1.JaVA_Platypus

I don't have any welding equipment really. And I wanted to make it look like a panel from an actual MiG-21. Barely any welding on that one I guess. :D

What about a bombsight? IIRC, somewhere wrote that the Mi-8 used a WWII style bombsight (similar as found on the PE-2 and other russian bombers of the time) to effectively aim th e bombs. I highly anticipate that one, since I loved flying the big heavies in Il-2 Sturmovik.

I think you will end up going around museum and ask them if you could have a go in the cockpit with a tape measure and a scrapbook.

Well, if you actually had looked at the picture of the real thing, you would've noticed that the little MiG is not painted at all. The whole aircraft is painted light-grey and in place of the little MiG, they scraped off the paint.

"be sure!":lol:

The "4"? Ahh yes. You are right. I actually used an old Luftwaffe font for that. It was the closest i could find. I had to adapt the gaps in the zero's and three a bit. But I missed the '4'. Thanks! The beauty is indeed in the details. And the devil as well. :lol:

COULD've saved me an hour or two. :music_whistling::lol: Skinning is over for today. I will use your picture replacing the one I used previously. Thanks for all the trouble!!! I think placement and size is okay.

A bit of a WIP. :music_whistling: This should be the definite size of the emblem. From pictures, the color seems to be some kind of dark-blue. And of course the placement is still a bit wrong. p.s. the black outline of the MiG silhouette won't be in the definitive skin.

I agree! In the campaign, you sometimes have to go up against MiG-29s! And who is friendly is not always clear. For instance, The F-15's are on our side, but the F-18's are not? p.s. Try to edit this mission and add a flight of F-14's with Phoenix missiles and more SAM's for your side as well.

This is about as far as I am now. The mapping around the lower area of the hull is insane, it takes me hours to get it pixel-perfect. Don't be alarmed by the diffrent panel shading, it is something that EDM does, in the game it is better.

This one? :laugh: Do you know what the text says in the circle? **edit** Never mind, I've read the text, thanks for the help!

Hi Guys, I need help with something. I am making a skin for the MiG-21 of the Czech airforce. Once finished, it will be very pretty. But does anybody know what kind of emblem is painted on the nose? I would like to replicate it on the skin as well, but it is not really visible in any of the photo's I see.

A simple greyish VVS skin. Made using the template from Keefyboy. http://www.digitalcombatsimulator.com/en/files/1411899/

For quite some time now, I am using the green cockpit mod from Mainstay. But in the outside view, the cockpit remains the blue color that LNS made for us. This mod will remedy that. It will give you green cockpit textures, when looking from the outside. It is a drop-in mod. The zip will unpack inside the main DCS folder. A file will be overwritten. Back it up first in you like, or use the DCS repair function to get it back. http://www.digitalcombatsimulator.com/en/files/1411916/

Yup, some do that at first. I was able to clean out the POT. But since your one is brand new, you should get a new one if the warranty is still valid.

I think they used to fly head-on towards the tomcats and immediatly turned 90degrees once they AIM-54's were being launched. Or maybe the missile has such tremendous speed, you can out-maneuver it?

In an exercise somewhere in the 90's, rookie Dutch pilots flew mock-up engagements against majors and colonels from the US navy in their F-14's. We only had the non upgraded F16-A at the time. And nine times out of ten, The F-16's evaded the Phoenix missiles and got close enough to shoot the F-14's with sidewinders and cannon. The only simulated air-kill that the US Navy was able to get was after one F-14 fired ALL six of their simulated AIM-54's.

Yes. But aren't cluster munitions to explode in mid-air so as to disperse all the (cluster) bomblets? In the above video, the BL-755 bomb just impacted and no cluster munitions were ever released.

SVmapper (google it)

Why does everybody seems to think it is a Japanese? The part of the gear doesn't look like anything from the Zero or the raiden.

Aluminum can be cut with a motorized saw as well. (Use a fine blade) But to make all the edges straight and perpendicular, you need a file. Or maybe use scissors or something. Aluminum is really quite soft and small sheets are available in a DIY store. I never worked with acrylic, it sounds pretty tough to me.

From my experience as a builder of scale aircraft, the difference between a 'good' and a 'great' model is in small details. This is one of those details, wich I hope will add a bit of a 'wow' factor to the whole project. This is an authentic aluminum typeplate from a MiG-23 actually. It is from the one at the Tobit bar in Ahaus, Germany. I obtained it fair and square, I didn't steal it. :smilewink: After the paint dried and the 'sandpaper treatment', I got cracking on the wiring. Wich is the most enjoyable part for me. I stripped the 25-strand cable and attached it with a DIY bracket from aluminum strip. The soldering was a bit fiddly and I had to bend over it a bit. Because of that, I had a headache for the rest of the day, probably because of the toxic soldering fumes... :doh: Wiring finished! I wrapped the bundle witch paper-tape again. This not only looks authentic, it is a very good way to bundle all your wires. The tape is about 4 or 5mm wide. This is the front! I connected the panel with a 25-pin D-sub connector. The radar on/off/standby switch is flanked by two brass U-tubes (not youtube) I used the head of a beer bottle again to bend them into shape. And I attached them with pop-rivets because it is waaaaaaaayyy easier then with the soldering stuff I did earlier. Next-up, texts!

Thanks for all the comments guys! My experience as an electrician/panelbuilder certainly helps a lot with planning and executing the wiring and soldering stuff. I actually enjoy that part the most! :D @Sunshine db I would try to use a program like "HIDmacros" or better, "SVmapper" to program macro's so that the flip-cover lifts first and then flips the switch. Or else you end up making your flip-cover pushing a switch which is programmed for flipping the cover in DCS... @ADX94 I used Leo's USB board because they do free shipping within the UK. And a few years ago, I got a temporary job in Newcastle. Any USB board should do. But the Mjoy16 board looks rather large. Leo Bodnar's boards (especially the soldering versions) are very small and easier to put away. Anyways, I got cracking on the radar-controls. All panels are made of aluminum sheet. I got no fancy metal bending tools. I did all the cutting with a hacksaw and a file to straighten out the edges and a combination of a hammer and some weights for bending. I used a cordless drill for all the holes. The panels are painted using a spray-can. They have a shine on them which is probably very beautiful on a car, but very ugly for a MiG-21 panel. So I after the paint is dry, I will use a 6000grit piece of sandpaper for it. This causes some scratches as well. But that only adds to the authenticity of the panel I think. And I personally love all the scratches in the DCS MiG-21 cockpit. It gives a certain 'charm' to the whole thing. :thumbup: The small 'bulkheads' are attached with 'poprivets' (I hope this is the proper word for it in english) I wanted to use real aircraft rivets for a more authentic feel, but they didn't really work very well. I used the latter in school, but after 20 years, I must have forgotten something, because I couldn't get them properly in. The biggest hole is about 16mm in diameter and was cut with a conical drill. I am particulary proud of the symmetry of the two bulkheads. You can not see it in this picture, but it is within 0.5mm tolerance. Quite and extrodinary feat with only handtools available.

IIRC, the cougar mods used commercially available, off the shelf HAL sensors. They were rather expensive.

Thanx :)