daddyairplanes

another birds eye photo of a photo bird at dawn

personal preferences brand name Adobe Photoshop is better than GIMP in most categories other than cost but since i used GIMP consistently over the years when i couldnt afford the Adobe CC subscription (or to get a copy of the old CS packs), i do tend to prefer using GIMP for most work (esp tga work). if youre familiar with the TW extractor, then its perfectly usable, although i believe no longer available on TW site if just getting started then one may want to use Mue's extractor instead. but those of use that have been doing it a decade+ will use what we're comfortable with

im not 100% certain, but my money is on...... money. small incremental block increases get overlooked and approved in the budget process easier than major model letter upgrades. amusingly, some of the older birds have gone to Block system as well, such as the KC-135R Block 45 upgrade

in an alternate Top Gun

true, but lets say one wants a Block 10 in 1983, or Block 15 in 1986........

the big first question is : do you have the TW cat extractor? if yes, then its a matter of playing with it. you wont remember which file is in which folder. but you can browse each folder and you'll start to get a feel for whats in each. the first one is generic game object inis, second one off limits (the actual lod models) and from there its typically grouped by decals, aircraft and ground models, going down the line of sf2, vietnam, europe, israel, north atlantic and DLC (if you have any) it seems daunting at first. play with it, practice, screw up, learn from screw up and practice some more. eventually you'll start having the game dialled in the way you want rather than adjusting to the game

additional (and optional) fix on the Block 10: number of vents around the gun muzzle. the C is on the lower left, the A is on the upper right. this can be adjusted on skin, or you can tweak the model. sorry, just something else that popped in mind

well, thats a new term. not very technical, but terribly descriptive ravenclaw_007, how does this look over water? plays into a old idea of mine that may become my next shiny object

well, finally got a reason(ish) to work on Loran birds. Six of what Blade shared have the towel rack on them. and here i thought i wasnt messing with it until i get to Idaho ANG (well still might not depending)

Gimme three steps, gimme three steps, mister And you'll never see me no more

weekend warrior time i gotta talk to the weatherman when i get back....

he's a modder, not God he gets 14 days to do it

as noted, i have wraparound taken care of, esp since there doesnt appear to be any 17th TRS in wraparound ignore the towelbar, forgot to remove it in lodviewer and its not present on the RF-4C_75, just the _LORAN. although they did have at least one (69-0350) its a good start, although most recce units appeared to have 23 birds per. will take a look at the airdoc book on USAFE Phantoms after i wrap up Alabama RFs. last read through i was a little more focused on after 1983....

not to mention the "old" model is freely available and still able to be tweaked by an original modeler on the project (in case you havent been following all of this thread) with out need of fake pilots

including the special tails an nose arts?

oh, and Kentucky's done. dunno why 822 was special enough for a color cap, but it had it......

anyone ever find out something, only to misplace where they found it (research wise)? have 69-0372 listed in my Tageu squadron as the "15 TRS" bird. this is noted in my "highly organized" spreadsheet, which means i discovered the fact somewhere and noted it but i cant recall where from 72-0155 went to Bergstrom in late '89, so it is unlikely it stayed as the squadron bird for any length of time. but Blade did get my eyes onto tailcode position and a serial i missed so that is pretty cool now to scrub Alabama.....

or reskin the Reserve birds anyhow especially great since 363rd is on this years to do list, right after they changed from a TRW to a TFW......

i got from about 83 through 91 down to be released in ........ two weeks but i am hoping more for the brief fortnight than the longer 14 days......

ok, i'll ask any chance on reworkin that Block 15 into a Block 10, particularly the B model? here's the quick version on minor differences, wil send book references later if needed (typin this right before steppin out of the house) the major difference of course being the smaller straight tailplane as opposed to the larger, notched one

just tried it out in my "CONUS" install and downloaded a fresh copy from site and checked in a clean install. i get both, although they are different in my "CONUS" install perhaps check the countermeasures.ini in the effects folder? if they are different , and say teh tga for the chaff and flares are missing, then it wouldnt show up. my conus install uses diferent tga than stock, so thats why its different but none of that has to do with the aircraft itself.

the B model was made by request of yours truly around the same time the ADF was done. in fact many two seaters were done in 2022 and i think teh only one really missing now is a good Block 10 B model (sorry the one in the Gen 1 section is hot garbage. and yes, i tried playing with it) as for the single seaters..... we have very few modelers and most are very busy with other projects or RL at the moment. so it will be a longer two weeks rather than a shorter 14 days im afraid....

hats off to you sir a USAF wing set can often be hard to pin down. and there's generally more photographers on an air force base than a carrier underway! so i can imagine the fun youre having with that