F14 Skinners thread (Paintkit in 1st post)

[Moorhuhn]

Why does Santa Cat matter so much to be included as an official skins than filling out other historical squadrons who only have a single skin each? Was it even in the time period the Heatblur B model represents, aka before 1999?

 

Honestly, stop pushing it. It's your prerogative to do so but there are a ton more deserving and missing skins that should be made official than yet ANOTHER Jolly Rogers skin where the B already has a few. There are a ton of A model skin possibilities, Viggens, and other actual B models that could be done to fill in some gaps. VF-24, VF-74, VF-211 don't even have a color jet of any kind, nor do we have a Sluggers CO/CAG jet.

 

Santa Cat matter so much, because it looks awesome as hell.

Everybody loves Tomcats, everybody loves Jolly Rogers and everybody loves Christmas. Mixing these three ingredients will bring a perfect and badass outcome.

And did I already mentioned the legandary "Seasons Greetings" Fuel Tanks? :wub::xmas:

 

These Christmas liveriy versions are really iconic and special to them fandom. There was a Christmas liveriy for the A (VF211), for the B (the Santa Cat we're talking about) and for the D (VF31)

 

Santa Cat represents a time before 1999 and a time after 1999.

There was one on on the USS Enterprise in 1996 I think and one on the George Washington in 2000.

 

I've never said, just do the Santa Cat and forget about the rest. I want liveries for the A and the Viggen too.

I am just saying, please dont forget about the Santa Cat and liveries for the B in general. VF-24, VF-74, VF-211,Sluggers HiViz ones are needed for the B urgently. Along with HiViz VF-11,VF-32, XF-240, Grim Reapers.

(If never seen a HiViz VF-24 on the B. Has there ever been one?)

 

There are also two line Birds for the B missing:

 

I am pushing them all.

But Santa Cat is something special.

Lets get the B completed.:pilotfly:

 

I have no intention of submitting my work to this skin contest at this time.

I just want to enjoy these painting tasks.

 

Wouldn't it be posssible to just submit one livery.

Your work is too damn good, to be not included officially.

 

Local downloaded content doesn't work in multiplayer. You awesome skins will fall back to a default skin.

 

Its a crime, to not submit them.

 

Stay Healthy

[Swordsman422]

I fall under the umbrella of "everybody," and I have no great love for the Jolly Rogers (84 or 103) or holiday liveries of any kind since they present the problem of existing for only a few weeks at a time, so I am inclined to agree with Lance.

 

The second of those two VF-102 liveries, the OEF scheme, actually has been covered before and is available in the download section.

[Uxi]

I'm not super fond of the Christmas livery but will fly them in the Christmas Octave.

[_YaeSakura_]

Work in Progress, 1975/76 VF-32 Swordsmen. AB201 has the Bicentennial Markings on its vertical stabs and both have the Admiral Clifton Awards in front of their intakes. Hoping to find more Bureau Numbers and their modex numbers to make this into a large package.

[Jackjack171]

Work in Progress, 1975/76 VF-32 Swordsmen. AB201 has the Bicentennial Markings on its vertical stabs and both have the Admiral Clifton Awards in front of their intakes. Hoping to find more Bureau Numbers and their modex numbers to make this into a large package.

 

Very nice!

[Swordsman422]

Upgraded my Photoshop and am on the next project. Very beginnings of VF-41 1999-2001. It'll be a bit generic to cover OAF and OEF operations on TR and Enterprise, so no carrier titles or crew names. 11 aircraft will be included.

 

 

[Jagohu]

Hi all,

You guys do truly amazing things on skins, respect!

I'm just trying to make some skins, primarily for static aircraft since their bord number seems to be kind of randomly generated and I'd like to ask for your help: I'm not a photoshop-pro and I'm having trouble creating the "opposite", mirrored, right side of the aircraft, especially the number. I just copy-paste it from the left side, but it doesn't seem to "fit", it seems out of place. Could you give me a hint what sort of transformation I'd need to do via Photoshop to make the number kind of "snug" the fuselage and not look like something painted in the air?

It's a VF-213 bird from 2005, if anyone's interested.

Thanks a lot!

[Swordsman422]

Uploading these now. VF-41 1999-2001. 12 liveries for 11 aircraft. The pack will be broken up into 6 parts because of file size restrictions.

Edited December 1, 2020 by Swordsman422

[Tomcatter87]

Thanks, Swordman! They look really great. I love the fact that you do almost entire squadrons - I love populated decks with different bort numbers.

[RaisedByWolves]

You skin artists are awesome. Keep them coming.

[Kasatka76]

Sorry, I need some help: where can I find this sheet? Which folder contains the file with it?

[Swordsman422]

 

With VF-41 done, I guess I'll give them a partner. Not exactly the same period but close enough:

 

[Uxi]

3 hours ago, Swordsman422 said:

 

With VF-41 done, I guess I'll give them a partner. Not exactly the same period but close enough:

 

 

NOW you're talking.  Whole squadron?  My SSD weeps while I cheer.

Edited December 3, 2020 by Uxi

[Swordsman422]

Whole squadron per usual. I just happened to start with BuNo 160390.

 

For the record, I was already talking with all my previous effort.

Edited December 3, 2020 by Swordsman422

[Gunslinger22]

On 12/1/2020 at 2:29 PM, Swordsman422 said:

Uploading these now. VF-41 1999-2001. 12 liveries for 11 aircraft. The pack will be broken up into 6 parts because of file size restrictions.

Great work as always Swordsman! Though I just have some questions regarding the colour palette, it seems far too dark for me. I’ve never seen any pictures of the grey being that tone. Would love to see your references for these! Cheers for the wonderful skins though. 

[Swordsman422]

 

As with the recent VF-41 livery, some of VF-84's aircraft during their final year in service were painted overall medium grey (FS 35237) with light compass ghost grey placards (FS36375). I have references of 202/BuNo 160390 and 210/BuNo 160405 painted this way. A few of the other aircraft were overall light ghost grey with gunship grey markings, or TPS, or in the case of 201/BuNo 160480 the whole front fuselage being darker than the rest of the aircraft. Afterburner, Furball Aero, Superscale, SBDecals, and Fightertown have all offered color reference plates as well, which are easier to work with because you can't really trust photos as color references. Below are both a photo and a built model of 160390. I mean to do a mixture of these, so I have 4-5 base paints to cover all the variations in the squadron.

 

Edited December 3, 2020 by Swordsman422

[Swordsman422]

And then I reread the post and realized you were asking after the VF-41 livery instead. Sorry about that...

[Tomcatter87]

One thing I'd really wish for is some nice, old school "flying pencil" liveries for VF-31...

[Reflected]

46 minutes ago, Tomcatter87 said:

One thing I'd really wish for is some nice, old school "flying pencil" liveries for VF-31...

 

Awaiting approval in the user files section

[G.J.S]

50 minutes ago, Reflected said:

 

Awaiting approval in the user files section

Beautifully shot, and a fantastically done scheme too, the tonal balance is perfect. Reflected leading the pack!

[Swordsman422]

Work continues with the base paint variations:

In the background, the overall medium grey to be used by 202 and 210. The midground is the overall light ghost grey for 200, 203, and 204. Finally, in the foreground is the half-painted look of 201.

 

 

Next is a comparison shot between two TPS variations. In the foreground is the standard TPS used by 207 and 212. 207 will also have a scroll of Jolly Rogers history on the tail. In the background is the TPS variation used by 211 and 213, which differs by lacking the medium grey upper surface on the nose and canopy.

 

I have more stencils and placards to place, then modex numbers and bunos for all aircraft.

[Uxi]

Looking gorgeous with great attention to detail. Can't decide which I like the most since I like them all.  The medium gray is the freshest look but hard to fault any of them.  Will love displaying some and cycling through others in a campaign.

 

I understand your reasons though would encorage Theodore Roosevelt markings since we have that one in the game. 

[Wizard_03]

6 hours ago, Reflected said:

 

Awaiting approval in the user files section

Looks beautiful been waiting for this one

Edited December 3, 2020 by Wizard_03

[Swordsman422]

 

Yeah, CVN-71 should get some use with VF-41, VF-84, and my next stop VF-14. While -84 did use this livery on the '93 cruise on Roosevelt, the specific roster I'm covering they were technically homeless and waiting their turn on the chopping block. Aside from 200, 202, and 210, all of the CVW codes had been painted over, in some cases messily, and there were no carrier titles. While that may not seem too great for -84, it's perfect for DCS because not everyone has the SC module, but everyone should have the John C. Stennis and won't have a ship/airwing mismatch for missions and campaigns.

 

If we're being exceptionally nerdy...

...one of their final acts was to shoot some footage for Executive Decision aboard CVN-74.

 

Plus I'm just generally not sorry about choosing their final paint scheme as a subject.

 

Edited December 3, 2020 by Swordsman422

[LanceCriminal86]

You know, that's a really good thought about how to tastefully do some dynamic MODEX skins. Do some corrosion control/paint over where the scheme would have had the carrier or something.

 

Doesn't fix the fact they will still all have the same BuNO but hey, at least that's a neat way to bypass the whole thing.