PhotoShop - getting the hang of it --

[Michael Concannon /OVA5155]

I bought a subscription to Photoshop Cloud last month, and gradually experimenting with it. Not easy, but I am old, stubborn and cranky, so I press on.

I grew up watching the long defunct Northeast Airlines operate out of Portland, Maine (KPWM) as a kid. recently, I ran across a couple of relatively poor quality pictures of the three DC-4s that NEA operated in the early 1950's. As best I can tell, these were C-54's reworked in a chop shop with FAA approved mods to include a single rear entry door, an aft lounge area and some spurious "potty" sky light portholes here and there.

I took the well regarded JBK C-54/DC-4 for FSX and worked on it, and for now I think it came out pretty good. I'm not thrilled with the reflectivity, but this ALPHA Channel stuff is making my brain hurt at this point.

Unfortunately I cannot find any right side pictures of these planes so had to extrapolate a little by looking at paint jobs on NEA DC-3s and early DC-6s as to the logos, etc.

Looking at DC-4s from other airlines, there was no such thing as a standard DC-4 in regard to the rear entry door and various small porthole windows for the toilets, what I believe was an aft lounge, etc. It appears they were custom locations when built as DC-4s, or approved mods in chop shops working on surplus C-54s. The top mounted astrodome for a navigator seems to have been installed even on some production DC-4s as an option, not just on converted C-54s - likely for long overwater flights that were being initiated during the period from after WWII to at least when the Connie and DC-6 became prevalent.

Anyway, see attached.

[Charlie Ford/TWVA-CEO]

I think that turned out rather nicely! Anytime I see these pre-jet birds I get jealous that I never got to experience the flight. Maybe once I get back to flying regularly just might have to look into flying the radials.

[Tom Burrill/TWVA1981]

Looking good Mike I am  still working to get the texture to show in my JBK  "Northeast " is special to me  as my Dad worked for them as a mechanic in the early 1940's. He went on to work for American Export Airlines at the KLGA  Marine terminal in New York servicing the Sikorsky VS 44 Flying Boats which carried passengers from New York to Europe. There were three of these built. The Excambian,Excalibur and Exeter. The Excambian was refurbished and is now on display in the New England Air Museum at Windsor Locks,Connecticut adjacent to Bradley Field.