Swordsman422

Does your keymap have a button for the afterburner detent that you might be accidentally pressing?

Math. Your altitude - ground elevation above MSL = AGL altitude.

This. And the ability to chose a variety of empty pylons on the shoulders.

Robert Gandt if you want to stick with Hornets. Ward Carroll's "Punk's War" and its sequels is probably one of the best Tomcat book series ever written.

I'm all about option 2, probably because I didn't really care about the F-14 until it went multirole. The external differences between a mid 90s LANTIRN equipped A and a mid 80s fleet defense fighter is mainly the gun gas vents, some ECM bumps, and depending on period the TACAN antenna. Internally, the 90's F-14A was equipped to go feet dry where the 80's jet wasn't. When the F-14 was developed, the Navy expected it to take on hordes of inbound Soviet bombers in an environment where basically everything headed towards the carrier was a target. It wasn't able to independently solve ROE requirements in complex overland environments and, unlike the F-15, needed IFF clearances from 3rd party units such as an AWACS. This was a lot of the reason why its contribution to Desert Storm was minimal by every measure.

No it isn't. Those are Mk. 80-series iron bombs. There are no gliding vanes on the bomb body. These look like Mk. 83s with BSU-33 tailcones. This is a JDAM F-14As lacked the digital databus to process JDAM commands.

The F-14A did not ever carry JDAM. I hope we get an A contemporary with the B we got. Almost all of my favorite A liveries are after 1996. It wouldn't be stupid to dev the jet with the most options and players can use the parts of it they want. It's not stupid to want an A contemporary to the B. People want what they want, and so long as it was within the wheelhouse of the plane, it shouldn't be a problem. The Iranian Block 90 will eventually get modeled as well, and there isn't much different from the US Block 85, so the classic gull grey and white schemes will have something to fit on.

I'm looking forward to the F-14A. Until 1988 it was the only Tomcat game in town. It still lead in many of the F-14's firsts. The first F-14 to drop a bomb in anger was an F-14A from VF-41. The COIN, CAS, and SCAR procedures for the F-14 were developed by VF-41 in the F-14A. First air wing on scene in the NAG after 9/11 was CVW-8 with VF-14 and VF-41's (seeing a pattern here) F-14As. The A was still the only Tomcat operationally launched from the carrier in the quad bomber configuration. VF-154 detached 5 of their F-14As to Al Udeid AB to support CAS efforts in OIF. And 100% of the F-14's 5 air-to-air victories in US service were by F-14As. It's also the only variant that got exported. The only thing the Tomcat did that the A model didn't do is drop GPS weapons, and the F-14B we got can't do that either. Sure, I'd love to have all of the F-14 variants, but if I had to choose between the D or the A, I'd choose the A for its historical significance, livery options, and longevity of service. I'd be exceptionally happy if the A we get is a contemporary of the B we are got.

How long is the trial for? Not having $600 to pay I had to go with the free version. I'm not an advanced user. I just need enough to do decent texture work. I cut my teeth in PS7 doing liveries for the Strike Fighters series, but I don't have PS7 anymore.

Drat. I was hoping not but I was worried that this was true. I'll have to find a workaround.

Okay, I think I see the issue I'm having. Whatever layers are corrupted include the Fin_Outer layers. I finally tracked them down and they appear to have objects in them but are empty. I did a magic wand select on the slime layer. It shows the slime light should be there, but it isn't. As a test, I made invisible all of the other layers to make sure it wasn't just hidden by something and this area is still empty. I redownloaded the paint kit and am still getting the corrupted layer error when I open this file.

[ATTACH]209065[/ATTACH]

Maybe I misplaced a layer or something. Only the right outer tail has the stiffener and rivet details. The right inner and left are missing it completely. I had to copy the stiffener. I can't seem to find the layer these details belong to even on the original. Thanks.

Anyone else missing the rivets and formation light on the left tail? What layers are these?

This hasn't been modelled yet. F-14 squadrons used a wide variety of fonts, positioning, and sizes for their modex numbers and HB is still figuring out how to model it efficiently. Best thing to do for now is create a skin for every number.

More progress work on the VF-102 OEF line jets. I'm in the tedium of modex numbers and BuNos now. Probably have V1.0 done by Sunday evening.

Preliminary work on the VF-102 OEF livery. I plan for all 9 of the line jets. Still a long way to go.

Got it! Hard at work on VF-102 OEF line jets. Progress shots when I have some.

VF-143 used Korinna and Korinna Extra-Bold for their modex numbers in 2002 and 2004 respectively.

Fonts are probably USN Stencil and/or Amarillo USAF.

Hey, man, no judgement intended. I have some experience flying for real, so what I am used to is what looks and behaves like what I know, which is analogue steam gauges. Altimeters have a tendency to look alike. My graphics are set to max, but my resolution is only 1920x1080. Any sharper and I get a headache after a while. VR does it to.

Really, the altitude indicator? It's one of the easiest instruments for me to read. And being analogue, it gives you more information that just altitude. You also get an idea of altitude change from the movement and speed of the needle. I'm just now getting used to the Knots/Machs airspeed indicator.

It may just be that sensitive. In modern fighter aircraft the biggest cause of radar return is the crew. That's why you see gold flake in F-16 and F/A-18 canopies. The radar could be reflecting off the pilot dangling from that parachute.

Is your antenna elevated so that angels 65 is within the scan zone at the range you expect the MiG-25? Remember, radar is like a spotlight cone. Even if he is within range of the radar, if he's outside the scan area, you still can't pick him up.

The USS John C. Stennis first cruise in 1997, CVW-7 was aboard and both VF-143 and VF-11 were equipped with F-14Bs, so technically the current Stennis carrier qualifies as a correct period carrier. Still, I'm with you here. Having the Forrestal-class and specifically USS Saratoga, with F-14Bs from the Bedevilers and Sluggers aboard will be awesome!