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Interior Decorating

Willy

Willy

Administrator
Staff member
I've been mucking about on and off for a few weeks now with an all time favorite of mine, the JBK Boeing 307 Stratoliner. I took it up for a test flight a few days ago and got to looking around the VC and thought "something needs to be done about this".

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Nothing back there is functional, but I figured if I'm gonna do some updating to the outside, best look to the inside as well. There's not a whole lot of color pics out there for the 307, but the NASM has that restored Pan Am one. And their website has a panorama view of both the cockpit and the cabin. Just what I needed. Here's as close as I could get to the same view on the real one.

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Still got a few things to touch up, but here's what I've come up with so far.

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Texture mapping has been a problem in some areas but I'm working around that as I come to 'em. What there is of the cabin, I did a few days ago. The Flight Engineer panel is different in my version as I'm using the Glen Duncan panels with 307 and I wanted the VC to match up with those.

On the exterior, all new panel lines based on line drawings, and I've got a new batch of secret recipie metal in the slow cooker. It's just not far enough along for some screenies yet.
 

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Here's a little taste of the metal. Decided to see how well it shines up on the cowlings. The props I haven't messed with yet.
 

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This is gonna be a rivet counters paradise....

It's turned into one of those projects, where, I'm going along thinking I'm making good progress and then I think of something else to try. Darn closeups of Clipper Flying Cloud at the NASM. They keep giving me ideas. But they're darn good reference material for the Pan Am ones. On the TWA 307s it's a bit more confusing as there are differences between the two and even between time period on the TWAs as they got a major overhaul/rebuild in 1944 that the Pan Am ones didn't.

The "clown car paint" is just temporary to identify individual panels. Later, I'll convert it to b/w and then adjust it to where you'll have to look close to see any difference in them. This is just an in progress shot that I use to see how it's coming along and identify problems. Beats writing notes.
 

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Tonite's in sim progress check. The metal needs a little tweaking, but it's pretty much there. Gonna have to do the windows soon.
 

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Willy, impressive. As a matter of interest perhaps you could share some tricks or whatever when your done re the JBK stuff generally. I have been working on the JBK flying boats on an off now for over a year and have found the VC and internal textures a nightmare frankly, the way they map to different parts has driven me nuts especially moving parts (like lever knobs) where you think you have the bit that needs to change and it changes something completely different in an unexpected way. The cockpit roofing in particular I have found a real pain because of the way the lines for ribbing were drawn.
 
Yeah the texture mapping can get wierd. There's spots on the outside where it had been stretched and there's not really much you can do about it other than try make any straight lines blend into the rest of the paint to try to hide it. Particuarily in the nose area. The cabin air scoop on top of the fuselage gets it textures from another location, and I figure that's one I'll just have to live with. I had the same problem in the VC. I decided early on not mess with levers and knobs but concentrate on the walls, etc. But some places, I had to leave details I wanted to add out because of the stretching.
 
Thanks Willy, I have done the same re knobs but it is difficult. The only thing I have noticed with the mapping of the VC in one model is that for some reason what appear to be separate parts or templates say in the rear cockpit section, that they are somehow layered in a way that I cannot overcome not matter what I try, you put a small change in on one section in a layer and it changes the whole thing and I know what you mean. It makes it difficult to use the original textures as a template of sorts. I did pull one of the models apart using a model editor and noted that for some reason Jens actually only made a half model or one side and then somehow in the coding (which I do not have) it flips to create the other side.

Still I am not all that critical because these are still very nicely made and quite accurate sim models that have stood the test of time and I have managed to get some of the flying boats almost authentic (including rebuilding the gauges etc) but it is a work in progress. I appreciate your screens of how you are creating the panel and rivet lines for the exterior. I will have a go at that for the internal roof sections if I can work out the curves and shading to give a proper longeron and rib effect. I am still amazed at JBK's output over the period he was doing this stuff it really is extraordinary, pity he disappeared from the sim scene he certainly has a devoted band of users, me for one.
 
There's a ton of good pics out there for that one and to be honest, once I get started actually painting the 307, I'm not sure if I'll do that particular one. But, it's S-307B sisterships, Clipper Comet and Clipper Rainbow haven't been done yet as well as a bunch of others. I've got the main window set done. Now for the post war SA-307B-1 windows (more of them). My intention is to have the masters set up to where I can paint any Stratoliner model by just turning layers on and off. That's what I've got going with the C-46 and it makes them so much easier to paint.
 
Getting close with Clipper Rainbow (circa 1942/43)
 

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