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F14 Skinners thread (Paintkit in 1st post)


David A Sell

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7 hours ago, yewls said:

Trying to get the greasy, beat-down look of NE204 from the picture below ... as you can see my "technique" for weathering really amounts to lightly airbrushing along panel lines and areas where there would be hydraulic actuators.  What tips do you guys have for more varied/detailed weathering?

five-fighter-squadron-2-vf-2-f-14a-tomcat-aircraft-pass-over-a-peninsula-during-e7611a-1024.jpg

 

Digital Combat Simulator  Black Shark Screenshot 2021.12.30 - 14.30.02.87 (2).png

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Pay attention and learn what "weathering" actually is on Navy jets. That's what leads to jets that look real, versus over-weathered like most scale modelers do.

"Corrosion Control" is a constant activity, especially with jets on a float. A lot of what folks try to do for "weathering" just doesn't match what's actually going on with the jets. Some of the dark smudges in certain areas are from boots and gloves, particularly around the crew ladders. Those areas could get somewhat grimy looking, but pay attention to where actual darkened areas are from dirt and grime versus paint fade, possibly chipping, and, corrosion control paint. Some areas around the engine nacelles might be a bit grimier but the jets did have to be washed down often at sea to prevent corrosion. Gun residue from live fires didn't last long as it's very corrosive, so it'd get cleaned off at the end of the day.

Whenever corrosion would pop up on the jet, they'd usually hit it with fresh paint, possibly after stripping a small area to make sure they got the root of the issue. That's why you see various lighter patches of paint all over the jets.

This is a more extreme case: It looks like 114 used a darker paint to perform CC here, but often you would see a light gray.

https://nara.getarchive.net/media/a-fighter-squadron-114-vf-114-f-14a-tomcat-aircraft-is-launched-from-the-no-dbbf60?zoom=true

Note the places that are getting the CC paint, latches, doors, portions of panel lines.

Here's another example, similar concept but this shows the lighter paint along panel lines:

https://nara.getarchive.net/media/a-fighter-squadron-213-vf-213-f-14-tomcat-aircraft-taxies-out-to-launch-position-0f1a09?zoom=true

 

Understanding the weathering itself produces better weathering, and also helps to show where the limits ought to be.

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Heatblur Rivet Counting Squad™

 

VF-11 and VF-31 1988 [WIP]

VF-201 & VF-202 [WIP]

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Hey Lovely people, I finally finished my VF-103 Final Tomcat Cruise Livery pack.

B55DBBB4-3B1C-4F83-806A-318205D9426A.jpeg

https://www.digitalcombatsimulator.com/en/files/3319743/

There shouldn’t be any more problems or weird things however if you do find anything please let me know. 

 

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Edited by McKronenberg
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 vCVW-17 is looking for Hornet and Tomcat pilots and RIOs. Join the vCVW-17 Discord.

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  • 2 weeks later...
48 minutes ago, LanceCriminal86 said:

Already being done.

No, I think you are thinking of the 1989 70th anniversary skins which look similar to the picture I posted. We have a few from '89, a couple from 96-97, and the CAG bird from 2001. None from the '99 cruise on CVN-71. This was the cruise when the Tophatters were teamed up with VF-41 and participated in Operation Allied Force in Kosovo

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1 hour ago, ShinyMikey said:

No, I think you are thinking of the 1989 70th anniversary skins which look similar to the picture I posted. We have a few from '89, a couple from 96-97, and the CAG bird from 2001. None from the '99 cruise on CVN-71. This was the cruise when the Tophatters were teamed up with VF-41 and participated in Operation Allied Force in Kosovo

You sir are in for a surprise with the next patch I believe 😉

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2 hours ago, ShinyMikey said:

Have any of our great skin makers thought about doing a squadron set from VF-14's '99 Combat cruise (Kosovo), when they were on CVN-71 with the Black Aces as part of CVW-8?

 

F-14A-VF-14-1999.jpg

Thats the VF14 CAG Jet AFTER Allied Force. The white tails where added sometime after Allied Force. Not sure if they were present in Southern Watch. I believe they painted the tails on the way back from that cruise. My research so far indicates that. I have pictures from May 1999 aboard CVN71 where the tails were not white.

 

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5 minutes ago, VFlip said:

Thats the VF14 CAG Jet AFTER Allied Force. The white tails where added sometime after Allied Force. Not sure if they were present in Southern Watch. I believe they painted the tails on the way back from that cruise. My research so far indicates that. I have pictures from May 1999 aboard CVN71 where the tails were not white.

 

   The reason VF-14 was on my mind was that I just watched Ward Carroll's new video talking with Ted "slapshot" Carter, who was CO of VF-14 at the time. At about 21:40 he mentions that they didn't have a chance to repaint the White tail of AJ200 before the first combat mission, so he he flew in that plane himself on the first mission.

 

 

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7 minutes ago, _YaeSakura_ said:

Apologies for the unexpected delay, was given more documentation in the last minute that allowed for more completeness of the operators on VF-32's jets. We are now live.

https://www.digitalcombatsimulator.com/en/files/3320398/

VF-32(redo)-06.jpg

VF-32 AB205(redo).jpg

VF-32 AB203_205(redo).jpg

Another masterpiece! Thank you!

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DO it or Don't, but don't cry about it. Real men don't cry!

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On 1/30/2022 at 2:09 AM, Gunslinger22 said:

Curious to see if this corrosion control gets LanceCriminals approval and I'll upload these VF-103 skins. 

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There's some pics of AA-212 looking a lot like that, but for other folks I wouldn't call that typical. I've already got a 1986 skin of them mostly done but was going to hold the Sluggers until I can get VF-74 done up to go with them, and would like to have them come out if/when Saratoga happens.

Heatblur Rivet Counting Squad™

 

VF-11 and VF-31 1988 [WIP]

VF-201 & VF-202 [WIP]

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2 hours ago, LanceCriminal86 said:

 

There's some pics of AA-212 looking a lot like that, but for other folks I wouldn't call that typical. I've already got a 1986 skin of them mostly done but was going to hold the Sluggers until I can get VF-74 done up to go with them, and would like to have them come out if/when Saratoga happens.

No impressing you is there mate haha 😉. I think you'll find it more than easy to find so many pictures of mid/late cruise birds being covered in corrosion control, so to say it's not typical doesn't seem correct, have you seen any pictures of VF-74/103 during DS and how their birds looked, or VF-41/84 for that matter? 

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Oh I have, I have some of those very photos I was looking at. But not all of them were THAT extensive in coverage as 212. It would make sense that extended cruises would also result in more CC being potentially necessary. There's also instances where it appears some jets received more thorough repaints or touchups of their TPS potentially during the cruise, or as shown other colors were used for the CC. That VF-84 pic being a pretty clear and extreme example. In the Gull Gray era the CC paint probably matched the base coat more closely, perhaps they were using up existing stocks of paint for CC through the 80s, leading to the more extreme example of 212 that seems to have every other panel and panel line painted. But other cruises, other squadrons, and even through the 90s and 00s I haven't seen many examples that thoroughly covered with corrosion control.

What I'm trying to say is that everything has *context*. Heavy "weathering", corrosion control, stencils painted over, all the kinds of things some guys like to see are a progressive thing over the span of a cruise.

Heatblur Rivet Counting Squad™

 

VF-11 and VF-31 1988 [WIP]

VF-201 & VF-202 [WIP]

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2 hours ago, LanceCriminal86 said:

Oh I have, I have some of those very photos I was looking at. But not all of them were THAT extensive in coverage as 212. It would make sense that extended cruises would also result in more CC being potentially necessary. There's also instances where it appears some jets received more thorough repaints or touchups of their TPS potentially during the cruise, or as shown other colors were used for the CC. That VF-84 pic being a pretty clear and extreme example. In the Gull Gray era the CC paint probably matched the base coat more closely, perhaps they were using up existing stocks of paint for CC through the 80s, leading to the more extreme example of 212 that seems to have every other panel and panel line painted. But other cruises, other squadrons, and even through the 90s and 00s I haven't seen many examples that thoroughly covered with corrosion control.

What I'm trying to say is that everything has *context*. Heavy "weathering", corrosion control, stencils painted over, all the kinds of things some guys like to see are a progressive thing over the span of a cruise.

Yes I agree with context, since in DCS we simulate wartime scenarios. I think that showing the Tomcat in what it mostly looked like during war, such as how ‘most’ were in DS, is more accurate and representative than fresh gloss CAG birds and the such. High tempo flight ops, such as in a Red Storm Rising where the Sluggers are heavily featured, would results in birds that have noticeable weathering on them.  

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