VFA-195 "Dambusters" 25yrs in Atsugi (Nov 1998) BU164968 (CAG) and BU164970 (CO)

[TigersharkBAS]

VFA-195 "Dambusters"

1998 (25 Years at Atsugi Edition)

 

Strike Fighter Squadron 195 (VFA-195), also known as the "Dambusters", is a United States Navy F/A-18C Hornet fighter squadron (now F/A-18E Super Hornet) stationed at Naval Air Facility Atsugi. They are a part of Carrier Air Wing Five (CVW-5) and their tail code is NF. Carrier Air Wing FIVE - the nation's only "911" air wing - is a critical combat strike element of Battle Force Seventh Fleet, the only forward-deployed carrier strike group in the U.S. Navy.

 

Squadron insignia and nickname

The squadron, originally known as the Tigers, had its first insignia approved by Chief of Naval Operations (CNO) on 4 March 1944, consisting of a lion cub riding a torpedo. Bob Burns gave the squadron a lion cub. On the patch the cub is holding the musical "bazooka" that Burns used in his act, while riding a torpedo. The lion went to the Los Angeles Zoo. A new design replaced the cub with a tiger and parrot on the torpedo, and was approved on 18 April 1949.

 

Sometime in the 1950s, the squadron adopted a shield insignia that featured an eagle's head and a torpedo. On 1 May 1951, squadron aircraft disabled the heavily defended Hwacheon Dam in North Korea, earning them the nickname Dambusters,[1] echoing the original Dam Busters of No. 617 Squadron RAF. Destruction of the dam had been previously attempted by other units many times.

 

In August 1985, the squadron adopted the stylized eagle on green background insignia in use today.

 

The 2000's

From 1998 to 2008 VFA-195 was assigned with CVW-5 to USS Kitty Hawk. VFA-195 flew in support of Operation Enduring Freedom in 2001, striking targets deep in Afghanistan. Called on for duty in the Persian Gulf in 2003, the squadron flew 278 combat sorties in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom, delivered 179,000 pounds of precision guided munitions against military targets over the course of a single month.

 

When USS Kitty Hawk was retired, CVW-5 and VFA-195 moved to USS George Washington in August 2008.

 

About This Livery

 

This livery represents a special version of the Chippy Ho High Visibility paint scheme that included "25 years in Atsugi" artwork on the left side of the aircraft. It comes in both CAG (BORT 400) and CO versions (BORT 401). Every effort has been made to meticulously replicate the livery as accurately as possible using a variety of model kit instruction sheets as well as reference photos where possible.

 

Releases

 

Version 1.0 - 12 Jul 2018

Release version. See release graphic for features of this livery.

 

 

Version 1.01 - 18 Jul 2018

• Tweaks to colouring of various marking on the aircraft. In some cases the green was not matching the same colouring used on the vertical stabilisers.
  
• Changed vertical stabiliser to include the weathering layer on top of the eagle and keep the painted icon in sync with weathering on the rest of the aircraft.
  
• Smoothed out fonts used in pilot names and other writing to make them flow more naturally along a line and avoid individual letters warping when rotated along an axis.
  

 

Click here to download latest version (46 Mb)

 

In-Game Photo Gallery

 

Photoshop Source Files

This PSD file makes use of Layer Comps that can be used to switch on/off various layers to show various unique liveries. It means multiple liveries can exist within a single PSD. Please learn about Layer Comps and select the various comps to see how each bird was created.

 

Click here to download PSD file.(236 Mb)

 

Reference Material

 

### Model Kit Reference Photo ###

 

### Decal Sheet from kit ###

 

### Decal Instruction Sheet ###

 

Screen Shots

 

 

 

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Some things to note about TigersharkBAS releases:

 

- Any artwork derived from decal sheets is redrawn by hand and turned into vector graphics which can be resized to practically any size and appear sharp on the in game model.

 

- The release will include an image describing all the changes made to the aircraft to make it as historically accurate as possible.

 

- All reference material used to make the bird will be posted in the thread. This includes the decal reference sheets where applicable.

 

- Photoshop artwork and vector files will be posted so that other can reuse/learn/recycle techniques. Everyone contributes to this community where they can and as long people don't start taking these files and passing it off as their own work I don't why we need to be precious about sharing the source files that make up the livery.

Edited July 20, 2018 by TigersharkBAS
Added PSD Links

[TigersharkBAS]

In progress shot.....still some issues to solve with DAMBUSTERS text.

 

[TigersharkBAS]

Updated WIP shots. Not far away now.....

 

 

 

Edited June 23, 2018 by TigersharkBAS

[ben_der]

Looking Great Tigershark!

 

do you still need help to align the Dambusters Text?

Send me your PSD and I can take a look at it :smilewink:

 

I would maybe tone down the yellow on the fins a bit, looks a tad too bright and not enough "red" in it to me.

 

Believe it should be the same color as the pecker from the birdy.

[TigersharkBAS]

Hey Flip. Thanks for the feedback! I could always use help. I’ll post the psd tomorrow.

 

Not as complicated as some of your designs but I appreciate the support.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[TigersharkBAS]

Almost done....

 

Just in case you were wondering...that Chippy Ho font....I couldn't;t find it....so that text is drawn by hand :-)

 

[FZG_Immel]

will use this one !

[TigersharkBAS]

Anyone willing to try this out for me and give feedback?

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[LcSummers]

Anyone willing to try this out for me and give feedback?

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

 

 

 

Hi TS,

 

 

if you want i can try it but dont except a professional feedback´cause i never made a skin.

 

 

Its up to you.

 

 

Thank you very much for taking your time to give us another superb bird.

[TigersharkBAS]

It’s ok summers. Don’t need skinning. Just need a keen eye to spot an errors or strange things.

 

I’ll post a beta in the thread later.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[TigersharkBAS]

 

 

Beta Livery can found here:

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1pB76tVYLCP7TXJaMSsoxfhDDIFym-aE8

 

 

 

*** ALL THE REFERENCE MATERIAL FOR THIS HISTORICALLY ACCURATE F-18 CAN BE FOUND IN THE FIRST POST ***

Edited July 2, 2018 by TigersharkBAS

[uscstaylor]

Nice Work Mate

[TigersharkBAS]

Cheers.

 

 

Any brutal feedback is welcome. Don't be shy.

 

 

I even tracked down the CAG in Linked In to see if he wanted to check it out. No reply :sadpanda:

[Robert31178]

I know it's not skin related, but where did Chippy Ho come from?

 

~Rob

[TigersharkBAS]

Chippy is apparently the call sign for the squadron.

[TigersharkBAS]

Wouldn't it be awesome if there was a forum of ex F-18C pilots we could ask questions like this of?

[LcSummers]

It’s ok summers. Don’t need skinning. Just need a keen eye to spot an errors or strange things.

 

I’ll post a beta in the thread later.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

 

Thanks TS,

 

 

lets see if i find anything:lol: but idont think so.

[LcSummers]

Hi TS,

 

 

first of all well done, a beauty.

 

 

I dont know, maybe i am wrong but for me it seems that the "USS Kitty Hawk" writing on the right side is a little bit more set to the right but very minor.

It should be placed a little bit to the left.

 

 

 

As i said i am not a professional and it could be the angle of view. This is only my opinion.

 

 

Thanks and S!

[TigersharkBAS]

Thanks Summers. Let me take a look.

[TigersharkBAS]

Thanks to Strut from these forums, the BU number of this aircraft also appears in the cockpit.

 

 

Edited July 4, 2018 by TigersharkBAS

[Robert31178]

Thanks for the info on Chippy, really neat!!!

[Strut]

Great skin Tiger, love you work !!!

[LcSummers]

Thank you very much!

 

 

Great skin!:)

[TigersharkBAS]

If all goes well I intend to release the CAG (BU 164968, BORT 400) and CO (BU 164970, BORT 401) variants of the bird over the weekend.

 

 

Here is 401. Changes to the front gear door, pilot names, bort no and BU no.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Next to 400...

 

 

Edited July 5, 2018 by TigersharkBAS

[TigersharkBAS]

Latest Betas available here:

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1FfAj-BOfs7BjuHP30XiLaVRSjSOaz91P

 

 

Big thanks to :

VFLIP: For letting me use his pilot helmet models and for support with dealing with the various peculiarities of the template.

 

 

STRUT: For teaching me how to do BU numbers in the cockpit view and using the Alpha channel to allow the instrument light to shine through the text.

 

 

Also big thanks to peeps in this thread for supporting my work through words of encouragement, testing and interest.

 

 

LcSummers....have moved the Kitty Hawk text as suggested. It was way off....you're eye isn't as bad as you think ;-)

 

 

Edited July 7, 2018 by TigersharkBAS