I had to Google how to do metallic finish for you in GIMP I thought that it is much different than either Adobe Photoshop or Corel Paintshop Pro both of which I have and use. In DXTBMP you can open up DDS or BMP files that don't open by themselves in the other programs. You then specify what program you are using to edit the file like GIMP or Paintworks, Photoshop etc. see the shots below:
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DXTBMP Opening Screen
When you double-click the shortcut on your desktop this is the screen that you will see with nothing on it. Go up to the menu and click file and open up a texture folder. Find the file you want to work on like this one which is WSAI_T-6II_T You can see in the screenshot below that it is the entire aircraft. In most cases you will have a number of folders depending on the designer. This is a 32 bit bmp file. Most FSX aircraft textures are DDS files which are smaller. I can't possibly teach you how to repaint in the one thread but I would be happy to work with you in another way. Repainting is a lot of fun BUT in the beginning it can be very frustrating. Every aircraft it seems is in a different format and every time you want to do a repaint you learn how to use their layout. Here is MAIW's AI Texan II
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MAIW T6B Texan II This is a pleasure to work with because everything is on one page. The alpha channel is in the upper right corner and is edited on its own. You can see it is light gray giving some sheen to the aircraft's finish. Lesson for today.
Richard
PS: If I am trying to sound like an authority, I'm far from it and still have much to learn from the masters here that I have learned from and respect. If any or you have something to add for him please "pipe in".