Any tips identifying f-86 vs mig-15

[Remontti]

From top view the F-86 and Mig-15 look very similar. I struggle telling them apart unless I'm very close and can see the markings. What are your tips identifying them them?

[[I.B.]-=ViRUS=-]

Main one is stabilizer, Saber has regular one, MiG is T-shaped.

Second is that the Saber has swept wings and MiG has parallel edges of wing.

[Uther]

Shoot first and ask questions later, and hope the MiG pilot went with the camo option. 🙃

[Captain_Trips]

As ViRUS said, I go by tail configuration and wing fences.

[Remontti]

Yes, the tail is very different but it is hard to tell difference when looking at the top silhouette. Faster speeds won't make it any easier. Maybe it will be easier with more experience but I start with the shoot first tip😅

[Captain_Trips]

Well from top I'd hope the wing fences were throwing shadow.

Or shoot first. 

I'll be right behind you. 😁

[Dash,Polder]

Straight from the top the horizontal stabs will be slightly behind the jet exhaust on a Mig, look for that obvious gap, while the Sabre's will look more like they're connected to the fuselage with tail pipe running through aft.

[Sticks_n_Rudder]

what you do is get right above him, go into a negative G inverted dive and give him a wave and see what he does. ok ok, sorry im channeling my top gun there. Honestly I have the same issue. at even a close distance (500 to 100) yards I cannot tell a difference. close in I can see the distinct size shape. 

Edited July 29 by Sticks_n_Rudder

[JG14_Jagr]

There is a reason why the USAF put the yellow air recognition stripes on them.  There were friendly fire incidents.  Look for the T Tail and stubby nose for the Mig

[Jade_Monkey]

These are all good tips. Unfortunately the medium/close distance LODs are not very useful for differentiating the planes (at least in VR). 

 

Honestly I think most object LODs need some work, not just planes. Vehicles, AAA, etc too.

They seem to be tuned for performance at the detriment of visual quality which brings me to the broader point of setting customization.

I'm not sure the devs chose to lock the majority of graphical settings behind presets instead of giving granular control. It seems like this whole upheaval about VR performance could have probably been avoided or mitigated to a good degree if we could just tune certain graphics settings individually.

 

[Valis]

Let me steal Dash's picture. 

For bare metal liveries I tend to notice what I call a 'Dirty V'

...which is the combined visual effect of the canopy and black wing-walks'

Obviously this is only useful from above. From other perspectives it's the tail that usually gives the game away.

[Felipe_Czar]

Going from my experience with the LODs so far:

• MiG-15 a thick cigar with a T tail. It is striking at medium distances its thick wings and short/thick fuselage.
• F-86 Sabre sometimes look like more like an arrow's tip sometimes fusing the nose with the leading edge of its wing at distance if you're looking from a up-down profile.

From the side the give away is the fin. The 15 has a fin more in an angle and seeming to miss an "engine nozzle".

From the back or, the T tail gives it away but most importantly is the wing roots position on the fuselage. 
At almost any distance from front-back you can kind of spot it, being the sabre with a wing root from the bottom of the fuselage and the MiG-15 from the middle.

These everyone knows, but it is what you can see constantly from distance with the LODs.

[JG14_Jagr]

At a distance the easiest to pick up visually is the wing position relative to the fuselage.  The Sabre wing is flush with the bottom of the fuselage while the Mig wing is mounted mid fuselage on the sides. When you get a little closer the Mig tail is bigger and the H stabs are mounted almost at the tip and flat (no camber).  Sabre's are mounter low and have a pretty pronounced camber.  At high speed from a top of bottom quick look its very hard to tell from a distance.  There is a reason that the UN added recognition markings.