Okay - this is probably very annoying for everybody but I really haven't had time to get this section completed.

The Learjet in this case did provide me with a number of problems, though. At some point I should be able to get a full series of images to show this, but for now I'll just describe the various stages that I went through in this case.

Most of the issues regarding textures not wanting to align on the default model have been described in the previous page, and at the final painting stage this didn't really cause a problem as my early work had shown me what needed to go where.

One thing that is certainly awkward about the Learjet model (but common to a few of the default aircraft) is that sections of the side texture are used for the undercarriage bays and the nose. This makes it very difficult to paint the aircraft in anything other than a close approximation of the original paintjob. If you get hold of the ExecJet Learjet 45 from www.flightsim.com, you'll discover that I've had to build a couple of panels into the side of the aircraft... This is basically where the side lines go straight through an area used for the undercarriage. There were a number of ways around this, but I decided to add some simple blank hatches (with triangular red warning markers to make them look deliberate!) which almost exactly covered the area over the undercarrage. This meant that, although the side lines were broken up it really did look like it was meant to be like that from the start.

I also tried to map the rear section effectively around in blue from the tail swept down to under the wings. The problem with this was that some of the textures used here are repeated on the top of the aircraft (providing me with a series of unrepeatable words to be said against Microsoft's modellers!). The solution was to rethink the overall plan and redraw the rear of the aircraft so that the only textured area was within the space that I could guarantee wouldn't be mapped elsewhere.

The engines provided few problems but the overall paint job needed tweaking over and over again until I was happy. In the end, although the paintjob looks entirely different to how it was originally planned, I was satisfied that it met the standards I had hoped for (or something along those lines...)

Okay - I guess all that wasn't incredibly helpful, but when I someday get time to finish this tutorial off, it'll be straight up here in this space!!! Right now, Fingermouse Internet is taking up all my time and I haven't flown for a very long time...