Repaints - LH or RH door?

[John Hinson 22]

I'm very much enjoying the MAAM-SIM DC-3 and the ever-growing range of liveries by third-party designers.I notice many of the latter instruct users to put them to the MAAM-SIM Passenger model which is right-hand door but I believe the vast majority were left-hand door. Will such textures install to the alternative add-on left-hand door model without problem?The reason I ask is that I have done this with a few, but notice that some of the fuselage textures do not line up. Some look really awful. What I'm really trying to establish is whether this is a case of poor quality repainting or whether it is just a case of my installing them wrongly.With best wishes,John

[Dark Moment 0]

Our basepack passenger model is indeed right hand door, but as you imply there were actually very few of these built (about 300-odd), and many were Wright Cyclone-engined at that, being original pre-war civilian DC-3s; rather than the far more prolific C-47s (10,000-odd), many of which were later converted to pax use commercially.Some texture sets can be moved between models, but not all, given that every time our maestro Jan invokes a new model he tends to make improvements at the same time! So no, it is not the fault of repainters when things don't line up for you; rather, you are switching texture sets where they can't be, or are best not, switched.The only left hand stair-door model available right now is the R4D-6 (also in the original pack) which is basically the Navy designation of a C-47B, but with a passenger door not cargo doors. Similar, actually, to the C-53 excepting that our base model has a fitted out interior which the C-53 did not have. Jan is currently working on yet another mod, however, that will give us the most common C-47/C-47A/C-47B variant with left hand cargo doors - with both pax and cargo interior options. Note that there is a cargo model already (base pack again) but this BEA Pionair is a one-of-a-kind type with eight windows on starboard. This is not typical of the marque.MarkMark "Dark Moment" BeaumontVP Fleet, DC-3 AirwaysTeam Member, MAAM-SIM[a href=http://www.swiremariners.com/cathayhk.html" target="_blank]http://www.paxship.com/avsimlogo.jpg[/a]

[John Hinson 22]

Thanks Mark, that explains everything well.Best wishes,John

[John Hinson 22]

Just a further note to say that I have spent some time cross-checking all of the aircraft I have with apparently badly aligned textures and in many cases I have been able to move these to the correct model as described in the repainter's readme file. This has definitely improved many aircraft, but not always solved the problem entirely.I find myself puzzled that authors release repaints that don't align properly and continue to look for installation errors on my part - but I don't think that is the problem. I'm reluctant to criticise or name specific ones as I respect the fact that these people have put a lot of work into doing things that I can't.Nevertheless, I can live with it - I spend most of the time in the "cockpit" and not admiring myself! :()John

[Dark Moment 0]

>I find myself puzzled that authors release repaints that don't>align properly and continue to look for installation errors on>my part - but I don't think that is the problem. I'm reluctant>to criticise or name specific ones as I respect the fact that>these people have put a lot of work into doing things that I>can't.Your point in your original post, John, was that textures didn't seem to match up when you switched them to other models; is that what you mean in this quote? If so, I repeat that the models vary slightly in alignment, and therefore such discrepancies are understandable. However, if you are saying that some authors' work doesn't 'fit' properly on the model it is SUPPOSED to be on, then yes, that happens. Lining up front and back sections of the fuselage is a testing process, particularly with complex liveries, and some work harder at it than others, perhaps! Standards do vary; some of our contributors are very experienced painters, intimately familiar with graphics software, others might be starting out and are just thrilled to see their work come alive in flightsim. Some have time to do detailed work, others don't. The bottom line is that we host ALL freeware work for MAAM-SIM products on our 'freebies' page because community is what the hobby is all about. We don't wish to judge work, just appreciate it.You should give it a go yourself one day, anyway. It's a lot of fun to see your efforts come alive on a 3D model for the first time. My first paint ever was in FS2000 and had my 10-month-old daughter on the tail! Here's a screenie ... it's a poignant shot, actually, for obvious reasons.'Scuse the jet .. I've learnt since!Markhttp://forums.avsim.net/user_files/159286.jpgMark "Dark Moment" BeaumontVP Fleet, DC-3 AirwaysTeam Member, MAAM-SIM[a href=http://www.swiremariners.com/cathayhk.html" target="_blank]http://www.paxship.com/avsimlogo.jpg[/a]

[John Hinson 22]

Thanks Mark, what I meant was that they were still not perfect even after switching them to the correctly assigned model, sorry I wasn't clear.I did give it a go once, but found I ran out of patience with myself quite quickly and got a friend to do the required liveries for the project concerned. I've done lots of other things in FS - panels, scenery, flightplans, voicepacks, AFCADs and all the other quick and dirty things (scenery done with Runway 12 rather than "properly"!) but I would really have liked to be able to say I could do repaints and even models but I don't think I have the mentality for it. Maybe one day I'll try again, but first with something a bit easier than the MAAM-SIM DC-3 methinks . . .All power to the elbows of those that do, for there is no better aircraft in the real world or in Flight Simulator.John