Re: Spinners' Strike Fighters Thread

[SPINNERS]

Valmet Kotka - HävLLv 31, Ilmavoimat, 1982

For many years Finland had cast envious eyes at Sweden's ability to produce indigenous weapons systems that were comparable to anything produced anywhere and, in particular, Sweden's ability to produce combat aircraft that met their unique defensive requirements. Indeed, they were so impressed with the Draken's ability to take off from a short section of 'motorväg', make an automatic all-weather interception at Mach 2 and then vanish back into the Swedish landscape that they eagerly negotiated with the Swedish government to not only purchase the Draken but to also licence-produce it using Valmet (their state-owned heavy industry company).

Valmet had already cut their teeth with licence-production of the Fouga Magister and the indigenously designed aircraft Vihuri and Vinka training aircraft and during the early 1970's the Valmet drawing office were sketching out a proposed Draken replacement clearly influenced by the contemporary Saab Viggen but generally scaled-down to fit a single afterburning Rolls-Royce Spey turbofan. Given the project name of Kotka 80, by early 1973 the design was showing sufficient promise for Valmet to be given a contract order for 60 single-seat Kotka (Eagle) multi-role fighters and 12 Kotka two-seat trainers with a planned in-service date of 1980. Design and development moved smoothly and the Kotka entered service in 1981 when Hävittäjälentolaivue 31 (Fighter Squadron 31) converted from the MiG-21.

ILMAVOIMATCONVAIR20101 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

ILMAVOIMATCONVAIR20102 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

ILMAVOIMATCONVAIR20103 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

ILMAVOIMATCONVAIR20104 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

ILMAVOIMATCONVAIR20105 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

This is Julhelm's cracking Convair 201 (CTOL) masquerading as Finland's first indigenous jet combat aircraft and wearing a variation of my 'blue splinter' camo. Ignore the 'CV' serial numbers as I was going to leave it as a Convair product but suddenly started writing the above backstory.

[SPINNERS]

North American F-100D Super Sabre - 154 Gruppo, 6 Stormo, Aeronautica Militare Italiana, 1961

AMIF-100DSUPERSABRE01 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

AMIF-100DSUPERSABRE02 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

AMIF-100DSUPERSABRE03 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

AMIF-100DSUPERSABRE04 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

This is the stock F-100D skin with new AMI roundels and new F-100D fin shape tail markings for 6 Stormo which always add a big splash of colour to anything they adorn.

[SPINNERS]

North American F-100D Super Sabre - 22 Gruppo, 51 Stormo, Aeronautica Militare Italiana, 1964

AMIF-100DSUPERSABRE05 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

AMIF-100DSUPERSABRE06 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

AMIF-100DSUPERSABRE07 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

AMIF-100DSUPERSABRE08 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

I love that whole 51 Stormo cat and mouse thing!

[SPINNERS]

North American F-100D Super Sabre - 18 Gruppo, 3 Stormo, Aeronautica Militare Italiano, 1969

AMIF-100DSUPERSABRE09 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

AMIF-100DSUPERSABRE12 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

AMIF-100DSUPERSABRE10 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

AMIF-100DSUPERSABRE11 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

AMIF-100DSUPERSABRE15 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

This uses my RAF skin with new decals for 3 Stormo.

[SPINNERS]

Breguet Atlantic MR.2 - No.120 Squadron, RAF South East Asia Command, 1971

RAFATLANTICMR201 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RAFATLANTICMR202 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RAFATLANTICMR203 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RAFATLANTICMR204 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

I've been experimenting with a splinter scheme using the classic USAF 'SEA' upper surface colours of dark green, green and tan and thought I'd team it up with RAF SEAC markings and the Breguet Atlantic!

[SPINNERS]

BAe Hawk FG.2A - No.16 Squadron, RAF South East Asia Command, 1989

RAFHAWKFG2A01 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RAFHAWKFG2A02 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RAFHAWKFG2A03 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RAFHAWKFG2A04 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RAFHAWKFG2A05 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

Oooh, I quite like this myself! This is the Hawk 209 and the 3D model was done by a German guy called Florian who, among other things, has done a Tornado and two-seat Corsair and when he released this he generously included the template which has made it easy for me to use my 'SEAC Splinter' design. I remember that Matchbox kit of the Hawk 200 coming out in the late-80's and doing a standard RAF camo on it (wish digital cameras were common in those days).

[SPINNERS]

Chengdu J-14 Stealth Fighter - Peoples Liberation Army Air Force, 2013

PLAAFJ-1401 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

PLAAFJ-1402 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

PLAAFJ-1403 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

PLAAFJ-1404 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

An easy night for me tonight as I've just had to take some screenshots of this futuristic wonderplane which is the creation of a Brazilian 3D modder over at Combat Ace (CadetteBRA) and it is the fictional Chinese Chengdu J-14 Stealth Fighter. It comes with this contemporary PLAAF skin and I'm sorely tempted to give it some 'splinter'  .

[SPINNERS]

Embraer Pantera - Força Aérea Brasileira, 2017

FABJ-14FIREDRAGON01 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

FABJ-14FIREDRAGON02 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

FABJ-14FIREDRAGON03 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

FABJ-14FIREDRAGON04 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

As a nod towards the nationally of the 3D models creator I've used a USAF SEA Splinter Camo with FAB markings.

[SPINNERS]

Embraer Pantera -HävLLv 31, Ilmavoimat, 2020

ILMAVOIMATJ-14FIREDRAGON01 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

ILMAVOIMATJ-14FIREDRAGON02 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

ILMAVOIMATJ-14FIREDRAGON03 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

ILMAVOIMATJ-14FIREDRAGON09 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

[SPINNERS]

Embraer Pantera -HävLLv 11, Ilmavoimat, 2022

ILMAVOIMATJ-14FIREDRAGON04 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

ILMAVOIMATJ-14FIREDRAGON05 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

And a slightly darker grey...

ILMAVOIMATJ-14FIREDRAGON07 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

ILMAVOIMATJ-14FIREDRAGON08 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

[SPINNERS]

Handley-Page Harris C.1 - No.30 Squadron, RAF Air Support Command, 1972

Early studies into a Valetta replacement for RAF Transport Command led Handley-Page to propose a military freighter version of their twin-Dart Herald civil airliner under the designation of H.P.124 but when Freddie Page could see that the rival H.S.780 (Andover) project had become the short-term political favourite he boldly gambled on a larger tactical transport with STOL capabilities to a later timescale. His Cricklewood team soon designed the H.P.138 around two Rolls-Royce Tyne turboprops and this soon attracted strong RAF interest but no orders were placed until April 1965 when a contract for 100 was announced in the Budget speech in an obvious move to reduce critiscism of the cancellation of the TSR.2 strike aircraft although it also helped reduce the UK's balance of payments due to the sharp reduction in C-130K Hercules purchased.

Development proceeded swiftly and the type entered service as the Harris C.1 in February 1969 when the first examples were received by No.30 squadron.

RAFHARRISC101 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RAFHARRISC102 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RAFHARRISC103 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

This is, of course, the Aeritalia G.222 'baby Hercules' - a most attractive aircraft and it comes with this desert camo which is damn near perfect for replicating that two-tone brown scheme seen on the RAF's C-130K's back in the day.

RAFHARRISC104 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RAFHARRISC105 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RAFHARRISC106 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

Black undersides added plus white 'top'.

[SPINNERS]

Saab JAS-39C Gripen - F13, Flygvapnet, 2013

FLYGVAPNETJAS-39CGRIPEN01 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

FLYGVAPNETJAS-39CGRIPEN02 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

FLYGVAPNETJAS-39CGRIPEN03 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

FLYGVAPNETJAS-39CGRIPEN04 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

A cracking update of the Gripen was released this week (including a two-seater) but the grey skins are not to my taste so I thought I'd use my Swedish splinter 'wallpaper' on it.

[SPINNERS]

Saab Lansen FGA.3 - No.41 Squadron, RAF Strike Command, 1973

RAFLANSENFGA301 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RAFLANSENFGA302 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RAFLANSENFGA303 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

I don't think this quite works but the Lansen is a such good looking aircraft*... if you ignore that belly tank!

* So good it should have been a Hawker product   

[SPINNERS]

Saab Lansen FGA.1 - No.4 Squadron, RAF Germany, 1973

RAFLANSENFGA102 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RAFLANSENFGA101 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RAFLANSENFGA103 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

Swedish aircraft are enjoying a bit of a renaissance over at Combat Ace and I've been seduced by them too! Off eBay this week I had Modern Combat Aircraft 21: Saab Viggen and I've just started reading it about 27 years after I wanted to buy it!

[SPINNERS]

General Dynamics F-111S (AJ38) - F13, Flygvapnet, 1975

FLYGVAPNETF-111S01 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

FLYGVAPNETF-111S02 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

FLYGVAPNETF-111S03 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

FLYGVAPNETF-111S04 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

FLYGVAPNETF-111S05 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

FLYGVAPNETF-111S06 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

I've been planning this one for a few days now as a cracking 'hi-rez' template exists for the F-111 family and scaling up my splinter design seems to suit the bulky F-111. Actually, it's the FB-111A airframe because I just love the long-span wings. Thinking about it, if I'd used the F-111C I could have had a backstory based on the Aussies rejecting their F-111C's and Sweden picking them up cheap. Anyway, hope you like it!