Re: Spinners' Strike Fighters Thread

[SPINNERS]

Parani Aviation Company YG/1 'Goshawk' - 1st Training Air Regiment, Parani Army Air Force, 1939

In 1919 British geologists discovered oil reserves located in the Mazadran area straddling the River Kerman which for many centuries had been recognised as defining the border between the neighbouring Arab nations of Dhimar and Paran. The British government quickly negotiated permissions to drill on the Dhimari side of the Kerman Valley setting up the Anglo-Dhimari Oil Company and in 1921 drilling operations followed.

However, in January 1928 Shah Mushani of Paran sent his army across the border in an attempt to capture the Mazadran oil fields but this was repelled by Dhimari forces bolstered by UK forces drawn in from Persia. In particular, the RAF inflicted severe losses on Parani forces and were subsequently largely responsible for preventing any resurgence with 'air policing' tactics that saw the constant harassment of Parani forces and Parani settlers in the Kerman Valley. Over the next two years Dhimar becomes a wealthy and economically powerful country whilst Paran has become poor.

By the middle of 1930 Shah Mushani of Paran had stopped his attempts to capture the Mazadran oil fields and focused on re-building his domestic power base by the ruthless eradication of his political opponents after which he had absolute control of his political party and government. In early 1931 Mushani announced a five year plan to strengthen his armed forces by expansion allied to an ambitious domestic arms production programme including the creation of an indigenous aviation industry. In June 1931, Shah Mushani announced the creation of the Parani Aviation Company who were tasked with three aircraft projects of increasing complexity; a light-attack aircraft that could also serve as a trainer, a tactical bomber and a single-seat fighter aircraft. To kick start these projects, Mushani appoints Nikolai Yergin as the chief designer of the Parani Aviation Company giving Yergin licence to recruit several other Russian engineers including Vladimir Gudkov from the OKB-301 design bureau.

For the light attack aircraft Yergin and Gudkov schemed the YG/1 a two-seat, single-engined biplane with a tubular steel framework covered with fabric. This was a conservative design but probably the right choice for an embryonic aircraft company in 1932. The prototype YG/1 was completed by late 1933 but it's first flight was delayed due to problems with the Italian supplied Alfa Romeo D2 nine-cylinder radial engine. The first flight of the YG/1 took place on February 1st, 1934 with its designer Nikolai Yergin at the controls and after a series of successful trials production began later in 1934 and 36 aircraft were built over a period of nearly three years.

Entering service with the 1st Training Air Regiment of the Parani Army Air Force in September 1935 this versatile but pedestrian aircraft served as a trainer, close air support aircraft and army liaison aircraft with the last examples finally being removed from the Parani Army Air Force inventory in December 1949.




Whilst the original 'Strike Fighters' game is based on a fictional 'jet age' conflict between the middle-east states of Dhimar and Paran I just love using it for an earlier conflict covering WW2 and the very early post-war years. I give the Parani's a mix of mainly axis aircraft whilst the Dhimari's operate a wide variety of UK/US aircraft. However, for this fictional YG/1 aircraft I have used... well, you tell me!

[SPINNERS]

Parani Aircraft Company YG/2 - 1st Bomber Regiment, Parani Army Air Force, 1939







For the second indigenous Parani aircraft design (mentioned in my backstory for the YG/1) I've chosen the Italian Caproni Ca.135 twin-engine bomber to masquerade as the YG/2 because it's pedestrian enough and really not well known. The wiki page is quite a good read and who knew that Belgium obtained a production license?

Oh, yes. The YG/1. It's the VL Tuisku! Very obscure.

[SPINNERS]

Parani Aviation Company YG/3 'Storm' - 2nd Fighter Regiment, Parani Army Air Force, 1941








My final aircraft in the Parani indigenous aircraft trilogy is the YG/3 fighter and this uses my 'go to' prop fighter - the Finnish VL Myrsky II. Back in 2014 a 3D modeller called 'Veltro2K' made the VL Myrsky for me and I made the Ilmavoimat skin from scratch and from my templates I've previously made fictional Spanish, Chinese and Polish fighter aircraft (and possibly an RAF fighter too, I can't remember). I chose a sand colour and added a 50% opacity black camo pattern to give a sand and chocolate uppersurface camo with Parani insignia and red/white/black bands on the rudder.

[SPINNERS]

Grumman F6F-5 Hellcat - 3e Escuadrille Aeronaval de Atague, Comando de la Aviacion Naval Argentina, 1954







The Hellcat 3D model hosted at the DAT site is an absolute cracker and I've managed to neatly overpaint the US insignia on the stock blue skin to give a blank canvas. I've chosen to make an Argentine Navy Hellcat as I like the colourful rudder markings and there are good references available to their contemporary Corsairs. I had to make a few decals and the numbers on the cowl were an absolute pain to make for some reason. I quite like this!

[NARSES2]

That does look good 

[SPINNERS]

Curtiss-Wright CW-21B Demon - 3rd Squadron, American Volunteer Group, 1941




by



Not the best-looking fighter but reading up on Curtiss-Wright Demon reveals that it did actually serve with the American Volunteer Group albeit just three of the early Model 21's and they didn't last long. This is the superior Model 21B with a revised inward retracting main landing gear.  This 3D model is hosted at the DAT site and comes with Dutch NEI markings that I've neatly overpainted and then I've added AVG markings including a sharkmouth that is possibly a bit too big.

[PR19_Kit]

......... including a sharkmouth that is possibly a bit too big.[/i]

Isn't that a GOOD thing with a sharkmouth? 

[Rick Lowe]

......... including a sharkmouth that is possibly a bit too big.[/i]

Isn't that a GOOD thing with a sharkmouth? 

Was going to say, 'All the better to Bite Japanese with, My Dear.'

[Old Wombat]

It's a plane that has always weirded me out with that thin, fragile-looking rear fuselage & tail assembly.

[Rick Lowe]

Like they were getting close to the length limit and had to finish it in a hurry?

[NARSES2]

It's a plane that has always weirded me out with that thin, fragile-looking rear fuselage & tail assembly.

You and me both. However I've a kit of it in the stash (MPM ?) and those images have given me an idea 

[SPINNERS]

Armstrong Whitworth Elswick Mk.II - No.74 Squadron, RAF Fighter Command, 1937







A very recent release from the DAT boys (and yet another rare bird) this is the Yugoslavian Ikarus IK-2 monoplane fighter masquerading as the Armstrong Whitworth Elswick Mk.II in colourful pre-war RAF markings. My inspiration was the No.74 Squadron Gloster Gauntlet on the front cover of 'On Silver Wings' by Alec Lumsden and Owen Thetford. Initially, this started well with a quick silver skin derived from the speculative map with the parts added back in and a few layers created by me for the black fin and yellow spinner. I had planned to use my preferred method of using decals for all markings but the 3D model has a few tears in it which cause decals to bleed out into other areas so I switched to painting them directly onto the skin which seemed to work. But I just couldn't get the tiger pattern onto the upper fuselage between the wings so had to resort to a decal to bridge the gap between the wings but this decal also bled out on the port fuselage so I've angled my screenshots so that this doesn't show. After that, I just used a few K80** serial number decals on the fin and under the wings (I'd previously made these for something else and they are quite contemporary).

The IK-2 would also make a good 'Pearl Habour' defender or perhaps a Japanese attacker!

[PR19_Kit]

I DO like the look of that, very smart indeed. And well modellable if a kit of the Ikarus exists.

[capun]

A very recent release from the DAT boys (and yet another rare bird) this is the Yugoslavian Ikarus IK-2 monoplane fighter masquerading as the Armstrong Whitworth Elswick Mk.II in colourful pre-war RAF markings. My inspiration was the No.74 Squadron Gloster Gauntlet on the front cover of 'On Silver Wings' by Alec Lumsden and Owen Thetford. Initially, this started well with a quick silver skin derived from the speculative map with the parts added back in and a few layers created by me for the black fin and yellow spinner. I had planned to use my preferred method of using decals for all markings but the 3D model has a few tears in it which cause decals to bleed out into other areas so I switched to painting them directly onto the skin which seemed to work. But I just couldn't get the tiger pattern onto the upper fuselage between the wings so had to resort to a decal to bridge the gap between the wings but this decal also bled out on the port fuselage so I've angled my screenshots so that this doesn't show. After that, I just used a few K80** serial number decals on the fin and under the wings (I'd previously made these for something else and they are quite contemporary).

The IK-2 would also make a good 'Pearl Habour' defender or perhaps a Japanese attacker!

Can you send me an email with pics showing the decal bleed? Let me see if can fix the problems. Can you also send the texture, decals and decals.ini to test if?

[Rheged]

I DO like the look of that, very smart indeed. And well modellable if a kit of the Ikarus exists.

Hannants have them in stock   https://www.hannants.co.uk/product/FR0016?gQT=1     Frrom-Azur FR0016