Re: Spinners' Strike Fighters Thread

[SPINNERS]

Republic F-105N Thunderchief - 2 Smaldeel, Belgian Air Force, 1975

During early 1961 the new Defence Secretary, Robert S. McNamara, decided to severely cut-back on F-105D production and only equip seven combat wings with the type. The expected total production run of about 1,500 F-105D's was soon reduced to less than one-half of that number. With the end of the Thunderchief production line looming and no follow-on project in the immediate pipeline Republic Aviation quickly proposed a minimum change 'NATO standard' export version of the current F-105D-31RE (designated F-105N - 'N' for NATO) at a competitive price and this soon attracted the attention of several NATO air forces. By March 1963 export orders had by placed by Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Italy and the Netherlands with a slightly modified F-105M version being procured for the West German Marineflieger who had become disenchanted with the F-104G Starfighter.

With the last USAF F-105D's and F-105F's going through the door at Republic's Farmingdale factory production continued with a batch of 200 F-105N's (Block-50RE's) powered by the Pratt & Whitney J75-P19W engine rated at 26,500lbs of thrust and 120 F-105M's.

BAFF-105NTHUNDERCHIEF01 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

BAFF-105NTHUNDERCHIEF02 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

BAFF-105NTHUNDERCHIEF03 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

BAFF-105NTHUNDERCHIEF04 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

[SPINNERS]

De Havilland Vixen F.2A - No.19 Squadron, RAF Germany, 1972

RAFVIXENF2A01 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RAFVIXENF2A02 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RAFVIXENF2A03 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RAFVIXENF2A04 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RAFVIXENF2A05 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RAFVIXENF2A06 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

Real life has got in the way of updates recently and things will be a bit slow around here for a while so here's a quick 'what if' placing the (Sea) Vixen in RAF Germany service!

[SPINNERS]

Spinners, any chance of replicating my 318th FS "WW2" P-80A Shooting Star?

Lockheed P-80A Shooting Star - 318th Fighter Sqd, United States Army Air Force, Italy, 1944

USAAFP-80ASHOOTINGSTAR01 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

USAAFP-80ASHOOTINGSTAR02 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

USAAFP-80ASHOOTINGSTAR03 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

USAAFP-80ASHOOTINGSTAR04 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

USAAFP-80ASHOOTINGSTAR05 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

USAAFP-80ASHOOTINGSTAR06 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

Without templates this is the best I could do mate. This one fought me all the way and I bailed out at the red nose for the sake of my own sanity. There are two F-80's available and I've used the older one here (by Pasko - one of the most prolific of the 3D modelers but now sadly inactive) as it's a bit easier to get the checkerboards onto the vert' tail and horiz' stabs - or so I thought until I saw the mess on the port side as the fin and rudder are separated .

[SPINNERS]

Curtiss C-46A Commando - Spanish Republican Air Force, 1944

SPREPC-46ACOMMANDO01 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

SPREPC-46ACOMMANDO02 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

SPREPC-46ACOMMANDO03 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

SPREPC-46ACOMMANDO04 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

A very nice C-46A was released recently and I considered an RAF machine in NMF but went instead for a Spanish Republican bomber/transport in a slightly tweaked olive/grey camo. I had no idea that the Commando had a 'double-bubble' fuselage and perhaps it would have made a decent early post-war maritime patrol aircraft with a pressurized fuselage and an unpressurized weapons bay.

[SPINNERS]

Lockheed F-104C Starfighter - 1 Jachtvlieg Afdeling, Royal Netherlands Air Force, 1965

NEIAFF-104CSTARFIGHTER01 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

NEIAFF-104CSTARFIGHTER02 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

NEIAFF-104CSTARFIGHTER03 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

NEIAFF-104CSTARFIGHTER04 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

NEIAFF-104CSTARFIGHTER05 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

NEIAFF-104CSTARFIGHTER06 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

I've always had a soft spot for the slightly odd three-colour camo scheme seen on the Dutch Fokker D.XXI and Fokker G.1 and the latter was released recently (see below) prompting me to look at doing another 'Century Series' aircraft having previously done the F-100 Super Sabre. I've used the stock F-104C and have made a particularly soft-edged camo scheme which has worked out quite well.


FokkerG1 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

[SPINNERS]

De Havilland Vixen F.2A - No.92 'Cobra' Squadron, RAF Germany, 1973

RAFVIXENF2A07 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RAFVIXENF2A08 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RAFVIXENF2A09 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

I thought I'd also give the Vixen to No.19's sister squadron at Gütersloh!

[SPINNERS]

Republic Thunderceptor F.1A - No.111 'Treble One' Squadron, RAF Fighter Command, 1956

RAFTHUNDERCEPTORF1A01 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RAFTHUNDERCEPTORF1A02 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RAFTHUNDERCEPTORF1A03 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

I've previously shown the XF-91 as a PVO interceptor so thought I'd give one of my favourite RAF squadrons a whirl. As a nod towards the Lightning I've tried to add the distinctive dielectric F6 fin panel but this proved quite troublesome and, sadly, the 3D model has a few issues too (don't we all).

[SPINNERS]

Fairchild A-10M Thunderbolt II - Royal Moroccan Air Force, 1987

MAFA-10CTHUNDERBOLT01 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

MAFA-10CTHUNDERBOLT02 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

[SPINNERS]

De Havilland Vixen F.6 - No.74 Squadron, RAF Far East Command, Tengah, 1970

RAFVIXENF2A10 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RAFVIXENF2A11 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RAFVIXENF2A12 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RAFVIXENF2A13 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RAFVIXENF2A14 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RAFVIXENF2A15 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

I've just added No.74 Squadron markings to an excellent RAF Camo skin by 'sundowner' and also shown it with Red Tops and Firestreak missiles. Naturally, it has Avon 300 series engines... 

[SPINNERS]

McDonnell Douglas F-4J(FN) - Flotille 12F, Aéronavale, 1979

AERONAVALEF-4JPHANTOM01 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

AERONAVALEF-4JPHANTOM02 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

AERONAVALEF-4JPHANTOM03 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

AERONAVALEF-4JPHANTOM04 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

AERONAVALEF-4JPHANTOM05 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

AERONAVALEF-4JPHANTOM06 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

This teams up one of my favourite stock Third Wire skins (for the British F-4K) with one of my favourite Phantoms (the F-4J) and simply requires the J79 burner cans to be pasted over the Spey burner cans. Making all new national insignia decals was the longest part although some time was saved by using the stock French Crusader code numbers. I tried to get Matra Magic missiles to appear instead of the common as dirt Sidewinders but for the moment I can't.

[SPINNERS]

McDonnell Douglas F-4J(FN) - Flotille 17F, Aéronavale, 1988

AERONAVALEF-4JPHANTOM07 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

AERONAVALEF-4JPHANTOM08 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

AERONAVALEF-4JPHANTOM09 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

AERONAVALEF-4JPHANTOM10 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

AERONAVALEF-4JPHANTOM11 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

I suspect the AS30 missile would have been out of service by 1988 but I thought it would be cool to have a French missile hanging under this Aéronavale bird (I'm not overlooking the Exocet but I just don't seem to have one in my install at the moment). Also I've figured out how to get the Matra Magics to appear with just a simple text edit taking about 5 seconds - voila! Those of you with SF2:North Atlantic will recognise the ominous shape of the Kiev in the distance of the last picture and will know I have about 5 seconds before death/ejection...

AERONAVALEF-4JPHANTOM12 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

New skin by me with black nose, no intake warning markings and (not that you can tell) new 'siege ejectionable' warning triangles.

[SPINNERS]

McDonner Blitzen Rudolph FC.1

SANTAF-4MPHANTOM01 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

SANTAF-4MPHANTOM02 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

SANTAF-4MPHANTOM03 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

SANTAF-4MPHANTOM04 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

Merry Christmas everyone! The Spinners' Strike Fighter Thread will return in the New Year.

[SPINNERS]

BAC Lightning F.6A - 'The Yellowjacks', No.4 Flying Training School, Royal Air Force, 1967

RAFLIGHTNINGF6A01 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RAFLIGHTNINGF6A02 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RAFLIGHTNINGF6A03 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RAFLIGHTNINGF6A04 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RAFLIGHTNINGF6A05 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RAFLIGHTNINGF6A06 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

I've tinkered about with the Lightning before using decals, tinted skins and even an 'inverted colour' skin (to produce a passable 'Black Mike' machine) but a stunning Lightning F.6 template has been released recently which opens up all sorts of possibilities. Anyway, my first use of this template is to put the Lightning into service with the 'Yellowjacks' aerobatic display team. Apart from it being so unlikely (that it didn't happen) I think that the earlier F.1's or F.1A's would have been better or, better still, the F.3 version which I understand was the preferred mount for solo aerobatic displays.

[SPINNERS]

Ilyushin Il-28 'Beagle' - Vietnam Peoples' Air Force, 1967

VPAFIL-28BEAGLE01 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

VPAFIL-28BEAGLE02 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

VPAFIL-28BEAGLE03 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

VPAFIL-28BEAGLE04 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

The VPAF did actually operate the 'Beagle' but I'm not too sure when. What I do know is that they didn't use this scheme as I made it! In game, the 'Beagle' is easily made flyable (by either using a simple edit or by importing a suitable cockpit) and is a delight to fly.

[SPINNERS]

Hawker Hunter F.6 - 'The Yellowjacks', No.4 Flying Training School, Royal Air Force, 1964

RAFHUNTERF601 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RAFHUNTERF602 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RAFHUNTERF603 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RAFHUNTERF604 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RAFHUNTERF605 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

Perhaps the Hunter F.6 would have been a better mount for the Yellowjacks. This is my first use of a recently released and truly superb template and the nosebar marking is a design by me based on the real No.4 FTS badge combined with their motto of 'From the sand to the stars'.

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

http://www.raf.mod.uk/rafvalley/aboutus/4ftshist.cfm