Re: Spinners' Strike Fighters Thread

[SPINNERS]

Martin-Baker Vortex FB.2 - No.33 Squadron, RAF Task Force Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, 1948

RAF MB-5.10 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RAF MB-5.11 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RAF MB-5.12 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RAF MB-5.13 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RAF MB-5.14 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RAF MB-5.15 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

Via Capun, head of the DAT group of modders, I've received a revised LOD (the 3D model) for the superb MB.5 that fixes the decal bleed issue and decided to use the silver skin that it came with to knock up the MB.5 in service with No.33 Squadron in the early days of Operation Firedog (in reality they operated the Tempest II). The serial numbers are from the stock late-model Spitfire's and are a close enough match.

[SPINNERS]

Polikarpov R-9 - Soviet Air Force, 1946

SOVIET BV-141.01 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

SOVIET BV-141.02 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

SOVIET BV-141.03 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

SOVIET BV-141.05 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

SOVIET BV-141.04 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

I didn't know whether to put captured BV 141's in Soviet service or have it as a Soviet design but plumped for the latter and used Polikarpov as the OKB. The slogan on the side was written by the aircrew and roughly translates as "this plane needs air-conditioning". Veltro2K's BV 141 has been well received and is regarded as a fun aircraft to fly. I certainly can't stop flying it and I've even shot down a couple of Spitfires in it.

[SPINNERS]

Martin-Baker Vortex F.51 - 726 Eskadrille, Royal Danish Air Force, 1948

RDAF MB-5.05 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RDAF MB-5.04 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RDAF MB-5.03 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RDAF MB-5.02 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

I'm loving the DAT's MB.5 and they've kindly sent me the superb templates so expect to see more of this one.

[SPINNERS]

Supermarine Spitfire F.Mk16 - No.5 & No.17 Squadrons, RAF Fighter Command, 1950

RAF SPITFIRE F9E.01_zpsent4tkzo by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RAF SPITFIRE F9E.02_zps57nmgb0v by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RAF SPITFIRE F9E.05_zpsa6chpcjo by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RAF SPITFIRE F9E.03_zpsdi9rol14 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RAF SPITFIRE F9E.04_zpszmuak8nn by Spinners1961, on Flickr

One of my first aviation books was 'Pictorial History of the RAF - Volume 3 1945 -1969' and it contains a lovely b&w picture of six clipped-wing, pointy tail Spitfires wearing Luftwaffe markings with 'UT' codes. The caption explains that they were "masquerading as Messerschmidtt Bf 109's" in a reconstruction of the Amiens Jail attack staged at the 1950 RAF Display at Farnborough.

AFAIK there's only a couple of b&w pictures in existence so I'm guessing the nose colour was yellow and the swastika shows a white background. The 'UT' codes look very dark so I've used black and added another layer of dirt to the stock skin. I quite enjoyed doing this one!

RAF SPITFIRE F9E.06_zps2axav1np by Spinners1961, on Flickr

1950AmiensRaid by Spinners1961, on Flickr

[SPINNERS]

Supermarine Spitfire LF.IXC - Aeronáutica Militar, 1949

PoAF SPITFIRE 9C.01 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

PoAF SPITFIRE 9C.02 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

PoAF SPITFIRE 9C.03 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

PoAF SPITFIRE 9C.04 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

PoAF SPITFIRE 9C.05 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

PoAF SPITFIRE 9C.06 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

Another almost 'what if' as Portugal did operate earlier marks of the Spitfire (Mk.1 and Mk.V) and did use green uppersurfaces in their later years albeit with grey undersides. I've used one of the stock Soviet skins which has light blue undersides and I might try to do a 'cut and shut' to make a skin with green uppers and light grey undersides. Virtually all marks of 'fighter' Spitfire are available from a variety of sources except for the Mk.XII (a real favourite of mine) and the F.21 but the stock Third Wire Spitfires are the LF.IXC and LF.IXE and then the FR.XIVE, FR.XVIII, F.22 and F.24 with all the Griffon powered variants as bubbletops.

[SPINNERS]

BAC Thunderstrike - 348 Mira, Hellenic Air Force, 1974

HAF TSR2.01 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

HAF TSR2.02 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

HAF TSR2.03 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

HAF TSR2.04 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

HAF TSR2.05 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

HAF TSR2.06 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

HAF TSR2.07 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

HAF TSR2.08 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

Another 'plain Jane' TSR.2 that marries Sundowner's Grey skin with the undersides of his original anti-flash white skin but my demarcation line goes a bit too high near the tail. After merging the two skins I've overpainted the original national insignia and added Greek markings plus new ejection warning triangles and a 348 Mira badge on the fin. Serials are from the stock A-7H.

[SPINNERS]

Supermarine Spitfire F.Mk24 - No.612 (County of Aberdeen) Squadron, Royal Auxiliary Air Force, 1950

RAF SPITFIRE F24.19 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RAF SPITFIRE F24.18 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RAF SPITFIRE F24.20 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

I was hoping to introduce to the world the Spitfire F.Mk25, basically the Seafire FR.47 airframe in RAF colours but I was unable to remove the hook by the usual method and, on reflection, it is quite an elderly 3D model that doesn't show the undernose scoop that well so my markings (already prepared) have gone onto the stock Spitfire F.Mk24. No.612 Squadron did fly Mk.XVI's at about this time.

RAF SPITFIRE F25.01 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

[SPINNERS]

Nakajima A7N - Akagi Fighter Squadron, 1941

Even before the Mitsubishi A5M had entered service in early 1937 with the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) they started looking for its eventual replacement. By the late summer of 1937 the IJN issued their bold requirements to Nakajima and Mitsubishi for a new carrier-based fighter aircraft calling for manoeuverability at least equal to that of the A5M but with a top speed of 500 km/h at 4,000m with a climb to 3,000m in less than 9.5 minutes. Furthermore they asked for an endurance of two hours at normal power but with a staggering endurance of at least six hours at an economical cruising speed. Both firms started preliminary design work towards the end of 1937 but Mitsubishi soon gained the upper hand when Nakajima's team considered the bold requirements to be unachievable and withdrew from the competition in January 1938.

Much to the chagrin of Mitsubishi's chief designer, Jiro Horikoshi, Nakajima were immediately allowed to rejoin the competition with a revised design called the A7N featuring the top-secret "super duralumin" aluminium alloy (a key feature of the Mitsubishi A6M design) which had been under development by Sumitomo Metal Industries since 1936. This alloy was lighter, stronger and more ductile than other alloys used at the time but it was prone to corrosive attack requiring specially developed anti-corrosion coatings applied after fabrication. Mitsubishi had planned the use of super duralumin allied to their own anti-corrosion coatings and it was later revealed that the IJN had passed these two commercial advantages onto Nakajima in order to get two superior competing designs. With an initial time advantage Mitsubishi developed their A6M design into the highly succesful Type 0 'Zero-sen' carrier fighter which entered service with the 12th Rengo Kōkūtai in July 1940 and were soon in action scoring their first air-to-air victories shooting down Soviet-built Polikarpov I-15s and I-16s of the Chinese Nationalist Air Force without loss to themselves.

But the IJN could see the potential of Nakajima's design and in May 1938 they awarded Nakajima a production order for 300 aircraft. During the remainder of 1938 Nakajima worked on their revised A7N design and introduced a further refinement by incorporating an oversized propeller spinner whose outside diameter was the same as the engine cowl with the spinner having a small hole at it's centre allowing cooling air to be directed through ductwork in the spinner to blow rearwards along the cylinder heads around the circumference of the radial engine (the hottest area of any air-cooled radial engine). This enabled Nakajima to give the A7N a highly streamlined front fuselage resulting in a useful speed advantage over the draggier engine installation of the A6M. For the carried-based role the A7N featured a wide-tracked, inwards-retracting landing gear (designed to withstand a sink rate of 4.5 meters per second) with hydraulic wheel brakes. Nakajima's chosen powerplant for the A7N was their own NK1E Sakae 31 rated at 1,130hp and boosted to 1,210 hp with water-methanol injection and this was to prove an exceptionally rugged powerplant. Unlike the heavily framed 'greenhouse' canopy of the Mitsubishi A6M, Nakajima designed the A7N to have excellent all-round vision thanks to a vacuum-formed 'bubble' canopy combined with an optically flat three-panel windscreen.

Development continued during 1939 with the prototype A7N taking to the air on August 31st, 1939 - this being the first of a total of six A7N prototypes. Nakajima began production of the A7N at its Koizumi plant in Gunma Prefecture in September 1940 and the aircraft entered service with the 13th Rengo Kōkūtai in February 1941. Later in the year, A7N's were embarked aboard the IJN carriers Akagi and Kaga taking part in the infamous attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7th, 1941 as part of the third group of the 'first wave' attacks specifically tasked with the destruction of aircraft at Ford Island, Hickam Field, Wheeler Field, Barber's Point and Kaneohe.

IJN FW-190A.01 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

IJN FW-190A.02 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

IJN FW-190A.03 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

IJN FW-190A.04 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

IJN FW-190A.06 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

IJN FW-190A.07 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

IJN FW-190A.11 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

IJN FW-190A.05 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

IJN FW-190A.09 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

IJN FW-190A.08 by Spinners1961, on Flickr


No introductions are necessary!

A really sweet FW-190A4 was released recently and included a useful blank grey skin which I've simply tinted white and inverted the colours for the nose cowling. A few decals and a hairy old backstory and Bob's your Uncle!

[SPINNERS]

Blohm & Voss BV 141NJ - Stab II/NJG2, Luftwaffe, Eastern Front, 1944

The female pilots of the 588th Night Bomber Regiment of the Soviet Air Forces flew harassment bombing missions against the invading German forces from 1942 onwards and soon gained the nickname of 'die Nachthexen' (the Night Witches) due to the surprise night-time attacks they skilfully performed in their wood and canvas Polikarpov U-2 biplanes. These nuisance attacks deprived German forces of sleep, keeping them on constant guard and had a wearing down, cumulative psychological effect on the German troops.

Luftwaffe fighter pilots found it extremely hard to shoot down the slow U-2 biplanes which flew at treetop level at night and were thus very hard to see. Furthermore, the U-2s maximum speed was virtually identical to the stall speed of both the Messerschmitt Bf 109 and the Focke-Wulf Fw 190 the principal fighter aircraft used on the Eastern Front. In September 1942, Stab II./NJG 2 established an experimental flight led by Major Heinz Schöpfel consisting of eight Blohm & Voss Bv 141 B-1 single-engine reconnaissance aircraft. With generally good low-speed handling characteristics plus an exceptional field of vision and with three pairs of eyes scanning the night sky it was thought that the Bv 141's could potentially be an effective counter to the U-2 nuisance attacks but early missions were unsuccessful.

However, on the early evening of October 31st, 1942 Leutnant Otto Zabel and his crew shot down three of the 588th Night Bomber Regiment's U-2's and severley damaged a fourth. This caused the grounding of the regiment for the remainder of the night and further successes followed with another two U-2's destroyed in the air on the night of November 2nd plus two destroyed on the ground when Leutnant Gerhard Eisenach followed a damaged U-2 back to a makeshift airfield being used by the Night Witches and strafed the airfield setting two aircraft ablaze. Major Heinz Schöpfel shot down a further two U-2's on the night of November 5th and another on the following night. But, as the winter set in, the serviceability and spares situation of the Bv 141's became desperate and Major Heinz Schöpfel was soon forced to declare his diminished flight as non-operational. By early December, the Night Witches of the 588th Night Bomber Regiment had reclaimed the night and in the months that followed they would assist in the breakthrough of enemy defensive lines on the Terek River and support the Red Army's offensive operations in the Kuban River valley and Stavropol.

LUFTWAFFE BV-141NJ.01 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

LUFTWAFFE BV-141NJ.07 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

LUFTWAFFE BV-141NJ.05 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

LUFTWAFFE BV-141NJ.02 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

LUFTWAFFE BV-141NJ.03 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

LUFTWAFFE BV-141NJ.04 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

LUFTWAFFE BV-141NJ.06 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

I've done a fairly basic template for the delightful BV 141 and thought I'd do the night fighter version suggested by Dizzyfugu (you silly twisted boy). I'm hopeless on Luftwaffe markings so have gone for something generic but did take some time in knocking up 'dirty' versions of the standard balkenkreuz and swastika and similarly dirtied up the yellow theatre bands. I like this one but trying to get on the tail of a 'night witch' is a real joystick breaker!

DirtyBalkenkruz by Spinners1961, on Flickr

[SPINNERS]

Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-19PFL 'Farmer-M' - 921st Fighter Regiment, Vietnamese Peoples Air Force, 1972

Even though Operation Linebacker did not start until May 9th, 1972 the build-up of forces was clearly observed by both the North Vietnamese military and their Soviet advisors. The build-up was also clearly felt by the North Vietnamese on April 10th following the first large-scale B-52 raid when 12 B-52s and 53 supporting attack aircraft struck several petroleum storage facilities around Vinh. This attack prompted VPAF commanders to report that, with only around 200 interceptors, they simply did not have enough aircraft to deal with sustained attacks on strategic targets in the North leading to President Hồ Chí Minh urgently seeking further assistance from the Soviet Union. The Soviet leader, Leonid Brezhnev, authorised the urgent transfer of 50 aircraft from the Soviet Air Force and US analysts were surprised to discover that these consisted of 30 MiG-17PF's and 20 of the hitherto unknown MiG-19PFL radar equipped interceptors. The MiG-19PFL's were pressed into service with the 921st Fighter Regiment based at Phúc Yên and although there were persistent reports that they were flown by Soviet pilots this has never been confirmed.

VPAF MiG-19PFL FARMER.01 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

VPAF MiG-19PFL FARMER.02 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

VPAF MiG-19PFL FARMER.03 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

This is the 'SM-12' a lovely 3D model by 'Cocas' who made this as a Soviet carried-based fighter-bomber. I thought it would look good in my VPAF camo (derived from a simple terrain tile from Wings Over Vietnam) so I quickly knocked up a pretty crude skin that sort of works so I might redo it but with grey or silver undersides.

[SPINNERS]

Blohm & Voss Bv 141 - Fourth Flight, No. 12 (Reconnaissance) Squadron, Finnish Air Force, 1941

ILMAVOIMAT BV-141.01 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

ILMAVOIMAT BV-141.02 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

ILMAVOIMAT BV-141.03 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

ILMAVOIMAT BV-141.04 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

ILMAVOIMAT BV-141.05 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

ILMAVOIMAT BV-141.06 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

ILMAVOIMAT BV-141.07 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

ILMAVOIMAT BV-141.08 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

I'm really loving the BV 141! It's probably because it's one of the few 'golden era' Airfix aircraft kits that I didn't make but certainly drooled over in the 1972 or 1973 Airfix catalogue. I've added a few more layers to my template and I'm quite happy with the fabric effect on the control surfaces.

[SPINNERS]

BAC Thunderstrike GR.1A - No.15 Squadron, RAF Strike Command, 1972

RAF THUNDERSTRIKE GR1A.01 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RAF THUNDERSTRIKE GR1A.02 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RAF THUNDERSTRIKE GR1A.03 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RAF THUNDERSTRIKE GR1A.04 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RAF THUNDERSTRIKE GR1A.05 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RAF THUNDERSTRIKE GR1A.06 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RAF THUNDERSTRIKE GR1A.07 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

I don't think I've shown the recce pod that 'Sundowner' has fitted to his wide range of developed TSR.2's so I'm taking the opportunity right now. This is one of the milder developments and off the 3D model I've simply removed the bolt-on refuelling probe (Mirage F.1 style) and the RWR from the fin. I've also elected not to use the wingtip missile rails. I like the nose of this 3D model as the original version had too long a probe and at the wrong angle. This is Sundowner's 'high speed silver' skin that he did for a No.3 Squadron machine but I've adapted it for No.15 Squadron who are now home-based and not in RAFG.

[SPINNERS]

Avro Canada Canuck NF.2 - No. 153 Squadron, RAF Fighter Command, 1957

RAF CF-100 Mk4.01 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RAF CF-100 Mk4.04 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RAF CF-100 Mk4.03 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RAF CF-100 Mk4.02 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RAF CF-100 Mk4.05 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

An exciting new release greeted me this morning when I fired up the desktop - the wonderful 'Clunk'. It comes with several RCAF skins and I've adapted one of them by simply overpainting the RCAF markings although this took longer than I thought because I wanted the fuselage roundel much further forward as the RCAF position is too far aft for my taste requiring a fair bit of touching up as the skin is highly detailed and my old paint brush and/or bucket fill techniques would be out of place. Stock Canberra serial numbers and RAF letters finish it off quite well. Very thoughtfully, the 3D model includes some missile pylons so I'll try and get some Firestreak missiles on it at a later date.

[SPINNERS]

Boeing F-112J Thunderstrike - VF-111 'Sundowners', US Navy, 1981

USN HAWKEYE by Spinners1961, on Flickr

IJN FW-190A.12 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

USN F-112J THUNDERSTRIKE.01 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

USN F-112J THUNDERSTRIKE.02 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

USN F-112J THUNDERSTRIKE.07 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

USN F-112J THUNDERSTRIKE.03 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

USN F-112J THUNDERSTRIKE.06 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

USN F-112J THUNDERSTRIKE.04 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

USN F-112J THUNDERSTRIKE.05 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

USN F-112J THUNDERSTRIKE.08 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

I'm in one hell of a rush today but this is a 'Final Countdown' inspired TSR Tuesday done as a request for one of my mates over at Combat Ace. i was hoping to do a VF-84 skin but failed miserably so reverted to this superb 'Sundowners' skin by, erm, 'sundowner' !!

[SPINNERS]

Grumman F-19A Wildcat - VF-1, US Navy, 1979

USN F-19A TORNADO.01 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

USN F-19A TORNADO.02 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

USN F-19A TORNADO.03 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

USN F-19A TORNADO.04 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

USN F-19A TORNADO.05 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

USN F-19A TORNADO.06 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

USN F-19A TORNADO.07 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

USN F-19A TORNADO.08 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

Well, it would have been rude not to.