Naval Air Reserve PBY-5A Skin Set

[Mick]

A new entry has been added to Add-Ons Library, category FS 2004 Military skins - Cold War

Description: Three post-WW2 skins for Shessi's upgrade of the AlphaSims PBY-5A Catalina depicting plans from the U.S. Naval Air Reserve bases at Glenview, Illinois, Squantum, Massachusetts and Oakland, California in the late 1940s. A glossy model is included to properly display their glossy Dark Sea Blue finish.

Note: these textures WILL NOT WORK on the original Alpha Simulations model!

To check it out, rate it or add comments, visit Naval Air Reserve PBY-5A Skin Set
The comments you make there will appear in the posts below.

 

[Mick]

Back when Shessi first released his upgrade I said I'd convert the skins I'd painted for the original AlphaSims model. In the meantime David has kept me pretty busy, and I was without a functional computer for the better part of a year. But I didn't forget!

I will do more as time allows.

 

[TARPSBird]

Mick, I like the color you use for USN "Glossy Sea Blue". Looks just about right for a plane outside in good weather with sky reflection. I've been to the Naval Aviation Museum in Pensacola and indoors a plane in Glossy Sea Blue is darn near black.

 

[Shessi]

Nice one Mick,
Good to see the ol' gal with some new clothes on....shiny!

Many thanks.

Cheers

Shessi

 

[Mick]

Mick, I like the color you use for USN "Glossy Sea Blue". Looks just about right for a plane outside in good weather with sky reflection. I've been to the Naval Aviation Museum in Pensacola and indoors a plane in Glossy Sea Blue is darn near black.

Thanks!

It's a trickier color than it looks. It's easy to make it too dark, but it's also easy to make it too bright.

For years I used Shiny to gloss models but I can't run it on my present computer in its present stage of not quite completion. I learned how to do it with MdlMat thanks to some help from l'Iguane but I'm still far from expert with that process. I would've liked to make the gloss a little bit less glossy, figuring that the finish would tend to lose a some glossiness as it got older and weathered, as most Reserve planes probably were, but when I tried to do that it came out looking really strange in a way I can't find words to describe. No matter what level of specular gloss I set it for, it came out either fully glossy or very strange, never anything in between. So my old, beat-up Reserve planes have a nice glossy fresh from the paint shop finish. But I like it anyway, and I'm glad you do too.

 

[Mick]

Nice one Mick,
Good to see the ol' gal with some new clothes on....shiny!
Many thanks.
Cheers
Shessi

You're more than welcome! Thank you for the model!

I'm just sorry it took me a year and a half to get this done, especially since I said I'd do it way back then. But as you know, I was without a real computer for the better part of a year, and then I had to play catch-up on the long-delayed B-45 project.

I have a couple more skin sets in the works. One will be to convert the original AlphaSims WW2 skins and a few WW2 repaints that I did and a couple others in the library here.

I also have several colorful post-WW2 search & rescue schemes, one each from the US Navy, US Air Force, US Coast Guard and Royal Canadian Air Force. But before I can do those I have to ask you if you're interested enough to address a mapping glitch. On the underside of the right wing the float strut takes its color from the wing bottom instead of from the float strut texture, so it's not possible to make the strut color match the outer wing color on that wing. I was going to e-mail you about that when I got ready to convert those skins. I have no idea how much trouble that would be so I'll just suggest it rather than request it.