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Now a short revisit to one of the seminal Mods for the Strike Fighters series. Strike Fighters 2: ODS Redux is a very impressive modification of the basic game series and included new aircraft / ground objects over the original. As the title suggests the mod will have you flying over the Middle East battleground where Operation Desert Storm was actually set, so mostly Iraq, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait of course: New aircraft for Redux included the amazing Buccaneer by Ravenclaw: Install As ever the mod works best at the game version it was tested and built for, and if you install onto a later version or one merged with North Atlantic there will be a bit more work to do. However if you can copy & paste files and edit word documents you shouldn’t have any problems. The instructions are pretty good – however you must insure you follow the first and second rules of modding: 1. Make sure you stick the files in the correct place! 2. Make sure you stick the files in the correct place! If you get stuck there is a few years worth of information and a knowledge base on here to help. Gameplay The variety of aircraft you can choose along with the different squadrons is vast as you can imagine, and should be historically accurate. For this I am going to be in VFA-81, - that’s right I can literally walk into any Navy squadron I am that good! The campaign starts with a bit of background about the situation and the strategic error Saddam Hussain perhaps may have made: For day one I can rejoice in the fact that mod campaigns include targets other than the beeping Comms building! Default loadout looks good enough so no changes for me: And flying with my good buddy Ens Mike Erwin, who is not the highest in flying skill but is good with the ladies!: Into the sky we go, the Hornet is a third party mod but includes a very good pit complete enough for us to get by with navigation etc: Flying over Kuwait Mike seems to think keeping his lights on is more challenging! Plenty of Bandits are being called out, like this MiG-23: They are being kept busy by F-14s on the way in though luckily: We find and hit the scud rather easily, although Mike doesn’t think it is fun without flying low and getting shot at by every gun in theatre: Coming off target, a MiG is within 10 miles at 9 o’clock, so I turn and lock it up. Not being certain who or what it is I close to visual just to see a cheeky F-14 blast it out of the sky with guns (that's the guy locked in the circle). Typical, I am off to the tanker, or Alt + N as it is more commonly known here: Success is ours…in your face Saddam! And of course, hats off to the many that contributed to make SF2:ODS possible!

TA-4G Skyhawk, VC-724, Royal Australian Navy

Here' a Soviet version;

finished canopy ... and air brakes (no skin yet)

I will include templates and sample textures in the Pfalz graphics pack for the guys who want to make new color schemes. Click shot for hi-res image.

VonS and I have been discussing lead time. It will take me several months to finish the Pfalz and Junkers textures, and it will take VonS a similar amount of time to develop the very demanding new files for the Caudron R.11. So, the logical thing to do is get the R.11 flying ingame with the skins just roughed in and then pass it on to VonS to work on. Then, I circle back and finish the Pfalz and Junkers. Click shots for hi-res images.

I'm sorry, but this is not a historical coloring (except that it flashed in one famous film, which is not devoid of artistic merit, of course)! Briefly: there are real documents about when the lozenge fabric began to arrive in the Pfalz Flugzeugwerke. Good uncle Abbot (Dan-San Abbot) on the forum's website www.theaerodrome.com gave an explanation: for the first time 5-color lozenge was seen on the WINGS of D.8149 / 17 and onwards. But not on all planes. Before that, all the Pfalts left the factory in a silver-gray color (possibly silver) with a white rudder. The lozenge on the upper wings could only appear on the last D.IIIa, a very late release, starting at 81xx / 17 and on repair aircraft, but not earlier than March / April 1918, and also on D.VIII / D.XII. Please note that we are talking only about the wings, but not about the fuselages.

Will this historically significant skin be in the D.III collection?

Now we all know, that Leutnant Stachel in pursuit of the Blue Max is a historical correct story based on true facts with aircraft from the period, flown by former aces and, and, and...well the skin just has to be made and included into the D.IIIa collection (since it was an 'a' model...guns on top instead in the fuselage).

I'll post them here soon as I complete the whole bunch. When I got home I'll post some shots as a tease. The skins are only jpg to save space and blank skins for skinners. For SFP1 users you might convert'em as bmp. See you soon.

Coupi, Yes, please send anything you have, especially a dash decal. There is a cockpit setup for Wolf257's D model that is great, but it only works for the D model. I wonder that the fake pilot method might work with this cockpit setup? Wilches, Did you release the YAP skins? I can't find them here.

One of the greatest mods, first time I played it, it was a version for the old Wings Over Europe. My only gripe with it is that the terrain is pretty wrong, for target locations etc. The one I made is identical in dimensions (portrays the same area), but addresses such issues and was also built for ODS. I wonder if people are still interested in playing ODS; when I get the chance, I might rework the campaign files and provide a more accurate campaign.

Hi, Last year I tested this: [Decal014] MeshName=Panel DecalLevel=0 DecalFacing=BACK FilenameFormat=P-51A_1943/1ACG/D/Panel Position=-0.13,0.52 Rotation=0.0 Scale=0.25 DecalMaxLOD=3 If you want I could send you my skinning test. However the fake pilot method should be an interesting alternative way to replace the empty "panel' mesh with new detailed parts for cockpit (instrumented panel, stick, gunsight....). Best regards, PC

Be interested to try your revised flight model out, Von S - thank you! Note that using the G4 as a dive bomber is about the only way I can put ordnance anywhere close to on target unless I'm mostly lucky with my release point. I pull the power way back and use the props as speed brakes to better manage the aircraft's diving velocity...at least that's the way it generally works...

Back to working details on the Pfalz. As usual, click shot for hi-res image.

Thanks a lot guys! So the cahnges will be simple! Yakarov your're right about the C1,Israel don't use this denomination but instead the nickname Balata ( Brick) for the handling characteristic and was accepted bu the squadron on 16 April 1975 and passed to the Valley Squadron on 28 July 1977,receiving the C2 on 14 July 1977.But the two types coexisted for some months during the transition from the Brick to the Pirate ( IAF nickname for the C2). By pics also,the 101 squadron operated the very basic C1 and not the slightly upgraded one with the nose and air intake's strakes,but I want a RWR that are present in the C1_77 only. About the grey scheme,was adopted approximatively with the introduction of the F-15s. My infos are extrapolated from this book . Gianni