More AF Corsair Repaints

[Bomber_12th]

Here are some test shots of some repaints, for the Aircraft Factory Corsair, which should be available soon.

This first one depicts an FG-1D that was operated by the Naval Air Reserve at NAS Minneapolis (what is today MSP International).

[Bomber_12th]

This second one depicts the award-winning Gary Kohs' FG-1D, which was restored by Air Power Unlimited, as it was when completed in a pure 1945 factory paint scheme (down to the correct shade of blue on the crankcase of the R-2800).

[Bomber_12th]

Third (and final for now) is a depiction of the same Corsair above (the Gary Kohs FG-1D), as it looks today, owned by the Vintage Wings of Canada and placed in the markings of Robert Hampton Gray.

[skyhawka4m]

John......THANK YOU!!!! These are the paints I was hoping for....this is my Christmas present for sure. Money being short this year and my PC almost about to kick the bucket....I'm glad I'll get to fly these before it crashes. Not much longer I'm afraid.......not sure what happens to my simming if it does. Anyway....thank you!

[Duckie]

Great job, as always, John. Thank you for sharing.

[mal998]

Excellent! Looking forward to these.

[huub vink]

Very nice John, both the screenshots as the repaints!

Cheers,
Huub

[DaveB]

Not sure if you're aware Bomber_12th but KD658 is already available.. albeit in it's 2010 scheme (by Robbie Nauffts). No reason why you shouldn't do your own version though

ATB
DaveB

[Bomber_12th]

Thanks guys for the feedback! All three have been uploaded here and at Flightsim.com - there should be a few more this week.

I've known that the Robert Hampton Gray/KD658 paint scheme has been done at least twice already for the AF Corsair (one depicting the restoration, and another depicting it in wartime). This one of mine is still quite different in a great many respects. All of these repaints, like my past two for the AF Corsair, contain modified textures for the engine, landing gear, landing gear wells, rockets, drop tanks, and cockpit. The specular maps are handled differently than in other repaints as well (in order to get the shine/sheen illustrated in the screenshots), and all of the vast majority of all of the factory applied stencils across the exterior of the aircraft are there, just as originally and as in the authentic restoration depicted.

Doing the Vintage Wings of Canada/KD658 repaint, I did it the same way as how the aircraft flying today, with VWoC, came about. The Corsair originated with Gary Kohs, who had it restored by Airpower Unlimited to absolute original 1945 stock configuration and specifications, in every imaginable detail (as depicted by the other repaint shown). It was completed in 2003 and won a number of awards for the level of authenticity and quality of restoration. Eventually the aircraft was sold to Platinum Fighter Sales who then sold the aircraft to Vintage Wings of Canada in 2008. After they received it, they had decals of Robert Hampton Gray's markings done up and applied over the factory paint, so nothing has actually changed about the original factory markings applied in the restoration. You can see the difference in color between the RN roundel and the stock US stars & bars.

Here are some photos of the real aircraft, both as it was before and now (unfortunately the AF Corsair doesn't support alpha channels, so I have had to use the specular maps, in a creative way, to try and get a more stunning look out of the blue paint): http://www.warbirddepot.com/aircraft...s_fg1d-vwc.asp

Here are a few more screenshots (so-far, through repaints for the AF Corsair, I have covered three of the award-winning FG-1D Corsairs restored by Airpower Unlimited, who are leaders in authentic Corsair restorations):

[Bomber_12th]

I should add, that, during the time period that the "factory fresh" restored Corsair depicts (1945), the stars & bars were still being applied with insignia blue, so you can see the slight difference between the insignia blue and the specular sea blue. At a later point, since the two colors were already so close to one another, it was decided that the insignia blue portions of the stars & bars was no longer needed - this can be seen on the Naval Reserve repaint (which is circa 1955). And despite the Naval Reserve markings looking like they should probably belong to a later variant of the Corsair, it really is one of the number of FG-1D's that were still in service in the 50's, and thus properly belongs on this model (though I have been working on a few more paint schemes as well, for this model, that are actually F4U-4's).

During original WWII production, the stars & bars on the wings were quite larger than those on the fuselage (as seen accurately protrayed on the factory fresh and VWoC schemes), but post-war, as seen on the Naval Reserve scheme, when they repainted all of the Corsairs, they used the same size stars & bars on the wings as used on the fuselage.

[JensOle]

Great work! Your attention to details is stunning!
My favourite is the naval reserve post war scheme, the corsair just look bad ass with the full colour stars and bars.

[jim]

Nice stuff!!!!!!!!

[Roger]

Great stuff John

[noddy]

Outstanding sir

[Bradburger]

Top work John.

Downloading them now!

Cheers

Paul

[WarHorse47]

Thanks, John. Nice work.

[Bomber_12th]

Thanks again, guys! Here is another one which should be just about ready to release, a scheme that I've always thought looked interesting. This a Naval Reserve scheme of 1946 through to about 1948/49, so is an intermediate scheme between the 1945 factory scheme and the 1955 Naval Reserve scheme. In the 1946 through about 1948/49 time frame, this is how all of the Corsairs looked within the Naval Reserve Units in the US, operating from bases such as NAS Glenview, New York, Minneapolis, and in this case Livermore, all following the same layout of markings. The stars & bars on the fuselage are painted over (you can see the slight difference in shade of paint, under certain lighting conditions, where the star & bars were), and at this time (1946 to be exact) the red bars had not yet been added to the insignias. Also, just about everything got painted blue (prop dome, landing gear, wheels), and thus it adds a very business-like feel overall.

[Rudyjo]

For those who may be interested in this plane, it is available at the A2A store for $19.99.

[gray eagle]

John,
And to add to the list of Reserve Cosairs, Here is another one.



A very well used U.S. Navy Reserve Vought F4U-4 Corsair (BuNo 96832) in flight from NARTU Los Alamitos, California (USA), circa in 1950. (U.S. Navy National Museum of Naval Aviation photo No. 1996.253.7140.026.)

By 1950 the Corsair, one of the best fighters in the world just five years before, was obsolete, being replaced by the Navy’s first operational jet fighters, the Grumman F9F Panther and follow-on F-9 Cougar. With Uncle picking up over 2600 F9’s in the early 50s, the Corsair was fast on its way out. With that being said these trusty prop gullwings remained in training, evaluation, and close air support roles with the Navy and Marines until at least 1955.

[gray eagle]

John,

You think you could make a paint of this one BTW, this reserve F4U doesn't have those orange markings all over it like your paintings ^.

[roger-wilco-66]

That's the rattiest hog I've ever seen! :-) Should be worth a place in the repaint hall of fame.

Great work, John, beautiful!


Cheers,
Mark

[Bomber_12th]

Gray Eagle, I can't confirm anything, but I did save that image some time ago with the idea of eventually wanting to duplicate it, or one like it. However, I originally started some of these schemes months ago, and just now am finally getting around to finishing them due to having some extra time these couple of holiday weeks. That one in the photo is from the same time frame as my NAS Minneapolis paint scheme, and thus the two are very similar in the layout of the markings.

Here is a depiction of a Korean War-era "Blacksheep Squadron" Corsair, which is actually an F4U-4 paint scheme - more specifically, it is intended to match the restored F4U-4 owned by the Friedkin family/Comanche Fighters, which has been displayed with the Horsemen on occasion, registered N4TF. A few things still need to be improved on/changed (like the color of the engine - should be med-light gray on this one).

[Bomber_12th]

Here are some more screenshots, just for the heck of it. This one has now been uploaded (a couple small details were fixed after these screenshots were taken).

[Bomber_12th]

Having too much fun. : )

[Bomber_12th]