bcyc

The Tarawa class was never really designed as an aircraft carrier, but nonetheless it resembles one. It's also about the same length as the Essex Class. So what if after being retired these boats were refitted with angled decks and catapults for export? There could be a whole new generation of second hand pocket carriers for small navies the world over. Ok, so you'd have to get rid of the well deck and massively re-engineer the whole thing in order to be effective, but what the heck. A little bit of work in GIMP and here's what I came up with. Not that shabby! I reckon it would look pretty decent if it had a sponson for the angled deck similar to the SCB-125s.

I'm sure it would be, but if the Indians were willing to rebuild a Kiev-class ship, which wasn't much more than a cruiser with a flight deck bolted on, into a STOBAR carrier, it's at least a remotely plausible way to have more carriers to play with in the game. I've been having fun flying Canadian hornets off it on the Iceland map.

Looks great! Alright, how about a USMC A-10 "Sea Hog"? I've been playing around with the template a little but your skills far exceed mine and I'd love to see the professional treatment.

I have a friend who is a massive F-105 nut. One day we got to wondering what would happen if the USAF had continued on with the Thud in service, rather than retiring it in 1984. Perhaps it would have been put to work as a precision strike aircraft? Perhaps F-16 procurement would have been slower and some ANG units would have wound up with the 105 instead? I fired up Gimp, and with the help of Centurion's templates, I present to you a rough draft of the F-105H, an upgraded D model capable of carrying the LANTIRN pod and precision munitions. The cockpit is also upgraded with the F-16A's HUD and RWR. I did schemes for the Wyoming and Vermont Air National Guards

Ok, this one is beyond ridiculous as far as being plausible but I had fun doing it. The A-1K Super Skyraider - an Air National Guard supplement to the A-10 that soldiered on into the '90s. Paint is simply a dark grey tint applied to the USN skin. This is the 148th TFS based in Pittsburgh ("City of Pittsburgh" is the noseart off a WWII B-29 that a friend of mine dug up and I lifted from a photo). Loadouts are similar to the early A-10s.

Is that something that can be done via the "fake pilot" method or would you need a brand new 3d model?

I'll upload it at some point, but I have a lot of cleanup to do first and a few third party permissions to get. Still playing around with it. I'll get both this and the Super Thud out the door eventually. Whoa, I was looking for something like that turbo conversion. The re-engine makes it a little more plausible, but what the heck, who doesn't love a little 100LL? No one has done the Enforcer for SF2, right?

I seem to remember seeing it at some point, but now I can't find it - has anyone ever done an F-106 in SEA camo? I was looking to play around a little with decaling one. Thanks!

What do you think, just a "level 2" decal that covers the whole tail for 57-5776?

This is a Hobbymaster diecast model I have of a NJ ANG F-105B. Note the nose and the pitot tube location (by the way, if someone eventually makes this thing I strongly suggest putting this paint in the package - it's awesome!) Yes, as you may see from my collection I'm into the National Guard birds, especially from the Northeast. That's a PA F-102, NY F-101, and MA F-106 alongside the Thud.

Per wikipedia it carried the AN/APN-105 (the D had the AN/APN-131). In the absence of any idea what that means I'll just assume the D's radar was more better.

Pitot tube is in the wrong spot on the D vs the B and the B has a stubbier, less round nose. Can't remember if there is anything else beyond that. Avionics differences but ini editing can take care of a lot of that. Same powerplant I think.

What do you mean, that looks great! I like how you got the feathered paint on the tail, I'm still learning how to do that in Gimp. Weathering also looks a lot better.

Good point about the avionics - if we had a Thunderstick-style hump to add I'd use that, but my modeling skills are far worse than my painting skills (which themselves are completely lost in the absence of a good layered template). For the sake of this mod we'll pretend that miniaturization of circuitry paid off big time. Point taken on the paint too, especially the Ethan Allen on the tail of the VT birds (does anyone have the full-length logo they use in real life? The best I could do is taken from a vector file of the unit's patch from his waist up - I almost like it better). I'll try dropping the opacity of the decal a bit more, and maybe darken the cigar band. But, then again maybe the USAF just undertook a "Dupont overhaul" and made them look nice. The look I was going for was that of an ANG F-16, which are for the most part maintained well cosmetically.

Isn't there a tutorial somewhere on how to graft a CCIP sight into any cockpit? Then you can just adjust your difficulty so you always see the pipper and the visual targeting box (even if they're in the middle of the panel). Line 'em up and bombs away!

I did a similar (and HIGHLY fictional) experiment on my Falklands install involving an ANZAC carrier force. Find it here (apologies for the awful lighting on the screenshots): http://combatace.com/topic/75073-anzacs-over-the-falklands/

Just a fun little scenario I've been working on (probably not for release), thought I'd share- The setup: By the end of the 1960s, HMAS Melbourne is aging. Australia begins actively seeking a replacement, wanting to retain the ASW and force projection capabilities naval aviation offers for many years to come. In 1975 the US government offers Australia the recently mothballed USS Bon Homme Richard for the nominal price of $1, having no use for the WWII-era but modernized flattop and wanting to keep the ANZUS pact strong. The Royal Australian Navy acquires the "Bonnie Dick" and finds it relatively easy to transition its mostly American-made fixed wing carrier force to the Essex class ship, which is renamed HMAS Australia. But with the larger ship comes expanded capabilities that the existing force of A-4G Skyhawks and S-2 Trackers cannot fulfill. The decision is made to purchase a squadron of F-4K Phantom fighters from the Royal Navy, which the British are all too ready to be rid of with the impending demise of HMS Ark Royal. These aircraft are specifically built to operate off of smaller carriers and fit in perfectly as a multirole fleet defense/heavy attack fighter. At the same time, the RAN sees the need for a dedicated but versatile amphibious assault ship, eventually setting on the new Tarawa class LHD being built in America. HMAS Sydney can embark a full battalion of Army troops as well as Army Aviation and Fleet Air Arm helicopters and up to six AV-8A Harriers, operated by the re-formed No. 76 Squadron of the RAAF. In a surprise move, New Zealand expresses interest in acquiring the Melbourne. The Kiwis are looking for a "Strategic Sealift Vessel," capable of delivering humanitarian aid throughout the South Pacific. The large hangar space and aviation capabilities make Melbourne perfect for this role, despite her age. She is renamed HMNZS Auckland. In a unique twist, however, New Zealand retains Auckland's fixed wing facilities, and modifies the RNZAF Skyhawks to be carrier capable. In times of crisis, a detachment of Skyhawks can embark on Auckland and she can be deployed in her old role as a carrier. And so it was that in the Spring of 1982, Australia and New Zealand shocked the world by deciding to join their Commonwealth ally's effort to take back the Falkland Islands. A taskforce of 17 ships, already at sea as part of a training exercise, sails halfway around the world through the treacherous Southern Ocean, arriving on stating at roughly the same time as the British. The addition of the ANZAC forces brings fast jets to the Allied side, although with both sides now operating skyhawks, visual identification of bogeys is essential. The battle for the Falklands/Malvinas begins... (that's the best backstory I could come up with, anyway; I just wanted to fly Skyhawks and Phantoms on the blue side in this campaign!) Australia steams into battle (wrench's mod) Auckland with her embarked Kiwi Hawks Sydney sails for the beachhead A-4K heads for the Islands RAAF Harriers (my paint scheme, borrowing some decals from the Aussie Mirage DLC) Strike package of Phantoms from No. 808 Squadron (Sheriff001's skin) No. 805 Squadron's venerable Skyhawks Hope you enjoyed!

Thank guys, means a lot! The Harrier is the stock GR.1 model and texture with squadron markings off the the Mirage IIIO DLC. simple mod, but I thought it came out well. In this scenario the Aussies use the harrier in a role similar to the USMC, so I envision the RAAF flying CAS for the Army (no Australian Marines). There were proposals to purchase Hermes or a modified Iwo Jima class LPH to replacing Melbourne, in which case you may well have seen some Aussie Shars! Some more shots in better light:

Did the trick, thanks! Really enjoying the campaign, the new naval elements make it really engaging. Hustling to stop the Entendards before they get off their Exocets.

I followed the installation instructions to the letter (twice) and have the same issue - CTD at 0% on loading missions in the "SA" version of Corporate, fine with the "regular." Using SF2V as a base with the July 2012 patch level and have all 5 titles (no expansion packs). Thank you for your hard work on this mod!

Seems to me that the new naval warfare functionality is a match made in heaven for the Falklands/Malvinas mod. Can't wait to play around with it once the cat extractor comes out.

Thanks Wrench! Will check it out tonight.

Actually, this was happening before I installed DLC3 or SF2:I. I was sort of hoping that would fix it but no joy

I'm having a small issue with this one - no matter what I do it always has non-droppable supersonic tanks loaded - If I select a "clean" loadout they're attached and if I have the normal drop tanks they show up fused to the supersonic tanks. Any idea what's going on? I have all 4 merged + DLC3. A similar problem happens on the Irish Mirage mod.

I'm pretty sure I had the year set to 1982 (whichever year the other planes work). The crash happens right after leaving the initial screen where you select plane, year, mission type, etc... and it's just a standard Windows 7 CTD (windows is searching for a solution to this problem...). I'm running the latest patched version of SF2. Thanks for the suggestions, I'll play around with it some more tonight. I suspect it may involve moving some weapons folders over.