42-31909 “NINE O NINE”, 323BS/91BG [OR-N] Bassingbourn, Cambridgeshire, UK, 1944/5 (UPDATED 16/09/23)

42-31909 “NINE O NINE”, 323BS/91BG [OR-N] Bassingbourn, Cambridgeshire, UK, 1944/5

Includes 2 skins, one at 92 Missions and one at War's End with 140 Missions.

UPDATE 16/09/23 - several small corrections and a new generic skin added.

42-31909 “NINE O NINE”, 323BS/91BG [OR-N] Bassingbourn, Cambridgeshire, UK, 1944/5

Delivered on 15/12/43 she was transferred to 323BS/91BG on 24/2/44. One of, if not the most, famous high scorers of the 91st with 140 mission, Nine O Nine returned to the US on 08/6/45 and sold for scrap on 07/12/45. She had the distinction of completing either 126 or 132 missions without a mechanical abort. The Collings Foundation replica of Nine O Nine did much to increase the original’s fame until is tragic crash and destruction in 2019.

As Depicted

The skin is based on several contemporary images taken in the Fall and Winter of 1944/45. There are two versions, one with a more conservative 92 missions and 1 kill, one with the full 140 and 3 Kills. The 140 skin is based on images taken around the aircraft’s 115th mission. Ive attempted to recreate the tally markings as accurately as possible, including the tonal differences in the earlier and later bomb icons and the placement of the count icons which do not follow consecutively. The original had additional details within the bomb icons denoting special missions etc but I could fine no clear images of there so have not second guessed them. Unlike the Collings reproduction, I stuck to yellow and black for all the tallys as this seems to match the tone of the B&W photos.
Finally, the elephant in the room. The tone of the Olive Drab. Ive chosen a lighter shade as there is an image of Nine O Nine close to Out House Mouse showing that she was lighter but Ive not gone all out “Collings” as I believe the colour images that the repro seemed to be based on are not accurate.

Wear and Tear

Where I have been able to use clear pictures of the real thing I’ve tried to match the wear and tear accordingly. All of the later images I have show that Nine O Nine had a replacement NM tail and NM leading edge on the outer starboard wing. At 92 missions, the paintwork on the cheek turret modifications was badly scrapped but appears to have been over painted by mission 115. This is also replicated between the two skins. Finally there are differences in the painted cowl flaps and the inclusion of a NM chin turret on the later skin.

Template alterations and corrections

Not a full list but this includes:
Editing the bright highlights intended for bare metal finishes present on the engine cowls, cheek turrets and saddle joints.
Editing the baked part layers to suit the painted scheme and correcting rogue shading (on the starboard lower aileron for instance)
Editing many of the general and weathering texture layers to reduce rogue elements near skin joints.
Correcting the Seam layer on the wings that is combined with a general texture treatment in the stock template. This eliminates the effect that makes the starboard wing look darker in game.
Created the missing identification lights under the fuselage using edited lighting elements from the template.
Editing some of the pant layers (black mainly) into components to better control representation.
Editing the rivet and seam layers and Normal map to both add repair patches and represent features evident on the earlier B17s this skin is based on.

WARLORD64’s JSON mod.

The skin is a compromise between what is standard and this mod. Spec maps are adjusted to tame the effect of the mod if used but not so much the aircraft appears completely flat in the standard game. Much of the chipping has been given a matte treatment in the Spec as I don’t like the in-game darkening effect in certain lights and am not convinced those areas would be so reflective in any case. So it really only affects larger, factory present, bare metal areas.
I do recommend the mod however as it does a lot more than just make metal shiny.

THANKS

To everyone for the help and advice.
Special thanks to Helles Belle for sharing his Hex code for the Olive Drab and to Warlord64 (Keefy) for years of supporting us skinners!