After being stuck on the same intermediate level for so long I decided to give up on this fool skinning, but then I saw this picture of an award-winning model Macchi C.200:
I don't know how accurate a representation of a particular plane this is - although I have no reason to think it other than perfectly accurate - but more importantly, I don't care. This is the prettiest little plane I've ever seen. So I'm gonna give this a try and I'll post results as I go. Help and ideas at any stage are respectfully solicited and will be much appreciated.