First profile on Simmers - XP-61F

[Logan Hartke]

Hello everyone,

I've been a long-time lurker and even posting occasionally.

Anyway, here's my first profile that I'm posting looking for advice. It's still a WIP. More detail is going into it (rivets, etc), the scheme isn't finished, and I have a lot more NMF work to do, but it's a start.

It's the unbuilt XP-61F escort fighter (some sources claim it was to be a night fighter, but most of the better sources I've found claim it was to be a version of the XP-61E for daytime, long-range escort use).

I know there's a good deal wrong with it, but I think it will be the best profile I've seen of the XP-61E family when I'm done.

Also, I'm not doing this for print or commission or anything. I'm just an amateur at Photoshop doing What-If aircraft for fun.

Cheers,

Logan

[Logan Hartke]

Oh, and I totally forgot to give credit where it is due. Talos did the lineart for this. He's the same person I worked with to do the B-51s that we did. As in this case he did the lineart and I did most of the rest.

His deviantart page below: talos56 on deviantART

Thanks in advance,

Logan

[gamary]

That's a good start IMHO.

A few quick'n'esay suggestions:

You can improve the NMF feel by adding a hint of black, white or even other colours to some of the panels. NMF always has a "patchy" look to it. If it doesn't then it's been painted silver.

The shadow cast by the wing on the external tank should not reach extend under it. Same goes for the shadow cast by the wing on the boom. It doesn't happen in real-life, but it's a common mistake in profiles (I did it too for some time 'til I got slapped on the back of the head here on SPS).

The shadow cast by the exhaust flaps on the rear of the engine cowling seems to extend upwards, above the canopy?! Or is there something inside the cockpit?

Keep it up!

[Logan Hartke]

Thanks, gamary. That's exactly the sort of advice I'm looking for. The NMF does actually have some texture to it, but it's tough to make out when scaled down. I've attached a detail of the aircraft at 100% scale (as opposed to 25%). I should probably reduce the opacity of my gray overlays to let the texture come through more.

The shadow is a good point, when I think about it. I was using a large number of "professional" published profiles to help me when doing this one and they all curved around like that, so I'm sure I was just following suit. Do you have a good example of how it should look?

Finally, the last part, as you guessed, just happens to be the coincidence of the cowl shadow and the seat back. I hadn't even noticed it until you mentioned it!

Thanks again,

Logan

[Aircraftprofiles]

Hi Logan

Great first atemt ! Very good infact ! I have a few sugegstions aswell. I have also just made my first (acctually i´m in teh process of making) profile with NM finish. It´s pretty har di think. I have posted it here in the forum under the tread name "Thud!!!" I´ll be happy to explain how i did it if youw ant me to.

The canopy needs some work too i think. Try and take a look in the tutorial on this site...I´m sure you´ll be very pleased with the result.

Let me know if there´s anything i can help you with and i´ll be happy to do so.

Keep up the good work !

[Logan Hartke]

Thanks. This isn't my first profile, just my first one I'm posting on Simmers. Here's how I tried it on my first real NMF bird, my XB-51:

Logan's Tutorial Thread

I'm using something along those lines for this aircraft, though I cut down on the texture as it would have been less polished.

I found the tutorial on wing shadow on the underside of a cylinder, I'll apply this to my profile.

http://www.simmerspaintshop.com/foru...903/#post11927

Does anyone have a link to the tutorial on canopies? I searched for it but came up empty looking for canopy tutorial.

Thanks,

Logan

[Aircraftprofiles]

Here´s the canopy tutorial... I think it works very nice !

http://www.simmerspaintshop.com/foru...ng-glass-2200/

Hope it helps !

[Logan Hartke]

Thanks. I may do it that way, I may just redo mine a little differently.

I really like what Clint Mitchell did here, so I did the same for the F-15A.

http://www.simmerspaintshop.com/foru...s-sections.jpg

I was also fortunate enough to find this wonderful photograph on Flickr.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/fizzix/1097746834/sizes/l/

It's the closest family member to my subject, and--while more weathered than my example--it gives me most of what I need.

I may just start over with the lighting and shading on this one.

Cheers,

Logan

[Clint Mitchell]

Glad you have found it useful Logan. To make it easier to see whereabouts the shading and highlight and mid shading lines progress along the fuselage. You may notice the little red circles? I have placed these on the cross sections where the shadow/shade would cast (the one above is the lightest shade) . Do this for each cross section and you can kind of see how the lines progress along the fuselage. BUT always cross reference these with photos as just the same as a drawing the cross sections can never be trusted fully.

Take care

Clint

[Clint Mitchell]

Also if you need some cross sections in between the ones you already have you could simply blend (morph)the two cross sections together as many times as you like to set more shading markers like below using Adobe Illustrator:

Only works on straight sections.