Re: Spinners' Strike Fighters Thread

[SPINNERS]

Blackburn Firebrand TF.4 - Indian Air Force, June 1948

IAFFIREBRANDTF401 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

IAFFIREBRANDTF402 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

IAFFIREBRANDTF403 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

IAFFIREBRANDTF404 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

IAFFIREBRANDTF405 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

It's been a couple of years since I last looked at the pugnacious Blackburn Firebrand (SEAC markings - Page 41) and I decided to add early post-independence IAF markings and the 'Chakra' roundels. Perhaps Mountbatten offered the Firebrands as part of the 'deal' 

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Republic P-72B Superbolt - JG71, German Air Force, 1950

Following the end of the Berlin Airlift in May 1949 the U.S. made urgent calls for the rearmament of West Germany in order to help defend Western Europe from similar Soviet aggression. Whilst naturally condemned by the Soviet Union this plan was also initially rejected by most Western European nations but by late 1949 consensus was reached and West Germany was allowed to re-arm within the framework laid out by the European Defence Community. The German Air Force was officially created on April 1st, 1950 when JG71 reformed with Republic P-72B's supplied under the offshore procurement policy.

GAFP-72BSUPERBOLT01 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

GAFP-72BSUPERBOLT02 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

GAFP-72BSUPERBOLT03 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

GAFP-72BSUPERBOLT04 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

Edited to include the 'Sabre' type nose markings.

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General Dynamics F-2?B - VF(AW)3, USN, 2007

USNGD_ATF01 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

USNGD_ATF02 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

USNGD_ATF03 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

USNGD_ATF04 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

USNGD_ATF05 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

I'm honoured to have been allowed to have a play with this stunning General Dynamics ATF contender made by Swedish 3D modeller 'Julhelm' who's pretty darn good at skinning too as you can see by his USN skin thus making it even more of a 'what if'. Julhelm has also passed on the template so expect to see RN, RAF and Flygvapnet versions soon!

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Mitsubishi Aerospace F-3A - 302nd Hikotai (Aggressor Flight), Japanese Air Self Defense Force, 2013

When Japan selected the F-16 to be it's new 'secondary fighter' in 1987 it had already been planned to produce a developed version of the F-16 to be manufactured by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries to replace the ageing Mitsubishi F-1 and F-4EJ and eventually supplement the F-15J. But even before production of the F-2 had started, senior JASDF officials requested a more capable aircraft to replace the F-15J and by late 1992 they had settled upon a revised version of the rejected General Dynamics ATF submission dating from the late 1980's. This promised to give Mitsubishi an opportunity to introduce technologies planned for the F-2 into the new F-3 'primary fighter' such as the co-cured technology used to create lighter composite structures and the F110-GE-129 engine. With rumours emerging of a probable merger between General Dynamics and Lockheed, Mitsubishi moved swiftly and controversially bought the GD design in early 1993 including long-term production licences regarded by many aerospace industry insiders as being grossly over-valued and leading to a unit price that eventually exceeded that of the F-22 Raptor.

Despite this, development of the F-3 moved smoothly with the programme generally running about five years behind the F-2 and thus able to continue to incorporate innovations learnt from it's smaller predecessor. The first flight of the XF-3A took place on December 24th, 2000 with production F-3A aircraft entering service with 302nd Hikotai in early 2011.

JASDFGD_ATF01 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

JASDFGD_ATF02 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

JASDFGD_ATF03 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

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Lockheed-Martin F-22B* Stingray - 899 Naval Air Squadron, Royal Navy, 2011

RNGD_ATF01 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RNGD_ATF02 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RNGD_ATF03 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

* I'm using this designation as this one is an alternate timeline type thing.

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Seversky P-35E Guardsman - Soviet Air Force, 1941

SOVIETP-35AGUARDSMAN01 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

SOVIETP-35AGUARDSMAN02 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

SOVIETP-35AGUARDSMAN03 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

SOVIETP-35AGUARDSMAN04 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

I made my own template to create this Soviet 'lend-lease' P-35 and decided to use the red star within a white circle markings used on the Airfix P-39Q Airacobra, a kit I made quite a few times as a teenager as I was fascinated by the layout of it. I'm not sure why those markings were used on the P-39Q - was it perhaps simply a quick overpaint of the US white star on a blue circle?

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Bristol Bedouin B.III - No.39 Squadron, RAF Desert Air Force, 1949

The failure of the French resistance to carry out a planned coup d'état in Algiers during Operation Torch saw Axis forces eventually repel the Allied invasion of North Africa in November 1942. Following this failure there followed bitter disagreement amongst the Allies as to 'what next' with the United States eventually electing to renege on the previously agreed policy of 'Europe First' and committing heavy resources to the defeat of Japan. Subsequent Axis victories in the North African campaign led to a bolstering of the Axis position leading to a long-term stalemate in that theatre and the release of substantial Axis forces that were quickly diverted to the Eastern Front.

During the Spring and Summer of 1943 the Wehrmacht pushed ahead slowly at first but gained momentum before eventually smashing the Soviet 5th Guards Tank Army at Kursk and continuing on to inflict further defeats on Soviet forces at Orel and Kharkov during the Autumn of 1943 and making substantial gains into the Ukraine where a popular anti-Russian uprising led to an uneasy truce. But the cessation of hostilities in the Ukraine led to an overall strengthening of the Wehrmacht's position on the Eastern Front and ultimately extended the war allowing Germany to field their advanced jet and rocket powered aircraft during 1945 and 1946.

Meanwhile, in the UK during the Spring of 1944 the success of the Derwent powered Gloster Meteor and the high expectations of the forthcoming Rolls-Royce Nene led the RAF to request a jet-powered replacement for the Boston, Marauder and Mitchell light bombers of the Desert Air Force and the Bristol Aeroplane Company designed a fairly conventional three-seat tactical bomber utilising two of the proposed Nene centrifugal engines and developed in parallel with a radar equipped two-seat night fighter variant. Design progressed quickly with the prototype Bristol Bedouin taking to the air at Filton on February 28th 1947 and entering service with No.39 Squadron in October 1948 and eventually serving in eight Squadrons of the Desert Air Force during the successful North African campaigns of 1949 and 1950.

RAFBEDOUINB301 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RAFBEDOUINB302 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RAFBEDOUINB303 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RAFBEDOUINB304 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RAFBEDOUINB305 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RAFBEDOUINB306 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

I'm quite pleased with this one as I've used the uppersurface camo of the stock Third Wire Egyptian Beagle and used the stock silver skin for the undersurfaces but inverted the colour to get a nicely weathered black. It's a bit more involved than that but it has certainly allowed me to work very quickly as has using the codes and serials from my Bomber Command B-52K which can be found on the current Page 44.

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Gloster Meteor FR.8 - RAF Photo Reconnaissance Development Unit, 1950

Even though Gloster's had the FR.9 and PR.10 versions of the Meteor under development the increasing obsolescence of the 'PR' Mosquitoes and 'FR' Spitfires saw the RAF demand an interim Fighter Reconnaissance version of the Meteor to which Gloster quickly responded with the FR.8. The minimum change airframe incorporated a Type F.24 camera in the nose with glass side panels allowing oblique photography whilst retaining the standard F.8 armament of four 20mm cannon.

First flown by Jan Zurakowski on August 15th, 1949 the Meteor FR.8 served alongside the Meteor F.8 in several RAF squadrons in the UK, Germany and the Middle East from 1950 onwards but without ever wholly equipping an entire RAF squadron. Export orders for the Meteor FR.8 were gained from Brazil, Pakistan and Dhimar with the latter still operating the type in the early 1970's.

RAFMETEORFR801 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RAFMETEORFR802 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RAFMETEORFR803 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RAFMETEORFR804 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RAFMETEORFR805 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

A stock Third Wire RNLAF skin with a homemade nose camera decal.

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Gloster Meteor RF-73C - 45th Tactical Reconnaissance Squadron, USAF, Korea, 1951

USAFRF-73DMETEOR01 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

USAFRF-73DMETEOR02 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

USAFRF-73DMETEOR03 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

USAFRF-73DMETEOR04 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

I've previously done a USAF Meteor as the F-73C (Page 50) and the Vietnam era F-73D 'Reaper' so this early recce bird was quite easy to make. The Meteor has always been a real favourite of mine probably stemming from the fact that, 40 years ago, my local library had very few aviation books but did have the Putnam Gloster book and the Shacklady Meteor book. In later years I bought both - the former brand new and the latter on ebay!

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Gloster Meteor NF.14 - Staffel 18, Swiss Air Force, 1960

SWISSMETEORNF1401 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

SWISSMETEORNF1402 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

SWISSMETEORNF1403 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

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Convair B-53C Cougar - Arkansas Air National Guard, 1957

In 1947 Convair's futuristic-looking XB-46 lost out to the North American B-45 Tornado in the race to produce the first operational American jet bomber but there still remained the hope of their even more radical forward-swept wing (with canard) XA-44 project being selected as a more advanced medium bomber. However, the outstanding success of the Boeing B-47 Stratojet in the medium bomber role led to USAF officials cancelling the XA-44 in early 1949 but immediately inviting Convair to design a smaller tactical bomber with reconnaissance capability as a replacement for the Douglas B-26 Invader still in widespread USAF service. Convair proposed a relatively conventional straight-wing aircraft powered by two Rolls-Royce Nene centrifugal turbojets licence-produced by Pratt & Whitney as the J42. The crew of three (pilot, navigator/bombardier and rear gunner) were housed in separate pressurised compartments with a small bomb bay under the wing, forward of which was housed an AN/APQ-17 air-ground radar contained within a protruding ventral blister.

Designated XB-53 (and soon named 'Cougar' in a poll taken of employees at Consolidated's San Diego plant) development move swiftly and the first XB-53 took to the air on July 31st, 1950 by which time the project had been given added impetus by the outbreak of the Korean war during the previous month. The first B-53A entered service with the 405th Bomb Squadron in February 1951 with the RB-53B entering service with the 30th Tactical Reconnaissance Squadron during the following month. However, the main production version was the B-53C which switched to the more powerful Pratt & Whitney J48 engine (a license-built version of the Rolls-Royce Tay) and introduced the more advanced AN/APQ-31 bombing and navigational radar. Entering service with the 764th Bombardment Squadron at Blytheville AFB, Arkansas in March 1952 the B-53 force served in large numbers with TAC, USAFE and PACAF units but was soon relegated to ANG units as they were replaced by more advanced tactical aircraft such as the F-100 from about 1956 onwards.

During 1963 the remaining B-53C's were gathered together for refurbishment by General Dynamics to re-enter service as the B-53E and deployed to South Vietnam in October 1964 with the first excursion into North Vietnam taking place in early 1965 as part of Operation Rolling Thunder followed by sustained night interdiction missions against the Ho Chi Minh trail and ending with airstrikes against the North's petroleum, oil, and lubricants (POL) storage areas during July and August 1966. After this the B-53E's were withdrawn from USAF service and handed over to the Vietnam Air Force who operated the type until the eventual Fall of South Vietnam in 1975.

USAFB-53CCOUGAR01 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

USAFB-53CCOUGAR02 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

USAFB-53CCOUGAR03 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

USAFB-53CCOUGAR04 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

USAFB-53CCOUGAR05 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

My inspiration was this;

3_15_zps467fbbc4 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

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Ilyushin Il-28 - Ilmavoimat, 1977

ILMAVOIMATIL-28BEAGLE01 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

ILMAVOIMATIL-28BEAGLE02 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

ILMAVOIMATIL-28BEAGLE03 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

ILMAVOIMATIL-28BEAGLE04 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

This one is for TSRJoe and uses a skin tinting technique applied to the upper surface camo to give an approximation of what a Finnish Beagle would look like in the dark green and olive scheme. It's not perfect and does subdue some of the lovely detail, weathering and panel lines on the stock skin but it does enable me to work very quickly and not get bogged down. The fin needed something to break it up so I've used the red triangular shape seen on at least one of their four 'target-towing'  Beagles.

[SPINNERS]

Convair B-53D 'Night Cougar' - 85th Bomb Squadron, USAF, 1953

USAFB-53CCOUGAR01 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

USAFB-53CCOUGAR02 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

USAFB-53CCOUGAR03 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

USAFB-53CCOUGAR04 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

The inversion of the stock silver skin gives a fairly good 'night attack' skin but I've used a 50% black tint to flatten it down and, wherever possible, cut out the parts (undercarriage legs, wheels, etc.) so that they retain their normal colour. It's a bit quick and dirty but quite effective nonetheless.

[SPINNERS]

Gloster Meteor F.8 - 26th Fighter Wing, Republic of China Air Force, 1953

ROCAFMETEORF801 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

ROCAFMETEORF802 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

ROCAFMETEORF803 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

ROCAFMETEORF804 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

ROCAFMETEORF805 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

ROCAFMETEORF806 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

ROCAFMETEORF807 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

I'm having a bit of a blast with the Meteor at the moment and thought I'd try to do a new nation (for me) by doing a ROCAF Meteor for absolutely no other reason than I happened to see the Nationalist emblem on the cap badge of a Chinese soldier in 'The Painted Veil' DVD last night! A good film btw.

ROCAFMETEORF808 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

Edited to add a piccie showing wing tip-tanks.

[SPINNERS]

Hawker Hunter F.61 - 17th Fighter Squadron, 2nd Fighter Wing, Republic of China Air Force, 1967

ROCAFHUNTERF6101 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

ROCAFHUNTERF6102 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

ROCAFHUNTERF6103 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

ROCAFHUNTERF6104 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

ROCAFHUNTERF6105 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

This is the Swiss AF Hunter F.58 which I've chosen as the 3D model has missile pylons on the outboard weapon stations. The longest part of the job was making the '2nd Wing' tail marking from scratch and in separate left and right handed versions (mine have the yellow triangular shape going in the same direction as the fin). Are there no markings that the Hunter doesn't look gorgeous in?