There is a bit more to it than that, finding the right colours is not simple.

You got a site we can view all your work on mate, sounds as if it will be stunning

Just load up a 3 way view of your favorite aircraft, replicate it on the template, and "voila". You can even change the tint and hue of each section you painted after the fact.

Just saying that you don't need to wait for someone to create your ideal skin, just fool around with it in Photoshop or Gimp. I'd fire up photoshop and make some, but I'm at an LSIL/HPV seminar all week and don't have it on my laptop.

Edit: You obviously know what I'm talking about since you're advertising skins in your sig.

Personally I think and we both know he's calling you out on your blatant BS... yes its takes a few mins to make a skin, but a lot more to make a good one!

I don't know why you guys think that it's hard to make a decent skin. It's even easier than the original IL-2 since it has integrated layers that take care of the panel lines and weathering for you now. No more using the smudge tool to create oil stains.

Here are two of my old IL-2 ones that happened to be online on another forum. They're obviously not historical, but the gray one is based on a modern aircraft (bonus points for identifying which one) The fire one isn't really anything special, but both of them retain their panel lines which is the hardest part of creating a skin for IL-2 in my opinion.

Click for Big

http://i.imgur.com/y2p7ns.jpg http://i.imgur.com/1k1xss.jpg http://i.imgur.com/VHxkcs.jpg http://i.imgur.com/xjLsus.jpg

Creating a historical skin is even easier as you can have the skin you are making overlay a "3 view" drawing of the original aircraft, and just trace over it and fill. So you're essentially just tracing over an already finished example. When the seminar is over I might make a tutorial and post it on youtube. It's honestly really easy to do, and you only need to use a few tools to give it the right blending and look. Those of you that have airbrushed models would find the method quite familiar as well (except you can skip the primer coat ;).

Edit: Here is a good example of a source. You're obviously going to have to pick the exact colours from an exemplar online, but you take this image, add it as a transparent layer to your photoshop project, and just start painting over it on your working layer. That way you can follow the panel lines exactly, do some blurring/smudging if you want, add decals and markings, and even custom oil/smoke stains that are not included in the stock weathering options. I find that scale modeling sites and forums are a goldmine or finding correct colour examples and very detailed "3 view" drawings. Good luck!

Click for Big

http://i.imgur.com/zuU7cs.jpg

Hmm... think you just proved my point, thanks.

In il2:1946 some ppl were willing to share there panel lines, and take a look at the weathered one ppl use for the Cliffs Hurri its fantastic.

Is this even English? I'm not sure what you are trying to say.

Well I can appreciate the historical accuracy of some of them. that in itself will take more than the 15 minutes you project. In the case of the Ju 87 above, I liked the total composition as well as the skin.

The few screenshots (of the model box art mock ups) I made a few pages back show that just because anyone has Photoshop doesn't mean they are proficient with it. But knowing my way around it a small bit does make me appreciate the efforts of those who do manage to make beautiful art with the tools availible.... so I offer my thanks and "ooooh n aaaaahs."

The ones that I posted are obviously not real attempts at making a detailed/realistic skin, just something to dick around with in CO-OPs with friends a few years ago in IL-2 1946. I was not a photoshop expert in any sense, but my wife gave me a short demonstration and that was it, able to master all of the tools to create a high quality skin.

Clod takes care of the weathering and panel lines for you, all you have to do is trace the paint job onto the skin. Oleg mentioned this over a year ago and everyone was falling over themselves because it was so easy. The game does the hard work for you.

I guess me posting a tutorial for interested people is out of the question because "regular forum users" could never do this according to you guys. Only a few "enlightened artists" could ever hope to paste a decal or nose art onto a skin or make a few curved lines and then fill between them.

Ask Randolph or the other skinners, they'll tell you exactly how they do it.

Cheers!

p.s. some other skins acquaintances of mine have made for our online jaunts. None of these people claim to be experts, and historical skins are not a priority in our non-historical furballs, but making skins is not hard in 1946, and even easier in CLOD. Some of them even took the time to add weathering/stains. It's not rocket science.

http://i.imgur.com/pkGRYl.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/0O5X6l.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/nLaItl.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/TjUBml.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/EvXQVl.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/KdY2Sl.png
http://i.imgur.com/U7Kpwl.jpg

This might explain why I can't focus on flying.
http://i.imgur.com/8Sjztl.jpg

Nobody I know has bothered to make CLOD skins since playing online isn't really an option at the moment.

I like the P-39. Nice!