Slitherine

And now, we go back to the advanced aircraft department... Here, and in the following posts, I will be uploadin the result of a joint project executed by Asuser and me... taking as a base the Ho-229 icon, we developed in the similar shaped Gotha P.60 heavy jet fighter... My good friend Asuser gave this one much detailing and the finishing touches. I have to thank him for making an excellent cockpit for this aircraft, after my attempte resulted in something like a henhouse You have to zoom in those icons and see the delicate panel lines which are drawn on the wing surface and the cannon ports, complete with the gunsmoke stains on the wing surface... Very nice artwork!!!

Besides, we developed the aircraft in a family of variants...
Here is the first, the Gotha P.60A-1 day fighter in the now usual camo schemes assortment.

Edit: Changed the icons... Just tried to give the impression of a less inclined bank angle to this aircraft icon. Will do the same with all the members of this "family".

Now, the turn is for the same day fighter model, but in a version armed with a pair of Ruhrstahl X-4 air to air missiles (besides the wing mounted guns, of course)... The role of this variant would be that of a specialized heavy bomber interceptor...

The third member of this family, is the Go P.60C nightfigter, with a conventional, two seat tandem cockpit, and the nose formed into a radome for its air interception radar. It is worth to mention that the camo scheme applied on the SE icon, is also a creation of Asuser. In this case, we made two icon with different configurations: one in clean condition, and the other with external auxiliary fuel tanks
They all look very nice in my opinion!

Greetings to all, and have fun!

guille1434 wrote:And, bearing in mind that the Pz IVJ used additional armor skirts (schurzen) and that a Pz IVK was a development with improved protection of the Pz IV design line, it would not have been very out of place to make a version of this last variant also equipped with schurzen...

Could U pls spend sometime for schurzen Wire Mesh !!!

The P.60 is nice. Maybe the viewing angle got a bit too top-wise. Judging by eye, the vanilla default angle is about 20-25°, while the P.60 already looks like 45°. My only complain is that I see two pairs of cannons now and can only add one muzzle flash. Doesn’t matter, I’ll take the pretty bird like it is.

Guys,

I don't want to destroy the happiness about AT-mode Hummels, Wespes and Sigs but I have read that these machines were not able to do that: the angle of their guns made it simply not possible.
There is a story about a Hummel in the siege of Budapest which was used as a static AT unit - it was driven back on some stuff so it's back was in higher position and so the gun was in lower level (the cause of this action is not fully clear but most likely the fuel shortage was it).

guille1434 wrote:Answering the request made by Horst, here is the sIG 38(t) M made "switchable" in direct and indirect fire mode, in all the usual camo schemes, compatible with the Elite Unit mod!

Enjoy!

Blah, even the 24 cm K 3 was also used in AT mode, as you can see on this photo!



Seriously, SPGs like the Sturmpanzer I (Sturm = assault) were used in direct-fire mode, and that's what the "AT-mode" presents. Of course, it was avoided to use these lightly armored self-propelled artillery units against targets like tanks in reality, but I bet in emergency, any big gun is better than no gun, and that's what I want to have in my game too if cornered.
The gun’s elevation downwards is possibly lacking on some SPGs (Hummel -3° vs. StuG IIIG -6°), but on the other hand, their sidwards traverse was even better compared to StuGs, e.g. +/- 15° for Hummel vs. +/- 10° StuG IIIG.
The initiative value can nicely control how well these lightly armored SPGs with their AP or HEAT shells fare against real assault guns and tanks.

I like my AT-modes by Guille!

Yeah Guille,

thats the nice presentation for the G60 i want to see! And it flys with great success! The first models of the German Fighter Wing Squadron shot down the enemy fighter planes in my Sealion campaign one after the other. And it's the perfect escort plane for the big brother... It is on my workbench for further improvement, of course the special droppable weapons also. Lets see, when we can make the first test flight...

Uhu: I've discussed the theme often with Guille, AT for artillery and Aty for tank hunt. I'm also a fan to bring more reality into the game. But hey, it's a game and i would also say, like Horst, thoeretical the gun elevation for the most of the vehicles would make it happen to do that job. Why not to shoot with a high explosive grenade at a tank? It's also clear and known, that tank vehicles carry more AT grenades (but also high explosive grenades) and artillery vehicles AT grenades mostly don't has...So let the inspiration and gaming fun flow...

Greetings!

@Guille

Could you pls help me make a nice Do 24 from this ?? TANK you in ADV

BIG UI
Panzer III N, IV H (or J) with schurzen Wire Mesh



Something

Hello T2_2112,

i would make a first shot for the Do 24 after a little bit of time (currently i'm still exhausted from the Ferdinand/Elefant project). In the meantime please check pages 21 + 24 for another sea aircraft stuff (BV138). Please give me a call if this is the right quality for your needs. Mostly i make icons also from a copy of historical black/white pictures and then coloring with a airbrush function (GIMP). Additional i use original scale drawings to make the panel lines for a better detail. In summary, all that is very time consuming and i want to have a good feeling if i make this work.

Greetings!

T2_2112 wrote:Could you pls help me make a nice Do 24 from this ??

I'm sure Guille will make a wonderful icon for you - if you want, though, you can use this one in the meantime:

_____
rezaf

Wow guys! I like to read so much feedback and idea discussion in this thread... This is what I always liked... Thanks for giving opinions!

Horst: yes, The Go.P60 looks more in a steep bank thaty other stock games icons... but we did it so because it helped the icon look more identifiable form the Go-229 and also because it could be further detailed (for example, the underwing stores). We decided this way as a compromise: it no so much more inclined, and the icon adapts better to being "modded"

Uhu: yes, that would be a pity... But I have to check my references... Couldn't the sIG 38(t) depress its gun to 0 degress? I am almost sure it could, this vehicle I think could/was probably used as the Sturmpanzer I in direct fire close combat gun (rather risky, because of light armor, but possible, because this was the gun original role in its towed form). In the case of Wespe or Hummel I think it could be more of a possibilty, but then, I saw profile ilustrations of the Hummel with the gun in zero elevation (or was it that the gun could be put in that position only for travelling?) What was the reason they could not fire at zero elevation? The guns themselves could not be depressed, or the recoil mechanism could not cope with the force of the firing at that elevation angle?

Horst: If I was doubting about a unit being able to be "switched" to the AT mode that was the 24cm K3... Now I cannot see your picture! Could you re-upload or provide a link to it? I would like to see it!

T2_2112: Very nice Dornier flying boat... I think that my partner Asuser will be able to make a good icon for it, he likes seaplanes very much (look at his Bv-138!)

Rezaf: Thanks for your sharing of that icon! Its a very good one for use as a start, and I think there is not much to improve about it. You helped a lot!

And a general request: Could someone please share with us a good image of a King Tiger (Tiger II) in the correct perspective to make a replacement for the stock game icon of this tank? I would prefer, if possible, a model with the production (Henschel model) turret... I hope I am not being too "picky"... _:-)

Well, I continue with the Gotha P.60 family:

Here is the Gotha P.60A-2 heavy ground attack configured fighter... This one could be made "switchable" between fighter and tactical bomber classes, to be able to provide long range escort to jet bombers or be escorted while doing air-to-ground work... Here, you can see the long range escort configured machine, with auxiliary fuel tanks.
By the way, the small icons for the various external loads were are carefully made by Asuser, which took a lot of care in the coloring and scaling of them... Good work!

To complete the family of flying wing heavy jet fighters, here is the Gotha P.60A-2 in jabo configuration, with air to ground external warload...

Enjoy!

Now it is the time to fullfill another request... The Flammpanzer 38(t) Hetzer, as asked by Stan23...
I took the base icon for the Hetzer (obviously! ) and made the running gear much more lighter in color (look better in my opinion this way) taking parts of an icon originally made by Metalman (I could not find much of this guy stuff, but the icons I found by him are excellent!)
As for the vehicle, except for the flamethrower tube, it is not changed at all (so, it's difficult to identify from its AT gun armed sibling) I made the icon in two variants: The "normal" one (only with the shorter and a bit thicker barrel) and another "alternate" icon with a small flame and some smoke pouring from the tip of the projector... (I saw some other user made icons in this style, and I think is a good way to differentiate the unit). So pick the one you like more...

By the way, there will be more of the Flamethrowing vehicles coming...
There was a variant of the Pz Ia with one of the MGs replaced by a flamethrower...
There was also a StuG III (Flamm), but was not used in combat.
And, of course, the FlammPz III Ausf.M, amongst others... So, stay tuned, you all Flamethrowing enthusiasts!!

The alternate version...

Have Flame-fun!

Guille, you spoil us
Thanks for the awesome Flammpz 38(t), it will make a great addition. I'm looking forward to the next one of the flammpz series
Sofar i had to improvise somehow with the Flammpz I , pz III and the one you posted today. Seems i will no longer need to improvise

Guile1434
Holy Crap These are awesome I especially like the 'smoking' version, thanx so much for making them.
Do you know when this vehicle first appeared?
Can't wait for the rest of the series

Love that smokin Hetzer. Good style to distinguish it from regular gun variants.

The 24 cm K 3 "camouflaged" in that bush just looked so funny as anti-tank gun that I had to post it. I've taken the picture from this forum-topic here:
http://forum.axishistory.com/viewtopic. ... 3&start=30
On this particular page, far down, you can see that the gun was also fired with a quite flat elevation, possibly even directly onto targets in far sight on another hill maybe. Of course it's application as at-gun would be silly, but theoretically even more effective as the Soviet very heavy howitzer/mortar family due to its 360° platform.
About elevations, the Soviet 203 mm howitzer M1931 (B-4) was also used in a point-blank direct-fire role in Berlin with its 0-60° elevation range. I wouldn't worry so much about the lack of ability to shoot down hills, either SPG or towed gun.