Geary

'Hunting MiGs' @ Korea 1957

'Flying Scorpions' @ Korea 1957

Thanks, Looking forward to flying them.

'MiG-15s on the Prowl' @ Korea 1952

Gepard, Will you be releasing these beautiful skins?

I can definitely wait for your skin, but I can also try again with the Hunter templates. I tried both ndicki's and the TW Hunter templates. Just can't seem to produce a quality product.

Raven, Have you NOT seen Kill Bill 1 & 2? If you have ... You're sick, man. But good luck to you and if you get your Christmas wish from Santa, watch your nads!

Spinners, In all probability I'm on Santa's Naughty list. (At lease that's what friends, family and neighbors say.) So, here's wishing you get the F-8 Crusader template (cause I don't think I'm getting anything from Santa). If you do, don't forget the spirit of giving. If you do forget, get a bottle of spirits. Is that La-19 available? Wrench, I attempted painting the A-7. I still shudder at the thought of the results. May God forgive me. Killerbee, Good luck, man. And remember, you can burn the coal for heat in the winter or have a wiener roast (just be careful which wiener you roast).

Dear Santa, I have been a good boy this year... I have tried to be a good boy this year.... Can you really 'see me when I'm sleeping?' (I find that a bit perverted and ironic for a guy that's 'supposedly' keeping an eye on me to see if I've been good (or not)). And why didn't you tell me I grind my teeth in my sleep. A simple word from you and a $20 plastic mouth guard for Christmas would've saved me a ton of money in dental bills and tooth aches. ... (Hey, is that you touching me at night? ... I'm not complaining ;) As long as you've been watching me, maybe I should explain a few incidents this past year that at face value, you might have misconstrued. 1. Shooting the neighborhood cats with a BB Gun is an approved training method. You no doubt noticed they use my yard as a litter box much less frequently than they used to in fact many of them avoid my yard altogether. I consider their training successful (except for that large yellow, tabby, tom cat. We may have to use the weighted 'Gunny sack' treatment on him.) And as cats have nine lives, if I accidentally put a golden bb through one or two cat heads, they can just return from hell and start over again. No harm, no foul. 2. Throwing barbiturate laced treats over my next-door-neighbor's fence was a friendly gesture and intended to help calm their dogs. They shouldn't have been in the back yard barking and howling at midnight, anyway. (The dogs, not the neighbors.) They don't seem to do it quite as much anymore and seem well rested. Embedding the sleeping calming pills in Ex-lax is an approved medical procedure. Dogs like chocolate treats and it simultaneously deworms them. My neighbors are coincidently contributing to the local economy as evidenced by the numerous carpet cleaning services visiting them this holiday season. (You may want to bring them some tile flooring for Christmas.) 3. Regarding the Jehovah Witness ladies that came to my door recently; A 'No Solicitors' sign is CLEARLY posted by my door. If they choose to ignore a person's wishes on that person's personal property, they must suffer the consequences of their own actions. Besides, Providence shined on them that day, as none seemed to be seriously injured in their hasty departure. (They shouldn't wear high heels when they determine to accost poor innocent souls in their own homes.) And I'm sure, notwithstanding their religious leanings, women of their age have seen a naked man before. Although my jerking the door open so quickly may have surprised them. But I appreciate their prayers for me that day. I haven't heard so may women screaming 'My God!' at the same time since that orgy in Miami in the '80s. So, now that we've cleared that up, I should get to my wish list so you can have time to appropriate my presents. Mostly this year I would like some Skins for some of my Strike Fighters planes. (I've attempted to paint these skins myself but only succeeded in making myself nauseous. I still wake up at night in a cold sweat after a nightmare recalling the pitiful groans of the mutated and deformed skins as I used a government approved deletion program to cleanse them from my computer. No one should witness such horrors.) First, I would like a French Navy Blue skin for a Thirdwire (TW) A-7E. (Like the TW DLC F-8E_FN skin,) The blue should be the color of that French girl's eyes. Remember the one I met on the French Riviera a few years back? The one that slapped me sober. I attribute that misunderstanding to that fine French Brandy, my lack for French language skills and her not understanding slurred American English. I thought 'Parlez vous, Humma Humma' was understood by all French girls. And honestly, I don't know how my hand got on her ... Well, never mind, the police dropped the charges and were kind enough to escort me on my way out of their jurisdiction. Second, I would like a Natural Metal skin for the TW Hawker Hunter. Who doesn't like natural skin? And the Hunter will look sexy naked. Third, I would like a SEA Skin for the TW F-8E Crusader. Just an old dream from my Vietnam days. There's a lot more I would like to ask for, but some of the other guys from Combat Ace may want to append their wishes to this post. I should state clearly here that I have NOTHING to do with weather they were good or not. That's strictly between them and you. Let them explain any of their actions that you may have misconstrued. Yours sincerely, truly, Geary

Absolute Beauties. Thanks,

Inspired by PraetorH's recent A-4 WIPs.

PraetorH, 'The thing about the internal gun is that the F-102 would not be capable of housing it internally, if I am not mistaken:' I guess it depends on 'who' you read. Wiki says, " A proposed close-support version (never built) would have incorporated, in addition, an internal Gatling gun, an extra two hardpoints for bombs (in addition to the two underwing pylons for drop tanks that were fitted to all production F-102s), bigger internal fuel tanks, and an in-flight-refueling probe."[17] I also guess if there was a gatling gun in the plane it would probably chatter the pilot's teeth and heat-up his hemorrhoids as he would be sitting just above it. I think effective (20MM) gunpods on the wings would detract from the planes aerodynamics. Which is why, I think they weren't put on the plane to begin with. But it would still be an interesting project. We may end up with a new F-102.

PraetorH, I first considered a gun pod but couldn't find a place under the fuselage to place it. So, that left the wings. My first choice was the SUU-23. But that gp is too big for the wings. So, I looked at the SUU-11, but that fires 7.62 ammo and I don't think it has the range or impact needed for jet-to-jet combat, especially at speeds the F-102 would be fighting at. So, that left me with a virtual internal gun. I chose the M39. Seems to fit the 'requirements' for the F-102. The great thing about a virtual internal gun is that I can change it quite easily. :) macelena, I think you make my point quite well in my not choosing the SUU-11.

Bucklehead101, I'd first considered putting a gun pod on the F-102, but couldn't find a place it would fit. I thought mounting in in a bay, but that required more work than I cared to put into it. We should've given this plane to the Israelis. They would've found a way to put a gun on it and use it as a fighter.

Sheriff001, I like Pain.net. Seems to be somewhere between Gimp and Photoshop in its layout. I put it on clients computers if they don't have a pay ware paint program. Many clients love it. Guess I should spend a bit of time with it to see what it can do. logan4, I think maybe those transparent layers have been eluding me. I need to see how CS4 applies and handles them. If Gimp or Paint.net handle them easier as you and Spinners suggest, I may just stick with Gimp for decals. Just need to figure out what I did wrong when I tried Gimp.

Having problems here too trying to add photos to posts. Seems to have begun right after installing MS IE 11.

Spinners, I like GIMP from what little I've used it, but I'm more used to Photoshop CS4. I followed your instructions using my version of GIMP and also tried it with CS4. Didn't work. If I understand this decal making procedure, I have to somehow separate the decal from the background, then somehow turn the background transparent. Yes? Somewhere in the instruction steps from your tutorial and also from Raven's instructions for Photoshop, something didn't happen correctly in CS4. I still don't understand Alpha channels and what they do, (although I have an inkling of the 'masking' theory) but if they're willing to work with me, I'll work with them. Hey man, don't knock magic wands. If I had one that worked, I wouldn't worry about alpha channels either, or skinning for that matter.

Cobra Warming Up in the Early Moring

logan4, I think I kept messing up the step where I should 'invert' the decal with the background. Spinners' and Raven's instructions both had those steps but apparently I misunderstood or missed it. When I get time, I may try their tutorials again and pay special attention to that step to see if that was where I went off course.

Raven, Training pictures with stick figures performing actions. That's the best method for training slow thinkers. That and an electric cattle prod.

Eureka! And the Winner of the 'Getting Through The Dense Skull' Award is Russouk2004!! You should bottle those '4 steps' and place them in the Knowledge Base. This easy method works in Photoshop CS4. One try was all it took. Do you teach Kindergarten by any chance? MANY thanks. Geary

Has anyone here besides firehawkordy tried Captain Sim's Weapon for FSX? Looks great in YouTube videos and sounds great in the adverts, but before I commit to buying, I'd like a few more unbiased reviews. Thanks, Geary

logan4, I'm trying to avoid using other paint programs. I have and am more used to Photoshop CS4. But, if it comes down to using another program to create decals, so be it. Thanks, Spinners, Where is it? EDIT: Found it. OK, Spinners, Tried your decal tutorial. Must have a slightly different version of GIMP as all the screens didn't look the same, but muddled through somehow. But the end result came out the same as in the photo I posted at the beginning of this thread. Got the decal, but the background isn't transparent. Will give it another try and see if I can figure out what I've been doing wrong. Reminds me of the first time I had sex. Glad I sorted that out.