jocko417

First post updated to include CF-104 104783, in the final home based markings scheme, before the Starfighter was phased out with the arrival of the CF-18.

Underside camo grey demarcation needs to be lowered to about where radome has it, and then a bit of light wave action...

Ah, the Cosmo... never got a ride in one of those but I rode Air Ontario's old CV580s a few times before everybody and their mother started using Dash-8s for short haul trips. Some Canadian markings trivia, the Cosmopolitan and at least one other type (maybe Yukon?) wore red on red nationality markings for a short period. I think the theory was that since blue was no longer a "national" colour with the red and white maple leaf flag replacing the Ensign, the nationality markings should therefore mimic the new flag. Maybe the powers that were decided that at long distances these markings would be confused with Danish markings or something, because the change never stuck.

First post updated with download links to newest skins: CF-104 104750, Canadian Armed Forces shadow titles CF-104 12703, RCAF Station Marville, France F-104 57-0914, 435th TFS, George AFB (Star Trek)

I was an Air Cadet in the 1980s, rode around on those lightning bolt Hercs (and the 707 to Cold Lake one summer). Still the finest markings scheme those airplanes had, IMO, although not overly tactical. Never liked the switch to the Canada word mark with those corporate style National Defense logos, made our military look like a branch of the post office... but I digress. Got to sit in a 104 in Baden in the early 80s when we visited my base brat cousins. Wish I’d noted the buzz number. Never got to hear the J79 howl but could hear a gun test happening wherever the butts were on the base. My uncle flew out of Baden during the week but he went home weekends to Lahr, where my aunt and cousins lived, better infrastructure/schools there, I guess. First German words my cousins learned in school were the swear words (like the first Dutch words they learned during a previous posting to the Netherlands)

Doing the camo stencils, hard to see... not a lot of high rez colour pics taken of 104s at Udorn. Also starting to weather it, as best as I can do. Faded paint, spray touch-ups, exposed screw heads, etc. My hat's off to the people who actually make templates for a living!

It’s been submitted, but due to the Russian Christmas break there might be delays getting things approved for the next week or so.

Thanks for the kind words Rick, you know, I was thinking exactly the same thing last week, the Military Museums in Calgary would be an excellent resource as well. I've seen pictures of that Zipper online and it looks great. The big reason I was wanting to see '703 in Manitoba is the guys there have even gone as far as making sure all the service stenciling was done accurately. I was in Calgary three times in December but, due to Covid, never thought to call the museum. Hopefully we'll start to pull out of this situation in the coming months and can start getting back to normal. As for the skins I've always had a fascination for the 104, my uncle was the last squadron commander for 439 during the Starfighter days of 1CAG, before the switch to the Hornet. Nothing better than an aircraft that looks like it's doing Mach 2 even when it's parked!

Well, there you have it

Yes it’s quite nice, isn’t it? There’s some stretching near the top of the intakes that extends along the fuselage that you have to work around. The Belgian markings there require a lot of skewing on the texture so they look round in the game, but c’est la vie when you’re trying to map a flat texture to a sharply curved surface, you’re going to get some distortion. I think the model was done by cdpkobra.

Alnel413, was there a specific airplane in the CEPE “Royal Flush” that your Dad preferred? I could whip up another one. FG-914 should be submitted today, giving it a final “walk around” for any mistakes.

Nice shot! For the Trekkers...

Whoops! No, the Star Trek plane was 70914, not 60914... according to the interwebs she crashed about a week before the episode aired. Just working on the TAC logo and lightning bolt for the fin.

Yes! I’ve seen it in person a few times, at the national museum of the USAF in Dayton, OH. When I’m not being mesmerized by the XB-70, that is...

Squadron art WIP... 421, 439, 441 Sqns

Later version of above paint scheme, Olive Drab paint varied between two schemes from a brownish green to a bluish green, and neither one exists today in any colour standards. The Danes' version was nearer to the early brownish OD green. Pulling my hair out, but I think I have a close enough match for each. Period photos are useful but quality of film/time of day/ weather all play a part in screwing up the appearance of the green.

Oh man, I forgot she was in that Nick Cage Apache movie! I always remember her from BR and No Way Out with Kevin Costner. Happy New Year everyone! It wasn't quite a green Christmas, but 2021 is going to start out green...

Who you calling skin job? J/K thanks, Mizzy. That movie came out in 1982, Christ I’m getting old...

NOTE: Discovered an error in the USAF Luke AFB skin, and corresponding Common Textures normal map. Updated now and both can be downloaded from the same links on the first page. Belgium, still researching...

Common Texture folder and Luke AFB F-104G skin now available (that was quick!). Download links on first post.

Ok, an update, I've uploaded a Common Textures folder for download, awaiting approval from ED. Downloading this folder and placing it into your VSN_F104G liveries folder will greatly reduce the size of future skins and the storage space required for same. Common textures like normal maps, tank and pylon textures, basically anything "vanilla" will be stored separately so new skins won't have to include them. Once ED approves the Common Textures file I'll start uploading new skins: Luke AFB F-104G RCAF 12703 Small Leaf CAF 104750 Asymmetrical CAF 104783 Symmetrical Also working on a natural metal finish Belgian Air Force F-104G

The final scheme for CF-104 aircraft based in Canada used the "Symmetrical" markings style, which continued into the early CF-18 Hornet days. Markings were changed to become simpler while retaining bilingualism. Shadow titles were replaced by "CANADA" and the nationality markings dropped the CAF and adopted a new title system of ARMED FORCES and FORCES ARMÉES, rather ingeniously arranged so that they could be read both horizontally and vertically. The individual aircraft number was moved to the side of the nose. 104750 also wears the unofficial badge of No. 417 squadron, the Starfighter training unit, which shut down in 1983 as Canada transitioned to the CF-18 for front line use.

Yeah, once I get things where I want them I'll release a template.

USAF and '703 skins should be out soon, currently experimenting with a shared texture folder that might help cut down on the size of the skins, both for downloading and storage. Textures common to most paint schemes (pylons, fuel tanks, normal maps, etc) would be placed in a folder that the various skins can all use via the description file lua. The folder would be placed in the same livery directory as the skins so new skins wouldn't have to duplicate common textures. In the meantime, this will probably be the next Canadian Starfighter livery... after the powers that be decided to combine the land, sea, and air branches of Canada's military into one "unified" force at the end of the 1960s, the RCAF ceased to be. Instead, collectively we had the "CAF" or Canadian Armed Forces. The new nationality markings and flag were combined with buzz numbers that read from left to right on both sides of the aircraft, ie: "CAF" / roundel / last three digits of the aircraft serial number. The serials also changed from 5 digit to 6 digit numbers in the spring of 1970, with the first three digits indicating the aircraft type designator, in this case "12" changing to "104". Aircraft also wore "shadow" titles on both sides of the aircraft, left side in english, right side in french. With the french side being longer than the english side, this markings scheme is known to scale modelers as the "Asymmetrical Era" in CAF markings, 1968-1973. CF-104 104750, No. 417 Squadron (Operational Training Unit), CFB Cold Lake, Alberta, circa early 1970s.