For the _s files sometimes I can simplify the process considerably. For a plane that's painted all over, and doesn't have paint chips or worn spots showing bare metal, I just create a texture that a solid 6% grey. AnKor's shaders use the base color's brightness to vary the reflectivity, so you will get some specular variations over the surface from that. Additionally you'll still see the specular highlights bring out the shape of the curved surfaces even when the _s is a solid shade. This actually is better than artificially forcing the upper curved surfaces to have lighter highlights, because it won't look wrong when the aircraft tilts or rolls inverted.
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