F4F-3S Wildcatfish

[WrFlyer]

Hi all!

This is my latest profile the F4F-3S Wildcatfish (BuNo.4038) which were converted seaplane models of the F4F. The Wilcatfish were made for service in forward island bases just before the construction of the airfields. Since the construction of the bases were rapid, the F4F-3S proved unneccesary, and only one was converted.

Well here it is.



Hope you all like it.

[Aircraftprofiles]

Not bad for a start ! In my oppinion i think there´s a few things that needs to be tweeked, in order for this profile to go from good to great.
First off the things i really like about yoru profile:

1. Great colors ! You nailed that one

2. The fussy edges of the camo scheme looks very nice !

3. Great looking paint-peeling ! Looks good. How about adding some to the reast of teh aircraft too ?

And now for the things that i think could be tweeked (please notice that these are my oppinion)

1. The shadows cast by the wing, tailfins etc. should fade as the rund down toward the bottom of the aircraft. Teh wing can´t cast a shadow on somethin that´s directly underneath the aircraft, so perhaps try to use a gradient (that´s what i do).

2. The highlighted areas should be more well defined. Especially for a aircraft from this era when the paint was in a fairly high gloss. The more well defind and narrow the highlight is, the glossier the aircraft will look,

3. Don´t be afraid to give the shade a extra layer (or two) !

4. How about giving the detaisl abit more attention ? The spinner fx. And how about adding propeller blades (I know tehy are hard to do, but i´m sure somebody can help you with that). Some more details would give this profile some extra spice !

5. Try to have a look at the "making glass" tutorial.

I hope you can use my comments. I don´t mean to shoot you down or anything. As you can see on otehr threads inhere i have been taking some flak too, but i have realized that "The Lotus flower grows in the deepset mud" as a teacher once told me

Keep up the good work !

[gamary]

WrFlyer: I agree with aircraftprofiles on most points. Try following his suggestions, if only to try out new techniques and seek ways to improve your work. You're off to a good start, so keep working!

This place is terrific if you're looking for constructive criticism. It's quite humbling, but also very useful, and you'll notice by reading older threads that quite a few SPS members have made major progress since they've joined. (Myself included )

Also, one point: your screen is not properly calibrated I believe. I can see light grey patches at various places around the drawing (around the floats notably). If you look at the gradient at the very bottom of this page, can you see all of the grey tones? If not, you should calibrate your screen. I worked for a long time before realizing my screen was slightly off too and that similar grey "blobs" were around my drawings.

[WrFlyer]

I'll try out your suggestions AP, and thanks for the tip GM!

Thanks for all the kind comments and tips guys!

[gamary]

I'll try out your suggestions

Cool. Keep us posted.

[WrFlyer]

Tried out your suggestions AP and they turned out pretty great. Still trying to get the hang of making glass though!



What do you think?

[Aircraftprofiles]

Far better ! Especially the shadings are good. Still some work to do on the highlights IMO.
The high gloss paint used back then made the highlights more defined. Try and subdue the highlight you have already made almost to the point of it not being noticable. Then add a narrow hard highlight to the areas of the aircraft that´s pointing directly at the light source (fx. the tip of nose, when the fuselage and the vertical stabilizer merge, tip of vertical stabilizer, etc etc).

You could also try to add a highlight (not a very hard one) the bottom of the aircraft (acctually you can just erase some of the shade)...that can give a nice effect too.

Keep up the good work

[JMSmith]

hi flyer,

just a couple of point with regard the colour scheme, all the images i have of the F4F-3S show it in overall topside colour of light blue grey, so why have you got dark patches? also the lower section of the tailplane finlets is white, not the topside colour,
you also need to wrap the topside colour round the leading edge of the wings and tailplane, check your images for how far to go.

apart from that, not bad at all, outline shape looks ok, but you have gone a little soft on the step of the float, should be a sharp edge from the front section to the rear, it is a STEP, and should be correct or the water will not seperate from the float as it lifts off.

couple of images for you.