Here's a really weathered USAir 737. This is a first cut and will be toned down a bit. It will not be as grunged out as it now appears. http://forums.avsim.net/user_files/38657.jpg:-spacecraft

Nice Pete! I love attention to detail, grease, dirt etc add SO MUCH to a livery's realism IMO. Keep it up![h4]Best Wishes,Randy J. Smithhttp://img.villagephotos.com/p/2003-8/196432/winglets_lg.jpg [h3] AMD XP 2200 |MUNCHKIN 512 DDR RAM |ECS[/b ][i] K7S5A MB[/i] |GF2 MX 32 MEG and still runs GOOD!|WIN XP PRO |MITSUBISHI DIAMOND PLUS 91 19"[/h3]

Ditto, that is a really awesome livery... however you should put some more dirt on the engines... they are so clean in contrast to the rest of the plane!Keep up the good work mate!

OMG, that looks soooo realistic!

Here's another version, this time as a freshly minted 737. The final version will be somewhere between the two, with correctly grunged engines.http://forums.avsim.net/user_files/38667.jpg:-spacecraft

Honestly, at first glance of the First picture, I thought that was an airliners.net photo. Only when I saw the scenery in the background I realised it was FS. Mate.....you got tons of talent. Keep it up.

Well, Pete, I started to do some repainting, but now I have found my master! Excelent work!Maybe some smear streaks on the engine would give it an even more realistic look.GreetingsThomas:-beerchug

That first pic looks like it just left desert storage! Really good job.

Thanks to everyone who commented on this. Looks like I'll be keeping the first version. I've modded the engine texture and I think it'll look good with the rest of the plane. Should be available for the SU2 release cycle. No ETA.:-spacecraft

Hi Pete,I would like to know how you painted the dirt. Do you have like a dirt mask or layer? Because I would like to add a more realistic touch to my future repaints.Thanks in advanceThomas

Thomas,No dirt mask was used. It probably would make my life a lot easier by using them but then all of my liveries would start to look the same :-eek I'm getting used to how FS treats textures and can make a pretty good guess on how the techniques I apply will look in the sim. Other than the default dirt layers in the paint kit I usually only add grime if I think it'll add to the overall effect of what I'm trying to show. The TrueMetal effect I use is one I brought over from my days of painting PMDG's 757 and freeware 747's, DC10's, 737's and 727's in Fly! II. The metal fuse is actually based on composite images found on the web. The dirt was part of one image that I thought would look good and I included it as part of the USAir livery. Find an image of how you want the dirt to appear on your livery then cut and paste then adjust trasparency to suit. Trail and error is the best teacher, and Bob (the lead PMDG Graphic Guru) knows I've made a lot of errors. One of the many great thing about computers is that if you screw-up, you can recover and try another technique without too much time lost.Study reference images, add a little dirt, try other colors besides black and experiment a lot. You'll find a method that you like and that's what will give you the most pleasing results.Standing by to answer any more questions you might have...:-spacecraft

Pete,thank you very much!But did you check the images you used for copyrights? Because I wanted to use a repaint as a base to start with my "Building on Success", but then I saw it had a copyright and it seems that every pixel is protected! :-lol So I started with a blank sheet...BTW, I don't want to start any competition with you or any other painter. It's just that I like the challenge of making perfect liveries. And today I saw that there still is an error in my livery: those tail-like things (antennas???) on the belly of the plane are red on the real one...;( Thanks againThomas

Thomas,I don't copy images but use them as the basis for the artwork. I also start with a 'blank' slate but build up each livery using varying techniques. Cheatlines, Logo's and such are all hand drawn. It's how they are applied that give it either a 'Photorealistic' look or a hand drawn look. Depends on what I'm trying to show and how I 'feel' at the time I'm working a livery. Also, the use of filters during the assembly of a livery will influence how these look. For instance, to get the shine on the tail, I will usually start with the base color and after adding the identifying elements, Logo's, text, etc., I'll add a white layer that has it's transparency adjusted to show the under laying color. Again, depending on what feel I'm looking for, I'll adjust the shape and the transparency of this layer to highlight the underlaying tail structure. Just look at various images and use them as guides.The Cut and Paste bit I wrote about earlier is misleading. What I should have said was that the cut and paste portion of the livery creation process is used as the basis for the final texture application. I rountinely use this to check alignment of elements and to see if what I'm doing is going to look good or align correctly on the livery.As for the little bits under the fuse, they are indeed antennas and can be found on PMDG_Det_1_T at the lower lefthand corner. The two lighter of the several located there are the ones that go on top of the fuse so just color the darker ones and they will be located on the bottom of the fuse.:-spacecraft