B-18 Big Ugly

[wildr]

Sorry wrong image

[Supah]

Beginning to get there! I would look at the shading on the lower engine pod.

[Skyraider3D]

That last NMF one's looking pretty good!
Note that you now have a horizon going on (crossing the fuselage marking) which immediately suggest and environment and metal reflections. Good stuff!
It looks like it's in a forested environment now. But as it's in flight mode, maybe consider having an aerial environment instead. Entirely up to you of course, but it's looking metallic now which is the main thing. The little bumps suggested here and there (especially near the base of the tail fin) work well.
And yes, indeed your landscape photo should be quite desaturated (the ground) or it will look like an LSD trip

[GiantFlyingRobots]

Yep! A vast improvement, keep working it until your satisfied, then put it away for awhile reopen the file and see what you think of it then, rinse and repeat a few times. Before you know it you'll have a thread that is 5 years old.

[Vacajun]

Terrific work Every new rendering raises the bar.

Shouldn't the underwing star be aligned with the "Army" text??

[gamary]

That last NMF one's looking pretty good!
Note that you now have a horizon going on (crossing the fuselage marking) which immediately suggest and environment and metal reflections. Good stuff!
It looks like it's in a forested environment now. But as it's in flight mode, maybe consider having an aerial environment instead. Entirely up to you of course, but it's looking metallic now which is the main thing. The little bumps suggested here and there (especially near the base of the tail fin) work well.
And yes, indeed your landscape photo should be quite desaturated (the ground) or it will look like an LSD trip

+1

To add to Joe's comment, I think the underwing star should be pointing forward rather than outwards.

As far as NMF is concerned, you can try creating a super shiny one first (modern Mustang style), and then work to tone down the reflection. It's a combination of reflexion and wear, dirt, etc... Keep playing with it and I think you'll find it easier.

Oh, and maybe this might be helpful. My layer groups are generally arranged as follows:

* Lighting
* Shading
* Colours

When I'm working on an NMF bird, it looks like this:

* Lighting
* Shading
* Colours (paint)
* Metal base including:
**** Extra lighting
**** Extra shading
**** NMF (ie metal colours)

As a result, the metallic parts are much shinier than the painted ones, which is normal IMHO. A common problem is that NMF just looks like grey paint on profiles. By adding this extra lighting and shading, I'm differentiating the NMF parts from the painted ones.

I'm not saying this is the way to go, but it works for me.

HTH

[wildr]

Vacajun, and Gamary in regards to the alignment, there seems to be little regard for any regulation on the placement of the Star Roundel or any type under the wing. Some were aligned to the leading and trailing wing edge and not each other. Look at these examples. As for the NMF still a work in progress. The tip on layer arrangement will be very helpful. I find my self turning on and off to find the layer I want to edit or adjust. Thank you for the encouragement and critique, Vacajun, Gamary, Skyraider, Giant, Supah, Maciej, inkworm and John.

[BLOWHARD]

Nice looking metal

[Clint Mitchell]

I'd even contemplate pushing the opacity of the lower horizon reflection up a bit more. More contrast between the sky and earth reflections. A bit more like the third photo in your post 97. Just give it a try might look good..

[Vacajun]

wildr,

Sorryto confuse you with my "alignment" comment. Gamary said it much better. What I had questioned was whether the forward point of the underwing star should be facing forward rather than at an angle. I think your pictures show this to be true?