins done in time and then release the rest in drips and drabs when they're ready; or (and this is what I'm more inclined to do) pump out a 2 or 3 P-40N (mod) skins for ANZAC Day and then take the time to do the SBD pack properly for release at a future date. That would mean not only a dozen fully marked -5 skins but also reworking the template for the -3 so I could skin a handful of the -3 and -4 RNZAF aircraft as well as a Single Mission or two using said skins as there's a shortage of RNZAF PTO missions imo.
Anyway I'll probably post some shots this evening showing what I've done recently with the mech/internals, I'm a little proud of some of the details that I've squeezed into 'em
Cheers,
HB -
Here are the shots I mentioned earlier. First of all I should point out that there are some bits and pieces from the void file which I've left as I feel that they didn't need to be reworked, however I'd say at least 95% of the mechanicals have been redrawn in order to make them both better looking and, most importantly, more accurate.
With the major parts that were painted (namely the undercarriage, wheels, wheel wells and flap/dive-brake internals) I have done them as layers of shading so if I change the colour of the underside it'll effect those parts as well... even if all those extra layers increase the template's file size
HB
P.S. I was going to add the seat belts however the pilot's seat doubles as the texture inside that small viewing port underneath the cockpit so I scrapped that idea. -
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Last week I got back in to doing some skinning (the first time since April) and one of the things I've been working on is the SBD.
Most of the time has been spent working on the fuselage roundles as some Kiwi SBD's had over sized ones which went further up (and down) the sides of the fuselage. By and large the SBD is an easy aircraft to skin but like any other it has it's peculiarities which includes some warping on the top of the rear fuselage which made placing the roundles accurately in that area a bit tricky. I reached a decent compromise however on one skin it will be a bit obvious, NZ5064 was that one Dauntless which had some repainting done to it's roundles because the US star was showing through and so the repainting does show up how the they are slightly out of shape on the upper fuselage as you can see in the screenies. I should point out that the starboard side is better than the port side.
Other than that I've worked on the weathering a bit more but most of it is subtle stuff that doesn't show up well in screen shots.
HB -
It's a great job Harry with much attention to detail.
ATB
Armin
