1 January 2024 - Handley Page bomber (1/72) and other planes

This has been sitting on my workbench for a while now. Managed to complete assembly (albeit dodgy in parts). At the time I decided not to glue the wing assembly because it's simply too wide for cartage. But I'm slowly changing my mind. As for the orange tiger stripes camo design, that's just too fancy. Right? Anyway, once glued and several other parts firmly secured, it will be ready for Scenario One. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I now need to check how many Sopwith Camels I have available. Not sure if I have enough for a flight of four. Maybe reduce to whatever I have available. Or throw in what's available for the time period being fought. 

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1 January 2024 - Part One of Harbour set done

 Happy New Year and all that jazz. 

Sat down and painted up a few things to complete the first part of this Harbour set build. 

These painted ships should suffice for the solo combined naval/air wargame that will take place later on this year. From left to right the "bigger" vessels are the destroyer Akatsuki, the destroyer Sakura, the Type 19 Minesweeper, the Type 13 Sub chaser, and the Hiroshima-class Minelayer (according to the Tamiya site). Heavy black wash finished off the painting. Used both Vallejo and cheap craft paints.

The port facilities and surrounding buildings including enough for a small town or couple of local villages. Just added another coating of paint on the main structures. Not going to improve the oil storage tanks. They'll probably get bombed anyway by the American attack aircraft.

With that done, Part One is complete. Part Two consists of the remaining terrain elements - part of the island for a backdrop and the port itself. Maybe add a nearby military airfield.

Correction: While I acquired Tamiya 1/700 Waterline series aircraft (Early War), I also acquired Trumpeter clear plastic aircraft (also 1/700). I have yet to drag them out and start painting. Will add them to Part Two's to-do activity. Needing more 20mm round bases as well. Cheers.

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31 December 2023 - The Hunt for the Albatros continues...

As the title states, went into the studio even though I was feverish with the flu. Ended up rummaging about after more painting on the Harbour set. Then I pulled out the 1/700 Waterline capital ships I had assembled around the same time as I had started the Harbour set just to gauge the dimensions for piers to be made. 

 

Yamato and her sister ship Musashi. Figured Yamato is the finished build (bottom of two ships). Later I went hunting for the original kit boxes...and found them. Never throw away anything until completely done with them, so I've learned. But that's just me.

Also pulled out two British battleships - Rodney and Nelson - as they occupied the same shelf.

 

Compared to the Yamato, these two look like cruisers size-wise. 

 

Also found these two Japanese destroyers on the same shelf. Forgot they were there, to be honest. Know of the Akatsuki from playing it in World of Warships. Top ship.

 

The Sakura is not known to me but was part of the same purchase back when...

 

The back of the kit boxes is very hand because it itemises the pieces. With the Tugger set it shows the ship types and provides a basic colour scheme. Very useful.  Correction: they are floating piers while the missing items are mooring buoys. Found the buoys during a quick tidy up.

 

The aircraft are part of the Waterline series. Found more aircraft which are either the same Tamiya or Dragon as I originally believed.

By the way, still haven't located my Albatrosses.

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31 December 2023 - Eldar project revisited

Part of the Fantasy 2024 Makeover Project includes this display job. This piece is from around 2018, so it's over five years old. 

Part One was the Eldar standing defiant in the face of what approaches; it is his last stand. The banner is a flight of fancy by me. And I still like it. But there is still work to be done with the figurine. And finding the beast is important as it's what's needed to complete this display. But finding the right one is the issue, plus I never went beyond finishing the pennant banner.

It was the banner itself that is the focus of this and it is what got me interested enough to move onto painting to which I joined an online painting community and ended up painting bird cards. So, it has a sentimental value for me. But it needs a lot more work on the final detailing to be considered finished. Now that I've learnt a little more about colour values and mediums (not the psychic type either!) it should be a little easier. No?

Have a safe and prosperous New Year. Cheers.

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29 December - Canvas Eagles - Multi-plane scenarios 1 and 2

Chatting to my gaming buddy the other day got me thinking about likely scenarios for our next matchup. The scenarios presented below represent what those mulling options spewed forth. Apologies in advance. 

Scenario 1: Late Night Bomber (I'll be home for breakfast)

Backstory:

A night bomber is late returning from a night mission over northern Germany. A malfunction causes the bomber to fly low whilst detouring away from enemy positions. Unfortunately there is a miscalculations with the navigation and the bomber ends up flying directly over enemy lines who awake to hear the thunderous sound overhead. Alerted, the enemy react. Meanwhile, Allied command, aware the bomber is overdue, orders the forward air units to be on the lookout and safely escort the bomber home for breakfast.

Forces:

• 1 Allied bomber - Handley Page (1)
• A flight of Allied Sopwith Camels (4) 
• Enemy interceptor planes - Fokker DR-1s (2-3)

Conditions:

• Early morning (around 6.00am). Dawn reveals clear visibility to all on this fine spring morning. Hardly a cloud in the sky.
• Bomber starts on either short map edge and must moves the length of hex map to safely exit the opposite end. Doing so safely while still active in the air is deemed a moral victory for the Allies. But winning the match is counted using the Victory conditions (see below). 
• Allied fighters must RV and then safely escort (or defend) the lost bomber. Roll d6 to determine arrival and spawn point.
• Enemy despatches a flight (2-3 aircraft) to intercept and hopefully shoot down the bomber. Their arrival will be diced for on first turn. This includes deployment location and the turn on which they arrive. Their mission is to down the bomber and drive off the escort.
• No Allied plane may spawn to the rear of the bomber relative to its current location. Likewise, the same applies to the Central Powers interceptors who may not spawn forward of the bomber's current location. 
• No aircraft may spawn within 6 hexes of the bomber on dice roll. If this happens, reroll for new spawn point.
• Spawn point and arrival time are determined by a either a d6 (simplified) or d10 (standard) roll for every fighter/scout plane on Turn 1.

Victory:

• Bomber safely exits map = 3 victory points for Allies
• Enemy interceptor driven off or shot down = 1 victory point per interceptor for Allies
• Bomber shot down/crashes = 3 victory points for Central Powers
• Allied escort plane driven off or shot down = 1 victory point per escort for Central Powers
• Compare differentials with best differential wins. 

Spawn:

• Position is ALWAYS relative to the bomber's direction of movement. So, if moving from right map edge to left map, the bomber's right wing tip (from bomber pilot's perspective) is always "north" while the left wing tip is  always "south". Central Powers aircraft can never spawn forward of the bomber. And Allied escort planes can never spawn rearward of the Allied bomber. 
• Note: if the players decide to have the bomber fly from left to right, then the notations are reversed, i.e., bomber's left wing tip is now "north" while the right wing tip is "south". Got it? Good!
• Using basic cardinal points that match with die roll. So, if bomber is flying from right to left then "1" would be "north", "2" would be "north east". "3" is "east", as follows:
• 1 = north
• 2 = north-east
• 3 = east
• 4 = south-east
• 5 = south
• 6 = reroll
• As above so for the Allied escorts arrival only in reverse for die roll 2 to 4. 1, 5, and 6 remain the same. Therefore:
• 1 = north
• 2 = north-west
• 3 = west
• 4 = south-west
• 5 = south
• 6 = reroll
• If bomber is flying left to right, for the Central Powers spawn point is as follows:
• 1 = north
• 2 = north-west
• 3 = west
• 4 = south-west
• 5 = south
• 6 = reroll
• As above but for Allied escort planes:
• 1 = north
• 2 = north-east
• 3 = east
• 4 = south-east
• 5 = south
• 6 = reroll
• Spawn for either Central Powers or Allied escorts triggers whenever d10 rolls greater than 5 for either side. Let's hope the Allied have a non-incident free flight then and they can get home to a hot cooked full English breakfast. 

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Scenario 2: Reconnaissance over the front line (I see you!)

Backstory:

Captain James "Lofty" Chambers and Lieutenant Egmont "Treetops" Hassler have been ordered to locate the positions of the newly arrived 165th Artillery regiments near St-Iglaire flying their B.E.2c "Checkers". Accompanying them flying covering escort will be a single fighter flown by Lieutenant Thomas "Over the top, boys!" Marchelton-Shivers either in one of them "new fandangles foisted on us by the Air Ministry" DH-2 or his old but reliable Sopwith Triple "Betsy". This is an afternoon flight. The early summer day has been warm for the most part but it looks like "clouding over, so the Met boys believe so". Can the duo find their elusive prize or will it be another empty unrewarding afternoon mission over enemy lines. Lofty hopes so. 

Forces:

• 1 Allied scout/reconnaissance aircraft - B.E.2c (variant to be clarified in batrep)
• 1 Allied fighter escort - Airco DH-2 or Sopwith Triple
• 2 Central Powers Fokker E-IIIs
• 3 German ground artillery batteries (1 gun model represents battery)

Conditions:

• Suitable hex map board (3 x 4)
• Artillery gun models (representing batteries)
• Allied aircraft appear anywhere along a long hex map edge flying towards enemy lines. Dice for altitude of both planes. Both planes start no further apart than two hexes.
• Enemy aircraft will appear once the first artillery battery location is revealed. They may enter only from the map edge up to the AO limits (see further down). Aircraft arrive as one group. Normal altitude die roll takes place for every aircraft. 
• Recon aircraft must locate every enemy battery. These remain hidden until revealed. Their hidden location is written down by player controlling enemy guns PRIOR to start of game and only disclosed once the Allied recon plane enters the individual battery's arena of operations (ARO).
• Enemy battery guns cannot deploy within 3 hex radius of each other nor may they deploy any further apart from one another more than 7 hexes apart.
• The artillery regiment's AO (area of operations) limits cannot be closer than 4 hexes from the Allied planes map edge. 
• Once the recon aircraft enters anywhere inside an enemy battery's hex arena (3 hex radius), the enemy player immediately reveals its location by placing said bty model on board in its true location. 
• Allied player MAY then choose to bomb it (B.E.2 carries one hand-held bomb dropped by observer) if able to. Otherwise, it will record that location and move on to the next location. If successful in bombing bty, result counts towards final victory (see below). 

Victory:

• Enemy battery successfully located = 1 victory point to Allies
• Enemy battery successfully bombed = 1 victory point to Allies
• Recon aircraft safely exiting map board on own side = 1 victory point to Allies
• Recon aircraft shot or crashes = 1 victory point to Central Powers
• Enemy battery not located = 1 victory point to Central Powers per hidden bty
• Enemy fighter driven off (exits map board) or shot down = 1 victory point to Allies
• Compare victory points. The side with the better differential.

Cheers.

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29 December 2023 - Japanese naval base in the South Pacific

Went into studio today to attempt to locate my missing WW1 Albatros D-IIIs & IVs. Did not get far. Instead, I revived this old project started many years ago. It is based on the Tamiya Harbour set designed for 1/700 waterline ships. Not sure if I bought the one kit or several as the basic kitset these days features only the one large crane.

Adding this project to my 2024 Makeover Project.

Remembered that I bought a Tugboat set consisting of several harbour vessels easily found in a bustling seaport.

 

And a box of auxiliary vessels to complete what was conceived then as my grand plan for a Japanese naval base set somewhere in the Pacific. Target for a US naval force to attack using my General Quarters III ruleset.

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Started colouring-in the windows on the storage/workshop sheds.

 

Used black texta fine tip pen. May repaint the building but then it looks good enough for now.

 

As seen I have three large cranes and three storage/workshop buildings which leads me to believe I acquired three kits. The group of four structures to the right are scratchbuilds using off-cuts of balsa. All I've done today was apply a thin wash of watered-down black acrylic primarily to give definition for the next stage of painting.

 

Lots more scratchbuilds. This time I create towns/villages built-up areas to both surround the port and showcase centres of population. Fuel or storage tanks are to the right. And to the right of those three tanks are four more "proxy" storage/fuel tanks - actually old plastic lids from large litre containers. Necessity is the mother of invention, they say.

 

Floating moorage buoys(?). Missing little orange round items (description eludes me at the moment). I know they exist but can't remember where I placed them. 

 

Combination Tugger and Auxiliary kitsets given black wash prior to further painting. 

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Got a bit carried away as I decided to bring out the 1/700 airplanes that go with this project. Did not realise I had so many. 

Corsairs on the left and Mitchell bombers on the right. About two squadrons in total. Part of the intending US attack group.

 

Silver-coated Dauntless torpedo/dive bombers on the left. To the right are the Hellcats. Again, around two squadrons worth.

 

Have to excuse me as my Japanese aircraft recognition is poor to non-existent. I only know just the one aircraft - the famed Zero (left). As for the others, I've had to do some quick internet searching, and make guesses. Please correct me if I am wrong. The two groups in different colours to right of the Zeros are what I reckon are Val dive bombers. The wing tip shape is my clue to believing this so. One group is in Japanese Army colours while the other is Imperial Japanese Navy. 

A number of Vals are missing their aircraft markings (did not have enough decals at the time). May simply apply red dots using a suitable paint pen. 

 

Second group (above) are what I believe to be Kate torpedo bombers. Both Army and Navy versions. Enough for one combined squadron. On the foam strips are two groups of mostly Val planes needing completion. Ran out of 20mm round plastic bases hence why they're still on their foam strips. 

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Objectives: 

Two parts. Part One will be to finish off what's started. This involves painting up the harbour vessels, finishing off the dockyard facilities - workshops, storage, and administration, completing the airplanes and finishing off their basing, and finalising details on the local accommodations and associated village/town buildings. 

Part Two will be to construct or create an occupation harbour along with constructed piers able to handle large military vessels. Maybe even have a large cruiser docked taking on supplies and making repairs. 

Thoughts: 

It's still the tail-end of December so I am definitely jumping the gun. But the early bird catches the early worm, as they say. And I kind of feel there's a quite a bit of work involved to get the momentum happening. Once that happens, then the project will generate its own momentum; it's just getting started.  

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Multi-plane Canvas Eagles game - 27 December 2023

 Caught up with my gaming buddy for our first multi-plane game. Four-vs-four.

 

After selecting sides and start zones, we deployed.

 

 

Pilots for Central Powers are based on historical figures - Jacobs, Voss, and Kleinke. Von Braun is fictional name. The three historical planes are Fokker DR-1 which are C stability meaning they can turn either way without penalty. Von Braun is A stability meaning he will have to fly straight before turning in new direction. Got it? Good!

 

 

The Allied pilots are fictional names. The two Italian airforce pilots - Luigi and Manfredi - are flying SPAD VIIs while Derek and Monty are flying SPAD XIIIs. All four planes are B stability which is like A stability meaning they need to fly straight before turning in any new direction. Map is custom-made. 4" hexes overlaid on a desert satellite image.  

 

Image doctored with background rubbed out using Paint. Next time we are looking to setting up screens painted up as sky for better photo taking.

 

 

Another doctored image using Paint brushes/spray tool achieving same result as previous photo. This image shows all four Central Powers aircraft entering combat at various heights. 

Herein the batrep is fairly simple and straightforward. I, playing the Allies, found myself assailed quickly by my more aggressive and wily Central Powers opponent spearheaded by the legendary Voss. For much of the remainder of the game, the Allies were on the bad end of a hammering. Out-maneouvred. Out-played. But they hung in there until the end when my opponent eased off on the thunder hammer. 

No crashes. One spin-out on my side but he recovered quick enough. Guns jammed a few times on both sides but did not hamper play apart from easing off on the throttling by Voss. Damage delivered was telling (on my planes) and Manfredi would later claim his aircraft was only held together when he landed by his constant praying.

Next match up will feature more multi-planes including a Handley Page bomber painted up in night bomber camo. Thanks again to Simon for being a great sport. He is proving a deadly and focused opponent. We both agreed beforehand though that the planes looked impressive. 

Until then...