I always admired the ESC 88 or 89 Nieups with the yellow jacket on the side and decided to make a German version. I'm also partial to a black and yellow color scheme going back to the 1970's Pittsburgh Steelers teams that were so dominant when I was a kid. This skin is largely borrowed with some modifications.

Mudwasp was correct. It had to be saved as a 24-bit image. I'm good now. Thanks Mudwasp!

Olham and Shiloh: Those are some beautiful planes.

Shiloh - I was thinking my next plane was going to be a yellowjacket!

Wilhelm - I had the same problem as you and Mudwasp: It needed to be 24 bit for my colors to take. Glad you got it worked out.

These skins just keep looking better and better!

Once we get going is there any chance we could zip them all up in a single zip file called "The Circus Skins" or something like that and offer them for download somewhere like CombatAce? I've got free space on Dropbox we could use for this if nothing else...

Just an idea!

I was actually thinking about it. Maybe even the good guys over at Old Brown Dog would throw it up in their user mod section. Seems like it would be good publicity

Is today the start date?

Yes sir! The pilot has turned off the fasten seatbelt sign and you are now free to move around the challenge!

Okay, great! (rushes off...)

hey wait a minute, I'm still painting!

Mission 01


(W)Off we go


Black flak smoke alerts us to trouble. A-Flight seems uninterested and carries on. My flight leader takes us to investigate. Soon we are tangling with airco DH5s and some type of SE5. Just missed lining up on initial dive on a DH5. Pulled a loop and had him back in sights. Crippled him so that he crashed into the ground. I believe Hauptman helmut destroyed the other DH5


Seems to have been just 2 DH5s and 1 SE5. The SE5 fled and we couldn't catch him. We proceeded to the airbase and patroled above for some time. I decided to land there as fuel was very low. Will take more fuel on next outing. My Pfalz seems to burn fuel rather quickly. I filed one claim.

Great start! Also, MudWasp was kind enough to float some dough for a little prize for our challenge! (And you thought knowledge was prize enough!) He left the choosing to me and I have picked this rather apropos MvR mug, realizing how important the beverages are to most of our flying!

Thanks MudWasp!

Ok, today´s starts day, here we go...

This is my pilot, Feldwebel Franz Stadler, Pfalz jockey.




He was informed, that he certainly may arrange some marks and paintings on his Pfalz, but only after showing in some flights, that he is worth the work...

So, he is doing some flying first...

Congrats for your victory, MudWasp, and thanks a lot for the award, guys!

I have also absolved my baptism of fire, in early morning drizzle, and a French Nieuport 24 pilot
will not return to the mess table today - may he rest in peace.
He and his wingman had tried to sneak up on us, but Lt. Neckel spotted them despite the bad vision.
He and Bock took on the wingman, while I turned with the other. He was squirming like a toad, and
it took me some time to get into position - but then I hit him with a terrible burst.

Now he tried to fool me. He must have seen Tchaikowsky's "Swan Lake", and he played the dying swan
perfectly - I almost fell for it. Near the ground he then caught up and tried to escape southwest.
But he had no chance - my advantage of height was too big, and I easily caught up with him and
shot him down south of Crécy-sur-Serre.

Here is a warning to all our new pilots: there is a fence, when you approach the field from the east;
it is running along our incoming direction - better beware; the French build solid fences!

Yikes! Thanks Olham, good pro-tip on the fence!

I would like to start today ,but I cant seem to get Print Screen to work any more. ?
The Pilot Book images dont seem to make it to the Paint editor or Gimp 2.6 ? I dont know what I did wrong.

The paint jobs look great. I did 2 or 3 Albatross a/c baby steps using Gimp . Then a train wreck occurred. I did a Pflaz D-3 ran it through the 2.6, put back in the game and its all white ! I am still trying to figure that one out ?

Well........I've been over the jumps 4 times and am heartily sick of trying to have my skin (lame as it is....a clip art seagull) show up in the game....so with permission I'll start in the artistically deficient squadron with the default skin. I'll keep pegging away at it when the mood serves.....meantime....first mission....first kill.....and we're off!!! Can't believe the beautiful skins you guys have come up with....wish there were a way to make the squadron see them all at once. cheers....gaw1....aka, the infamous hully gully

carrick58: Are you running Ankor's mod or sweet fx? That changes the in-engine screenshot key, not sure why printscreen isn't working for the shell...

For the Pfalz, are you sure you saved you bitmap at 24 bit or higher resolution? Did it look ok in DXTBMP?

gaw1: What plane are you working with? Does it look ok in DXTBMP? Give us some info and we will help get you up and running, buddy!

edit again, But do go ahead and fly, gaw1, we will help you out as the challenge progresses

Please help me with painting advice!
What happens when you export your skin from GIMP as BMP and choose 32 bit in advanced options?
In my case when I open it with DXTBMP the image is all purple, although the BMP file shows ok when opened in other viewer or editor.
I have to save in 24 bit then it's ok. But wouldn't 32 be better? Does it even matter?
Thanks. I'm about to share my first skin with you guys

Okay, enough of waiting and procrastinating

Here's me:



And here's my bird. Blackbird. You know, singing in the dead of night, take these broken wings and learn to fly. This kind of bird.