Early F-14A Tomcat Paint Schemes: The Gulls - Part 1 v1.11 1.11

Early F-14A Tomcat Paint Schemes: The Gulls - Part 1 v1.11

 

This F-14 Tomcat Skin Pack is designed for the TMF F-14 Tomcat Super Pack (Any version, V1.14-1.20, or even the baseline Tomcat Pack from 2010). It represents eight F-14A Tomcat squadrons during the airframe's Vietnam-era introduction until the late 1970's (ca. 1978-1980), as the squadrons began to tone down. It is called "The Gulls" because the F-14's paint schemes early on included an overall light gloss gull gray with white control surfaces and underside, as well as very high visibility squadron markings like the F-4 and F-8 before it. I've always loved the Tomcat in its high-viz glory, and decided to compile a set of skins that represented the F-14 in its early years. The aircraft bureau numbers are included on each aircraft, and I logged them to the best of my ability; some aircraft were uncertain, so I narrowed it down to the block to find unassigned BuNo's. Any uncertain airframes, then, are at least from the proper block, and are few and far between.

 

These skins are valid until about 1978, the big changes over time weren't so much the colors as much as the bureau numbers of the aircraft. Some aircraft were lost to engine explosions, cold catapult launches, overrunning the deck, etc. during their inaugural cruise. Those others could have been involved in several cruises, but some may have been transferred to other squadrons and replaced with new build aircraft, so all aircraft modeled here are from the initial cruise of the listed squadrons.

 

This work was based in part on the Mirage Factory originals (listed in the original credits as being the work of Column5), and also some of Spectre8750's skins from the Super Pack as well, so I must thank them for providing the basis for the work. There was still quite a bit that went into making the updates even to squadrons which appear relatively unchanged (esp. VF-1, -2 and -84) to include wholly new decal sets for aircraft numbers and bureau numbers. VF-14, -32 and -41, -114 and -213 on the other hand, were done just about from scratch with the exception of VF-41's tail stripes.

 

The squadrons represented in Part 1 v1.11 are:

 

VF-1 Wolf Pack 1974-1978

VF-2 Bounty Hunters 1974-1978

VF-14 Tophatters 1974-1978

VF-32 Swordsmen 1974-1978

VF-41 Black Aces 1976-1978

VF-84 Jolly Rogers 1976-1980

VF-114 Aardvarks 1976-1979

VF-213 Black Lions 1976-1979

 

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To Install:

 

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NOTE:

This does not contain any aircraft! It is a set of skins. You must have the Mirage Factory F-14 Tomcat Super Pack or 2010 Mirage Factory Tomcat installed for this skin set to work!

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1. Go to your SF2 Mod Directory

Ex: C:\User\Saved Games\ThirdWire\StrikeFighters2\

 

2. Copy the Objects folder included in this archive over your Objects folder

 

3. Allow the files to overwrite. I have set up the folder structure to match the default structure of the game's mod folder (Objects/Aircraft/F-14A_74/file, and Objects/Decals/F-14A_74/file, respectively)

 

3a. You may need to add the aircraft's TextureSet to the F-14A_74.ini file. To do so, open each new skin's folder and copy the textureset data from the respective textureset.ini into your F-14A_74.ini file, incrementing based on the last TextureSet number.

 

NOTE:

This series of skins are similar to some of the baseline F-14A_74 skins in the Super Pack by name and years. Feel free to rename any of the skins to avoid confusion.

 

4. Go Fly!

 

V/R,

Caesar

 

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v1.11 Changes:

1. Fixed VF-84's anti-glare paint.

 

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v1.1 Changes:

 

Fixed VF-1 tail, small gray smudge ended up on the rudders

Changed all BEWARE OF BLAST warning text under BuNo's to red to match real-world text used at the time

ADDED VF-114 and VF-213

Updated TextureSets

 

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Credits:

Baseline Templates: Column5/The Mirage Factory, Spectre8750

Updated Templates and New Decals: Caesar

New Build Squadrons VF-14, -32, -41, -114, -213: Caesar

Baseline Squadrons VF-1, -2, -84: Column5/The Mirage Factory

Squadron Modifications: Caesar

VF-41 Tail Stripe: Spectre8750

Hangars and Loading Screens: Dave, Spectre8750

 

If I missed anyone, please let me know so that I may add you.

 

Any Time, Baby!