Author Topic: Logan's Profiles - 8x8 Scimitar  (Read 471016 times)

Offline Logan Hartke

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Logan's Profiles - 8x8 Scimitar
« on: December 23, 2011, 02:55:46 PM »
Since it's been so long since I posted, thought I would run through some of the differences and things to note on them.  I'm reposting both of them for comparison.  Note that these are reduced to 33%.  Click on the pictures to see them on Photobucket where you can click again and see them at 100% for much of the detail I will be discussing.

Old profile, where I left off (below):



Quote
Lt (jg) William E Hall was awarded the Medal of Honor for his 8th of May action in this aircraft while defending Lexington from Japanese carrier attack. Assigned to the low-level anti-torpedo aircraft patrol, Hall was seriously wounded in one foot but remained in the fight and shot down at least one Nakajima B5N attacking the ship. His Viking was so badly shot up that it was jettisoned overboard soon after landing back aboard the doomed Lexington.


Text slightly modified from the Osprey Combat Aircraft title.

New profile, first in a VERY long time (below):



Quote
Following the US task force's strike against Shokaku and Zuikaku on 8 May, Lexington and Yorktown were attacked by squadrons from both Japanese carriers. Among eight VS-5 crews assigned to a low-level anti-torpedo aircraft patrol was Lt(jg) 'Swede' Vejtasa and his gunner. Radioman Frank Wood. In the ensuing wavetop melee, A6M2 Zeros shot down four scouts with all crews lost. Vejtasa flew his SB4U aggressively, offering only deflection shots to the fighters, and was credited with three destroyed - only one A6M actually ditched with battle damage. Vejtasa was awarded the Navy Cross and soon joined VF-10, where he won a second award for his interception of Japanese torpedo bombers at Santa Cruz in October 1942.


Text slightly modified from the Osprey Combat Aircraft title.

I didn't want it to look like I just shifted some markings and called it "done", so I tweaked a number of things.  The second (most recent) aircraft represents an aircraft a little later on the production line.  As such, I gave it slightly brighter blue paint, slightly less weathering, a little different paint scheme (most noticeable around the horizontal stabilizer) that's more representative of the period scheme seen on Dauntlesses.  Likewise, I made the shine ever so slightly brighter, since it should be a newer aircraft.  The markings correspond to the profiles I've seen of Vejtasa's SBD from Coral Sea, but I've never seen an actual photo of the aircraft he flew in the battle, so I cannot verify any of them.  As a later aircraft than 4537, I have it using the later yellow-only tips starting to be seen on USN prop blades at about that time.  The paint chip pattern is different to keep things original, and Vejtasa's aircraft is depicted without LSO stripes but with the cowl number.  One of the other things that I spent a good deal of time on was getting that darned oversize star right.  I can't say that it's perfect, but I can sleep at night as it is now.  Many profiles don't show it properly, as the wrap around the curved portions of the fuselage do warp it quite a bit.

Finally, while also a Scout aircraft, Vejtasa's plane was one of the VS-5 pilots who attacked the IJN carrier Shōhō.  The profile actually depicts Vejtasa's aircraft on the way to the Shōhō, the day before his famous engagement with Zeros.  From what I've read, the scout planes were largely armed with 500lb bombs, which is what I depict his plane carrying.  Now, on MOST profiles, you'll see Dauntlesses carrying OD bombs.  I can't find pictures of USN dive bombers from the time of Coral Sea and Midway that support this.  The pictures that I see from that period generally show gray bombs.  Prewar and very early war photos show high explosive bombs in their regulation yellow paint.  I cannot take credit for this research, though I did try to independently verify it as well as I could.  Tommy Thomason's blog post on the matter was my main source.  Accordingly, I gave it a slightly rusty gray body with a pristine gray tail, roughly the same color as the aircraft underside.



I hope you all enjoyed the comeback profile!

Cheers,

Logan
« Last Edit: September 14, 2021, 11:37:29 AM by Logan Hartke »

Offline Bladerunner

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Re: Logan's Profiles - Japanese A9He1-N "Wade" Floatplane
« Reply #1 on: December 23, 2011, 04:14:57 PM »
Hey Logan,

Your work is as great as always.   :)

Cheers
John

Re: Logan's Profiles - Japanese A9He1-N "Wade" Floatplane
« Reply #2 on: December 23, 2011, 07:26:31 PM »
Good to see you again. Your Viking is as stunning as ever.

Offline sotoolslinger

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Re: Logan's Profiles - Japanese A9He1-N "Wade" Floatplane
« Reply #3 on: December 24, 2011, 12:22:41 AM »
Beautiful work Logan. Welcome to the new place. I may have to build one of those one day.  :want:

Offline Brian da Basher

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Re: Logan's Profiles - Japanese A9He1-N "Wade" Floatplane
« Reply #4 on: December 24, 2011, 12:31:10 AM »
Nice one, Logan! Great to see you here!

Brian da Basher

Offline Gekko1

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Re: Logan's Profiles - Japanese A9He1-N "Wade" Floatplane
« Reply #5 on: December 24, 2011, 02:29:00 AM »
 :in-love: Wow, awesome work Logan!

Cheers

Richard.

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Re: Logan's Profiles - Japanese A9He1-N "Wade" Floatplane
« Reply #6 on: December 24, 2011, 02:39:15 AM »
Logan, great to have you aboard!

I still find it incredible to believe there is a Stuka in there somewhere.

Regards.

Greg
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Re: Logan's Profiles - Japanese A9He1-N "Wade" Floatplane
« Reply #7 on: December 24, 2011, 01:31:14 PM »
Nicely done! The historical context is a nice complement to the illustrations.

Offline Maverick

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Re: Logan's Profiles - Japanese A9He1-N "Wade" Floatplane
« Reply #8 on: December 24, 2011, 01:59:06 PM »
Nicely done Logan.

Regards,

John
Regards,

John

Offline Logan Hartke

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Re: Logan's Profiles - Japanese A9He1-N "Wade" Floatplane
« Reply #9 on: December 24, 2011, 04:36:24 PM »
I was finally able to finish the one I've been working on for a while.



Quote
Another recipient of the RAF's unwanted Vikings was the Soviet Union, the first aircraft arriving in the winter of 1941-42.  The initial aircraft were Viking IIa variants.  While the Viking II was basically a British SB4U, complete with naval gear, the Viking IIa was a switch to a land-based variant, cooler heads having prevailed regarding the aircraft's utility.  It also didn't help that the FAA wasn't interested in any more of the RAF's aircraft, which meant there was little point in continuing the navalized aircraft charade.  The delivered aircraft were roughly analagous to the USAAC's A-19B variant, incorporating many of the same upgrades that benefitted the SB4U-4, such as self-sealing fuel tanks and armor plating, yet lacking the folding wings.

While not as heavily armored or as fast as the venerable Il-2 Sturmovik, it would really be unfair to make that comparison.  The Vought Viking was closer to the Petlyakov Pe-2, a dive-bomber.  Even then, however, the Pe-2 was a much larger and faster aircraft.  As a result, the Viking was assigned to units as a replacement to the generally unpopular Sukhoi Su-2.  The Viking ended up being a very popular aircraft in the right hands and quickly gained a reputation for being the most accurate bomber in the VVS inventory.  It was tough, maneuverable, and long-ranged, the main issue being its dire need for escorting aircraft over the front lines.  This aircraft is depicted in the colors of the 52nd BBAP (Blizhnebombardirovochniy Aviatsionniy Polk - Short-Range Bomber Air Regiment), the first unit to be fully equipped with the type and to take them into combat.  Its bomb racks were modified to take Soviet bombs (seen here with two 50 kg bombs and a single 250 kg bomb), but the standard gun armament remained unchanged.  Its original British markings have been crudely overpainted and replaced by the red stars and tactical number on the tail preferred at that time.


The unit was originally an Su-2 unit at that time, while the serial number comes from the series assigned to the Vultee Vengeance.  The paint scheme is just like the first P-400 Airacobras sent to the Soviet Union in the winter of 1941-42.  The most difficult things about this profile were the unique bombs and the unrewarding research on accurate Soviet VVS paint colors.

I hope you all enjoyed it!

Merry Christmas!

Logan
« Last Edit: December 25, 2011, 01:22:31 AM by Logan Hartke »

Offline Jeremak

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Re: Logan's Profiles - Japanese A9He1-N "Wade" Floatplane
« Reply #10 on: December 24, 2011, 05:33:28 PM »

Offline Logan Hartke

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Re: Logan's Profiles - Japanese A9He1-N "Wade" Floatplane
« Reply #11 on: December 25, 2011, 01:18:13 AM »
Thanks, Jeremak.  I have used Simmers site almost since I started, but the problem with the VVS is that I didn't trust the results of Simmers' advice, so I started looking elsewhere.  The problem wasn't that I didn't have enough sources.  It was that I had too many...and they all disagreed with each other!

http://www.simmerspaintshop.com/forums/f34-general-tutorials/basic-soviet-air-force-vvs-painting-colouration-markings-1940-45-a-545/
http://www.simmerspaintshop.com/page-RGB-colors-Russia.html
http://vvs.hobbyvista.com/Markings/P39/color_mark_1.php
http://vvs.hobbyvista.com/Research/1948/1948_Albom_Nakrasok.htm
http://vvs.hobbyvista.com/Research/colour-samples.php
http://mig3.sovietwarplanes.com/colors/colors.html
http://mig3.sovietwarplanes.com/colors/color-table.html
http://www.cybermodeler.com/color/vvs_comp.shtml
http://translate.google.fr/translate?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.master194.com%2Fforum%2Fviewtopic.php%3Ff%3D3%26t%3D54267%26hilit%3D%2BVVS&sl=fr&tl=en&hl=&ie=UTF-8

THIS was my problem.  Eventually, based on the advice of a number of sources, I just went with something based on one of the swatches and modified it slightly.  As a few sites said, there were probably a number of variations on them, different manufacturers interpreting AMT-4 different, for example.  Heck, they were painting some aircraft in "tractor green", so nobody was going to complain if the RGB values of your camouflage green was "a little off", so there was likely a lot of variation.

Cheers,

Logan

Offline Jeffry Fontaine

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Re: Logan's Profiles - Japanese A9He1-N "Wade" Floatplane
« Reply #12 on: December 25, 2011, 01:23:09 AM »
That radial engined conversion is quite appealing, especially in the Navy color scheme. 
"Every day we hear about new studies 'revealing' what should have been obvious to sentient beings for generations; 'Research shows wolverines don't like to be teased" -- Jonah Goldberg

Offline Jeremak

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Re: Logan's Profiles - Japanese A9He1-N "Wade" Floatplane
« Reply #13 on: December 25, 2011, 02:30:06 AM »
Quote
The problem wasn't that I didn't have enough sources.  It was that I had too many...and they all disagreed with each other!
I know what you mean: I've touched this during making of WW I profiles: colours from this period is just madness. To say about only one: they can't really get what values give to PC-10!

Offline Logan Hartke

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Re: Logan's Profiles - Japanese A9He1-N "Wade" Floatplane
« Reply #14 on: December 25, 2011, 08:18:00 AM »
Thanks for all the compliments, everyone!  It's great to be back and doing profiles again!

Cheers,

Logan

Offline Logan Hartke

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Re: Logan's Profiles - Japanese A9He1-N "Wade" Floatplane
« Reply #15 on: December 26, 2011, 11:48:12 AM »
I was finally able to finish the one I've been working on for a while.



Quote
The French use of the Vought Viking did not end in 1940.  A number of French pilots escaped to Britain after France's surrender, soon forming the core of the Free French Air Force.  The RAF equipped one squadron with the Vikings that were excess to its needs.  Having been operated by the French before the Armistice, the Viking was quite popular with the French pilots.  It wasn't long before they were assigned missions supporting Allied forces in North Africa.  The Free French Vikings gave accurate and effective close support throughout their time in the Middle East.  After suffering significant losses throughout 1941-42, GB Lorraine embarked for Britain to be re-equipped.

The main thing about this one was that I had to create the British 500 lb GP bomb for this profile, something that I intend to get more use out of later.  I also had to do most of the Lorraine Cross roundel myself to match the pictures I used as reference.  Finally, the research for the FAFL wasn't easy and I ended up not using a lot of what I intended because I found contradictory sources and there's not much else that bothers me more when doing research for these profiles.

Merry Christmas!

Logan

Offline Doom!

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Re: Logan's Profiles - Japanese A9He1-N "Wade" Floatplane
« Reply #16 on: December 27, 2011, 01:38:21 AM »
Logan, these are great! Glad to see you back in action.  :)
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Offline lauhof52

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Re: Logan's Profiles - Japanese A9He1-N "Wade" Floatplane
« Reply #17 on: December 27, 2011, 03:55:52 PM »
Just TOP! Logan. :-*  Lauhof

Offline Logan Hartke

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Re: Logan's Profiles - Japanese A9He1-N "Wade" Floatplane
« Reply #18 on: December 28, 2011, 03:52:06 PM »


Quote
After the 1940 Armistice, most of the surviving French aircraft were incorporated into the Vichy French Air Force.  The Vikings of GB I/19 and GB II/19 were transferred to Algeria, where--due to attrition and a lack of spares--GB I/19 was disbanded.  Its remaining equipment and personnel were incorporated into GB II/19 which was then renamed...GB I/19 the next year, maintaining its original traditions.  It would remain in Algeria throughout 1941 and 1942, finally standing down on 10 November when Admiral Darlan signed a ceasefire with the Allies following Operation Torch.  This would not be the end of GB I/19 or its Vikings, both continuing to serve in the training role as the French prepared to liberate their homeland from Nazi occupation.

The profile depicts one of GB I/19's aircraft in mid-1942 in Algeria, before the Allied invasion of North Africa.  It shows an aircraft with the full extent of Vichy markings and before the French roundel was deleted from aircraft sides later in 1942.

Things to note about this profile:

This is the first profile I've had to do that is essentially 2 different aircraft.  The first was mostly done already, having been the 1940 French Viking I did two years ago.  It would just be a more heavily worn version of that same aircraft, being 2 years later.  The other aircraft was that Vichy one, covered in red and yellow stripes just a few weeks earlier.  Unfortunately...that concept does play well with paint chipping, wear, etc.  In short, it made my life pretty difficult and put layers way out of order.  I don't know if I'll ever use this Viking as a template for any others my layers are so out of whack.

The other things that sucked were the stripes on curved surfaces.  Those on the wing and ESPECIALLY those on the engine cowling.  I like the way they turned out, but those were a big pain.  They took forever and were the hardest thing about the whole profile.  Anyway, I do love how this one turned out and I hope all of you do, too!

Cheers,

Logan

Offline lauhof52

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Re: Logan's Profiles - Japanese A9He1-N "Wade" Floatplane
« Reply #19 on: December 28, 2011, 05:13:50 PM »
Excelent work! Logan.  :want:  Lauhof

Offline Doom!

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Re: Logan's Profiles - Japanese A9He1-N "Wade" Floatplane
« Reply #20 on: December 28, 2011, 11:57:11 PM »
Logan, I know how you feel about layers getting out of whack...can get pretty confusing to get the look your after.  :dizzy:  On the other hand it appears to have been worth it!  :)
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Jeff G.

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Re: Logan's Profiles - Japanese A9He1-N "Wade" Floatplane
« Reply #21 on: December 29, 2011, 01:13:44 AM »
Hi Logan, excellent profiles as ever and its great to see you on here  :D

regards

Mark
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Re: Logan's Profiles - Japanese A9He1-N "Wade" Floatplane
« Reply #22 on: December 29, 2011, 03:17:51 AM »
Colourful!
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Offline Logan Hartke

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Re: Logan's Profiles - Japanese A9He1-N "Wade" Floatplane
« Reply #23 on: December 29, 2011, 05:49:22 AM »
Thanks, guys!  I'm glad you all liked it.  I'm really happy about how the Vichy Viking turned out.

I got a question on the What-If forum and I thought some of you might be interested in my response to it, so I'll repost it below:

Each of my profiles probably takes an average of about 6+ hours, with about half of that time being research.  I'll check serial numbers, unit movement dates, unit strengths, construction numbers, etc.  It's not just important for me to get the markings right, but to know WHY the markings are a certain way, then try to verify them with actual photos.  That's why my somewhat mocking title on the forum is "rivet-counting whiffer".  I'm the closest thing the Whiffing world has to a JMN.  I'm not that critical of other people's work, but I want mine to be right.

In fact, I think that making a historically accurate Whif profile is actually HARDER than making a 100% historically accurate profile.  Given good enough photographs of the subject, all you have to do is copy what you see in the picture.  You don't have to know what any of the markings mean, heck, you don't need to even know what kind of plane it is!

When you're Whifing a profile, you have to know WHY every marking existed on the plane.  You need to put the red prop stripe in the right place.  You need to know that the white line on the tail is an LSO stripe and you need to change the angle for your plane compared to the real-world example you got it from.  You need to make up an aircraft type code if it's Finnish, make up a manufacturer code if it's Dutch, find an unused serial number series if it's British, etc.  These are all things that people figured out and did for you 70+ years ago if you're doing a REAL profile.  If you're doing a Whif, you need to step into the shoes of some underpaid clerk in a cold Finnish Ministry of Defence basement office and figure out what unused two-letter code is most logical for the aircraft in question.  This is both the fun and frustrating part of these profiles.  It takes sometimes hours of research.  For example, I bought about 2 books and joined a Yahoo group on NEI Aviation just so I could make an educated guess as to what codes the ML-KNIL and MLD would use on Vikings.  This isn't a problem for real-world profilers!



From a technical standpoint, I use Adobe Photoshop, currently CS5.  Most of my profiles are hundreds of layers (553 with the Vichy Viking), but only about a third of them (190 on the Vichy Viking) are actually visible in the profile, many of them being unused "options" (different kinds of bombs/spinners/etc) or merely stepping stones to get to the final result.

Another thing that's different about the way I do profiles is that almost nothing has multiple colors on the same layer.  With the exception of unit markings, I basically make every layer a single color.  Also, almost every layer is straight up ff0000 RED.  What I then do is apply a color overlay layer to change the color of that layer to what I want.  In my experience, it's a bit more seamless to quickly change colors that way.  Also, if I want to see the exact boundaries of any particular layer, all I have to do is take off the overlay and it pops right out.  The other thing that I like about this method is that it allows me to quickly add things like patterns, strokes, gradients, etc. with very little trouble.  If you really want to make it its own layer with the right color (sometime very helpful), just throw in another blank layer and merge them.

Cheers,

Logan

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Re: Logan's Profiles - Japanese A9He1-N "Wade" Floatplane
« Reply #24 on: December 29, 2011, 09:49:45 AM »
I'm impressed with how you've used Photoshop for these profiles, Logan. I had started out that way but very early on vector-based software was more suited to how I work (currently using Illustrator CS2). One of the things that a lot of folks don't realize is that there are a lot of similarities to kit building in "assembling" these profiles as I have my layers based upon sections and sub-assemblies not unlike a model kit. We also have to take into consideration weathering and paint schemes and even the scale effect at times.

Thanks for the detailed explanation of your approach!