Re: Spinners' Strike Fighters Thread

[SPINNERS]

BAC-Boeing RF-112EJ Thunderstrike - 501st Hikotai, Japanese Air Self-Defense Force, 1988

JASDF RF-112EJ THUNDERSTRIKE.01 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

JASDF RF-112EJ THUNDERSTRIKE.02 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

JASDF RF-112EJ THUNDERSTRIKE.03 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

JASDF RF-112EJ THUNDERSTRIKE.04 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

JASDF RF-112EJ THUNDERSTRIKE.05 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

JASDF RF-112EJ THUNDERSTRIKE.06 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

This is a beautiful JASDF skin by 'sundowner' with the iconic Woody Woodpecker emblem adopted by the 501st TRS's RF-4J's. The only changes I've made is to use the stock F-4EJ serial numbers. There's a lot going on here on this advanced TSR.2 with a F-4E style M61 cannon, TISEO/TCS, P&W turbofan engines, sealed up bombay, wingtip Sidewinders, Recce pod and a revised cockpit layout being the most obvious. Note the F-14Z's in the background of piccie 2.

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McDonnell Douglas F-4DJ Phantom - 501st Hikotai, Japan Air Self-Defense Force, 1986

JASDF F-4DJ PHANTOM.01 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

JASDF F-4DJ PHANTOM.02 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

JASDF F-4DJ PHANTOM.03 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

JASDF F-4DJ PHANTOM.04 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

JASDF F-4DJ PHANTOM.05 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

We haven't had a Phantom here for a while so I've taken one of the lovely JASDF camo skins from the stock F-4EJ add-on and applied it to the F-4K 3D model. It needed a few tweeks to fit the short nose and add back in the Spey nozzles but I saved loads of time by just using the stock decals with some tiny changes to placement. I see this as a TF-30 powered Phantom that pre-dates the British Spey Phantom and have previously shown it in service with TAC (below).

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North American Vigilante S.1 - No.49 Squadron, RAF Strike Command, 1968

RAF VIGILANTE S1.01 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RAF VIGILANTE S1.06 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RAF VIGILANTE S1.04 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RAF VIGILANTE S1.02 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RAF VIGILANTE S1.03 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RAF VIGILANTE S1.05 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

This is the A3J-1 (A-5A) Vigilante by 'Julhelm' a very talented 3D modeller from Sweden who I believe works in the industry nowadays but contributed so many good 3D models to the Strike Fighters community especially during the early years and he liked a bit of whiffery too. I've previously done his RA-5C Vigilante in anti-flash white and thought I'd try the earlier 'humpless' Vigilante. This took me a lot longer than expected due to a mis-match between the 3D model and the skin templates and is still not quite right but good enough for screenshots.

[SPINNERS]

Convair Velocity B.1 - No.100 Squadron, RAF Bomber Command, 1965

RAF HUSTLER B1.02 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RAF HUSTLER B1.01 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RAF HUSTLER B1.03 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RAF HUSTLER B1.07 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RAF HUSTLER B1.04 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RAF HUSTLER B1.06 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RAF HUSTLER B1.05 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

Now I've definitely done an RAF 'anti-flash white' Hustler before but as this is a new 3D model (by the prolific Veltro2K) I thought I'd do another one knocking up a couple of 'XP' serial numbers decals and also pale ejection triangles only to find I can't them to appear under the small window of the third crew member. Ah, well. No.100 Squadron, alongside No.139 Squadron, were one of the two Victor B.2 squadrons and both were briefly equipped with Blue Steel. BTW I'm open to offers on a more exciting V-Bomber name!

Bonus Shot

RAF HUSTLER B1.08 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

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Bell P-39Z Jetcobra - United States Army Air Force, 1945

USAAF P-39Z JETCOBRA.01 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

USAAF P-39Z JETCOBRA.02 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

USAAF P-39Z JETCOBRA.03 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

USAAF P-39Z JETCOBRA.05 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

USAAF P-39Z JETCOBRA.04 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

USAAF P-39Z JETCOBRA.06 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

USAAF P-39Z JETCOBRA.07 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

Another Veltro2K 3D model but this time a 'what if' based on a plastic model and one that might well have originated from here! Anyway, these are the two excellent skins that came with it so there's no input from me except to take the screenshots.

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Supermarine Seafire FR.46 - No.870 Squadron, Royal Canadian Navy, 1952

RCN SEAFIRE FR46.01 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RCN SEAFIRE FR46.02 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RCN SEAFIRE FR46.03 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RCN SEAFIRE FR46.04 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RCN SEAFIRE FR46.05 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RCN SEAFIRE FR46.06 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

A lovely 'stand-in' Seafire FR.47 was released recently by 'Amariani' over at Combat Ace using the stock Third Wire Spitfire F.24 and he's done a lovely skin for it including adding the camera ports. I've added a red spinner and some new RCN markings and gone for using a made up FR.46 designation. HMCS Bonaventure is in my install but is a bit too modern for this Seafire so I might try and find if there is a HMCS Magnificent or convert something.

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Grumman Bearcat FB.1 - 778 Naval Air Squadron, Royal Navy, 1946

RN BEARCAT FB1.01 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RN BEARCAT FB1.02 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RN BEARCAT FB1.03 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RN BEARCAT FB1.04 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RN BEARCAT FB1.05 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RN BEARCAT FB1.06 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

A nice template by 'Geary' for the venerable Bearcat (quite an elderly 3D model) was released recently and I thought I'd make an early post-war Royal Navy version using Type C markings just for it not to look too much like a Sea Fury - mind you, nothing looks as good as a Sea Fury... right? I've downloaded an Essex class carrier and converted it to Royal Navy but the carrier deck isn't populated like the stock carriers and that's something I need to teach myself someday. BTW apologies for the pilot who looks more late 1950's than mid-1940's.

RN BEARCAT FB1.07 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

That's better! Many thanks to Capun from the DAT Group for giving me two vital clues towards fixing my empty carrier syndrome.

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International Engineering Angel F.1 - Spectrum Air Force, 2069

ANGEL INTERCEPTOR.01 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

ANGEL INTERCEPTOR.03 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

ANGEL INTERCEPTOR.02 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

ANGEL INTERCEPTOR.05 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

ANGEL INTERCEPTOR.04 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

Apologies for the long break. I was taking a bit of a break in July to sort out a couple of cycle races I organise and chill-out and enjoy the Tour de France but we've had a family illness and subsequent bereavement (my ladywife's Dad - such a nice man) that's knocked us for six and it'll only be after next weeks funeral that we'll get back into our normal routines.

Anyway, with the rain keeping me inside I thought I'd check-in with the new releases at Combat Ace and this lovely Angel Interceptor was there created by my fellow South Walian 'russouk2004' who is a keen what-iffer and has some British-themed goodies bubbling away on the backburner.

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Tupolev Tu-98A 'Backfin' - Soviet Air Force, 1979

SOVIET Tu-98 BACKFIN.01 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

SOVIET Tu-98 BACKFIN.02 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

SOVIET Tu-98 BACKFIN.04 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

SOVIET Tu-98 BACKFIN.03 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

SOVIET Tu-98 BACKFIN.05 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

SOVIET Tu-98 BACKFIN.06 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

Another exciting new release to have come out recently was the Tu-98 'Backfin' by 'Veltro2K' and I decided to make a quick skin using camo uppers with medium grey undersides - don't look too closely though as this skin uses my quick and dirty 'faux lines' technique of using the 3D modeler's 'mesh' lines to imitate panel lines which is certainly better than nothing but not by much.

[SPINNERS]

Tupolev Tu-98A 'Backfin' - 109th Squadron, Iraqi Air Force, 1973

The so-called 'Treaty of Friendship' with the USSR brought large numbers of relatively modern combat aircraft into the Iraqi Air Force and in 1972 the 109th Squadron began to re-equip with the Tupolev Tu-98A 'Backfin' supersonic bomber. Even before the 1973 Yom Kippur War, the Iraqi Air Force had sent 12 Hawker Hunters to Egypt and in late September 1973 these were followed by the deployment of the 109th Squadron to Syria. On October 6th, 1973 a massive Egyptian crossing of the Suez Canal saw the Egyptian Army quickly advance into the Sinai Peninsula. Meanwhile, at the same time, Syria launched a surprise attack on the Golan Heights and initially made significant gains into Israeli-held territory with the Iraqi Air Force intervening on the Syrian front with an armored division and over 100 aircraft including the Tu-98A's of the 109th Squadron flying low-level interdiction missions on October 6th and on the following day.

However, the Iraqi Tu-98A's deployed to Syria suffered heavy losses on the first two days primarily due to Israeli fighter aircraft and SAM's but at least three Tu-98A's were also hit by friendly fire from Syrian SAM's. A planned strike mission on October 8th was cancelled due to these heavy losses and eventually all Iraqi Tu-98A's were withdrawn from their bases in Syria. Despite these losses, after the war the Iraqi Air Force ordered 23 more Tupolev Tu-98B's and the enlarged Iraqi Tu-98A force played a major role in the Iran-iraq war by striking airbases, military infrastructure, industrial infrastructure, powerplants and oil facilities as well as the systematic bombing of Iranian cities in the infamous 'War of the Cities'. However, during this long war of attrition the Iraqi Tu-98A force slowly dwindled away and by 1987 the type was withdrawn from service.

IRAQI Tu-98 BACKFIN.01 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

IRAQI Tu-98 BACKFIN.02 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

IRAQI Tu-98 BACKFIN.03 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

IRAQI Tu-98 BACKFIN.06 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

IRAQI Tu-98 BACKFIN.07 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

IRAQI Tu-98 BACKFIN.05 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

IRAQI Tu-98 BACKFIN.04 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

This Iraqi Backfin uses a simple 'desert camo on a roll' (found on t'internet) that really suits it.

[SPINNERS]

Tu-98A 'Backfin' - Vietnamese People's Air Force, 1970

VPAF Tu-98 BACKFIN.01 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

VPAF Tu-98 BACKFIN.02 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

VPAF Tu-98 BACKFIN.03 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

VPAF Tu-98 BACKFIN.04 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

VPAF Tu-98 BACKFIN.05 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

Final what if 'Backfin' for now and this is the VPAF camo that I've created from a terrain tile from the game. In SF2:Vietnam the US fighters are lethal from about 1969 onwards so fast and low is recommended.

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Hawker Siddeley Buccaneer S.56 - No.2 Squadron, Belgian Air Force, 1972

BAF BUCCANEER 56.01 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

BAF BUCCANEER 56.02 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

BAF BUCCANEER 56.06 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

BAF BUCCANEER 56.05 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

BAF BUCCANEER 56.03 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

BAF BUCCANEER 56.04 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

Well, it's been a few weeks since posting as things have been difficult at home following my wife's Dad passing away but I thought it's time to get back on the horse starting with this lovely new Aussie Buccaneer skin by 'Sheriff001' who has knocked-up a veritable anthology of 'what-if' Aussie Buccaneers for the RAAF and RAN. I thought this SEA skin would look good with Belgian markings but to save a bit of time I've used the stock Mirage 5BA serial numbers.

[SPINNERS]

Mikoyan MiG-21Z 'Fishbed-Z' - Soviet Air Force, 1992

SOVIET MiG-21Z FISHBED-Z.01 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

SOVIET MiG-21Z FISHBED-Z.05 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

SOVIET MiG-21Z FISHBED-Z.03 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

SOVIET MiG-21Z FISHBED-Z.09 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

SOVIET MiG-21Z FISHBED-Z.06 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

SOVIET MiG-21Z FISHBED-Z.04 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

SOVIET MiG-21Z FISHBED-Z.07 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

SOVIET MiG-21Z FISHBED-Z.08 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

SOVIET MiG-21Z FISHBED-Z.02 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

This is the fictional MiG-21Z a wicked-looking 'payware' add-on by the 1 25 Studio who also produced the F-14Z Tomcat shown back in July. Both date from 2016 and the 3D modeller has previously brought the superb (and very futuristic) KF-1 and KF-2 to Strike Fighters. No input from me on these apart from taking the screenshots.

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Mikoyan MiG-29AM - Mongolian Air Force, 1999

MONGOLIA MiG-29A FULCRUM.01 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

MONGOLIA MiG-29A FULCRUM.02 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

MONGOLIA MiG-29A FULCRUM.03 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

MONGOLIA MiG-29A FULCRUM.04 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

The lo-viz Mongolian insignia are some 'what if' poetic licence by me. BTW Mongolia have very recently become an actual MiG-29 user, albeit with just two of the two-seat trainer versions.[/i]

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Aeritalia G.91Y 'Yankee' - No.42 Squadron, Belgium Air Force, 1972

BAF G91Y.01 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

BAF G91Y.02 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

BAF G91Y.03 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

BAF G91Y.04 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

I did this one a few months ago but never got around to doing the screenshots so here they are. I had to paint the national insignia directly onto the skin bitmaps but the lovely sharkmouth was already on the supern Italian skin that comes with the G.91Y which really deserved a proper name - anything would have been better than the nickname of 'Yankee'.