Re: Spinners' Strike Fighters Thread

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North American Mustang Mk.IV - No.183 Squadron, RAF Pacific Command, 1946






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The stock Third Wire P-51D has an excellent silver/NMF skin so this is a simple decal job with all decals previously made except for the 'HF' squadron codes and I've happily used stock serial numbers too. No.183 Squadron were a very short-lived Tempest Mk.II operator based at Chilbolton.

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Northrop Newark B.2 - No.9 Squadron, RAF Pacific Command, 1948







The XB-35 3D model is quite elderly but really quite good and the original 'what if' skin for the 534th Bomb Squadron has simply been re-decalled as a Tiger Force machine but in overall silver/NMF. Not much I could do about the red wing tips though.

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Douglas Skyhawk S.1 - 801 Naval Air Squadron, Royal Navy, 1966








A fantastic template exists for the A-4E and I've been planning this 'anti-flash white' Skyhawk for a while before I got a bit distracted with 'Tiger Force' stuff. Anyway, I went for 801 NAS as they were a real world Buccaneer squadron but I think I should have gone for a Scimitar user as I see the Skyhawk more as a replacement for the Scimitar. If I do another unit I'll copy Devilfish in putting the ship identifier letter on the fin instead of the rudder as the Skyhawk's rudder is a bit messy! Apparently, Ed Heinemann (designer of the A-4) was ashamed of the 'temporary fix' adopted by Douglas to cure a violent oscillation of the original rudder by using a single skin with external ribs that then featured on every single Skyhawk built.

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Looks like an event of some significance between shots 6 and 7!

Not from the same mission but it goes something like this;

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De Havilland Vulture F.2 - No.111 Squadron, RAF Fighter Command, 1967







I've shown this before but in RAF Camo and in service with No.60 Squadron. For this silver/NMF version I've made a quick skin using the specular maps and used a classic 1960's Fighter Command unit in 'Treble One' squadron and it's turned out OK. Two aircraft have Red Tops and the other two have AIM-7E Sparrows. This 3D model is by 'Cocas' who excelled at making subjects like this and it's his take on one of the GOR.339 submissions and my take on an 'ADV'.

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De Havilland Vulture F.2 - No.43 Squadron, RAF Fighter Command, 1967

RAF VULTURE F2.07 by Spinners1961

RAF VULTURE F2.08 by Spinners1961

RAF VULTURE F2.09 by Spinners1961

RAF VULTURE F2.10 by Spinners1961

RAF VULTURE F2.11 by Spinners1961

Allow me to introduce the 'Yellow Union' semi-active homing missile! Most of you will recognise it as the Swedish Rb-05 air-surface missile and I've repurposed it into a British air-air missile by pasting some AIM-7E-2 DNA into it. I did take a look at a few other missiles Sea Wolf was too short and Sea Dart was a bit odd-looking with its 16 fins! To give it a name I used the method employed by the Ministry of Supply of using a random colour and a random noun using an online random colour generator and an online random noun generator!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rainbow_Code

https://randomwordgenerator.com/color.php

https://randomwordgenerator.com/noun.php

Such fun!

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Bréguet Sirocco FRS.1 - 893 Naval Air Squadron, Royal Navy, 1969










I couldn't resist the urge to convert the Hawker Siddley Sea Dart into the Sky Dart! It's a big missile and over three times the weight of a Red Top so I ruled out the Lightning and plumped for this Bréguet Br 1120 Sirocco by 'Cocas' (I do miss him) and it looks a bit big even on that. One nice little feature of this game/sim is that you can allocate weapons to a 'specific station code' to prevent (for example) Falcons appearing on F-8 Crusader pylons or Sky Dart missiles appearing on Phantoms. Perhaps Bréguet could have teamed up with Folland to build the British Siroccos?

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Gloster Javelin FAW.9A - No.29 Squadron, RAF Fighter Command, 1964








This is a regular Javelin FAW.9 (I say regular but the skin by 'sundowner' is simply exquisite) but with the 'Green Song' semi-active homing missiles! These are actually AIM-23 'Sedjil' missiles which, in reality, are themselves modified MIM-23 Hawk surface -to-air missiles.

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Northrop F-5J Tiger II - 302 Hikotai, Japanese Air Self-Defense Force, 1984








I think I missed this lovely F-5E when it first came out in 2019 and only noticed it this week. It has this sweet USN Aggressor skin to which I've added some JASDF decals. In the 1970's my Uncle was a civilian working at RAF Alconbury and I can remember the hullabaloo when the Tigers arrived. Great airshows at Alconbury!

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Boeing Hornet FRS.1 - 899 Naval Air Squadron, Royal Navy, 2013






A new beta FA-18E Super Hornet was released recently and I've quickly knocked-up this Senior Service Hornet. I'm not really into the 'glass cockpit' era of military aviation but I do like the Hornet.

There'll be no updates for a while due to holidays (in God's own country) so I'll see you on the other side.

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McDonnell Douglas F-15A Eagle - JG73 "Steinhoff", German Air Force, 1977








A nice easy 'what if' to ease myself back into the saddle after a weeks holiday in the Yorkshire Dales and the obligatory visit to see family further up north.  Anyway, this is the stock USAF skin for the Third Wire F-15A with some suitable decals but I'll need to confess to a little error with the code numbers as '37' and '38' were allocated to the F-4F or I could simply pretend that Germany held out for the F-15 instead of the F-4F (of which I'm a big fan as they always look so cool).

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Grumman F-14G Tomcat - JG71 "Richthofen", German Air Force, 1988








There are several excellent skins released by Third Wire for their flagship F-14A Tomcat and this USN Aggressor skin makes a lovely German Tomcat. I think a German purchase of the F-14 would be for a slightly more austere Tomcat so I've partially declawed mine by removing the AIM-54 Phoenix.

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Canadair-SAAB Sk 59 Ägrett - F5, Flygvapnet, 1976












A sweet little Canadair CT-144 Tutor was released as a 'beta' by the DAT boys and I thought I'd give it a whirl. With no template or quick way of manipulating the skin I've just used my 'splinter on a roll' technique to make a quick skin and this hides the fact that there are no lines or rivets and I've used decals (including the dayglo panels) to lift it a bit so that it's not too shabby. Some parts of the 3D model have not been mapped yet and the top piccie shows the undercarriage and jet pipe to be unpainted but I liked the shot so kept it in this photoset. It's not an aircraft I'm that familiar with but I quite like the shape.

For a variety of reasons, it's been a bit quiet around here recently and it will continue to be quiet for the foreseeable future.

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Vought F4U-1A Corsair - VX Flight, Portuguese Air Force, 1947









I've had a nice morning listening to the Ashes cricket and knocking up this Portuguese Corsair using the supplied Fleet Air Arm skin but with a green fuselage band and prop hub boss as seen on their Hurrucanes based at Ota but seen here on some sort of UN deployment to Dhimar/Paran. I've added some appropriate national markings and code letters but the three-digit serial numbers are a bit of artistic licence... so just roll with it.