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Please see the most recent updates in the "Where did the .com name go?" thread. Posts number 16 and 17.
SWS F-4 B/N Phantom PBR released
- Thread starter YoYo
- Start date
JensOle
SOH-CM-2023
I'm a bit late to the party regarding the Phantoms; I have given up on getting the Milviz F-4J/S to work so I have gone for the fantastic SWS B/N pack. First out from me are 2 N paints; VF-202 Superheats early 80s and VF-154 81-82-ish, both in early low vis schemes (prior to the TPS).
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Randy92
Charter Member
Hi Jens,
I am having the exact same problem. I submitted a support ticket on their website back in late februari. Current status is that they are still working on it.
JensOle
SOH-CM-2023
Setting up the cat and bridle for FSX/P3D carriers should be something the addon makers know how do do. Even freeware ships have that feature.
The Midway/Coral Sea pack is judging from the details a work of passion and I hope we can get a timeline from the SWS team about when it will be fixed. Not much point with a super detailed carrier battle group if you cannot even get launched from the ship.
I did 4 traps last evening on the Coral Sea with the VF-154 N paint I'm working on and I must say that the visual of both the carrier and group is stunning! Outstanding work! I just hope we can get the cat working properly.
It would have been something to get an early 80s Coral Sea as well with F-4s, E-2Bs, A-6s, A-7s and RF-8! I know the carrier itself got some rework at this time with the new CIWS and radar systems, but it should not be to much change from the 70s model.
Back to the Phantom, I have not found any information with how to get the "gunsight" working. Any advice?
The Midway/Coral Sea pack is judging from the details a work of passion and I hope we can get a timeline from the SWS team about when it will be fixed. Not much point with a super detailed carrier battle group if you cannot even get launched from the ship.
I did 4 traps last evening on the Coral Sea with the VF-154 N paint I'm working on and I must say that the visual of both the carrier and group is stunning! Outstanding work! I just hope we can get the cat working properly.
It would have been something to get an early 80s Coral Sea as well with F-4s, E-2Bs, A-6s, A-7s and RF-8! I know the carrier itself got some rework at this time with the new CIWS and radar systems, but it should not be to much change from the 70s model.
Back to the Phantom, I have not found any information with how to get the "gunsight" working. Any advice?
JensOle
SOH-CM-2023
BTW, testing with linking screenshots from Dropbox for higher res. It seems to work with some editing of the link code. How is this working with download bandwith vs my storage limit on dropbox etc? Just trying to find an alternative to photobucket and since I already have dropbox I thought I might give it a try.
delta_lima
Charter Member 2015
Jens, FWIW, I’ve had the same sunken wheel cat issues you have. For the longest time I had functionally given up on SWS products, but slowly the issues are getting sorted.
One of my pet peeves (as per my post about what I thought was a problem with AICarriers) is that launching Fleets and then going back to an AICarrier formation kills the cat function on all of the latter carriers until I exit the sim and come back.
The other, and more substantial-is that planes which come modelled with bridles and holdbacks lose these when attached to SWS cats. Makes no sense. Plus their position changes. The F-8 will sit “flat” - main gear 2’ off the deck instead of squatted properly on all three. At least I got it to trap and launch. So there’s that
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Jen, those low(er) vis schemes are a dream come true. I too have given up on the MV Phantom-a complete mess in P3D. So I’ve had to abandon all the great J/S later-period schemes I liked so much. The VF-154 is one I’ve longed to have back. Will this be for the regular model or the PBR model? And on the VF-202, is there a reason the IRST isn’t fully painted? By this period, I believe they usually were:
https://commons.m.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:F-4N_Phantom_VF-21_in_flight_1983.jpeg
Anyway - I’m so thrilled for some later period paints. If you’re open doing to USMC J/S type schemes, that’d be a real treat!
Thanks for posting progress shots on these.
DL
One of my pet peeves (as per my post about what I thought was a problem with AICarriers) is that launching Fleets and then going back to an AICarrier formation kills the cat function on all of the latter carriers until I exit the sim and come back.
The other, and more substantial-is that planes which come modelled with bridles and holdbacks lose these when attached to SWS cats. Makes no sense. Plus their position changes. The F-8 will sit “flat” - main gear 2’ off the deck instead of squatted properly on all three. At least I got it to trap and launch. So there’s that
. Jen, those low(er) vis schemes are a dream come true. I too have given up on the MV Phantom-a complete mess in P3D. So I’ve had to abandon all the great J/S later-period schemes I liked so much. The VF-154 is one I’ve longed to have back. Will this be for the regular model or the PBR model? And on the VF-202, is there a reason the IRST isn’t fully painted? By this period, I believe they usually were:
https://commons.m.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:F-4N_Phantom_VF-21_in_flight_1983.jpeg
Anyway - I’m so thrilled for some later period paints. If you’re open doing to USMC J/S type schemes, that’d be a real treat!
Thanks for posting progress shots on these.
DL
fsafranek
SOH-CM-2024
Frank, it looks this way "at all angles" unfortunately. I am using Tomatoshade shaders. But that makes other PBR textures look even better if anything. I wonder if my install or settings aren't right some way. Did a straight forward install of the recent upgrade the other day over the original PBR install.
JensOle
SOH-CM-2023
Regarding the colour on the IRST on the VF-202 paint, the reason was that this paint was my first on the N and the paintkit does not really makes it possible to have it in any other colour than black. It has now been modified as you can see on the VF-154 paint 
(and of course "retro" painted to the 202 paint)
(and of course "retro" painted to the 202 paint)Victory103
SOH-CM-2026
Great looking paints and funny I was just searching an early VF-2 F-14 helmet paint. For early 80s, this would be pre 100% reflective white tape required by NAVAIR, so the black/red seems correct. I can't find any good color pics yet. Using the USN cruise book site.
JensOle
SOH-CM-2023
Expat,
Regarding paints in the 3 grey colours scheme called TPS, rather few N models got it. But there are pictures of a few Ns in the TPS scheme, including a VF-154 bird in the very last year they flew the N.
J and S models gets a rather different look with the larger nozzle, clean radome without the IRST and shorter ew blisters on the intakes, so I'll keep the paints to real Ns.
Have any of you got the "gunsight" (weapon sight) working?
Regarding paints in the 3 grey colours scheme called TPS, rather few N models got it. But there are pictures of a few Ns in the TPS scheme, including a VF-154 bird in the very last year they flew the N.
J and S models gets a rather different look with the larger nozzle, clean radome without the IRST and shorter ew blisters on the intakes, so I'll keep the paints to real Ns.
Have any of you got the "gunsight" (weapon sight) working?
JensOle
SOH-CM-2023
Hello,
Latest on the VF-154 low vis paint; After some research and help from Frank Safrenek I think I have something which is pretty close to the helmet art used by the squadron in the early 80s. “Knight” (“crusader”) helmet visor art and a red angled V overlapping at the back with the other side. All in red on a black background. It add some life to the grey scheme.
I got an answer back from SWS that we might get a paintkit for the static aircraft after they have finished the cat issue patch. It is one texture per aircraft with one decal texture (the aircraft have individual numbers from this decal texture). It will make I possible to make a larger selection of different cruises. It would be great with a E-2 Hawkeye on the Coral Sea though for some late Phantom cruises??
I have set up a 1982ish ship group around US Coral Sea with 2 Charles F. Adams-class destroyers (1 as plane guard), 1 Spruance class destroyer, 1 Oliver Hazard Perry frigate and the USS Mispillion tanker. So removed the Forrest Sherman class destroyer as most of them were taken out of service around this time. A question for you navy experts, is this ship group plausible or completely out of reality? The ships were at least in service in 1982, any more ships I should include?
DDG-19 USS Tattnall as plane guard. A jolly nice model included in the SWS Midway class pack
Latest on the VF-154 low vis paint; After some research and help from Frank Safrenek I think I have something which is pretty close to the helmet art used by the squadron in the early 80s. “Knight” (“crusader”) helmet visor art and a red angled V overlapping at the back with the other side. All in red on a black background. It add some life to the grey scheme.
I got an answer back from SWS that we might get a paintkit for the static aircraft after they have finished the cat issue patch. It is one texture per aircraft with one decal texture (the aircraft have individual numbers from this decal texture). It will make I possible to make a larger selection of different cruises. It would be great with a E-2 Hawkeye on the Coral Sea though for some late Phantom cruises??
I have set up a 1982ish ship group around US Coral Sea with 2 Charles F. Adams-class destroyers (1 as plane guard), 1 Spruance class destroyer, 1 Oliver Hazard Perry frigate and the USS Mispillion tanker. So removed the Forrest Sherman class destroyer as most of them were taken out of service around this time. A question for you navy experts, is this ship group plausible or completely out of reality? The ships were at least in service in 1982, any more ships I should include?
DDG-19 USS Tattnall as plane guard. A jolly nice model included in the SWS Midway class pack
delta_lima
Charter Member 2015
Jens - now that is absolutely gorgeous.
I'm equally stoked about the prospect of repainted AI statics to reflect an early 80s cruise. No such configuration with F-4s exists to my knowledge in any CV, and it would be a dream come true to fly both the SWS F-4, and one day (hopefully) RF-8G in 1979/80, 1981/82 cruises.
For that matter, a similarly repainted deck layout for early 80s CV-41 from which to fly the already available RF-4 in the correct period would be dream-come-true material.
I'm equally stoked about the prospect of repainted AI statics to reflect an early 80s cruise. No such configuration with F-4s exists to my knowledge in any CV, and it would be a dream come true to fly both the SWS F-4, and one day (hopefully) RF-8G in 1979/80, 1981/82 cruises.
For that matter, a similarly repainted deck layout for early 80s CV-41 from which to fly the already available RF-4 in the correct period would be dream-come-true material.
JensOle
SOH-CM-2023
For the Coral Sea 73 model you will when removing the A-3 and E-1 and having the deck ready for both recovery and launches from the left and waist cats have A-7s, F-4s and Sea King in the statick parking. Repainting these to match the early 80s cruises are easy when/if the paintkit gets available (only issue is that you can only have one paint scheme for each sqn, either high vis or low vis scheme- not both). It would have been something to have the A-6, RF-8 and E-2 as well
