I have almost finished my first repaint and I am working on the details. I have painted a PMDG 744-400F using the provided paint kit.I used the eyedropper to sample the color of the fuselage near the bottom, and then applied this color to the base color of the belly (on the externals sheet) and the nose hear door (on the layout sheet). When I view them in the simulator, they don't really match.Am I supposed to turn off all dirt, shadows and gradients on the fuselage before sampling the color? I did this for the engine color match (white) and they were too white. For the nose gear, I have the same problem with the color, but also the detail. The nose gear is just one solid rectangle of white, and does not match the gradient of the bottom of the fuselage. (IT has no 'texture' to it and is not very convincing. Did I miss something (besides not know what I am doing)?To add a nose decal, it says to add the outline of the nose decal to the alpha channel. I want to add a logo on the bottom of the nose to be visible when the nose is raised. I used the magic wand to select the outline on the decal sheet and then filled it with grey (sampled from elsewhere on the alpha channel and filled the area. This made a complete mess of the nose. Can someone explain what it is I am supposed to do here? Thanks for any help. I am getting so close, and these things have stonewalled me. Sorry for all the questions, but at least I am trying.Dennis [email protected]

When you said you used the eye dropper for the fuselage, is this on an image you're using or the fuselage of your paint scheme?If its the fuselage of your paint scheme (which it sounds like it is) then you're correct with your diagnosis :) The eye dropper tool will sample the colour as you see and not take in to account layers.Either turn off all the effect layers (gradients etc) or find an area that is purely the colour. Also, if you have set your paint scheme layer to multiply set it back to normal for the eye dropping. Regarding the nose gear door. This is a fairly common problem when adding things like gradients. The best way I find is to edit the gradient a little bit so it totally covers the door area on the fuselage with the same shade. This would then allow you to paint the nose doors a block colour and it should blend in.Regarding the nose decal. Having looked at the paint kit and the instructions. What they're saying is on the actual psd add whatever decal you want in the area defined "nose decal" (deactivate the text layer as well). Then if you look at the alpha channel in the "Channels" window, it is nearly all black (I assume on the paint scheme these areas have very strong chrome type reflections?) In order to see your decal you'll have to make the area on your alpha channel white so as not to have it covered with chrome. Instead of actually white you could have a moderate shade of grey to still have a reflective tint to it.As always, feel free to post back with any more questions and someone should get back to you :)

Sorry for the delay in reply, I have had a busy week at work.Your information was enlightening. I did get further but still having some problems with the nose wheel landing bay doors. Seems no matter what color I apply, they still stand out. The shadow and masking gradient do not apply themselves to the door. I am thinking now that I have the layer too high in the stack. I did have better luck with the belly color. I sampled them with no mask or shadow applied, and it was too white. I played with the color selection, by sampling near the belly on the fuselage map and got a decent match, but it still stands out some. (see below)I will keep working on it and post back here.I stil have work to do on the canoes and the winglets, and some other details, so I will not reveal the entire livery yet. (we use IL-72s but I thought it would be fun to paint a 747-400F.Thanks again, your info was key.Dennis Mitchellhttp://forums.avsim.net/user_files/177683.jpg

Cool looking livery! :)From your shot there appears to be an uneven gradient (or something relating to it) on the lower fuselage. At the right end of the underbelly it appears lighter than the fuselage and on the left a little darker.Please keep at it, you'll get the fiddly bits sorted out in the end :)

This "imaginary livery" looks great Dennis.Leen.PS.Due to some unexpected things I had no time to contact you Morgan.I hope to find some time next week.