Re: Spinners' Strike Fighters Thread

[SPINNERS]

Douglas A-4E Skyhawk - VF 871, Royal Canadian Navy, 1965

RCN A-4E SKYHAWK.09 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RCN A-4E SKYHAWK.10 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RCN A-4E SKYHAWK.11 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RCN A-4E SKYHAWK.12 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RCN A-4E SKYHAWK.13 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RCN A-4E SKYHAWK.14 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

Added HMCS Bonaventure and a second (ex-Banshee) Skyhawk squadron. I'm no expert on carriers but find it fascinating to read up on all those British carriers that seem to go on forever in foreign service.

[SPINNERS]

Douglas A-4E Skyhawk - 154 Gruppo, 6 Stormo, Aeronautica Militare, 1964

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

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

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

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

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

Perhaps a few NATO members decided to split their fighter purchase and used the F-104G for interception and the excellent Skyhawk for attack.

[SPINNERS]

Supermarine Scimitar FB.52 - VF871, Royal Canadian Navy, 1961

RCN SCIMITAR FB50.01 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RCN SCIMITAR FB50.02 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RCN SCIMITAR FB50.03 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RCN SCIMITAR FB50.04 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RCN SCIMITAR FB50.08 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RCN SCIMITAR FB50.05 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RCN SCIMITAR FB50.07 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RCN SCIMITAR FB50.06 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

This one has been a nightmare! I have no templates for the Scimitar so, even though I don't like making them from scratch, I thought I'd give it a go and started on Friday evening and give it a good go on Saturday before giving it up as a bad job by Saturday evening as the problems were immense when it came to drawing panel lines with lefts and rights not matching up on the fuselage and wings. With so many hours invested I rescued it from the recycle bin this afternoon and had another go. It's still rough but the decals make it look quite passable.

[SPINNERS]

Supermarine F2ST-1A Scimitar - VF-31 'Tomcatters', United States Navy, 1960

USN F2ST-1A SCIMITAR 01 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

USN F2ST-1A SCIMITAR 02 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

USN F2ST-1A SCIMITAR 03 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

USN F2ST-1A SCIMITAR 04 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

The fin 'AC' could do with a bit more slant but it's quite passable but what a real flight of fancy putting the Scimitar into service with a Naval Air Arm preparing to receive the F-4! F2ST-1A suggests there was an F1ST so perhaps we inflicted the Attacker on them too!

[SPINNERS]

Supermarine F1ST-1B Attacker - VF-61, United States Navy, 1949

USN F1ST-1B ATTACKER 01 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

USN F1ST-1B ATTACKER 02 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

USN F1ST-1B ATTACKER 03 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

USN F1ST-1B ATTACKER 04 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

USN F1ST-1B ATTACKER 05 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

Quite a simple one this as I'd previously made a fairly basic template when I made a Pakistan Air Force F.1 (one of the few real uploads I've done) but getting the exact tone of blue right isn't easy. It's sobering to think that the Attacker didn't enter first-line Fleet Air Arm service until 1951 despite being '1945' technology.

[SPINNERS]

Vought A-7B Corsair - VF 870, Royal Canadian Navy, 1970

RCN A-7B CORSAIR.01 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RCN A-7B CORSAIR.02 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RCN A-7B CORSAIR.03 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RCN A-7B CORSAIR.04 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RCN A-7B CORSAIR.05 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RCN A-7B CORSAIR.06 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RCN A-7B CORSAIR.07 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

Quite a few stock aircraft in 'Strike Fighters' have sharkmouth options and the A-7B has this one to which I've painted on the rudder markings directly onto the skin and then used my own decals for the rest except for the stock USN attack number decals. The carrier is a Kitty Hawk class and I'm going to try to create one for the RCN so that (hopefully) it should get populated with RCN aircraft instead of being empty or populated by USN types. At some point in the future I'll make an F-8E for Canada's 'new' carrier.

[SPINNERS]

Vought F-8E Crusader - VF 871, Royal Canadian Navy, 1966

RCN F-8E CRUSADER.02 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RCN F-8E CRUSADER.07 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RCN F-8E CRUSADER.01 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RCN F-8E CRUSADER.03 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RCN F-8E CRUSADER.04 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RCN F-8E CRUSADER.05 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RCN F-8E CRUSADER.06 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RCN F-8E CRUSADER.08 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

Crusaders! Gotta love them!

[SPINNERS]

IAI 'Yaeger' (Hunter) - 201 Squadron, Heyl Ha'Avir, 1973

IDF MiG-21MF FISHBED-J.01 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

IDF MiG-21MF FISHBED-J.02 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

IDF MiG-21MF FISHBED-J.03 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

IDF MiG-21MF FISHBED-J.05 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

IDF MiG-21MF FISHBED-J.06 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

IDF MiG-21MF FISHBED-J.07 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

A really nice Libyan Air Force skin for the MiG-21MF was released recently by 'Comrad' over at Combat Ace and it is close enough to IDF colours to make an easy conversion. The rudder decal was used on my IDF 'Farmer' and just needed a bit of rotation to fit the 'Fishbed'. BTW I am aware of the famous '007' - a real IDF Fishbed!

[SPINNERS]

Vought F-8F Crusader - 497th Tactical Fighter Squadron, United States Air Force, 1966

USAF F-8F CRUSADER.01 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

USAF F-8F CRUSADER.03 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

USAF F-8F CRUSADER.02 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

USAF F-8F CRUSADER.04 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

USAF F-8F CRUSADER.05 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

This cracking SEA skin is by 'Geary' to which I've added black undersides for use by the 'Nite Owls' and USAF markings. It's hard not to be impressed by the Crusader. Despite all the weight penalties of carrier ops and massive internal tankage it could easily outfly the F-100 on the same J57 engine and the 'E' was quite a multi-role machine with a powerful radar.

[SPINNERS]

Vought F-8E Crusader - Blue Angels Flight Demonstration Squadron, United States Navy, 1966

USN F-8E CRUSADER.02 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

USN F-8E CRUSADER.04 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

USN F-8E CRUSADER.02 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

USN F-8E CRUSADER.03 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

USN F-8E CRUSADER.06 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

USN F-8E CRUSADER.07 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

USN F-8E CRUSADER.05 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

USN F-8E CRUSADER.10 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

USN F-8E CRUSADER.09 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

USN F-8E CRUSADER.08 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

I'm not totally happy with this but must admit it looks cool! Main issues for me are the yellow wing tips spilling inboard onto the leading edge slats and also the perspective on the large 'U.S. Navy' decals (x 2 as they are 'handed') which could be improved but took way too much time yesterday.  I'll revisit it on another fictional 'Blue Angels' type in the future (something small, like the Vigilante  ).

[SPINNERS]

Gloster Meteor F.Mk.8 - 420 Squadron, Royal Canadian Air Force, 1953

RCAF METEOR F8.01 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RCAF METEOR F8.02 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RCAF METEOR F8.03 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RCAF METEOR F8.04 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RCAF METEOR F8.05 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RCAF METEOR F8.06 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RCAF METEOR F8.07 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RCAF METEOR F8.08 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RCAF METEOR F8.09 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RCAF METEOR F8.10 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

Apologies for the number of screenshots but the Meteor is one of my absolute favourite aircraft of all time and the Third Wire F.8 is an absolute beauty - especially in RAF Camo with maple leaves! I would have liked to confine the tail stripes to the rudder but the rudder is, of course, split and it's just not possible to decal the curved upper section so I've chosen the lower rudder as a datum and taken it straight up including the tail acorn fairing and the fixed part between the two halves of the rudder. In total, the tail stripes required 14 decals! Post-war RCAF markings are a minefield to navigate but I've found a website that gives me a few ground rules. I will definitely do a NMF version at some point in the future.

[SPINNERS]

Gloster Meteor F.Mk.8's - 420 Squadron, Royal Canadian Air Force, 1952

RCAF METEOR F8.11 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RCAF METEOR F8.13 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RCAF METEOR F8.15 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RCAF METEOR F8.14 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

Not much time tonight so I've cheated and used the same markings on the stock Third Wire NMF Meteor skin. I will try and do another NMF Mk.8 but with another squadron and take a look at some other Meteor versions after that.

[SPINNERS]

Just gorgeous. Love the formation shots with the two types ! So realistic.

If does look like it's from a 'Pictorial History of the RCAF' type book, especially in black and white.

RCAF METEOR F8.12 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

[SPINNERS]

Gloster Meteor F.Mk.8 - 421 Squadron, Royal Canadian Air Force, 1954

RCAF METEOR F8.16 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RCAF METEOR F8.18 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RCAF METEOR F8.19 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RCAF METEOR F8.20 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RCAF METEOR F8.17 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

This is the Iceland terrain from Strike Fighters 2:North Atlantic and the RCAF Meteor looks quite at home there!

[SPINNERS]

Canadair CL-13ME Sabre - Syrian Arab Air Force, 1954

SYAAF CL-13 SABRE.01 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

SYAAF CL-13 SABRE.02 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

SYAAF CL-13 SABRE.03 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

SYAAF CL-13 SABRE.04 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

A nice SAAF Sabre skin was released today by 'Strahi' over at Combat Ace and I've just added stock decals to it. I like to use my own decals but sometimes using stock decals just makes life easier especially on national insignia which are coded to change depending on the year you have selected.