elphant;
You don't consider yourself an aircraft skinner eh? Could have fooled me. Those are very nice!
If the "What if" team chooses not to use them will you make them available for the public? I'd love a set!

My idea:

As Beebop said, the look very good.
But I have a few problems with continuity between the med skins and the pacific ones if we take that exact route you have taken.
However, why don't talk about it and find a compromise?!
And you don't intrude, I have no big ego about my work. It started with this project and it will end with it, so everything will be devoted to the outcome.
Just throw me a PM and we'll work things out together.

Thanks for the reply elephant_il2, a shame that IL2 isn't more user configurable (like WOV for example) ... so that a plane could be made carrier operable even without a hook on its 3D model :-(

~S!~

Welcome in the Club, Elephant !

Really nice skins, and for sure they will be taken in consideration!

Carrier landings are possible with not too many problems, even for planes that do not have a hook. But the carrier must be at full speed, of course. With training and perseverance, human pilots can do it. AI are almost 100 % successfull in doing it.

For any german speaking viewers, the inscription wasn't selectet for the regime, but the men fighting in honor and courage for what they believed was truth.

Come one guys!
What could we do after the arrival in Singapor in 1942?
Let your imagination play on this.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: HuninMunin,

Since Hunin appointed me to come up with ideas on the Med camos for the Bf109 T4's and He 100 T2's I was submerged into my LW stuff till very very late yesterday.
My suggestion is that the 109s should have the air superiority role thus keep a grays combination camo.The Heinkels that can carry bombs and act as fighter bombers can receive some earth tones camo treatment but that's another story.
Sorry if my aproach is too conventional to you...Simon!
I have reworked my previous skin adding some weathering and changing the RLM75 with it's Grauviolet version.I think it looks better this way.(still WiP though).
Also added a faked arresting hook according to Bf109 T1 blueprints.




Back to my main task, the pilots project now: Here are the first outfits of the, recently arrived in the Med, TG186 pilots.
They are dressed and equiped typically in the K So/41 two piece 'Channel' flying suit with inflatable or kapok filled life jackets (with dye markers strapped on),seat or back parachutes and Lkp N 101 flight helmets with high visibility covers.Notice the TG186 badge worn on the left cuff or in case of the pilot that is only wearing his shirt, (centre) on the upper arm.Other small details are the rank insignia, the different scarffs,the varying shades of the helmets leather parts, the AK39 compass strapped on the life jacket's inflating hoose.
Soon to be issued the new designed tropical suit...





As soon as Hunin revealed the presence of Vati Molders have a preview on his newly made, pilot skin,wearing the 'cool' cream version of the 'Channel' suit's jacket with dark blue shirt and bearing the diamonds on the Ritterkreuz awarded for his 101st kill.
Commodore of the 'elite' TG186 and Luftwaffe's no1 Experte.
Notice the rudder of his a/c with 116 kill marks.(a/c skin also by me,based on Jester's template).

elephant_il2, am I day dreaming or is that a hook on that 109 ... ?

It was a joke just for you okb001
You are hooked aren't you !!!

They look very good!
The hook is a marvelous idea and the pilot skins look perfect.
One remark, so.
It would be logical to paint the bottom of the planes on the carrier in one color.
I you would combine your camo with the darker green blue of the Heinkel posted above and replace the dark grey on the wings (on the wings only) with a more bluish dark grey, they would be my first choice to use.

I agree upon the role splitting between the 109 and Heinkels.
But that puts us in front of a big problem:
What aircraft serve on the Zepp in the Mediteranian?
The aproach till now where Heinkels (replaced by 109s in the beginning of 42), Stukas and Fi-270 torp bombers.

But if we put the 109 AND the Heinkels on the ship from the beginning, one of the other two must go.


*edit*
Btw. How do you like the new Heinkel? I think its greatly improvent on the first one.

Darn you elephant_il2! It's not nice to toy with me like this! Well .. I like Naval aviation and German planes ... so your project is definitely highly interesting to me :-) ... but I'll love to be able to perform a "real" trap in 109.. if only it was equipped with a "real" hook .. not a fake one ... hey btw, how did you do it extended? Did you retouched the screenie to add it?

keep up the good work (these skins looks amazing).

Hunin ~S~
I'll try your suggestion with the blue green on the wings.
I didn't know that detail about the Heinkels.
I think you should concentrate on the plot and the mission making to make easier to chose paint schemes according to operation needs.
I find the new Heinkel scheme a vast improovment over the old one but still is too elaborate for my taste.The anti glare black surface and the thunderbolt looks rather odd to me.
I suggest we could make up some badge designs for the fighter,bomber,torpedo bomber, staffels used along with the TG186 badge.
Your Pacific skins are still my favorites.
Great Ju88 !

okb001 ~S~
Thanks for the comments!
Yes I couldn't resist and mouse painted a hook on the screenshot and I was lasy enough not to do it again on the Molders one.

The reason I used the thunderbolt is this->



Wich I think would also be a good squadron emblem for the Jabos of the Carrier

Gents, now that's wonderful!!!

The idea of painting a faked hook for all the planes that will be used as carrierborne is simply said a piece of geniality!

Keep the high standard and the good ideas coming!

cheers!

Col._King ~S~

Thanks! We are trying our best.

Hunin ~S~

You are obviously right about the bolt!
I've made the change you asked for, on the wings replacing the RLM76 with a bluish gray (not official,just altered the RGB values on the RLM76) and I must say it blends better with the sea underneath have a look:





Edit:You said green blue undersides also and I seem to miss that.
Anyway I didn't like that particular color very much, I think I'm gonna stick to pilots...finaly.

Looking great!
Would you mind sending me the photoshop file of it`?
Just to transfere it to the template of FooBar to have continuity between our work.

*edit*

Why? There's always a compromise. The skins look great. Btw. The blue green color is RLM 78

e-mail sent.

What do you think of this as a badge for the torpedo bomber Staffel?

This message has been edited. Last edited by: elephant_il2,

Thank you.
The badge looks perfect.
But hence both Zorin and I are greatly into having both the 109 as fighter/ interceptor and the Heinkel as multirole / armed escort plane, we might have to drop either the Stukas or the Torp.
However, we will shure find some use for the badge.

And anyway, thank you for all your devotion and contribution; you are a most valuable adition to our team.

~S~

~S~
Thanks!
No big deal,for the badge, as for the torps lets say you reduce each Sqn's strenght by two planes and you can have six of them aboard.

quote:

Originally posted by elephant_il2:
~S~
Thanks!
No big deal,for the badge, as for the torps lets say you reduce each Sqn's strenght by two planes and you can have six of them aboard.

MMMM....Well, personally I would better see the Bf-109 used in the very early stage of the campaign, to be later replaced by the He-100.
WHY? Bf-109 was not well suited for carrier operations due of its main weak point, this is the landing gear, narrow and prone to break if the landing was less than good. And the landings on a moving aircraft carrier's deck in rough weather is NEVER as gentle.
So in our "What if" Campaign, I think the Bf-109 would be substituted by a better suited plane, with a better landing gear and similar performance as the Messerschmitt, and the choice was the "faked" He-100 (in fact the Ki-61). BTW, the He-100T/Ki-61 piloted by the AI in the simulation lands with no problems on the carrier deck, while the Fw-190 always falls overboard. This is the reason the Focke Wulf was discarded for Carrier use in our campaign.

So this solution will give us the use of at first the Bf-109, and later of the He-100 for the fighter-bomber component of the Graf Zeppelin, allowing to retain both the "Haifisch" and the Stuka for torpedo and dive bombing purposes.

Cheers