Yes, there were black-painted night fighter Tigercats in Korea. I had read some comments elsewhere that the restored Tigercat ‘Big Bossman’ was painted in a very dark shade of glossy sea blue, but the more photos I’ve seen of it now, it may have been a very high gloss black, as you say (today, that same aircraft is painted overall silver and is named ‘La Patrona’). All of the other restored examples you show, such as Jim Slattery’s ‘375’ and the Pima Air & Space Museum example with the number ‘2’ on the nose, are painted glossy sea blue (that’s the authentic/original name and color).
Yeah, the blue that’s on the Virtavia plane feels a little too green I think. Like a 1944 blue. But, blues are so hard to get right. I have the Monogram US Navy colors series of books, gonna read up on it some. Though I perused it last night and it didn’t seem to go into too much technical detail on the colors, though it does have the chips in the back.
Colors atre always difficult, and they depend on so many things, apart from the color itself. Lighting, time of day, your monitor. Me, I’m colorblind, so a lot of your subtleties are lost on me (…maybe a little too green…), so if you want me to adapt the color, give me some rgb codes.
Meanwhile, I continue, still with the same blue, but a bit less shiny
LV (0000) by JanKees Blom, on Flickr
LV(0003) by JanKees Blom, on Flickr
LV(0001) by JanKees Blom, on Flickr
LV(0007) by JanKees Blom, on Flickr
One of the most successful livery designers ever is colorblind
That’s something I wouldn’t have guessed. Having the same ‘affliction’, I know exactly that it can be difficult. Even more impressed by your work now. Thanks!!
I’m finding it really hard to say.
According to “The Official Monogram US Navy & Marine Corps Aircraft Color Guide: Vol 2 1940-1949”, Per
SR-2e. dated June 26, 1944, with an effective date of October 7, 1944, spelled out for the first time the color schemes for use on all types of aircraft. All carrier-based aircraft were
now to be painted glossy Sea Blue overall. No mention was made for similar shore-based aircraft. Because of this, many combat type aircraft continued to carry the basic nonspecular camouflage scheme throughout the war. This was a more common practice with the dive and torpedo
bombers than with fighter aircraft which had been specifically mentioned in an earlier directive.
SR-2e carried through until January 2, 1947 when SR-2f specified that ALL aircraft be painted overall glossy Sea Blue.
Glossy Sea Blue is ANA 623
Semi-gloss Sea Blue is ANA 606
Non-Specular Sea Blue ANA 607
Intermediate Blue ANA 608
I found this reference - you may already know it, new to me
https://www.cybermodeler.com/color/intro4.shtml
https://www.cybermodeler.com/aircraft/f7f/f7f_all.shtml
And here they list the RGB/Hex of the colors, but there’s no way it’s correct for Glossy Sea Blue
Not to mention that the way MSFS reproduces colors doesn’t always match.
These are screen shots from the a PDF of the Monogram Book, but I don’t know that I’d trust them.
So, final answer, when I get some more info, I’ll let you know. My bet is that this Tigercat is painted with the Non-Specular Sea Blue, which, it’s possible that some were since many were land based prior to 1947.
Edit - this paint swatch seems the closest I’ve found so far
I think what’s going on is everyone is referencing FS595 which is what ANA became, and I think it changed color definition for 623
And, here we go, the definition changed in 1947 / 48
Edit 2: Can I just say, I hate reproducing Blues…
Point being, I’d just leave it as is at this point. Everywhere I look, it’s different.
If anything, probably the the 607 chip looks the closest after all my reviews.
Somebody did say that 607 and 623 were the same color (and likely 606?), just different finishes Non-specular, Glossy (and Semi-Gloss)
I may try several colors myself… It’s coming along… Probably going to do a livery of it for each of the three versions, as the Civilian one shown above doesn’t match the real one in several details.
I broke down and bought this beast today. It’s not too bad. It could use some improvements as discussed. No doubt, I’ll be adjusting a few things in the flight model as I fly it more. Overall, I’m happy with it. The visual model is decent.
One glaring thing I found already was regarding steering instability at higher speeds on the ground. The culprit is “min_available_steering_angle_pct” in the flight_model.cfg. It is supposed to be a percentage, but it is set at “40”. If you have the non-marketplace version, just set it to “0.4” (assuming the dev meant 40%). It clears up the issue completely so the aircraft doesn’t meander all over the place on the runway.
Lovely! And very good, smooth video photography: I have done a bit of air show video and it is HARD! This is very well done.
the ‘AirshowStuff’ channel on YT is outstanding - no dialogue, no music overlays - just the planes in HD with high quality sound. Clean and correct in my opinion.
Ha! I thought that was me!
work in progress
Screenshot (6415) by JanKees Blom, on Flickr
I’d wish the author would put the three “versions” of the plane into just one slot in the hangar.
The changed loadout (tanks, weapons) could easily be achieved differently like it has been done in the Corsair for example as part of the weight and balance section in the menu.
a firefighting version, with a big bellytank would have been nice too…
This can be pretty easily done. But, technically, the SDK prefers the method he used.
But, you can take the three models and put them in the same aircraft directory (each folder with a different name model.clean, model.weapons, model.civvy, something like that), same with any panel directories (I don’t remember if there are any specific panel directories), and then combine all the aircraft.cfg’s to the same file (you’ll only need to move over the flightsim.N sections, remembering to number them sequentially, no skipping numbers), rename the type I think it is so they match (though I don’t think that will matter), reference each Flightsim.N section to its appropriate model and panel directories and update the texture.cfg’s and model.cfg’s and panel.cfg and panel.xml’s to the updated paths, then redo the layout.json. Oh, and, obviously, move the texture.xxx directories over to the common directory, too, lol.
If there’s any old school effects that are different between models, that could screw things up.
I’m at work so I can’t give exact instructions until at least tonight. Hopefully you get the idea.
Thanks for the explanation
I actually know what to do, but with every update, I’d have to do it again.
( I figured you did, (Mr. Cockpit Interiors) but I thought other people might feel the same way)
yeah. Sorry. Didn’t think far enough
anyone brought the F7F off the market place?
Just today. If this escaped you on the build up to 2024, pick it up. It’s a real treat to fly.