RKE wrote:Having a single texture sheet alone will be a massive improvement over the Dimitry Samborski model

Hate to break it to you, but this is a two-texture job with a third texture for the props. I am going to see how the rest of the texture-mapping goes (doing an small group of large ordnance shapes on this texture template), and I think there might be room on one of the two textures for the prop. I think either the MRAI An-225 or GAI An-124 is a two-texture job with main-texture fan blades, so I am not setting a precedence here. But using two textures enabled me to do the detail I really wanted to do in fairly crisp resolution, llike the natural metal textures with enhanced lines and underlying rivets.
I am doing this aircraft in the same manner as the B-52, two textures for a big aircraft, but everything mapped to those two textures. I currently have had as many as 25 set up in the sim with no issues, even at single-LOD. That's probably close to regiment strength back in the bad old days.
The only things left to be modeled are the final landing gear with bays, and the flaps (not too many animations on this one). I did the 95K/KM variant last night as well, the first generation big-chin radar variant. After that, the 95MS (modern variant with smaller chin radar) and the variants of the Tu-142 will fall into order. I will do the Tu-116/126, but I want to get the wing/gear group sorted out first, since it will be a substantial fuselage swap-out for the Moss. The retro Sov fans will get another AI commercial aircraft as well out of this.
