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New P-51D Mustang - Little Friends

Beaufighter said:
A gem and expensive as a jewel...
When I see this kind of prices always wonder about a balance between sales numbers and profits...High price better profit per unit, less units sold. Lower prices more units sold. I know everybody should get fair revenues for a good work done. Simply, I can´t afford to pay for this one. Bought CS 707 and B-52 for 10.98 € on a sale. Anyway got P-51 already...
For sure better people than myself on this matters studied this relation price/market/sales and the effect on piracy mentioned on their site...
Click to expand...

Beaufighter, I can understand where you are coming from. It is always going to be one of those areas of question for each product release - it seems like it comes up with every new product, no matter whose releasing it, and for what price. You head into the product release, knowing the vast sum of time and investments you made to get it to the point at which it is when finished, and you know roughly what you need to make from sales-returns, not only in order to make the investment worth it, but to be able to actually continue onto the next project okay.

These are the most accurate depictions ever seen in any virtual form, of the P-51D Mustang - nothing about them is casually done to give you a 'generalized impression' of the aircraft, as which has been seen time and time before. What you see, is directly reproduced from what it really is - though I know not many people want to hear me go into that again, about every last detail (Albert and I could easily write a book on the Mustang, through all that we have been through and learned during this and prior products). You are completely free to make your own comparisons between this product, and other renditions of the P-51D - if I were to do so here, I would of course get into hot water.

All that I want to end by saying, is that when considering the cost, try and understand the investment involved in achieving what you see in the product. ; )
 
jankees said:
Say, did you change anything with the reflections of the canopy? Made it slightly softer or something? I think they look perfect now!
Click to expand...

Jan Kees, good eye! I did come up with a new 'recipe' for making the canopy glass, which goes completely against what Microsoft has outlined for glass material in their SDK. It is very similar I have found, to what FSD was able to achieve with the glass on their P-38 Lightning.

I'm glad you like it, and great screenshots yet again of your paint-work in action!

These images show the various conditions that might be seen, of the canopy reflection/shine, in different lighting conditions and camera-proximity to the canopy:

LiveBait_6.jpg


LiveBait_5.jpg


mymac3a.jpg
 
Bomber_12th said:
All that I want to end by saying, is that when considering the cost, try and understand the investment involved in achieving what you see in the product. ; )
Click to expand...

I am not a developer for $$$, but I really understand what you're saying. I have been working on a FIAT G.59 series for years, and with HD crashes, many restarts, etc., the numbers involved are astronomical. If I had even considered a payware release when this is finished, no amount would recoup more than a nominal payment considering the time and effort involved. Seeing your screenshots, I suspect this is more a labour of love than a money making project.
 
Just gotta love the way the pilot dips his head when the canopy opens.

Amazing detail on these paints as well.

Looking forward to the gun bays. :salute:
 
Excellent, Bruce! There were two different (though now three, evidently!) mid-late model P-51D's that Maj. Donald Bochkay had painted as "Ace of Spades" (besides his earliest D-5 and B-model). Note how the "Ace of Spades" design changed from one, to the other. The design as seen on your repaint, would be correct for 44-72244, rather than 44-15422.

Seen here is 44-15422

b6-f4.jpg


And here is his later 44-72244

b6-f5.jpg


b6-f8.jpg
 
Sorry about that Bruce, I have the third labeled as 72244, but obviously it is not! : )

44-72147, I have actually seen reported as being a 339th FG Mustang! In any case, it is a D-model, and obviously was with the 357th, at some point, and assigned to Bochkay as well.

I do still have the second photo down, listed as being of 44-72244:
http://www.cebudanderson.com/357profilewingedaced.htm

Based on the other photos shown, I would assume that the numbers on the rudder of 72244 were black, just as on the others asssigned to Bochkay, though there still seems to be a level of question about that remaining.
 
Hi John Terrel</SPAN></SPAN>
What can I say? Entirely agree with every word you say…</SPAN></SPAN>
Quality is up, prices are up. Not difficult to understand that kind of relation. </SPAN></SPAN>
I know that a Mercedes is a better car than my Fiat Grand Punto Sport., the one I can afford, the best... :icon_lol: </SPAN></SPAN>
Would like to have a Mercedes…not going to steal one. Would buy it if cheaper. </SPAN></SPAN>
Best wishes </SPAN></SPAN>
 
very nice!!!! I have one question....I've never seen the red painted this way on the nose....I've only ever seen it painted this way......


WB99634_P51_Mustang.jpg
 
John, for a while, early on, that is how all of the 4th FG nose markings appeared as. It was changed to the later style, likely so as to make the group colors more apparent from further distances - which is the same reason why at a certain point, the group markings of other fighter units changed to cover more of the nose as well.

wd-c2.jpg


vf-s.jpg
 
When P-51D's were just starting to arrive in <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">England</st1:place></st1:country-region>, they were all painted with specific recognition markings. This included the black stripes on the wings, on the horizontal tail surfaces, and on the vertical tail surfaces. At the same time, the nose, from the spinner back to just before the exhaust shrouds, was also painted black. You can see this very clearly in this photo of a Mustang that had just been made available for group-assignment in <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">England, following the last of the work and test-flights done on it, after its arrival.</st1:place></st1:country-region>

44-135578thUSAAFcolour.jpg


Each Fighter Group in <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">England</st1:place></st1:country-region> was assigned a specific color, or two-color pattern, for use in providing group-identification. Early on, this usually meant using the colors to just simply over-paint the black-painted nose - creating markings that covered the spinner, to the start of the exhaust shrouds.

Over time it was realized, that by having the group markings only covering this small part of the nose, it was making it more difficult to recognize one group from another, or recognizing friend from foe, from far distances, than it had to be. It was then devised to extend the group markings to cover more of the nose. You can see this very clearly in groups such as the 353rd, 352nd, 4th, 20th, 359th, 361st, etc.
 
...and so, in the 4th FG, at first they extended the red further back, as in my paint, and later still, in early 1945, they extended it even further, like in the picture you see.
This aircraft was the only D model with the 4th FG that had camouflage paint applied to the top surfaces, while the underside was left bare metal, except on the tail (see below).
As such, it was flown by Major Howard 'the Deacon' Hively until january 1945, when he was transferred to headquarters. The aircraft then passed to Major Louis 'Red Dog' Norley, recoded to QP-O and equipped with the 1945 nose markings. I thought it would be fun to do a paint with these intermediate colors, since, as you say, the other colors are so much more common..

Picture of the underside:
FX12015.jpg


FX12016.jpg
 
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