jocko417

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.

Download link for Turkish Air Force natural metal F-104G scheme added to first post.

Amen, Mizzy. I'll take aluminum over plastic any day

So who's ready to join the "Lukewaffe"? Lockheed/Fokker F-104G 63-13690, 69th TFTS, Luke AFB, Arizona, U.S.A, circa early 1970s.

Canada didn’t spend much time with the A2A aspect of the airplane, hilarious since that was exactly what the aircraft was designed for, but I digress. Perhaps somebody more in the know than I am can chime in, but I think if Sidewinders were carried on the tips, the pylon tanks were definitely used. The aircraft really suffered from range issues without external tanks, especially at low altitudes. All tanks were not only jettisonable, but rated for Mach 1.5 (wing) and Mach 2.0 (Tip)!

Uhh, I think I made them so the blanking portion is at the front, the lights should be visible from about 70 degrees either side of the centerline as seen from behind. For the blanking portion I just drew a darker area as it appears in some (crappy) photos. This is one of the things on my list to take detail pics of in future. On the skin portion below, forward is up.

701 skin updated to fix the warning arrow. Yup, the stencils can vary from one aircraft to the next, too many styles to bother with. I already changed them for upcoming skins so the arrow head extendes behind the lamp pointing down at the hook.

The rear lights should be amber on top, white on the bottom, both sides. The red and green nav lights are on the wing tips (or tip tanks) and intakes. If you look at the rear end of the F-86 it also has both a white and amber light.

Dammit, I just spotted an error in one of Vampire's pics of 701, the arresting hook warning arrow on the left side of the tail doesn't line up with the roughmet. Stand by for version 1.01.....

Starfighters served Canada for about 25 years before being replaced by the Hornet. Over its service life, the aircraft saw many changes in finish and markings, due to a combination of a change in nationality markings, unification of the armed forces branches, and the change in tactical role from nuclear to conventional strike. After Canada changed from the red ensign to the "new" national flag in January 1965, the first major change to markings occurred as well, from the traditional "Silver Maple" leaf roundel of the RCAF to the stylized 11-point leaf of the new flag. Initially "new" roundels were created by over painting the old leaf and substituting the new one by cutting it from stocks of national flag decals, or so the lore says. In comparison to the official markings this resulted in a thinner looking blue ring retained from the old RCAF markings with a too-small new leaf. Eventually the new, official nationality markings that are still in use today would be applied, with a thicker blue band and larger sized red leaf, with slight changes to the official colours. The Canadian Starfighter museum at St. Andrews airport, Manitoba has restored Starfighter 12703 to how it looked in service circa 1966, with the hybrid "Small Leaf" markings. The aircraft is also adorned with the heraldic crest of No.1 Fighter Wing, Marville, France, and a crest from the 1966 4th Tactical Air Force weapons meet. You can visit the museum's website here and learn all about this amazing restoration. http://www.canadianstarfightermuseum.ca/ As for the skin, just working on the text and logo on the TAC Weapons Meet crest and it'll be done. Haha, glad you like them Vampire, plenty more to come. One thing bugging me though is I can't get the new drag chute texture to work, should be a dirty yellow colour.