Xmas Presents: Naval Aviation and an Osprey Submarine Game

From underneath the Xmas tree I was given these little crackers. Two Blood Red Skies (BRS) Midway expansion packs (IJN and USN carrier naval/carrier-based bombers) plus a surprise modelling project in "large scale" 1/48 of the marvellous Royal Navy Sea Harrier. I must confess that I hummed and hared about asking for the Midway expansion packs, but the Devastators have such a soft spot in my heart and I cannot easily see them in 1/144 - the alternative wargaming scale IMHO. I justified the BRS packs as going from a "complete game in a box" to a "complete campaign in three boxes" which was good value for money (see below, one resin project and one traditional plastic project - sharp eyes will also note the Pacific war Vallejo colours in the background [USN Pale Blue and IJN Ivory White]): 

From flying above the waves to swimming beneath the (Cold War) waves! A game from the Osprey stable but written by a former RN Submarine Commander. Also an excuse for a few 1/3000 Navwar modern miniature perhaps (see below, note in the design notes it is very much a "game" rather than a "simulation"  but based upon "the principles"):  

Fun to be had in 2022 with these, but my first (January) 2022 project is cracking on with some British 15mm Malburians! 

Airfix 1/48th Scale Spitfire Hanging From Ceiling

I finally got round to doing this for my youngest son, hanging a Spitfire from his bedroom ceiling (see below, question black cotton perhaps but at least it is airborne [alongside a Star Wars TIE Fighter which makes a strange bed-fellow]):  

Yes it is in a rather steep dive. Shade of my bedroom ceiling as a boy ;)  

Painting Tray Update: Planes and Ships

1/72 scale Airfix Fw-190 is finally finished (I say finally but I [we] know that there really should be swastikas on the tail, but thanks to European law they are now illegal to sell even on historical models (!), so I would have to "free hand them" which I frankly bottled doing), so it should now be hung up like the Star Wars TIE Fighter (see below):

A slightly bigger (1/48) Airfix Spitfire Vb, now repaired with "odds and sods" from the spare box. The 20mm cannon, rear landing wheel, aerial and "watch your six" mirror, Requires a bit of touch up painting (see below):

A hive of ship building activity (Seventeenth Century style) as the paper, balsa and cocktail fleet takes shape. WIP includes 4 French, 2 Dutch and 2 British "man-o-war" (see below):

Note: The ship building has had to been put on hold to be resumed at a later date. The dockside crowds are chanting "We want forty!" But the wife is pointing to some DIY painting jobs to be done first!

Spitfire Summer .. Make it BIG!

It has been a while since I last played about with building a model Spitfire (see: Previous Spitfire Blog Posts). I usually model with (it has to be said quite impractical for use on the wargame table) in 1/72 scale. I think it's a childhood thing. However I do have some 'bigger ones' (as wel as smaller ones) like the 1/48 Airfix Spitfire Vb (courtesy of the kind in-laws) that has been wanting some TLC since my youngest son (then four) threw it across the room and "bits went everywhere" (he had a strong arm a strong arm for such a small lad!). My wife consoled me (I was in some state of shock) when I came back from work to review the carnage. So finally (this weekend, after three years of procrastinating) I got to work and started reshaping all the missing bits [the rear landing wheel, 20mm cannon barrel, radio mast and the cute 'six o'clock' mirror] out of the "aircraft spare box". I also worked on the perspex canopy defining in black lines for the struts to paint over green for a more cool cockpit look (see below, note in the background my youngest sons "quick build" Lego-style Airfix Spitfire, it has stopped his catapult arm going into action again):  

However while in the loft I found this 'bad boy' (see below):

This can  be my ultra silly "Spitfire Summer Project". If I thought a 1/72 scale plane was impractical for the wargame table, then 1/24 must be impossible unless you design games for The Conference of Wargamers (CoW, Tim/Bob?).

WWII School Project Completed: 1/48 Spitfire Vb and 1/72 Dornier Do.17E (Airfix)

The deadly foes on the table (see below) with wait ... hold the front page .. decals applied :)

"Snowdrop leader, Snowdrop leader,this is Snowdrop Six, Tally Ho!" ... sorry I couldn't resist it ;) ... I think it looks magical onc those big decals have gone on :)

Meanwhile the bomber drones on (see below) and I think its more sombre decals make it look very menacing (Note:By virtue of European Law Airfix are not allowed to depict the swastika, which would have adorned the rear twin tail flaps - and it is far too hard for me to try and paint on given the project deadline):

Now with a coat of protective varnish on (see below), from a very old but 'reliable' tin of Humbrol 'enamel style' matte. This was after I had an unmitigated disaster trying to use the more modern acrylic matte varnish (in their square tins) and getting it horribly wrong. I had probably rushed it but it looked to my terrified eyes to be drying with a white "winter camouflage" sheen to it .... argh. And this was the Sunday night before the Monday deadline and I had been left in charge putting the "smelly varnish coat on" after the rest of the family had gone to bed! Luckily I had started on the German Dornier Bomber first and spotted the damage, which meant it was so much easier to repaint (I would have ruined the Spitfire's decals) ...whew!

One last flypast before I hand them over with compulsory sound effects "wheewwwizzzooo" (see below). I also like the angry yellow wing stripes and machine gun read patches on the wings. 

Anyway I am chuffed to bits with them both and even better my eldest son thinks they are cool too, paying particular attention to the Spitfire ("that's my boy"). I do intend to "tart" then up a bit when I get them back from the school display, although I've heard the German Dornier has already taken a bit of "flak" damage from the hands of Year 3. I plan to hang both planes from my son's bedroom ceiling.

School WWII Project Nearing Completion

Well we had fun making these.

The magic Humbrol Clearfix worked wonders on the previously tricky (as in I always messed them up) canopies (see below):

It was 'really' useful on the Dornier Do.17's expanse of canopies to fill in the missing gaps in the perspex (see below):

The "Spitty" gets its undersides painted in a peculiar XF-12 IJ Grey, which doesn't seem quite right but according to my conversion chart matches to Humbrol 64 (see below):

The Dornier gets a more traditional paint scheme of light blue for its underside from a 'really' old Humbrol acrylic range they had, but after all these years it's still ready to use from the pot, unlike some more modern paints I could name (see below): 

The Spitfire starts to come together nicely when its camouflage pattern is put on. I am using XF-61 Dark Green and XF-82 Ocean Grey 2 (RAF), the latter being a newer Tamiya paint colour I spotted while I was in a local model shop (Hobbycraft). I was looking at the Tamiya colour schemes on other model kits and borrowed this one off a Tamiya 1/48 RAF Mosquito kit (see below): 

The 1/48 scale Spitfire was such a nice kit to put together, far easier IMHO than the 1/72 scale kits I am used to. You stand a fair chance of even painting the "yellow" along the wing tips and "red" machine gun patches (see below):

The Dornier also gets it's Blitz camouflage scheme. A jagged edge XF61 Dark Green interlocking with a XF-27 Black Green (see below):  

This was the later Luftwaffe 1940 camouflage at the time of the Battle of Britain as opposed to the three colour, with a light grey and a brown alongside a green in the instructions, dating to 1937. The propeller housings get a bright white covering while the propeller blades get a surprising XF-61 Dark Green (I was expecting black) covering (see below): 

They are taking shape nicely but we are coming to that dreaded phase of mine, the decals, however for aircraft they simply are a must! Also, for the record, there were little hands helping me along the way, though they did take long telly breaks from time-to-time (Merlin and Mr maker being two of the CBBC culprits).

School Project Time: WWII

My eldest son is doing all about WWII a school, so as part of his homework we had to do a "special" project. We where do I start? I wanted to do everything ;)

What about a Spitfire! The one I had in mind was a 1:48 scale Airfix Spitfire Vb kit I had lying around. Too big for my general wargaming purposes but perfect for "small hands" to get a grip of. See below for how she stands in the "undercoated black" stage.

:)

My main job was getting it through the construction (aka put it together with glue and don't get stuck) stage to the 'large areas' to paint stage where my son could help me finish it, but needless to say I had some fun on the way with the pilot (see below):

Most of it will be lost behind to sight the perspex canopy but it was fun painting the 1/48 scale pilot (see below) and I am inclined to drift to the bigger figures as my eyesight wanes: 

We opted for the 1941 European version (as opposed to the Middle East, Desert Air Force Version with the funny tropical air intake/exhaust). I especially like the fact in 1/48 scale you see extra little details such as the rear view mirror, to protect your six, on top of the pilots canopy (see below, you can just make it out):   

After first dismissing he bigger scale planes, I am now warming to them, in particular the fighters. They certainly have more immediate impact and substance with the youngsters as they fit nicely into their hands without 'immediately' breaking things off.

A Spitfire seems a very fitting post for No.500 methinks :)