The Bucc is very close to 5 years old (03/12/2002) and the B-25 slightly newer at almost 4 years old (31/10/2003). God.. both seem much older than that.. especially the Bucc :o As Garry said.. throw a bit of dirt in those areas and see how she looks when finished ;-) Unfortunately, dirt on top of the cockpit for the TFC B-25 is a no-no for me and without the Indian Chief's head, it's not 'Grumpy'.. unless of course you only look at the LH side :-(
I'll download it anyway mate as you've worked so hard on it ;-) This is one reason why I don't like painting
At the end of all this, you will know more about the mapping than the original designer! As Garry pointed out, the release colour schemes probably worked fine with the existing mapping - you are trying to do more than was originally allowed for.
When I did the Skyvan repaints, I had multiple colour boxes all over it to try to work out what went where. I know there are some things wrong with the detail of my repaints, but I minimised the effect knowing that it was not possible to do any better. And then I released it - the challenge is for someone to do better if they don't like it.
And just ask John (RAF_Quantum) about painting the default FS9 DC-3 and compromises ;-)
Keep your chin up Techy, as everyone has mentioned already, painting is often very frustrating - heck knows i felt the same way on the Hawker Sea Hawk project I had to scrap last year when I ran into tex map problems that just could not be fixed. NEvertheless, you have done an admirable first job here and the shine looks good too. I'm sure several of us will download it so it's been worth it, and a good learning experience for you too. Welcome to the club mate.
OK i will see what i can produce and if the interest is there i will release it 
