Hi John,
Yes the picture is interesting concerning paint, shine and sheen. A lot of sim people think that because camo is fairly matt and worn paint is matt, then ac are flat non-reflecting things. This is far from the reality, as almost everything, even the F117 Stealth fighter has some sheen to it in the right lit circumstances.
The P61 picture really shows four places of refection, the radome, the cowling, the props and the ext fuel tank. The radome of the P61 was perspex/early plastic, (which was not always painted (which they thought helped the radar waves to propagate/radiate better)) this one is. So this would be shinier than the rest of the metal fuselage, being plastic. If you look the top half, which is the plastic section is shiney, whilst the lower half is more matt, which is metal. The cowling, prop and drop tank is where the air hits it hard and there's a lot of oil and heat, which would create a polished sheen. In the case of the prop maybe Hamilton (et al) used shinier harder wearing paint to protect their props in this harsh environment?
In Gmax and FSDS you can set parts to have different shine/reflection, but I think that only works well in Fs9 and FSX.
I think the new CFS3 P61 looks about right....you know what they say, a little (Mr) Sheen goes a long way......and sim ac look so much better for it!
Cheers
Sheesi
ps Happy New Year!