my unfinished F4U "Corsair"

[dk_art]

Oh, I'm sure I'll find a capable pilot somewhere [img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_biggrin.gif[/img]



Take that Red Baron!


David K
www.dkingdesign.com

[John F Dye]

I've spent more than a few hours at the controls myself. One question though. Were any planes painted with a light tail. I don't recall seeing any but I don't have a lot of knowledge in this area.
John

[dk_art]

I assume you mean on the computer :-)

The F4U-1 had a tail light according to this book of mine. But it's not viewable from this orientation.

Yeah this book I have has two-page wide cutaway technical drawings for over 200 (just fighter type) planes ranging from the Morane-Saulnier Type N , monoplane from 1914 to the F18 Hornet. Labels around 150 parts (external and internal) to each plane (except the early planes which aparently didn't have 150 parts [img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_wink.gif[/img] ) . I prefer the WW2 planes (WW1 planes second in line) to the modern jets.

David K
www.dkingdesign.com

[Eric]

cant wait til you get all the shiny highlightts etc...did you do it all "by eye" or did you use drawings or plans???

[dk_art]

I used a screenshot I took while flying that plane (in Combat Flight Simulator 2) and drew the shapes on top (so it's not really an exercise in drawing shapes by eye). After that bit I was basically looking at some photos in books and online to get an idea for some details. I'm still not done and some details may not be quite right but I'm mainly trying more to get the weathering and look of a used plane rather than a perfect replica. As far as shininess goes , I think it will be kindof toned down (or rather stay roughly like it is now) due to the dirt and grime that would accumulate on it during everyday life on a carrier at sea in WW2. From pics I've seen, a shiny washed plane has quite a reflective quality but the used ones had more "fuzzy" reflective highlights.

David K
www.dkingdesign.com

[Eric]

when you...dare i say...'traced' over the screenshot did you do it freehand or point-to-point?

[dk_art]

Well since most of the areas have fairly straight lines, I used the point "pen tool" mostly when I was defining the areas I wanted. Then I just bent them in whatever way to the right shape using the "shape editor tool" (also added / subtracted nodes where needed). The freehand tool would have been the wrong way to do it as much more altering would hav been needed to un-kink the lines drawn.

David K
www.dkingdesign.com