Re: Spinners' Strike Fighters Thread

[SPINNERS]

Handley-Page B-59B Victor - 93rd Bomb Wing, Strategic Air Command, 1966

USAFB-59BVICTOR01 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

USAFB-59BVICTOR02 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

USAFB-59BVICTOR03 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

USAFB-59BVICTOR04 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

Sometimes, things don't quite work and I think this is one of them.

[SPINNERS]

Grumman Intruder GR.3A - No.16 Squadron, Operation Granby, Royal Air Force, 1991

RAFINTRUDERGR3A01 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RAFINTRUDERGR3A02 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RAFINTRUDERGR3A03 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RAFINTRUDERGR3A04 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RAFINTRUDERGR3A05 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

The stock Third Wire A-6E comes with a standard 1970's USN scheme but a decent template was released recently so I've decided to do a scheme from the twilight of the Intruder's RAF career - the 'Desert Pink' GR.3A's from Operation Granby! Nurse, my medicine please!

[SPINNERS]

SAAB Gripen - No.1 'White Wagtail' Squadron, Latvian Air Force, 2014

LATVIA GRIPEN.01_zpsebf54baf by Spinners1961, on Flickr

LATVIA GRIPEN.02_zpsccae512b by Spinners1961, on Flickr

LATVIA GRIPEN.03_zpsefdc3442 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

LATVIA GRIPEN.04_zpsbc20efb6 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

[SPINNERS]

McDonnell Douglas F-4E Phantom - Lithuanian Air Force, 2014

LITHUANIA F-4E PHANTOM.01_zps64cdc089 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

LITHUANIA F-4E PHANTOM.02_zps1cf6a67e by Spinners1961, on Flickr

LITHUANIA F-4E PHANTOM.03_zpsb8715715 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

Ex-Turkish Air Force F-4E's with 'Swedish' missiles and lo-viz national markings.

[SPINNERS]

British Aerospace/McDonnell Douglas Harrier II - Estonian Air Force, 2014

ESTONIAHARRIERGR9E01_zps41ea9151 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

ESTONIAHARRIERGR9E02_zpsd46a9933 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

ESTONIAHARRIERGR9E03_zps0b67fe6f by Spinners1961, on Flickr

ESTONIAHARRIERGR9E04_zpse1ad1d23 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

A simple bluey-grey skin and Estonian markings by me on this is a stunning 3D model by 'bobrock' over at Combat Ace.

[SPINNERS]

Boeing F-18E Super Hornet - No.1 Squadron, Estonian Air Force, 2014

ESTONIAF-18ESUPERHORNET01_zps73915c12 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

ESTONIAF-18ESUPERHORNET02_zps1305bd51 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

ESTONIAF-18ESUPERHORNET03_zps0aedebb0 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

ESTONIAF-18ESUPERHORNET04_zps978a631c by Spinners1961, on Flickr

The F-18E, F-18F and F-18G have been available for a few years and are right out of the top drawer with the icing on the cake being superb templates that even cover the drop tanks, recce pod and the fuselage FLIR type pods. Estonia's national bird is the humble Barn Swallow so that's what adorns the tail of these Estonian Super Hornets.

[SPINNERS]

Boeing F-18EB Super Hornet - Latvian Air Force, 2014

LATVIAF-18ESUPERHORNET02_zps21575cb5 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

LATVIAF-18ESUPERHORNET01_zpsc64cf11f by Spinners1961, on Flickr

LATVIAF-18ESUPERHORNET03_zps78e908c6 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

LATVIAF-18ESUPERHORNET04_zps281df88a by Spinners1961, on Flickr

LATVIAF-18ESUPERHORNET05_zpsb6122fc2 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

LATVIAF-18ESUPERHORNET06_zpsfe1de5b8 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

A darker grey than Estonia - this is my favourite so far.

[SPINNERS]

Boeing F-18S Super Hornet - F21 Aggressor Squadron, Flygvapnet, 2014

FLYGVAPNETF-18SSUPERHORNET01_zps6fb67b76 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

FLYGVAPNETF-18SSUPERHORNET02_zps0f17524b by Spinners1961, on Flickr

FLYGVAPNETF-18SSUPERHORNET03_zps1c33cc2e by Spinners1961, on Flickr

[SPINNERS]

SEPECAT Jaguar - No.2 Squadron, Estonian Air Force, 2014

ESTONIAJAGUAR01_zpsde42cf40 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

ESTONIAJAGUAR02_zpsf65bc9fc by Spinners1961, on Flickr

ESTONIAJAGUAR03_zpsa3fdb3ed by Spinners1961, on Flickr

ESTONIAJAGUAR04_zps4f06df40 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

Full colour rudder for pyro-manic on these ex-RAF Jaguars.

[SPINNERS]

McDonnell Douglas A-4KB Skyhawk - No.1 Squadron, Estonian Air Force, 2014

ESTONIAA-4KSKYHAWK01_zps690c4ef8 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

ESTONIAA-4KSKYHAWK02_zps5f37cd97 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

ESTONIAA-4KSKYHAWK03_zps99caf0db by Spinners1961, on Flickr

This is the Aussie A-4G skin on the Kiwi A-4K but I'd overlooked the 'hump'  so pictures 1 and 2 have the hump unpainted (primer) and picture 3 has the hump in the right colour but it would be nice to have done the camo on it properly but it would be sheer guesswork and very time-consuming to fix this. The serial numbers would look better in a much darker colour. That's the last Estonian aircraft for the moment and tomorrow I'll do a Latvian Shyhawk in a Lizard scheme to conclude this Baltic brainstorm. Thanks for your input guys!

[SPINNERS]

McDonnell Douglas A-4KB Skyhawk - No.1 'White Wagtail' Squadron, Latvian Air Force, 2014

LATVIAA-4KSKYHAWK01_zps02ab4c96 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

LATVIAA-4KSKYHAWK02_zps8cdad774 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

LATVIAA-4KSKYHAWK03_zpsc76d2e2b by Spinners1961, on Flickr

Final Baltic States 'what if' for now and this is the stock Kiwi skin with Latvian markings.

[SPINNERS]

Boeing RB-55D Stratostrike - Strategic Air Command, 1956

USAFRB-55DSTRATOSTRIKE01_zps9a0dcf6f by Spinners1961, on Flickr

USAFRB-55DSTRATOSTRIKE02_zpsb186808d by Spinners1961, on Flickr

USAFRB-55DSTRATOSTRIKE03_zps1787a58b by Spinners1961, on Flickr

USAFRB-55DSTRATOSTRIKE04_zps2d987ca9 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

There is a 'Bear' in the stock Strike Fighters 2:North Atlantic game but it's a Tu-95RT Bear-D variant so my SAC Bear must become a 'RB' recce bird. The real B-55 was a Boeing paper project for a four-engined turboprop swept-wing bomber but actually a fair bit smaller than the Bear.

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Sukhoi Su-9F 'Fishpot-D' - HävLLv 31, Ilmavoimat, 1987

ILMAVOIMATSu-9F01 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

ILMAVOIMATSu-9F02 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

ILMAVOIMATSu-9F03 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

This is a revamped Su-9 by my fellow South Walian 'RussoUK2000' released as a fictional Su-9F a modernised Fishpot. I've just oversprayed the Russian markings and added some Ilmavoimat markings including SU-XX codes.

[SPINNERS]

Republic F-103G Thunderwarrior - 330th Squadron, Hellenic Air Force, 1973

HAFF-103GTHUNDERWARRIOR01 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

HAFF-103GTHUNDERWARRIOR02 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

HAFF-103GTHUNDERWARRIOR03 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

HAFF-103GTHUNDERWARRIOR04 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

HAFF-103GTHUNDERWARRIOR05 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

This USAF SEA Camo was released a few weeks ago by 'EricJ' for the splendid 3D model by 'FastCargo' of the awesome Republic Thunderwarrior - a Mach 3.7 interceptor dating back to the very early 1950's but eventually cancelled in 1957 - probably for the best. Anyway, just as the Greeks operated 'The Deuce' in USAF SEA camo I thought I'd show it in their colours - I think this is my first Greek 'what if'.

[SPINNERS]

Republic F-103A Thunderwarrior - 111 Filo, Turkish Air Force, 1970

As F-108A Rapiers began to replace the early model F-103's in USAF they were passed down to selected NATO allies including Turkey who operated 48 F-103A's from 1968 until 1977 when they were retired for budgetary reasons (much to the delight of the groundcrew).

TAFF-103ATHUNDERWARRIOR01 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

TAFF-103ATHUNDERWARRIOR02 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

TAFF-103ATHUNDERWARRIOR03 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

TAFF-103ATHUNDERWARRIOR04 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

TAFF-103ATHUNDERWARRIOR05 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

TAFF-103ATHUNDERWARRIOR06 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

Like the F-102 Delta Dagger I see the F-103 Thunderwarrior being farmed out to both Greece and Turkey and have taken the opportunity to do the ex-ADC grey scheme and old square Turkish markings.