DC-3 Repaint Templates released!

[Dark Moment 0]

Those of you who have been waiting patiently to get your paintbrushes out will be pleased to hear that the first repaint templates have been uploaded to major sites this morning. The file name is MAAMkit1.zip (it's about 16.7MB) containing 'bare metal' and 'white top' textures for both the Passenger and Cargo models in the base MAAM-SIM package. Options are provided, also, for clean configuration (warm climate aircraft!) or the more common configuration of horizontal surfaces and vertical stabilizer with de-icing boots.As further versions of the DC-3 are released, such as the forthcoming XC-47C (won't be long now!), additional templates will be supplied in order that you may paint these aircraft too should you wish. Expect a C-47 with bucket seats, a passenger DC-3 with double doors on the port side ("Betsy" lives, and many like her!) and a Wright-engined lady in due course. But, leave those famous Eastern and KLM "Flying Dutchman" liveries to Jan!So here's hoping that we see a good few quality repaints to come! Good luck! Please post any queries in this forum rather than writing to individuals, thanks.Mark "Dark Moment" Beaumonthttp://www.swiremariners.com/newlogo.jpg

[alastairmonk 0]

Many thanks, Mark !Whilst I can't use them myself, I look forward to all the repaints from those that can. Maybe its time to get a larger hard disk !Cheers,Alastair

[RoughLandings 1]

Woohoo!! :-yellow1 :-yellow1 I have various Alaska and B.C. area airline paints in mind for it already.

[Guest ogeva]

Thanks!I hope I can finish my half done Arkia repaint this weekend!

[Guest Holliday]

Brilliant job on the repaint textures Mark.One of the problems with photo textures is getting the detail to show through whatever you add to the plane. This is mentioned in the read me in the paint kit. I have been playing around with different methods of dealing with this.Blending modes (such as the multiply mode) and opacity are two ways which are fairly familiar. This can alter the color of the stripe or detail that you are adding. I have been experimenting with multiple layers, each with a different blending mode. I will duplicate the stripe or detail I want to add, leave them stacked on top of each other and use a different blending mode on each one. I have had luck with using the multiply mode on one and soft light on the other. Then I can play with opacity on one or both layers until I am happy.A new trick I am using on the R4D is copying the base texture layer and putting it on top of my layers. Then I turn the opacity down. This adds the details back to any color layers I have added. It does darken the overall textures, but you can cut away what you don

[Guest Javis]

Hello Holliday,The easiest way to add cheatlines or other patches of color to the bare-metal textures without losing the details is to use the'change color' option. Depends of course on the paint program you're using if such an option is at hand. I use Corel Photopaint myself. If f.i. i need a blue cheatline i'd select the area with the freehand select tool and select the 'change color'option. With this menu i can pick the color to change with the eyedropper, which would be inside the selected area of course. Likewise i can also pick the color to change the current color into, or choose from the palette. Default range is set to 50 so not everything inside the selected area will turn blue yet. Moving the range slider upwards fills everything with blue. If not happy with the color yet,( i have ' display selection area' de-activated so i can see what's happening on texture without any distracting 'walking lines ';-)) there are a bunch of sliders in the 'change color' menu with which i can adjust brightness,contrast,illumination,intensity, etc. If i'm happy i close the menu. Nice thing is that all these settings remain so that all other needed areas to select will look exactly the same. With this method only colors are changed, all details remain, they only look various shades of blue now.It's pretty much like you'd paint a real world object. A good thing with our bare-metal textures is that, because of the grey tones, the're a very good basis for adding colors this way. One thing you need to consider is that the bare-metal base looks shiny and so any 'paint' you'll add via this method will look shiny as well. Re the fact that just about every airliner is always painted as high gloss as possible that's just what we want, isn't it. :-cool If you have something like a 'change color' option with your paint progam i can highly recommend doing some testing with it. Good luck!Jan

[Guest Holliday]

I need more control than that would offer, although I can think of ways to retain the control and still just change the color. I use Photoshop CS. I

[Guest danowat]

Hi,I have been playing around with this, like others have been spoilt by layer paintkits, and came up with this.1) Open up the bare metal fuse bitmap2) Add a new layer on top, fill this layer with a dark grey, you can alter the darkness of the grey to get a different shade of white, i.e. the darker the grey, the whiter the final fuse will be, experiment with it and see what works for you3) Multiply that layer, so the base layer shows through.4) Merge these layers together5) Negitive image the resultant image.You should now have a white fuselage, with all the detail on it, using this I can paint in my normal way, adding colours and multiplying to show the detail underneath.The above technique works for me in PSP, it may or may not work in other progs, but its worth a try.Dan.

[rambow 0]

All this tech talk among painters is very exciting, because I think (and hope) it presages some really great liveries in the works.:-) The best repaints will have direct download links, credits and screenshots at the MAAM website, which will be revamped, shortly. So, hurry up, all you Duralumin DaVincis, Renoirs of the Rivets, and Gooney Bird Gaugins. We can hardly wait. Now isn't that the shoe on the other foot, for a change! ;-) Bill Rambow MAAM-SIM - Rambow, Visser, Banting, Young, Womack, Sodja, & Beaumonthttp://www.fssupport.com/maam_sim/maamsim_logo.gif

[Guest danowat]

Well, I am certainly going to do Del Sol de America, so I can stop flying the default one I did ages ago ;)Dan.

[Guest Holliday]

I like that Dan. You can still cut away any part of the white fuselage that isn't directly under your color layer. It seems to work pretty well.I may redo some of the repaints I did for the default DC-3. I am mainly concerned with one in particular that was requested about a year ago. The gentleman that requested it has waited a long time and now we can finally get down to business. I am being pulled in a dozen directions by the various companies I "beta paint" for, but I am going to get at least a few done for the R4D.Ed Knapp

[Dark Moment 0]

EdThanks for all the input, from you and others here (particularly, Dan The Man!).Are you happy enough to work your R4D paints with what you have, or should we release a texture template set for this model? We discussed it, but decided not to initially, thinking that apart from the occasional USMC paint from the likes of yourself there might not be many takers for it with its 1830-94s, etc ... but maybe you prove otherwise.Anyway, the question is clear enough .. ought we to release a template set, or will you/others mix and match?Mark "Dark Moment" Beaumonthttp://www.swiremariners.com/newlogo.jpg

[Guest danowat]

Glad it works ok for you Ed, its a little technique I used to repaint something or other ages ago.When I saw the DC-3 kit, I wondered if it would work, and it seems to work pretty well, I have a few DC-3's on the canvas, so I will see if I can get em out soon ;)CheersDan.

[Guest Holliday]

Mark, I hate to make you work any more than you already have. But I am really tempted to say "yes" give us more to work with. I can always make do, mix and match, but not everyone is comfortable doing that.Dan, I still find that adding a second color layer using the soft light mode helps. Try it. It punches the color up a bit. With so many options it is easy to drive yourself nuts with this.Ed Knapp

[Guest Holliday]

Here is where I am at currently. I am doing a repaint of a military plane with high-vis International Orange stripes and tail. I have the exact Federal Standard RGB values for International Orange. But of course blending modes change the color. To get it closer to correct I used Dan