Re: Spinners' Strike Fighters Thread

[SPINNERS]

Folland Gnat FB.3 - No.75 Squadron, Royal New Zealand Air Force, 1967

RNZAF GNAT FB3.01 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RNZAF GNAT FB3.02 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RNZAF GNAT FB3.04 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RNZAF GNAT FB3.05 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RNZAF GNAT FB3.03 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RNZAF GNAT FB3.07 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RNZAF GNAT FB3.06 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

My first Kiwi jet for quite a few years. I was going to do an RAF Gnat but remembered that I had some tactical Kiwi roundels lurking somewhere. The Gnat is huge fun in 'Strikefighters' but it's got a puny payload and I think the RAF were wise to choose the Hunter in the fighter-bomber role for overseas use.

[SPINNERS]

Mikoyan MiG-41F 'Flatfish-B' - Soviet Air Force, 2018

SOVIET MiG-41F FLATFISH-A.16 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

SOVIET MiG-41F FLATFISH-A.17 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

SOVIET MiG-41F FLATFISH-A.19 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

SOVIET MiG-41F FLATFISH-A.18 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

SOVIET MiG-41F FLATFISH-A.20 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

SOVIET MiG-41F FLATFISH-A.21 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

Whilst looking for some camo patterns I realised that drakkodj's MiG-41 would be ideal as the model uses just two main bitmaps that are essentially upper & lower meaning that the camo pattern flows right across and doesn't stop/start on the fuselage/wing joint.

[SPINNERS]

Northrop F-5EA Tiger II - Grupo 6, Fuerza Aérea Argentina, 1982

FAA F-5E TIGER.01 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

FAA F-5E TIGER.02 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

FAA F-5E TIGER.03 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

FAA F-5E TIGER.04 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

FAA F-5E TIGER.05 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

FAA F-5E TIGER.06 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

This is a Taiwanese skin that I thought would look good with Argentine markings. Sorry pedants... roundels on both wings for me please!

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Aero S-107 'Brawny-A' - 24th Bomber Regiment, Czechoslovak Air Force, 1970

CZECH IL-102 BRAWNY.01 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

CZECH IL-102 BRAWNY.02 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

CZECH IL-102 BRAWNY.05 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

CZECH IL-102 BRAWNY.04 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

CZECH IL-102 BRAWNY.03 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

CZECH IL-102 BRAWNY.06 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

CZECH IL-102 BRAWNY.07 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

It can't just be me who thinks that the airframe of the Ilyushin Il-102, first flown in 1982, looks so pedestrian that it could have belonged to any era from 1947 onwards? Anyway, this is drakkodj's Il-102 in an earlier timeframe. I lightened his original skin and boosted the specular settings then added an olive drab anti-glare panel with the intention of doing a very late WW2 USAAF attack bomber - stretching Fergie time to 1947  . I settled on a Czechoslovakian bird licence-built by Aero Vodochody and just wonder whether it would have an 'S' designation or some other letter? I think it would as Stíhačka means fighter aircraft in Czech and Slovak but I'll leave it be until we get a definitive answer.

[SPINNERS]

Aero B-107 'Brawny-B' - 24th Bomber Regiment, Czechoslovak Air Force, 1970

CZECH IL-102 BRAWNY.08 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

CZECH IL-102 BRAWNY.09 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

CZECH IL-102 BRAWNY.10 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

A quick and dirty camo scheme. The radar nose is a bit of a mistake as the nose gear is so far forward there would simply be no room.

[SPINNERS]

Mikoyan MiG-21PFM 'Fishbed-F' - Senegalese Air Force, 1976

SENEGAL MiG-21PFM FISHBED-F.01 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

SENEGAL MiG-21PFM FISHBED-F.02 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

SENEGAL MiG-21PFM FISHBED-F.03 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

SENEGAL MiG-21PFM FISHBED-F.04 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

SENEGAL MiG-21PFM FISHBED-F.05 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

I've quite enjoyed making this one. I found a nice desert camo pattern and scaled it right down to fit the 512² bitmap template and cut out the parts and added some Senegalese markings and this is the first aircraft I've done for Senegal - whose air force is only slightly older than me 

[SPINNERS]

McDonnell Douglas A-4E Ahit - IDF Aggressor Flight, 1974

IDF A-4E SKYHAWK.01 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

IDF A-4E SKYHAWK.02 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

IDF A-4E SKYHAWK.03 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

IDF A-4E SKYHAWK.04 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

IDF A-4E SKYHAWK.05 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

IDF A-4E SKYHAWK.06 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

IDF A-4E SKYHAWK.07 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

Quite a simple one this as I imported the 'sand' camo pattern into my A-4E template and used stock insignia and codes with just some minor adjustments to position and added a DIY IDF Aggressor badge showing a MiG-17 silhouette behind the crosshairs.

[SPINNERS]

Mikoyan MiG-29A 'Fulcrum-A' - Turkish Air Force, 1999

The coup d'état in Cyprus on July 15th, 1974 by a combination of the Greek army in Cyprus, the Cypriot National Guard and the Greek military junta ousted President Makarios III and replaced him with a dictatorship led by Nikos Sampson who declared the establishment of the Hellenic Republic of Cyprus. The coup was viewed as being illegal by the United Nations and was of huge concern to Turkey who feared that Sampson's next aim would be the total annexation of Cyprus by Greece. Within days Turkey had invaded Cyprus (without any resistance from the British forces based on the island) to quickly occupy 37% of the northern part of the island and expelling about 142,000 Greek Cypriots living in the north. War between Greece and Turkey seemed imminent but was averted when Sampson's coup d'état collapsed a few days later and Makarios returned to power triggering the collapse of the Greek military junta in Athens which had failed to confront the Turkish invasion.

After the events of 1974, the United States imposed an arms embargo on both Turkey and Cyprus leading to sudden tension and mistrust between Turkey and the United States and pushing Turkey towards the Soviet Union leading to a vote in the Grand National Assembly of Turkey to become officially neutral (i.e. non-aligned) with President Fahri Korutürk announcing a huge increase in military spending with France and the Soviet Union gaining the most. In early 1975, the Turkish Air Force (Türk Hava Kuvvetleri) started to receive Dassault Mirage F.1's to replace embargoed Aeritalia F-104S Starfighters and also Sukhoi Su-17M's to supplement the handful of Phantom F-4E's that had escaped the embargo. Whilst still firmly in it's development phase, Turkey became the first international customer of the MiG-29 when the Turkish Air Force placed an order for 80 MiG-29A's in 1980 which entered service in March 1985.

TAF MiG-29 FULCRUM.01 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

TAF MiG-29 FULCRUM.02 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

TAF MiG-29 FULCRUM.03 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

TAF MiG-29 FULCRUM.04 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

TAF MiG-29 FULCRUM.05 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

My enthusiasm ran out a bit on this one as the skin doesn't seem to quite match the 3D model in so much that there are a few grey areas on the skin which is the 3D model without paint. It can be fixed as we have some excellent tools available nowadays but I've run out of steam after a tough old week at work in the hot weather.

[SPINNERS]

Mikoyan MiG-29AP - Aggressor Flight, Parani Air Force, 2007

PARANI MiG-29AP FULCRUM.01 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

PARANI MiG-29AP FULCRUM.02 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

PARANI MiG-29AP FULCRUM.03 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

An absolutely superb template by 'sundowner' exists for the MiG-29 and I've used a desert camo pattern with a cream radome to create this Parani Aggressor (Paran is the fictional 'red' Middle-East country in the original Strike Fighters game).

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Focke-Wulf Project II - Jagdgeschwader 27, Luftwaffe 1946

LUFTWAFFE FW PII.01 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

LUFTWAFFE FW PII.02 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

LUFTWAFFE FW PII.03 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

LUFTWAFFE FW PII.04 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

LUFTWAFFE FW PII.05 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

A bit quick and dirty this one in so much that I haven't bothered with panel lines. This is one of the older Luft'46 aircraft available in 'Strike Fighters' and it's a tricky beast to fly... in fact, I've yet to take off and the screenshots are of my 'AI' flown wingman!

[SPINNERS]

North American F-107E Ultra Sabre - 492nd TFS, 48th TFW, USAFE, 1988

USAF F-107E ULTRA SABRE.01 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

USAF F-107E ULTRA SABRE.02 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

USAF F-107E ULTRA SABRE.04 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

USAF F-107E ULTRA SABRE.03 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

The F-107 will never win any beauty contests but I reckon it would look ace with the intake in the ventral position. Anyway, this is the F-107A 3D model by 'FastCargo' who also released an upgraded F-107C for SF2 which included this 'Hill' scheme which I've added to the SF1 F-107A and re-decaled to create a Lakenheath machine but I can't help feel that they'd have much rather kept their F-4D's! When I move back to SF2 I'll come back to this one.

[SPINNERS]

Northrop F-17C Cobra - 555th Tactical Fighter Squadron, USAF, 1980

USAF F-17C HORNET.01 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

USAF F-17C HORNET.02 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

USAF F-17C HORNET.03 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

USAF F-17C HORNET.04 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

USAF F-17C HORNET.05 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

USAF F-17C HORNET.06 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

This is a normal F-18A with a SEA skin by 'EricJ' a real F-18 aficionado. I decided to create an F-17C which had the same growth transition that the real YF-17 had on it's journey to become the F-18 and show it with 'Triple Nickel' markings in some sort of extended Vietnam war scenario.

[SPINNERS]

McDonnell Douglas F-4E Phantom - 201 Squadron, Israeli Air Force, 1976

IDF F-4E PHANTOM.01 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

IDF F-4E PHANTOM.02 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

IDF F-4E PHANTOM.03 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

'What-If' a handful of the F-4E's quickly transferred to Israel during the Yom Kippur War of 1973 were older F-4E-35's and the Israeli Air Force decided to group them together in an Aggressor Flight? A nice easy one this as it uses a superb 'Ferris' like JASDF skin by 'sundowner' applied to the short cannon fairing F-4E-35 and with stock Israeli decals.

[SPINNERS]

McDonnell Douglas F-4B Phantom - VMFA-251 'Thunderbolts', United States Marine Corps, 1972

USMC F-4B PHANTOM.01 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

USMC F-4B PHANTOM.03 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

USMC F-4B PHANTOM.04 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

USMC F-4B PHANTOM.02 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

USMC F-4B PHANTOM.05 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

USMC F-4B PHANTOM.06 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

Another 'sundowner' F-4EJ (JASDF) skin but this time adapted to fit the Third Wire F-4D (but badged up as an F-4B) and given some new VMFA-251 decals.

[SPINNERS]

Hawker Hunter FGA.61 - 171 Filo, Turkish Air Force, 1962

TAF HUNTER FGA61.01 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

TAF HUNTER FGA61.02 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

TAF HUNTER FGA61.03 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

TAF HUNTER FGA61.04 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

TAF HUNTER FGA61.05 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

TAF HUNTER FGA61.06 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

I quite like the square 'roundels' of the Turkish Air Force and didn't realise that they were still in use as late as 1972 - I thought it might have been mid-1960's. I'll have to do some more. Anyway, the Hunter looks quite nice in them but, hey, it's the Hunter