Melonfish's Skin ₴hack

[356thFS_Melonfish]

It's the in thing to put them all in one place as it makes it easier to remember where you left everything, if i'm going to be making skins this seems like a good idea.

All skins come with a disclaimer: I never said I was any good.

**** All skins have now been uploaded to the wonderful Haluter's Skin Downloader (HSD) I highly recommend grabbing this tool
However should a manual download be needed please respond in this thread and i'll Picard it.

please note some name changes have occured to fit with the HSD system but these are still the same skins. ****

 

First off I'd like to make my gratitude known to @ICDP for providing us with some really fantastic templates to work from, without which i'd not honestly have a clue what I was doing.

Thank you.

 

Sea Hurricane Mk IIC "Nicki"

NF672, flown by Sub Lieutenant A.R Burgham from the escort carrier HMS Nairana as part of 835 SQN FAA in 1944 Nicki carried the 835 SQN logo on the right side and the personalisation "nicki" on the right lower engine cowling, she's lettered K. (I will later also add invasion stripes)

Originally painted in Temperate Sea scheme, she had her upper surfaces and wing leading edges painted in an off-white for anti-U-boat work leaving only the original camouflage as an anti-glare patch on the cowling.

 

Some more pics here:

Spoiler

Here you can see the damaged prop, spinner and collapsed gear, after a bad landing on the Nairana.
Note the pealed oil seal, this is sometimes mistaken as a painted embelishment but is clearly damage.
Due to a lack of sources i've re-created the 835 SQN crest as best I could it's a touch oversized but fits well with the skin.

 

 

Invasion Stripes!
I've uploaded a separate version with invasion stripes, in case you want to continue to use Nicki in her pre-June setup, note the lack of fuselage stripes on this one, this was due to the arrestor hook gear, which sadly we don't have a model for in game.
Stripes are setup for all weapon loadouts, 40mm cowlings are standard Sky.

 

 

 

Sea Hurricane Mk IIc NF700

I've decided to add another 835 SQN skin with an all white finish, this is NF700 who was flown and written off by Sub-Lt Burgham in March of 44 after a landing accident, As the batman gave the command to cut engine the rounddown rose 30 feet in a swell, though Burgham managed to put her on the deck the tail wheel caught on the rounddown breaking her back.
However, here she is in her original lettering (T) ready to take the fight once more to the enemy:

 

some more pictures here:

Spoiler

A lovely picture of NF700's fate:

 

 

 

 

 

Sea Hurricane Mk IIC "Pauline"
"Pauline" is a fictional skin based on a historical pattern, the original being a training plane skin from 800 NAS based out of Gosport with the serial P3114, this would have used the current 1940 FAA trend of high demarcation and possibly medium sea grey rather than white distemper but sources are unclear, the original simply bore M as the code letter like many training planes.

"Pauline" is updated to 1944 standard markings and colours (pre invasion) and is dedicated to a former Royal Navy veteran Roy Delaney, I've stenciled Roy's rank and name below the cockpit left side and the plane is named for his wife Pauline and given the code letter D.

 

More pictures here:

Spoiler

 

 

 

 

Hurricane Mk Ia (ish)
V7313 GN-F 249 SQN RAF.
This plane will be quite recognisable to BOB fans, famously flown by the late, great, Wing Commander Tom Neil.  His Novel "Scramble!" was imo an utterly fantastic read that I just could not put down and I was very saddened when he passed away in 2018, I read of his fondness of V7313 and his lamentation of it's loss and thought it would be nice to see her flying again in BOX.
249 interestingly didn't fly the MkII until february/march of 41, only to have them replaced with Mk I's when they were transfered to Malta a month or so later.

 

Some pics here:

Spoiler

 

 

 

 

Sea Hurricane IIa
N1868-7L, 807 SQN, HMS Ark Royal, 1940
This is another Ahistorical scheme, Originally worn by a Fairey Fulmar carrying the same Serial flying with 807 Squadron off HMS Ark Royal in the summer of 1940, this scheme is interesting in that it is at the point where temperate sea schemes clash, this plane (and others on the Ark royal at this point) Wore a high demarcation line in sky grey, but on orders from the admiralty and Air ministry the new underside colour was to be "Sky" (now known as Sky type S).
As you can see this has lead to an interesting scheme and one I really couldn't pass up.

Some more pics here:

Spoiler

 

 

 

 

Sea Hurricane Ib (ish)
Z7015-7L, 880 SQN, Currently the Only flying Sea Hurricane in the world.
This skin is based on Z7015 currently part of the Shuttleworth collection in the UK, a Canadian built 1B which was sent to the UK and over to 880 Sqn, she unfortunately never saw action, whilst in transit from RNAS Yeovilton to the Orkney Isles and then finally to HMS Indomitable she became U/S (Unserviceable) and was instead shipped to a repair facility where she languished and eventually became a training plane.
In 1961, she was collected and sought to become airworthy for use in the film The Battle of Britain, unfortunately too much work was involved to get her back in the air and she stayed grounded.
By 1986 a joint venture between Shuttleworth and IWM was launched to restore Z7015 back to airworthy status and by 1995 she took her first flight in nearly 60 years, at the time with the only known working Merlin III engine too!
Though others have painted this and similar (the yellow tail was common for flights as part of Operation Pedestal) I couldn't really resist.

More pictures here:

Spoiler

 

 

 

Seafire Mk IIc

MB156 06G, 885 SQN, HMS Formidable, late 1942.
The Fleet Air Arm had at the beginning of the war looked at the possibility of using spitfires and hurricanes for carrier use, however, home defence and the air ministry were given top priority over the vitally important fighter aircraft for the defence of Britain in
It wasn't until late 1941 that the admiralty managed to agree with the air ministry to start testing Spitfires for carrier use, though the initial variants had a weak undercarriage for naval use they were after conversion somewhat successful, and the initial variant of the Seafire was born in the Mk Ib... and almost immediately superseded by the IIc which was built on a production line rather than a conversion.
The Seafire IIC was effectively a Spitfire Vc with a strengthened fuselage and landing gear, arrestor hook and catapult attachments, it was also fitted with the new "C" Wing allowing the mounting of the 20mm Hispano-suiza cannon with the bigger 120 round drum, and 4 .303 browning machine guns. As with the Vc this came with a Merlin 45 as standard, but this was later switched to the 32 for better low altitude performance.

I've produced this skin in both Mk.Vb and Mk.IX formats.

 

More pictures here:

Spoiler

 

 

 

 

Seafire Mk III
PP979 DX5, 807 SQN, HMS Hunter 1945.

The Mk III Seafire was a modification of the IIc, Many of the escort carriers in service used small central elevators which were not suitable for planes that could not fold their wings, the Hurricane with it's thick and wooden wings could not achieve this without a significant weight increase. It was found however that a manual folding system could be installed upon the Spitfire "C" wing allowing it to fold in two places. though production was delayed for initial batches this did become standard later on allowing the Mk.III Seafire to be carried by escort carriers in large numbers and not simply lashed to the deck where they were vulnerable to the elements, enemy fire, and new pilots!
The Mk.III was introduced in 1943 and remained in service until 1946 when the Admiralty finally switched to Griffon engined Seafires.

Again, i've produced these in Mk.Vb, Mk.IX, and Bubblegum flavour (not really bubblegum)

 

More pictures here:

Spoiler

 

 

 

Irish Air Corps Seafire MkIII

In 1946 when the Royal Navy finally upgraded their Seafires to Griffon engines, the Irish Air Corps purchased 12 Mk.III seafires, after a lengthy de-navalisation they were flown as land based planes from 1947 until around 1955.

 

 

 

 

Lockheed P-38 J25

This one is a little different, I've actually created three packs for download here rather than individual skins.

 

P38J25_FAA NAS
I will paint everything you love in Temperate sea scheme, mostly because it looks fantastic. None-Historical of course, what if coastal command/Fleet Air Arm P38, 2 skins in this pack, standard TSS and one with invasion stripes.

 

More pics here:

Spoiler

 

 

 

P38J25_RAF Skins.
3 skins here, the RAF did test the P38 as a pathfinder craft for bombers so there is a historical Flat earth/Dark Green scheme for it which was tested in 42, i've recreated this for the J25, i've also provided a version with Invasion stripes, because BoN is just round the corner, Finally, I've added a "what if" 1944 RAF scheme for the P38 as you can see below.

 

Early Pattern

 

Late Pattern

 

More Pics here:

Spoiler

 

 

 

P38J25 Royal Canadian Air Force
Same as the RAF skins above however, all of the roundels have been swapped for the very late war/post war Canadian Roundel, because it's frankly awesome, Bomb loads may also consist of Maple syrup.

 

 

 

"Alert One, this is Eagle One, you're clear to fire, Splash the Zero's"
P38J25 painted a few years ahead of it's time, 1989 VF-84 scheme of the Jolly rogers or perhaps as it may have appeared on a P38.
rather famously seen in the film The Final Countdown, if you're so inclined you can also take this skin to the...Danger zone.

 

 

 

 

 

Tempest Mk.V Series II

Again, a non-historical skin set as the navy never flew the tempest it being far too heavy to launch and recover off carriers of the time, even post war, the lighter Hawker fury required a catapult system for launch. None the less, she looks fabulous in Temperate Sea Scheme.

2 skins available, one early standard TSS, one high demarcation with invasion stripes.

 

More pics here:

Spoiler

 

 

 

Yoyo's crop dusting services.

U2VS in Civilian skin, based on HA-POA, a Civilian PO-2 at the hungarian museum of transport.

well worth downloading so you know whom you are shooting down in game!

 

 

 

P40E1 US Marines, Pacific 1942

Fictional skin based on the US Marine pattern for 1942, simple two tone with the early roundels and tail striping.

seems to fit the plane well tbh.

 

 

P47D22 Skins US NAVY

I've a fair few skins for US Navy planes planned, I rather love the various shades of blue used, one plane which looks a bit like a stretched out F4F is the Razorback, not surprisingly it lends well to the patterns used by the USN.

 

Atlantic pattern 1944.

Late war atlantic pattern, simple underside white and upper mid grey with the standard us roundels of the time. though many changes were made in the pacific the upper mid grey remained for all USN planes in the atlantic theatre.

 

 

Pacific Tri-colour 1943

Early pacific patterns were a two tone (see the p40 skin) however by 43 a mixture of camouflage colours were being used to help hide planes in the vast expance of the pacific.

 

Pacific 1945

By late 1944 and into 1945, the requirement to get new planes out into the field meant the tricolour scheme was dropped in favour of an all over "Glossy sea blue" scheme, in fact this was kept post war up to the mid 50's, this skin represents a plane from VF-84

 

 

 

 

P51D15 Modern Navy Skins
Two skins recently finished,

one for VF-84 Jolly rogers on the 70's style scheme and group markings:

 

Another for VF-111 the Sundowners based roughly on the mid 80's scheme

 

 

 

 

Currently working on:
More Navy skins!

 

 

If you spot any mistakes anywhere please do let me know and i'll see what i can do about updating the skin.

Otherwise, i'll update as and when I spot any mistakes.
All screenshots in 1080, cause that's what I play in, but these are 4k skins.

Melonfish

Edited April 5, 2021 by Melonfish
updates

[356thFS_Melonfish]

Change Log:

Tues 8 dec 20

Updated Pauline:
Some missed items when skinning such as rudder rod covers etc, now updated, new file uploaded and link updated.

New plane added: N1868

 

Sat 12 Dec 20

Three new planes added:
Hurricane: Z7015

Spitfire Vb: MB156

Spitfire Vb: PP979

 

Sun 13 Dec 20

I've spotted an issue with the main colour layer on my planes so i've gone through and ran an update, links have been updated for the following planes, the first 3, shouldn't require this update, i'm happy to leave them as is.

For the curious, I painted the Extra Dark Sea Grey and Dark Slate Grey backwards!

 

Anyway, new links and base skins for:

Hurricane: N1868

Hurricane: Z7015

Spitfire Vb: MB156

Spitfire Vb: PP979

 

Sat 23 Dec 20

Turns out there are alphas that come with the skins, who knew? (ok... I know)
All planes updated with better/tweaked alphas.
Hurricane: NF672 Nicki Updated with correct colouring on anti-glare

Hurricane: Pauline updated with correct colouring.

 

Tues 29 Dec 20

New skins added:
Hurricane: NF700 835 SQN

Spitfire IX: PP979

Spitfire IX: MB156

 

Updates:
Hurricane: NF672 Nicki updated
All screenshots redone with correct colouring shots.

 

Mon 4th Jan 21.

Addition: Nicki with invasion stripes.
Added as a separate file in case people prefer her without, both versions are now available for download.

 

Friday 19th Feb 21

Addition:
P38 skins - RAF X3, RCAF x3, FAA X2
Tempest skins X2

 

Sun 28th Feb 21

Addition: VF-84 p38 skin

Edited February 28, 2021 by Melonfish

[356thFS_Melonfish]

Ok, before I do the next update I wanted to go back and re-visit "Nicki"
After some further research it appears Nicki was in fact NF672 (572 not even being a serial used by the FAA it seems) and wore K onboard of HMS Nairana in 44 during atlantic service, as confirmed by Burgham's own log book.

now, if you Look at this photograph -every time I do it makes me laugh.....(sorry)

 

there's a few stand out features that have been debated about, what I initially took as shadow under the wings is in fact differing colour, it seems the White overpaint on HMS Nairana was indeed by request of the commander flying and in turn the captain of Nairana to the admiralty, but there wasn't quite enough offwhite paint to go around, so upper surfaces and leading edges/tailplanes were painted only, leaving the underside in it's factory Sky (known now as Sky type S).
Secondly you can see in the very far left of picture under the outer starboard cannon is a large black stripe, this picture was taken mid-late 44 and it is believed that Nicki wore Invasion stripes on her underside at least, though as you can see this does not extend to the leading edge so as to keep that front aspect clean.

 

Why white?

The FAA was using white, and earlier sky grey to colour the undersides of their aircraft so as to camouflage some of their planes against the heavily clouded skies of the atlantic and northern theatres, it worked well, the only problem was that by the time a flight of stringbags (Swordfish) got to a U-Boat even with the camouflage it had pretty much gone under or even worse, by 44 the AAA on the bridge of a U-boat was considerable, some of the Type IX boats featuring 3.7cm flak guns, with several twin 2cm guns. The poor swordfish was slow and something of an easy target for these gunners, what was needed was an assault by fighter craft first to clear the AAA gunners and bridge crew and allow time in the confusion for the reliable swordfish to get her torpedoes or depth charges on target, this was the task of the Sea Hurricanes of 835 SQN as well as their general interception and fleet protection duties.

 

I'll be altering the Nicki skin shortly to change the colours underside and later i'll add the invasion stripes (still messing with the various overlay plates)

 

for those who want a fully white skin, i've decided to add another 835 SQN plane NF700, flown (and crashed) earlier by Sub-Lt Burgham, though she also had a sky under, i've put her in as all white as it's a rather nice look. This plane infamously crashed by Burgham in March of 44 (before invasion stripes) was on final, the ship pitched 30 feet in a swell just as the batsman give the cut engine signal and 700 was wrote off as the tail struck the rounddown:

 

With luck you'll do better with her, I'll update the main thread shortly, i need to redo my screenshots as i've updated all the colours and I finally have those Mk IX spit skins ready.

Happy Hunting,

Melonfish

 

 

 

[356thFS_Melonfish]

I'm sure you've seen by now but Haluter, and some others have been working on a fantastic new skin downloader ably demonstrated by IFlyCentral here:

 

HSD is of course LIVE! It has far surpassed expectations, i'm currently looking at making this thread something of a gallery and announcement post rather than a download location, as to be frank it's easier to use HSD than have to host separate locations but i can potentially do so by request.
For now please use this fantastic tool, you'll find my own and many other skins (from far more talented people!) on there.

 

Good hunting,
Melonfish

Edited March 30, 2021 by Melonfish

[356thFS_Melonfish]

Dusting this off, back working on some lovely skins.

There's a nice operation at the end of 1943 about this time that the new Normandy map is absolutely perfect for, more soon.

Anyway, I'll post as they're done.

 

Good hunting,

Melonfish

[356thFS_Melonfish]

Quote

At the Casablanca Conference in January 1943 it had been determined that the threat of large-scale cross-Channel operations must be maintained against the Germans in order to give relief to Allied operations in Italy and to the Russian Front, by keeping as large a German force in France and the Low Countries as possible.

In the spring of 1943 Lt Gen Frederick Morgan, newly- appointed Chief of Staff to the Supreme Allied Commander, and his team planned a three-phase deception programme. Two of these planned deceptions were aimed at Norway and Brittany; the third was a threatened amphibious landing in the Pas de Calais, to be known as Operation ‘Starkey’.

Source: https://weaponsandwarfare.com/2019/12/20/operation-starkey/ (a good read on the operation and markings in fact)

 

Operation Starkey ran from mid august into september, with D-Day being the 8th of September 1943, though the luftwaffe ultimately saw this feint for what it was and did not engage any major units as they did for the Dieppe raid previously valuable lessons were learned from the operation with regards to large scale planning and logistics, additionally this was the first time that a fully standardised recognition pattern was used for an invasion theatre on all planes, this had been tested for Dieppe and Operation Rutter but not to this scale.
I'll be producing a series of skins with this pattern applied and i'll try to keep them as historical as possible, with perhaps one exception later.

The first two below will be available on the fantastic HSD in the next 48 hours.

A-20 Boston IIIA, 88 SQN RAF (Hong Kong).
BZ307 wearing the letter J, and flown by Fl/Sgt Robert A.J Chappell, assigned Smoke laying duties on D-Day Sep 8th, 1943, and later strike targets in the Boulogne area.
Twin engined planes wore a white painted nose as well as the black tips and stripes as seen in this example.

 

Spitfire Mk.IXe, 331 SQN RAF (Norwegian).

MA225 wearing the letter S, 331 and 332 squadrons were primarily made up of Norwegian pilots and sometimes sported pennants in places not normally approved by the air ministry, there are a couple of recorded instances of 20mm cowlings (MA225 being one), tails, and spinners repainted as such.

 

 

 

Edited November 3, 2022 by Melonfish

[356thFS_Melonfish]

You can't keep a good P47 down (unless you fill it full of holes)

I do rather enjoy painting the D22 it's just such a canvas!

Two new Skins for the P47D22

This first one is a Thunderbolt Mk.I historical skin of the 73rd Operational Training Unit based out of Egypt.

For this one I must give a huge thank you to @Raptorattacker for the wonderful nose art.

HD154 wearing no. 18.

 

 

This one is a fictional skin for the 56th Fighter Group called "Nettie"

 

Both now available on HSD.

Happy Hunting!

 

 

Edited March 17, 2023 by Melonfish

[356thFS_Melonfish]

Realised there were some alpha issues with my skins so i've been running a re-upload.

the following have been re-uploaded with modified alphas
P47D22 - 73 OTU

P47D22 - Nettie
P47D22 - Pacific 1945

P47D22 - Atlantic 1944

P47D22 - Pacific 1943

A20B - 88 SQN Op Starkey

Spit IXe - 331 SQN Op Starkey

 

More to follow.

thank you!

 

[356thFS_Melonfish]

I've now updated the alpha on the following skins:
Tempest Mk V - Fleet Air Arm

Tempest Mk V - Fleet Air Arm Late 1944.

All hurricane skins -

Hurricane ia Tom Neil

Hurricane Ia 1940 807 NAS

Hurricane Ib 880 NAS

Hurricane IIC Pauline

Hurricane IIC NK700

Hurricane IIC Nicki
Hurricane IIC Nicki with stripes

 

Thanks for bearing with!

[356thFS_Melonfish]

These are my first D28's I believe, I rather had fun with them.

First is "Bouncin Betty" a fictional skin based around the normandy invasion for the Fleet Air Arm.

P47D28 FAA Bouncin Betty

 

 

 

 

Next is another 28 based around the Korean War FAA pattern.
on the 28th of June 1950 a flight of Seafires were patrolling off HMS Triumph, sent to a report of "possible enemy sighting" they came upon a flight of American B29 Superfortresses. Unfortunately the Seafires were mistaken for North Korean Air Force Yak 9's and fired upon, one seafire taking a round in the petrol tank, the pilot was forced to bail out.

 a short time after this incident the admiralty issues orders for allied planes to wear identification stripes in theatre.
I rather think the P47 looks rather handsome in this pattern.

 

P47D28 FAA 1951 Korea

 

 

 

These are pending approval on HSD at the moment.

Which, if you haven't yet seen, there is a competition being run at the moment I highly recommend you enter and if you don't already have HSD please do download it, there are literally over 10,000 skins on there for you to choose from and fly around in style!

 

 

Happy Hunting!

Pete

Edited March 27, 2023 by Melonfish

[356thFS_Melonfish]

Hi All,
I've re-uploaded the above two skins due to an alpha issue i spotted after upload.
Issues must be fixed after initial release not before, this is the natural order of things... or something.

 

As pennance have two more skins from 73 OTU for the bubbletop.

First is P47D28 KJ159 painted in standard RAF Camouflage and used by the Operational Training Unit from 1944

 

 

The second is P47D28 KL328 in the now infamous unpainted Alu skin, again Egypt from 1945.

 

I always wanted more skins for the Thunderbolt.

Once again I'd like to give thanks to @Raptorattacker for the fabulous 73 OTU nose art.

HSD uploads pending now.
Happy Hunting!

 

 

Edited March 29, 2023 by Melonfish

[Raptorattacker]

[356thFS_Melonfish]

My P47D22 skins for Nettie and the 73 OTU have been updated due to a couple of issues.
Took the opportunity to actually get Nettie to where I wanted her so she's had a bit of a facelift.

 

Let me know if you spot the (to be fair, now glaringly obvious) theme.

Happy Hunting.

Pete

 

[356thFS_Melonfish]

Coastal command!

 

I'll be honest i've wanted to paint the mossie for a while, it's been really lovely to do so.

So here's the first in a set i'm doing of what would end up being the Banf strike group.

 

Mosquito FB MK.VI 248 SQN RAF

LR.360 coded N was actually the flight of Commander J. Maurice and F/O Voce in 1944. 248 now infamous as being one of the first units to be issued and make use of the 6pdr (57mm) Molins gun. Tasked with raiding enemy shipping, and hunting for the ever elusive U-Boats wings of Mosquito's armed with rockets, cannon, and sometimes a Molins gun would run the north europe coast making leaving port a hazardous occasion for any axis vessel.

 

At work firing on a diving U-boat

 

Happy Hunting!

[356thFS_Melonfish]

Another 248 SQN Plane.

 

Mosquito MK.XVIII NT225 "O"
On the 7th of June 1944, a two ship Uboat sweep was performed by "L" and "O" of 248 Sqn, both Molins gun fitted Mosquito MK XVIII's. at 07:29 the lead aircraft "L" spotted a Uboat with deck partly clear of water, both planes made diving attacks on the boat, "O" then made faint attacks on the Uboat after a stoppage in the Molins gun to draw fire for "L" 's attacks, after the third run there was no further flak.

the Uboat submerged shortly after leaving a large brown patch on the water and one crewman. Both planes returned home safely.

NT225 is piloted by F/O Bennet (RCAF) and navigator F/O Mcnicol.

 

 

 

She'll be ready for HSD shortly.

Happy hunting pilots!

 

Edited April 3, 2023 by Melonfish

[354thFG_Leifr]

Hot.