Supermarine S6b seaplane racer repaint

[huub vink]

A new entry has been added to Add-Ons Library, category FS 2004 Civilian propeller skins

Description: This package contains alternative textures for the Supermarine S6 racer by Ralph Pegram. This model is part from the Virtual Schneider 1929 package and can be found The Old Hanger downloads, which can be found as a sub-forum from the SOH FS2002/FS2004 forums ( https://www.sim-outhouse.com/toh/ )

Although I always liked the model, the colours and the aluminium were far too bright for me. Therefore I made this repaint, based on the Supermarine S6b which is on display in the London Science Museum. This repaint also has been on my to-do list for too long.
I can really recommend the models from the Virtual 1929 Schneider project, they show the absolute top of pre war aerodynamics and (engine) perfomance. And they are very colourful eye candy! Credits should go to Ralph Pegram, Bob Hazeldine and team for their Vritual Schneider project and Martin Wright for his incrdible graphic tools, whithout which this repaint would not exist!

Enjoy,
Huub Vink
October 2023

To check it out, rate it or add comments, visit Supermarine S6b seaplane racer repaint
The comments you make there will appear in the posts below.

[normb]

Wow! What a pleasant surprise.

Thank You,
normb

[Bookman1960]

Thank you, sir!

Wonderful repaint.

[huub vink]

I'm glad you guys like it! I had no idea that so many still flew this older models.

Cheers.
Huub

[Motormouse]

I'm glad you guys like it! I had no idea that so many still flew this older models.

Cheers.
Huub

Cheers Huub, I remember as a kid standing and looking at the S6 N248 that was exhibited in the open air at Mayflower Park, Southampton ( now in the Solent Sky museum)

It's one of those planes that looks fast, standing still.

Ttfn

Pete

[huub vink]

All the models from the Schneider 1929 project breath speed. I can still remember the small Frog kit I had from the S6b!

Cheers,
Huub

[Hurricane91]

Excellent paint! Thank you Huub.

[Mick]

All the models from the Schneider 1929 project breath speed. I can still remember the small Frog kit I had from the S6b!
Cheers,
Huub

Me too! It's on a shelf in my model room!

[rohan]

Another excellent rendition from one of our master re-painters. I find it curious that the fin tricolour follows the same sequence of colours as the French air force (l'Armee de l’Air ?) planes did in World War I rather than the RFC and the RAF in the 1930s.

But I am also a little confused about these models, probably because I do not currently have an FS9 install for testing and flying. The TOH models say that they need a pack of effects that were available on the long defunct TGA server, which predates the TOH copy that is available here. From what I can see in the aircraft.cfg files, these planes need effects from two of Nick Needham’s packs (Prop Dust and Touchdown / Vortex) but that still leaves a couple whose origin eludes me - fx_airexpl_m and fx_nicks_wtrspray. The former is in a default CFS2 install so I assume that it also exists in an FS9 install. But where can I find the latter, even with or without a suffix of _s, _m or _l ?

And what happens in FS9 if a plane calls for an effect like fx_nicks_wtrspray but the Effects folder only contains the files named with a suffix (s, m or l) ?

Any help or clarification would be most welcome – thanks in advance,
Ro

[Mick]

"Another excellent rendition from one of our master re-painters. I find it curious that the fin tricolour follows the same sequence of colours as the French air force (l'Armee de l’Air ?) planes did in World War I rather than the RFC and the RAF in the 1930s."

I'm pretty sure you have that backwards. I believe the RAF rudder colors were blue at the rudder post and red at the aft end, and that the French used the reverse sequence. If I'm mistaken about that, then so have been a century of modelers, artists and historians.

[rohan]

Well, I’ll be . . .

Thank you for that correction, young man. Apparently, the fin flash / rudder colour sequence was indeed originally the same as the French aircraft, and was only changed in the late 1920s to the current style when showing three colours. I am guessing that it was at that time that the colours moved from the rudder to the fin.

[huub vink]

I have looked at pictures of the unrestored original at least one hundred times, and still.......



I'm really sorry, this is what you get and don't use your brains and simply copy what the one who did the original textures did

I have changed the order of the colours at the tail and updated the file in the library.




The models indeed use the great effects by Nick Needham (see screenshot). When you don't have them they are still available at https://flyawaysimulation.com/downlo...s-all-wet-for/

Cheers,
Huub

[huub vink]

And this is what Wikipedia tells about the RAF tailflash

The fin flash evolved from the rudder stripes painted on the rudders of early RFC and RAF aircraft during the First World War, the markings comprising blue, white and red vertical stripes doped on the rudder. The red, white and blue fin flash of RNAS, RFC and RAF aircraft of the First World War was applied with the blue stripe forward. This orientation continued through to the late 1920s when it was reversed to have the red stripe forward in the order used through WW2 up to the present day. When applied to night bomber aircraft the red/blue fin flash was also blue forward through this period.

It remains a question what exactly was considered "late 1920", but the picture from the original aircraft in the London Science Museum shows enough.

Cheers,
Huub

[rohan]

Huub,
I thank you for your attention to detail and particularly your devotion to accuracy. This hobby is so much more interesting and colourful as a result of your wonderful creations,
best regards,
Ro

[Mick]

"Well, I’ll be . . .

Thank you for that correction, young man. Apparently, the fin flash / rudder colour sequence was indeed originally the same as the French aircraft, and was only changed in the late 1920s to the current style when showing three colours. I am guessing that it was at that time that the colours moved from the rudder to the fin."

Apparently so, as the museum aircraft confirms it and they should know what they're doing. I had no idea that it was done differently at different times.

[huub vink]

Well Mick, obviously we are never too old to learn something new

The real S6b is the picture is actually unrestored so still in its original paint. It is possible that the rudder was repainted between 1929 and September 1931 when it last flew. But as the museum received it immediately after its last flight it is unlikely it has been repainted afterwards.

Its actually an interesting story, The British and the French started both painting the rudder of their aircraft blue white red (both in that order). The British reversed the order in the late twenties and got rid of the painted rudder mid thirties. This was done mainly to avoid problem balancing the control surfaces.

In 1939 in an attempt to use a sort of standard with the French, the painted flag at the was re-introduced for the aircraft which flew in France. To avoid paint on the control surfaces the fin flash was introduced in 1940, although there wasn't a clear standard at that time. On the 11th of August the standard fin flash was defined, which covered the complete height of the tail fin. Which was replaced by the square fin flash mid-May 1942.

So where the French where quite consistent, it took the British a few decades to make up their minds

I hope you are all still awake.....

Cheers,
Huub

[Josh Patterson]

Thanks for that Huub! I love golden age air racers but have always looked for Bendix/Cleveland planes. Totally didn't know the Schneider Trophy planes were an option! I pulled them into FSX but had to tweak the contact points as most wanted to tip forward into the water. (AH's Cessna 140 floatplane's contact points fixed most of them but the S6 and one of the Macchi planes needed a bit more love.) AH's Spitfire Mk1A's engine stands in nicely for the RR Condor/Napier Lion/Isotta Fraschini and FIAT engines of the racers. (Much better than a Cessna 180 anyway!!) And to think, these models are almost 20 years old!! (The only problem I have is with the VC of the SM-65. It looks like I'm either missing the textures for the forward half of the cockpit or there's an alpha layer problem going on otherwise they all work great in FSX!)

[Josh Patterson]

Thanks for that Huub! I love golden age air racers but have always looked for Bendix/Cleveland planes. Totally didn't know the Schneider Trophy planes were an option! I pulled them into FSX but had to tweak the contact points as most wanted to tip forward into the water. (AH's Cessna 140 floatplane's contact points fixed most of them but the S6 and one of the Macchi planes needed a bit more love.) AH's Spitfire Mk1A's engine stands in nicely for the RR Condor/Napier Lion/Isotta Fraschini and FIAT engines of the racers. (Much better than a Cessna 180 anyway!!) And to think, these models are almost 20 years old!! (The only problem I have is with the VC of the SM-65. It looks like I'm either missing the textures for the forward half of the cockpit or there's an alpha layer problem going on otherwise they all work great in FSX!)

[huub vink]

Thanks for the kind words Josh! This is how the SM.65 appears in FS9. I don't expect Nick Needham's effects will work in FSX.





I had a quick look at the textures from the VC. There is a small part with darker alphas, but this is done to give some metal parts a bit of reflection. When I switch to VC view the view point is very far forward. I think the designer wanted to to provide a look over the bonnet. The VC becomes visible when I zoom out.

Cheers,
Huub