Re: Spinners' Strike Fighters Thread

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BAC Lightning F.57 - No.1040 Squadron, Libyan Arab Republic Air Force, 1978

LIBYA LIGHTNING F57.01 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

LIBYA LIGHTNING F57.02 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

LIBYA LIGHTNING F57.03 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

LIBYA LIGHTNING F57.04 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

The Lightning F.53 is an absolute beauty and I've previously used it to create multi-role Lightnings for the RAF, Spain, Marineflieger and Egypt and possibly others. Anyway, this is the stock silver skin with the easiest of roundel decals to make! The four-digit serials have all been seen on Libyan MiG-25's.

BTW the loadout is quite rubbish and really I should have ditched the tanks and the Red Tops and included the Microcell rocket pack.

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BAC Canberra B.65 - No.1124 Squadron, Libyan Arab Republic Air Force, 1970

LIBYA CANBERRA B65.01 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

LIBYA CANBERRA B65.02 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

LIBYA CANBERRA B65.03 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

LIBYA CANBERRA B65.05 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

LIBYA CANBERRA B65.04 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

Whilst the game/sim has the Canberra B.2 and B.6 we're lucky in having two superb B(I).8's and I cannot actually remember which one this is but it's a beauty and the lovely Peruvian skin just needed a bit of overpainting to allow me to use the Libyan markings used in the early Gaddafi era (1969-1977) and I've created a fictitous 'Fennec Fox' squadron badge for the real world No.1124 Squadron.

[SPINNERS]

McDonnell Douglas F-4G Phantom - No.69 Squadron, Israeli Air Force, 1982

IDF F-4G PHANTOM.01 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

IDF F-4G PHANTOM.02 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

IDF F-4G PHANTOM.03 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

IDF F-4G PHANTOM.04 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

IDF F-4G PHANTOM.05 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

IDF F-4G PHANTOM.06 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

AKA Kickin' Kurnass!

The Phantom/Kurnass is well covered by Third Wire with the exception of the Recce Rhino's, the F-4S and the F-4G. Thankfully, all these gaps are covered by The Mirage Factory group of modders and this what-if combines their F-4G with a Kurnass skin by 'sundowner' with a couple of tweeks by me to cater for the fincap and undernose AN/APR-47 electronic warfare equipment.

[SPINNERS]

BAC Lightning F.Mk.51 - 119 Squadron, Israeli Air Force, 1967

IDF LIGHTNING F51.02 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

IDF LIGHTNING F51.05 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

IDF LIGHTNING F51.03 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

IDF LIGHTNING F51.04 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

IDF LIGHTNING F51.06 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

IDF LIGHTNING F51.07 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

IDF LIGHTNING F51.08 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

IDF LIGHTNING F51.09 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

IDF LIGHTNING F51.10 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

IDF LIGHTNING F51.11 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

For an Israeli Lightning then the multi-role F.Mk.53 makes much more sense but I can do that one at another time! Anyway, this early israeli Lightning uses the F.Mk.2 with the stock silver skin and I've added the fin 'arrowhead' (or whatever it's supposed to be) directly onto the skin bitmap and also onto the specular map which ensures that it isn't as shiny as the NMF. After that I just added decals using stock Shahak (Mirage IIIC) serial numbers. The game/sim has the Shafrir 2 missile but it didn't actually see service until 1971.

LightningF51_Loading by Spinners1961, on Flickr
(Crikey! My first upload to Combat Ace for 13 months!)

[SPINNERS]

Westland Whirlwind Mk.2D - No.6 Squadron, RAF Middle East Command, 1943

RAF WHIRLWIND FB2D.01 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RAF WHIRLWIND FB2D.03 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RAF WHIRLWIND FB2D.05 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RAF WHIRLWIND FB2D.02 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RAF WHIRLWIND FB2D.04 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

A golden oldie from February 2009 and one of the very first skins I ever made. This was for Veltro2K's Whirlwind and it's still a blast to fly!

[SPINNERS]

Nakajima Ki-117 'Pike' - Imperial Japanese Army Air Service, 1946











This is the Tempest II by the DAT group of modders masquerading as the Nakajima Ki-117 (Allied Code Name: 'Pike'). I took the grey specular bitmaps, masked off the undersurfaces and added a blurry green leafy layer to look like those sprayed on camo schemes seen on WW2 Japanese aircraft. A red spinner, yellow wing leading edges and some fictional IJAAF markings finish it off. I have absolutely no clue on IJAAF squadron/wing/air army structures so haven't named the squadron and the '4' within an arrow on the fin is a marking straight out of my own head! I love the Hawker Tempest but much prefer the 'chinny' versions.

[SPINNERS]

Northrop Talon FRS.1 - 899 Naval Air Squadron, Royal Navy, 1978

RN TALON FRS1.01 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RN TALON FRS1.02 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RN TALON FRS1.03 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RN TALON FRS1.05 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RN TALON FRS1.04 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

A 'what if' Bundesmarine F-5GN was released recently by 'Gepard' a German modder who has added a proper tailhook to the F-5E 3D model and also created two smart-looking Bundesmarine skins for it. One skin is blue with grey undersurfaces and the other is an overall grey colour (see piccie below). Anyway, I've adapted the former skin into something that resembles an early (pre-Falklands) Sea Harrier scheme and added my favourite 899NAS markings.

SeaTiger by Spinners1961, on Flickr

[SPINNERS]

McDonnell Douglas Condor F.1 - No.5 Squadron, RAF Strike Command, 1984

RAF CONDOR F1.01 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RAF CONDOR F1.02 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RAF CONDOR F1.03 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RAF CONDOR F1.04 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RAF CONDOR F1.05 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RAF CONDOR F1.06 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

I've been given a new toy to play with! Apparently, this was a McDonnell Douglas study into a single-engine delta wing F-15. It's a lovely 3D model by 'Cocas' who has christened it Condor F.1 and he envisionages it as a Lightning replacement for the RAF. Cocas has generously given me a basic template so I've done a nice simple skin to start with and used some No.5 Squadron markings and serial numbers from (ironically) an RAF Eagle I did a while back and a No.11 Squadron version will follow. I can see F-15, F-16, Vigilante (intakes) and Sukhoi Su-15 (fin) in this shape!

[SPINNERS]

McDonnell Douglas Condor F.1 - No.11 Squadron, RAF Strike Command, 1984

RAF CONDOR F1.07 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RAF CONDOR F1.08 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RAF CONDOR F1.09 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

Binbrook FTW!

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RAF THUNDERBOLT F1A.02 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

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RAF THUNDERBOLT F1A.04 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

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BAC Thunderbolt F.1A - No.74 Squadron, RAF Fighter Command, 1967

RAF THUNDERBOLT F1A.01 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RAF THUNDERBOLT F1A.03 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RAF THUNDERBOLT F1A.05 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RAF THUNDERBOLT F1A.06 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RAF THUNDERBOLT F1A.07 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RAF THUNDERBOLT F1A.08 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

Cocas has named his delta-winged Lightning 'Thunderbolt' and I thought No.74 Squadron should introduce it into RAF service first. The skin is by 'Wrench' over at Combat Ace to which I've added the anti-glare panel and the Lightning's distinctive fin tip. As you'd expect, it goes like 5hit off a shiny shovel!

[SPINNERS]

BAC Thunderbolt F.1A - No.111 Squadron, RAF Fighter Command, 1967

RAF THUNDERBOLT F1A.09 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RAF THUNDERBOLT F1A.10 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RAF THUNDERBOLT F1A.13 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RAF THUNDERBOLT F1A.11 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RAF THUNDERBOLT F1A.14 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

RAF THUNDERBOLT F1A.12 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

Shades of the original 1/72 scale Airfix Lightning F.1A!

[SPINNERS]

One of only two models I've shown here;





Lightning F.6 with 1/48 scale MiG-21 wings and a Foxbat Radome.

[SPINNERS]

McDonnell Douglas A-4Ö Skyhawk - Fighter Squadron 1, Austrian Air Force, 1982

AUSTRIA A-4G SKYHAWK.02 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

AUSTRIA A-4G SKYHAWK.03 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

AUSTRIA A-4G SKYHAWK.04 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

AUSTRIA A-4G SKYHAWK.05 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

AUSTRIA A-4G SKYHAWK.01 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

AUSTRIA A-4G SKYHAWK.06 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

AUSTRIA A-4G SKYHAWK.07 by Spinners1961, on Flickr

Way back in the midst of time I remember reading about the Austrian Air Force's Saab 105 'Fighters' and the magazine author questioned whether this jet trainer could even intercept a stray business jet so this 'what if' gives the Austrian's the ex-Royal Australian Navy's A-4G's in 1978. Now these didn't become available until the early 1980's (and went to the Kiwi's) but we won't let that get in the way of a good story!

Anyway, the A-4 Skyhawk is well covered by Third Wire with 9 different variants (A, B, C, E, F, G, H, K and L) with no less than 20 sub-variants and the Aussie A-4G's and Kiwi A-4K's are really well covered. For the Austrian Skyhawk (my first Austrian 'what if') I've used the humpless A-4G as it has outboard AIM-9 pylons built in to the 3D model on which I've used Swedish Rb74's for a touch of colour and to maintain the link with Sweden. The skin uses the overall green seen on the Kiwi A-4K's and I've simply tinted the undersides to grey which actually took some time as I had to mask off 6 skin bitmaps with some trial and error. After that, the decals were a doddle. There's not a lot of info to be found on Fighter Squadron One so I've given them a tiger emblem simply because they have attended various 'Tiger Meets'.