Re: Spinners' Strike Fighters Thread

[SPINNERS]

Lavochkin La-19 'Freebird' - PVO Strany, 1962

SOVIETLA-19HUNTER01 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

SOVIETLA-19HUNTER02 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

SOVIETLA-19HUNTER03 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

Apart from the colour scheme and national markings I think it's the little details like the 'Bottle Green' dielectric panels and the 'Award of Excellence' marking that add to the look of the 'Hunterski'.

[SPINNERS]

Hawker Hunter FGA.13 - World Aquanaut Security Patrol, Atlantic Fleet, 1955

WASPHUNTER01 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

WASPHUNTER02 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

WASPHUNTER03 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

WASPHUNTER04 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

WASPHUNTER05 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

I was on a bit of a deadline and, given more time, I would have made the spine blue from immediately behind the canopy. My WASP marking is only loosely based on the original (for which I couldn't decent artwork) and is, perhaps, the original WASP marking dating back to 1946 when the organisation was first created to combat the emerging threat from the Aquadphibians who had surfaced (lol) following the early a-bomb tests at Bikini Atoll.

[SPINNERS]

Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-23S Flogger-A - HävLLv 31, Ilmavoimat, 1975

The initial production batch of 60 MiG-23S aircraft were used for both flight and operational testing but did not actually enter operational service due to various teething problems and delays to the Sapfir-23 radar necessitating the use of the earlier S-21 weapons control system with the RP-22SM radar as used in the MiG-21MF. In 1974, 30 of the surviving MiG-23S's were refurbished by Mikoyan-Gurevich for export to Finland for an undisclosed sum but believed to have been gifted to Finland as a gesture to Finnish President Urho Kaleva Kekkonen for his acknowledgement of Soviet concerns regarding Finland's negotiations with the EEC for a free-trade agreement during the previous year. Entering service with HävLLv in late 1974 the MiG-23S served with just one squadron but suffered from high attrition leading to Ilmavoimat officials withdrawing the type from service in early 1978 and re-equipping HävLLv 31 with second-hand Saab Drakens from Swedish stocks.

ILMAVOIMATMIG-23FLOGGER01 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

ILMAVOIMATMIG-23FLOGGER02 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

ILMAVOIMATMIG-23FLOGGER03 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

ILMAVOIMATMIG-23FLOGGER04 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

ILMAVOIMATMIG-23FLOGGER05 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

ILMAVOIMATMIG-23FLOGGER06 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

One for TSRJoe who wanted to see the Ilmavoimat roundel on the fin of the MiG-23 in the Soviet way. BTW the MiG-23S 3D model is by 'The Mirage Factory' and I like the looks of the 'plain' wings without the huge dogtooth of the main production versions.

[SPINNERS]

Tbilisi Aircraft Manufacturing TAM-1 'Foolish' - PVO Stany, Soviet Air Force,1961

Following the movement of the Taganrog and Sevastopol aircraft factories to Tbilisi in Georgia during 1941, the formation of the Tbilisi Aircraft Manufacturing company (TAM) saw TAM manufacture large amounts of LaGG-3 and Yak-3 fighters for the Soviet Air Force during World War 2. After the war the company scaled down but continued to manufacture Yakovlev fighter aircraft including the first Soviet jet fighter, the Yak-15, in 1946 followed by the Yak-17 and Yak-23 gaining considerable experience before switching to the manufacture of the MiG-15. In early 1949 TAM sought official permission to design their own aircraft and, once granted, Irakli Chelidze was promoted to become TAM's senior designer.

Meanwhile, in 1949 the PVO Strany (Soviet Air Defence Forces) was separated from the other Soviet Armed Forces services (but with equal status) with a declared principal aim of defending Soviet airspace and immediately issued a requirement for a supersonic interceptor with long range and heavy armament. Three OKB's submitted designs for this requirement; Lavochkin, Yakovlev and TAM. Lavochkin's La-190 was a small, highly swept-wing design ultimately let down by a poor engine whilst Yakovlev's Yak-1000 demonstrated such poor handling characteristics during ground tests that it never flew! TAM's design, however, was very well regarded and sufficiently large for the mission but engines of sufficient thrust were simply not available to realise the design's tremendous potential. At this stage, Stalin intervened by issuing a directive that the MiG OKB should design and build a prototype supersonic fighter eventually leading to the successful MiG-19 (first flown in September 1953) and allowing TAM to continue with their larger TAM-1 design whilst Tumansky refined their promising R-11 engine which would later power the MiG-21, Yak-28 and Su-15.

The prototype TAM-1 took to the air in Tbilisi on September 29th, 1954 and even on the low thrust of it's early R-11 engines it exhibited excellent performance and was soon selected for series production. After a successful flight testing phase the TAM-1 eventually entered service in November 1956 with PVO units in the Moscow Air Defence District and Leningrad Military District before being issued to PVO units in the Byelorussian Military District and Far Eastern Military District in 1957 and 1958. Known as the 'Champion' in Soviet service the TAM-1 was given the rather less flattering NATO codename of 'Foolish' but remained in service until 1970 when the 689th Guards Fighter Aviation Regiment re-equipped with the Mig-25 'Foxbat'.

SOVIETTAM-1VOODOO01 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

SOVIETTAM-1VOODOO02 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

SOVIETTAM-1VOODOO03 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

The Voodoo is one of the 'best of the best' 3D models available for Strike Fighters and all variants are covered. I've based my 'Foolish' on the F-101A which was, perhaps, a bit foolish of me as I have no missile armament but as it's armed with 4 x NR-23's it's probably best not to get in front of it!

[SPINNERS]

Saab-GD JAS38 'Spöke' - F13, Flygvapnet, 2005

FLYGVAPNETGD_ATF01 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

FLYGVAPNETGD_ATF02 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

FLYGVAPNETGD_ATF03 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

FLYGVAPNETGD_ATF04 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

FLYGVAPNETGD_ATF05 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

FLYGVAPNETGD_ATF06 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

Julhelm's recent GD submission to the ATF competition given the Spinners 'splinter on a roll' treatment.

[SPINNERS]

Ilyushin Il-28 'Beagle' - F21, Flygvapnet, 1977

FLYGVAPNETIL-28BEAGLE01 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

FLYGVAPNETIL-28BEAGLE02 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

FLYGVAPNETIL-28BEAGLE03 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

FLYGVAPNETIL-28BEAGLE04 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

FLYGVAPNETIL-28BEAGLE05 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

I've used a new technique for this splintery Beagle by using my 'splinter on a roll' for the upper surfaces with a 25% opacity stock silver skin overlay on top of the uppersurfaces to add back in some detail and weathering. I'm delighted by the results!

Does anyone know what font I need for accurate Swedish numbers? I'd like to change 'F21' to something more appropriate.

[SPINNERS]

Fairchild (Gloster) F-73G Meteor - 366th Tactical Fighter Wing, 1981

USAFP-73GMETEOR01 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

USAFP-73GMETEOR02 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

USAFP-73GMETEOR03 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

LOL - you write the backstory!

I had hoped to use tip tanks on this one but things haven't quite worked out so I might come back to it at a future date.

[SPINNERS]

Brewster F1A-1A Brigand - VF-3, United States Navy, early 1942

USNF1A-1ABRIGAND01 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

USNF1A-1ABRIGAND02 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

USNF1A-1ABRIGAND03 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

USNF1A-1ABRIGAND04 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

USNF1A-1ABRIGAND05 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

This is the Mitsubishi A5M Claude masquerading as the Brewster Brigand. Edit: Since posting this I've needed to change the year to early 1942 to more closely match the markings. A lovely template exists for the Claude and I was torn between doing a 1938 Munich Crisis Blackburn Brigand or this. I hadn't realised the reasons behind the rapid disappearance of Brewster until reading the Brewster Wiki. How sad... and in wartime too.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brewster_Aeronautical_Corporation

[SPINNERS]

Curtiss-Wright F14C-3 - VF3, US Navy, 1942

USNP-55CASCENDER01 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

USNP-55CASCENDER02 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

USNP-55CASCENDER03 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

USNP-55CASCENDER04 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

USNP-55CASCENDER05 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

A bit of a 'speed build' tonight and I've reused my 'early' (relative to the United States joining in that is) WW2 US Navy markings on an aircraft that has always fascinated me - the Curtiss-Wright XP-55 Ascender. There are no spare Curtiss designations left so I've had to use one that was used for a slightly later pugnacious looking prototype shipboard fighter that would have done Blackburn proud! Pedants will note that the real XP-55 didn't fly until July 1943 so this 'what if' is based on a much earlier ordering, design and development, etc. Anyway, just a bit of fun 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curtiss-Wright_XP-55_Ascender

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curtiss_XF14C

[SPINNERS]

Wright Aeronautical F4W-1 Hurricane - VF-3, USS Lexington, US Navy, 1942

USNF4W-1HURRICANE01 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

USNF4W-1HURRICANE02 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

USNF4W-1HURRICANE03 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

USNF4W-1HURRICANE04 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

USNF4W-1HURRICANE05 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

USNF4W-1HURRICANE06 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

The Hurricane family is well covered in 'Strike Fighters' and an excellent template exists which has helped me create a USN version. US Navy designations are a bit tricky so I've used Wright Aeronautical as the licence producer of Hawker's Hurricane and given it the fictional F4W-1 designation. This is my last early WW2 USN 'what if' for now but I'll revisit this topic in the future.

USNF4W-1HURRICANE07 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

[SPINNERS]

Gloster Gideon I - No.43 Squadron, Royal Air Force, September 1938

RAFGIDEON01 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RAFGIDEON02 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RAFGIDEON03 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RAFGIDEON04 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

[SPINNERS]

Supermarine Spitfire LF.IXc - 2-VLG-V, The Military Aviation of the Royal Netherlands East Indies Army, 1943

NEIAFSPITFIRE9C01 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

NEIAFSPITFIRE9C02 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

NEIAFSPITFIRE9C03 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

NEIAFSPITFIRE9C04 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

[SPINNERS]

North American F-100D - 1e Jachtvlieg Afdeling, Royal Netherlands Air Force, 1973

NEIAFF-100DSUPERSABRE01 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

NEIAFF-100DSUPERSABRE02 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

NEIAFF-100DSUPERSABRE03 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

I'm calling this one 'Fokker Splinter' 

[SPINNERS]

Convair F-102A Delta Dagger - Escadre de Chasse "Tigre", Royal Moroccan Air Force, 1979

RMAFF-102ADELTADAGGER01 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RMAFF-102ADELTADAGGER02 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RMAFF-102ADELTADAGGER03 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

[SPINNERS]

Bell-Saab J36D 'Orkan' - F21, Flygvapnet, 1980

FLYGVAPNETXF-10901 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

FLYGVAPNETXF-10902 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

FLYGVAPNETXF-10903 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

FLYGVAPNETXF-10904 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

FLYGVAPNETXF-10905 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

This is the Bell XF-109 with a 3D model by Veltro2K and a skin by me created from my own template something I'm not to keen on doing but I thought I'd make the effort on this one. The splinter was the easy bit, it's the panel lines that take ages! Not my favourite task...