We're flying high / We're flying right up to the sky...

[Skyraider3D]

These kind of things are tricky indeed. But you have a good base to work with. Play with gaussian blur, render clouds and the diffuse filters, plus tweaking levels and curves. These were the tools I used while doing various hand-applied camo schemes on my Ki-44 profiles.

[Mangas]

Ronnie, your Ki-44 profiles are amazing!
Meanwhile, I reworked MiG & here's the final version of mottling. Don't judge too harshly, try to imagine it standing under bright sunlight on May, 1942 (as the photo says):



Plus new radio equipment details:



P.S.: I think I'll try to stay away from mottling from now on...

[GiantFlyingRobots]

I know that its the "final version" but I think it would benefit from having a version of the mottling layer above the stark reflected light.

Superb work either way.

[Mangas]

To James: nah, it seems mottling is not my thing...

Some of MiGs had really interesting unusual schemes.

like this MiG-3 of 7 IAP ChF in Kuban, in 1943. Actually, the aircraft is only partially visible on a b/w photo:

http://mig3.sovietwarplanes.com/mig3/white54r.jpg

So nobody can say 100% sure how exactly it looked in details. Sadly, the more years pass -- the more truth vanishes away. So this representation is kind of "supposedly" & "much likely":

[BLOWHARD]

NICE!!!

[GiantFlyingRobots]

To James: nah, it seems mottling is not my thing...

I wouldn't say that at all. In fact there is nothing wrong with the mottling it looks great. I can only imagine how tedious it must have been to get this result.

Its just that I think that the paint wouldn't have the same degree of reflected light and the profile would benefit from having a slightly less reflective paint layer on top. All IMHO of course.

I really don't mean to labor the point.

[inkworm]

It's not just mottling, I've seen quite a lot of surfaces where some parts are more reflective than others due to the types of paint used, matt black on a radome is a good example. Didn't Ronnie do something that had a lot of NMF showing through under the paint which is a good example?

It's all layered so give it a go you've got nothing to lose.

[Mangas]

To James: nah, it seems mottling is not my thing...

Mottling or not, here's another MiG-3 of 148 IAP during the battle for Kharkov in 1942. It has been flown by 1st. Sqn Commander Capt. M. Nekrasov and has some interesting camo (as some a/c-s of this unit do) as a result of thin green brush handmade repainting:



This one is just an ordinary schemed MiG-3 of 7 IAP VVS ChF (Black Sea Fleet) in Kuban, May 1943. It is supposedly flown by Capt. Alexander Sharmin:

[gamary]

I really like these, Anton! My only comment would be that the rear fuselage is too glossy IMHO, but aside from that I really like them.

[GiantFlyingRobots]

Fantastic!

Really like the paint on technique that you've used on the Kharkov example. Looks complex.