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



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