Alpha North American XB-70 Paint Kit in 2048 and repaints

[lazarus]

Really sweet. Guess who's coming to dinner, Hanoi...

 

[fsafranek]

Nice to see this old bird getting some new skins.

If I recall correctly Pierre did the initial texture work on the bought-in model. This was of the NASA bird (20001) with the yellow tail band. Since I had a lot of North American Aircraft reference material I pointed out a couple items that differed from the real bird so Phil handed it to me to work on it some more. In the process I added 20207 that was sadly lost in the mid-air to give buyers a second set of textures. Not sure if both made it into the FSX package though. Contrary to Pierre's normal style we kept the textures very clean because dirt slows you down and the real aircraft were kept immaculate throughout their flight life.

I always liked this one because it had a detailed cockpit despite the pretty boring exterior paint (few if any panel lines or stencils). Thanks for the new paint kit and repaints Jafo.

 

[Jafo]

Nice to see this old bird getting some new skins.

If I recall correctly Pierre did the initial texture work on the bought-in model. This was of the NASA bird (20001) with the yellow tail band. Since I had a lot of North American Aircraft reference material I pointed out a couple items that differed from the real bird so Phil handed it to me to work on it some more. In the process I added 20207 that was sadly lost in the mid-air to give buyers a second set of textures. Not sure if both made it into the FSX package though. Contrary to Pierre's normal style we kept the textures very clean because dirt slows you down and the real aircraft were kept immaculate throughout their flight life.

I always liked this one because it had a detailed cockpit despite the pretty boring exterior paint (few if any panel lines or stencils). Thanks for the new paint kit and repaints Jafo.

Frank, yes, the model was/is great....the VC is fine, it was only the 'simple' paints in 1024 that could benefit from a higher res so lines wouldn't look too clunky. I think I have every version of the '70 ever released....even 'fly' one of the AI ones....

I have several books on the Valkyrie as well as hunting down any relevant pics on the net. On my 'bucket list' before I snuff it is to see 20001 [and a F105] in the flesh one day when I get back to the US.

Re the model....it would have been great if there'd been spec channels done for it. To attempt a metal finish I 'hacked' the model with MDLMat and upped the spec that way...but it's not the same.

I've also set burner effects to the '4' separate engines so it can look like 1 or some are shutdown....1 - 2/3 - 4/5 - 6.... including smoke.

Also screen-capped the VC and did a 2D to 'match' in widescreen.

Here's eng 3 shutdown [4/5]...

Currently working on a B-58-style ....most of the hard yards are done....aligning bits of tailfins...

 

[Jafo]

The B-58 inspired one is coming along.....still some alphas to do etc....

 

[Ferry_vO]

Great paints Jafo!

 

[Jafo]

With the alphas done....and a redo of the text/font...

 

[flaviossa]

This one is a great "What If"!

 

[Jafo]

The B-58 inspired one has been uploaded to SOH. It includes the slightly modded model file to better imitate a metallic finish. I changed the reflection from 0.2 to 0.5 in MDLMat.

The hardest part to do was the chevrons on the tailplanes. [there are 6 bitmaps to align].....and of course the cunards which have about the oddest mapping I've ever come across in all my years of painting.

And one for the 69th Bomb Wing...Vietnam ....possibly less unlikely than some...

 

[Jafo]

Makes a good shark....

 

[Jafo]

Messing with a low vis version....

 

[flaviossa]

Jafo, thanks for the new paints. Much apreciated.
Just FYI in the Virtavia XB70 package, the line: "sim=XB-70" is changed to "sim=XB-70A_Valkyrie"
If someone has trouble to make your paints to work.

 

[Jafo]

That's a nuisance....comes from having so many vers for so long, though I should have checked as I do have a 'vanilla' install of the Alphasim.
Trouble was/is I also have the Wingsware, as well as a 'combined' one where I use the Alpha exterior model and the Wingsware VC.
Probably 8 or 9 years of 'fiddling' will do this to you...

I may have to edit all of them so far.....maybe a benefit as I've still been tweaking the graphics....

 

[Jafo]

I've been side-tracked with a new monitor....so everything's looking so much fancier since moving on from an ASUS MW221u that's survived 3 system upgrades [till now].

I've gone from 1680x1050 at 60hz to 2560x1440 with Gsync matching framerates...at upwards of 90hz in FSX.

The newbie is another ASUS .... a ROG Swift PG279Q IPS 27".....

 

[Jafo]

Next one to upload....though I've decided the paint's too shiny....as the white looks more metal than white....so gotta redo the alphas....

Edit....knocked back the paint alpha from 160 to 200...

 

[lazarus]

That's pretty wild, Jaffo. Just imagine six of 'em in echelon and full burner. Take that, planet!

 

[DennyA]

That is awesome!

Now we need some Blue Angels A-5 Vigilantes to balance out.

 

[Jafo]

I've just uploaded the 'metal' version of the Thunderbird here at SOH.
Still one of my favourite paint schemes...in spite of it often being difficult to do....

 

[Jafo]

Next one I'll upload....even more unlikely than any of the others....

Modded the bumps to make the windows more 'real'.....

This'd blow the doors off a Concorde...

 

[Jafo]

Just uploaded the Qantas version here at SOH. Having the separate layers for windows etc would make it easy for other airlines, though as with any paint aligning lines can get irksome.....

Moved the 'Qantas' further back from the dorsal vents....wouldn't have been logical to be that close to them.

 

[Jafo]

When you've really got to deliver that parcel overnight.....

Edit....looks a bit closer....bit more detail. Kinda like the painted bum.