North American F-107C Ultra Sabre - 196th Fighter Interceptor Squadron, California Air National Guard, 1974






Final F-107 for now and I've switched back to the 'C' version and I've had a go at making the tail marking for the 196th Fighter Interceptor Squadron (in port and starboard versions) after seeing it on so many photo's of their F-102A's. It's not too bad and I know how to make it better for the next time on a Lightning or Mirage or something equally inappropriate!

Lockheed F-104H Starfighter - 196th Fighter Interceptor Squadron, California Air National Guard, 1974







Just a quick re-visit to my recent 'ADC' Starfighter to add a new squadron with my revised tail marking which I'm much happier with. Just a reminder that I'm using the designation of F-104H as it's the only contemporary 'spare' designation open to me as I've already used the 'E'.

Gloster Meteor NF.2 - 1st Prototype, 1943



There's no input from me here apart from taking the screenshots of another cracking 'what if' Meteor by yakarov79 who has called this the Meteor FB.5 but I've chosen to call it the NF.2 (that's NF.II in Mosquito speak) which allows it to predate the post-war Meteor F.4 and we can all agree to airbrush out of history the real Meteor F.2 (which was literally a one-off) although the bigger nacelles of the Derwent 5's are harder to explain! His Meteor FB.5 has the classic Mosquito FB Mk. VI nose armament of four 20 mm Hispano cannon and four .303 Browning machine guns mounted in the nose but it also has amazing weapon options with a Molins 57mm gun, a shallow internal bomb-bay and wing pylons for rockets and/or bombs.

BTW has any aircraft in history been powered by so many different engines?

(Alternative) Gloster Meteor NF.2 - 1st Prototype, 1943





This alternative Meteor NF.2 marries the 'wartime prototype' camo scheme with the Meteor NF.11 (the first of the Meteor night-fighters) and this just needed a lick of paint in a couple of areas although the F.8 tail looks a bit out of place in 1943! Obviously, the radar wasn't ready for the first prototype so Gloster's stuck a lump of concrete in the nose - a crazy story that could never have happened, right?  Note the serial number DG207 - the real Meteor F.2 

Quote from: Rick Lowe on January 15, 2024, 08:28:17 PMI like the r/c rear barbette. 

Here's a gratuitous rocket shot;

Saab Draken F.2A - No.23 'Red Eagle' Squadron, RAF Strike Command, 1991






I originally did this one back in 2009 and for this refresh I'm doing a new overall grey scheme instead of the two-tone skin that it came with. I might try a 'proper' F.2A RAFG scheme  .

For the purposes of this profile page, I've renamed the boring grey Drakens as F.3's.


The Draken has an usual 'parts breakdown' so I found making an RAFG skin a bit tricky as the upper and lower demarcation line runs across the nose, fuselage and wings! It ended up looking a bit ugly from certain angles but looks OK in this piccie.

North American F-100D 'Shavit' - 117 Squadron, Israeli Air Force, 1967






Another one from 2009 but with some new decals including my recent stencilled serial numbers. I'm thinking that Israel had some of the last F-100D's off the production line (1959-ish) and took an emergency delivery of second-hand USAF F-100D's (in SEA Camo) during the October War of 1973.

North American F-100D 'Shavit' - 253 Squadron, Israeli Air Force, 1973

Despite a very smooth test and development phase North American Aviation's superb F-107 unexpectedly lost out to Republic Aviation's F-105 Thunderchief in the competition for a new supersonic fighter-bomber for TAC. By early 1959 the end of the F-100D production line was now in sight and with the F-108 and B-70 programmes now on the far horizon North American Aviation needed to stretch the F-100 Super Sabre programme out to plug the gap and urgently proposed a variety of F-100 variants to several friendly nations, including Israel, Japan and the United Kingdom.

In April 1959 the Israeli government signed for 50 F-100D's and the first of these entered Heyl Ha'Avir service in February 1960 replacing the obsolete Gloster Meteors of 117 squadron. The 'Shavit' was a popular machine in Heyl Ha'Avir service and served with distinction during the 1967 'Six-Day' war but losses were heavy during the early days of the 1973 'Yom Kippur' war and two small batches of ex-USAF F-100D's were accquired as attrition replacements allowing No.253 squadron to re-equip with the F-100D before finally retiring the type in November 1977.





Just a short photoset to show the F-100D's transferred in from USAF stocks. This time around I've added a sharkmouth but the tail marking is from 2009 - it only seems like yesterday when I designed it.

Blackburn Barge C.1 - No.30 Squadron, RAF Transport Command, 1961







A lovely C-119C Flying Boxcar was released by the DAT boys recently with a very colourful French scheme and it turns out that the French operated nine C-119C's loaned to them by the US and operated in French Indochina. Anyway, this morning I started making a simple template for the C-119C with thoughts on attempting an Argosy style skin with the white uppers and 'blue flash' pinstripe but whilst the fuselage pod went OK I had to scale back a bit on the booms by not having the white uppers and blue pinstripe as it was just a bit complicated for me given the time I was prepared to spend on it. However the markings plus the white fin, fin fillet and rudder really do give it that 1960's Transport Command look so overall I'm very happy.

Fairchild C-119E Flying Boxcar - No.37 Squadron, Royal Australian Air Force, 1967






This is a different 3D model of the C-119 and it's pure coincidence that this Aussie Flying Boxcar follows Old Wombat's post - it just suggested itself when I saw the green skin which just needed a bit of overspray to cover the USAF markings. Actually my first thought was for a Danish C-119 but I feel that would work best with an overall green. The A87 serial numbers are 'spare' (allocated for a planned purchase of the Vickers Valetta) and I've repeated the last two on the fin. When I was a kid I was a sucker for twin-boom kits and built the Airfix Black Widow and Bronco kits multiple times.

Fairchild AC-119G Shadow - No.15 Squadron, Royal Australian Air Force, 1969




Just a short photoset showing my RAAF decals on a USAF AC-119G SEA Camo. The 3D modeller has cleverly built a search light into his model but although it's actually quite hard to hit ground objects it is HUGE fun!

During the early 1960's Defence Secretary Robert S. McNamara and his team of whiz-kids were on a mission to streamline the US defence budget with 'commonality' being their main area of focus. With the F-4 Phantom now being procured for the USAF as well as for the USN and USMC and with the TFX (F-111) project promising further cost savings it appeared that the two aircraft had the home tactical fighter market covered. So it was no surprise when in October 1963 Republic Aviation were formally ordered to cease further development of the F-105 Thunderchief and to stop production after the current batch of F-105D's and F-105F's.

In early 1964 the Heyl Ha'Avir (Israeli Air Force) were looking for a replacement for the Vautour tactical bomber and openly expressed a preference for the UK's Blackburn Buccaneer. With the end of the Thunderchief production line looming, and with no follow-on project in the immediate pipeline, Republic Aviation proposed a modified version of the Thunderchief F-105D to the Heyl Ha'Avir at a very attractive price and this was eagerly accepted.

With the last USAF F-105D's and F-105F's going through the door production continued with the main production batch of 100 F-105D-35RE aircraft (essentially similar to the F-105D-31-RE but with some Heyl Ha'Avir specified equipment) and powered by the Pratt & Whitney J75-P20W engine rated at 26,500lbs of thrust with reheat. Deliveries of the first F-105D-35-RE aircraft to Israel began in early 1967 and the type soon gained the local name of 'Shalakh' (Osprey). As a happy consequence, the USAF ordered more F-105D's and F-105F's as attrition replacements for Vietnam and this kept the Thunderchief production line open until December 1968.





God, I love this aeroplane! Another one from 2009 but with two extra skins.

BAC Lightning F.6N - Various







Back in 2010 I did some Dutch Lightnings using a very good F.6 3D model and gave them the designation F.56N (N for NATO) and this was the time before Third Wire had brought out their Lightning 'anthology' that covered all single-seaters including the F.53. Well, the time has come to revisit it and I've decided to also do some Italian and Spanish Lightnings as well as the two classic RAFG squadrons (19 & 92) albeit in the silver scheme and without colourful fins. I've changed the designation to F.6N and I guess it's a sort of NATO standard version based on the F.6 but with Sidewinders so that it makes logistical sense for the RAFG squadrons to also operate this version whilst the F.2/F.2A's went elsewhere (Cyprus, Tengah, Falklands). 

BAC Lightning F.56 - 1.° Grupo de Defesa Aérea, Força Aerea Brasileira, 1987





Just a short photoset showing a Brazilian Lightning F.56 (a designation I've used many times  ) and this uses an RAF skin done by 'sundowner' with some new Brazilian insignia including a serial number seen on a FAB Mirage IIIEBR. God knows what designation the Brazilians would have allocated to the BAC Lightning - their system looks most haphazard!