Royal Navy Fleet Air Arm Sea Harrier FRS.1

[ChrisBV]

This is my first attempt at skinning in SF, it's actually a "revamp" of the original skin that came with the mod so to make the jet look - hopefully - better and more realistic. It's still a work in progress but I think you can get the idea from these shots:

 

 

 

And escorting an unwelcomed guest

 

From the reference photos I could find I think I got the base colour more or less right. I also tried to make the aircraft look a bit worn out by the rough conditions of the South Atlantic, like it had been exposed to salty, cold water and battering winds for some time now and the paint had already begun to chip, revealing the anticorrosive primer coat underneath (hence the yellow spots). I'm also trying to improve decals and other details.

 

Hope you like it!

[Syrinx]

Cool

[dsawan]

Nice, almost real.

[SayethWhaaaa]

That's good stuff CBV!

[+76.IAP-Blackbird]

Looks nice and I like this "real" worn out skin, we need some more like this!

[kukulino]

Looky very nice

[+torno]

exelente great work , I "revamp" this gr3

Edited November 1, 2008 by torno

[Panama Red]

ChrisBV:

Thank you. The Falklands/Malvinas is one of my favorite TW mods. Look forward to your latest efforts.

[BattlerBritain]

ChrisBV - really great work Dood. The weathering effects look spot on. Well done.

 

Battler

[+sony tuckson]

Very very nice!

[+SkippyBing]

Very nice paint. One minor point, during the actual conflict the jets didn't have any squadron markings, basically anything that wasn't medium sea grey got painted over*. Post conflict they reappeared in the more subdued format.

 

*Some jets were repainted in Barley Grey which was lighter, in both cases it was pretty much done with a brush so it'd be interesting to see how muh performance was lost due to the paint finish.

[sugarblues]

Skippy...

 

Don't you mean "anything that wasn't Extra Dark Sea Grey" ? The only MSG paint used was, as you said on the light-coloured a/c sent south as 809Sqn - MSG Uppers, with Barley Grey on the undersides of the wings/tailplanes. They even had 809's Phoenix on the tail, and standard RN titles in pale blue - but this was painted out when they were absorbed into 800/801Sqns. A/C numbers were added in black.

 

SB

[+SkippyBing]

Ah yes getting my greys mixed up!

[Avenger Angel]

Very nice skin! Congratulations!

Bye

[ChrisBV]

Thanks everyone for the kind comments! Here's an update of what I've got so far...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I was aware that markings were painted during the campaign so to make the jet look plain dark grey but I didn't like the results when I tried to do the same thing to this skin, it made it look a bit dull and boring (in real life, having this dark jet coming at you must have been really scary but it just didn't work for me in the sim) so I left it as such. It looks a lot more "alive", IMHO, so think of that as "artist's prerogative" I think the skin is coming out nicely but that shall be for you to decide

 

I also figured the weathering was "slightly" over-the-top so I toned a bit down that as well. Anyway, I should have the skin finished in the following days.

 

torno, is that GR.3 of yours flying over the Falklands terrain? If so, where did you get those textures?

 

PS: does anybody know if a twin Sidewinder launcher is available and how to add it? Thanks!

Edited November 7, 2008 by ChrisBV

[+pato poli]

Mr. Chris that is an excellent work. Congratulations.

i got a question, when the war start the paint of the SH was the "peace time" with white under and the 3 colors "insignia" (i dont remember how its called escarapela or cocarda or "that round thing painted close to the air intake" jajaja)

anyway, i remember read about it, and there is a photo of a crew member "converting" the 3 colors into a 2 colors" putting blue over the white.

in your 3er screenshot is showed clear, but i see too much red...its me or you put red over the withe???

thanks

[jaeger_301]

Hi Chris,

 

nice work.

 

the MIG 25 uses 2 head seekers at one weapon station, this is the loadout entry:

 

// Station 1 = Left Wing Station Outboard

// Station 2 = Right Wing Station Outboard

 

[AirToAir]

Loadout[01].WeaponType=AA-8

Loadout[01].Quantity=2

Loadout[01].RackType=APU-62L

Loadout[02].WeaponType=AA-8

Loadout[02].Quantity=2

Loadout[02].RackType=APU-62L

 

would it be possible to give the nozzels a metalic look like on these pictures?

http://www.bredow-web.de/ILA_2004/Jagdflug...ae_harrier.html

http://www.bredow-web.de/RAF_Museum/BAe_Ha...ae_harrier.html

 

cheers

 

Jaeger

[ChrisBV]

¡Hola Pato!

 

Before the conflict the paint scheme used on the RN Sea Harrier was blueish-like dark sea grey (EDSG) on top with a light gray/white underside and yes, the 3 colour roundel (that round thingie painted close to the air intake ) was indeed used. This picture shows the paint scheme used prior to the Falklands conflict:

 

 

Harriers departed from the UK wearing that colour scheme but they were re-painted on route to a dark sea grey base and national and squadron markings were erased. In this shot you can see a SHar on the sky jump of HMS Invincible while leaving Portsmouth; it looks like the one above:

 

 

However, these carrier ops shots from the conflict itself (again, from HMS Invincible) show the SHar completely darked out:

 

 

 

This is from April 21 - earlier in the conflict - and shows a SHar intercepting a FAA (Fuerza Aérea Argentina) Boeing 707. You can see the roundels, still present, in blue and red; the red part is significantly larger than in the blue, white and red roundel the jets came with from Britain (or is it? I think you might be right, I'll have to check that out) so my best guess is that roundels were completely done again after the painting process aboard RN carriers while en-route to the islands:

 

The painting process was carried out using brushes and buckets of paint and not airbrush, so making the paint finish look sometimes uneven with darker and lighter coloured areas. I wonder what kind of penalty on performance that would have had on the jets, having coats of paint adding weight (and drag) to the overall aircraft...

 

I chose to leave squadron and national markings on so to "liven up" the skin and make it look more interesting, though not entirely historically accurate (hence the artist's prerogative I was talking about). The actual jet flew combat missions completely darked out, making it look quite stealthy and menacing. The Argentine pilots and troops on the ground nicknamed it "La Muerte Negra" (The Black Death). I was thinking I could make the roundels look like the crew was on the process of covering them and suddenly, the jet had to leave for a sortie in a hurry, leaving the work unfinished. Let's see how that looks instead of having perfectly painted roundels...

 

Harriers aboard HMS Illustrious - that relieved HMS Invincible after the cease of hostilities - already wore a light grey paint and toned-down, low visibility markings by the time they arrived to the Falklands. Such is the camo that the FA.2 used later on:

 

(I think the 809 NAS skin that comes with the mod replicates that particular paint scheme)

 

Jaeger, thanks for the info! And yes, I haven't done any work on the nozzles yet but the plan has always been to give them a metallic look. Oh yes, fuel tanks will also be painted, by the way. Just hold on a little longer.

 

Cheers everyone and thank you for you support!

Edited November 7, 2008 by ChrisBV

[Panama Red]

I thank you for leaving the Squadron emblems on even though it is non historical, but I do question your roundrals. From all the pictures I've seen and what you show, the blue portion of the subdued roundral should be larger than the red, but your pictures show the opposite. Is this an optical illusion, or is your red portion larger than your blue ???

[ChrisBV]

I thought the red part was larger but after seeing tonnes of pics and doing a little research, it seems I got it wrong. I'm changing that as we speak

[fallenphoenix1986]

Really loving the weathered effect

 

Does anyone know where/if the prewar FRS.1 skin is available?

Im sure it was included in the original Sea Harrier release years ago and now as far as I'm aware the only way to get the Shar is via the Falklands pack which no longer includes the prewar skin. If it isnt available anymore I'll maybey have a go at bashing the Mk.51 skin back to FAA.

 

Craig

[MAKO69]

The white part of the roundals were hand painted navy blue as well.

[Panama Red]

I thought the red part was larger but after seeing tonnes of pics and doing a little research, it seems I got it wrong. I'm changing that as we speak

[+torno]

torno, is that GR.3 of yours flying over the Falklands terrain? If so, where did you get those textures?

 

they are the textures that I of all the lands of the Falklands create.

[ChrisBV]

OMG that's spectacular!

 

Are those textures available?