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WIP – Modern Naval Japanese – Aircraft

Thomo the Lost5 Comments

2014-11-11 00.52.24I finally got around to working on the aircraft to support the modern Japanese fleet I built for playing Shipwreck! The ships are 1/3000th scale but the aircraft are 1/1200th scale, purchased from Magister Militum. Magister Militum have two ranges of aircraft, Cap Aero and 617 squadron.with the Cap Aero slightly finer models than 617 Squadron.Having said that, both ranges produce some nice aircraft.

The two ranges cover modern aircraft from the major powers. The aircraft are modelled with wheels.down, I guess as they would have made a good addition to 1/1200 or 1/1250 scale carriers or models of an airfield.

I snipped the undercarriage off in most cases as part of the clean up process. I had some hexagonal bases from Magister Militum as well but I found when mounting larger aircraft they were a little unstable. Enter the Philippine Central Bank The 10 and 25 centavo coins, apart from being magnetic, provide an extra degree of stability.

2014-11-11 00.52.05There are no Japanese Aircraft but fortunately the Japanese companies work with US aircraft manufacturers to produce localised versions. So, the McDonald Douglas F-16 is produced locally in Japan by Mitsubishi with a slightly larger planform (about 25% larger) but to all intents and purposes is an F-16. So, the F-16 doubles as a Mitsubishi F-2.

The Japanese also use F-4 Phantoms so I get to have one of my favourite aircraft on the table. The Kawasaki Company made a local version of the Neptune so the model is filling in for a Kawasaki P-2J Neptune.

The last two aircraft are some helicopters. The Sikorsky Super Stallion, a heavy lifting ‘copter and another MItsubishi local production of an American ‘copter, the Mitsubishi SH-60J Seahawk.

The brass rods these are mounted on are at various heights. 4cm is used for maritime patrol aircraft like the Neptune, 3cm for attack aircraft like the F-2 and 2cm for helicopters. I have plans to mount some missiles on a 1cm base but that may need to wait until after I have a sanity check.

I’m looking forward to getting some paint on these on Sunday.

Modern Naval – the Aircraft

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A small piece of the lead pile
A small piece of the lead pile

As the next cab off the rank here in Thomo’s Manila Hole, and given that I have finished the repairs on the three modern fleets, I thought I would finish off the aircraft. Yes, they don’t look much like an air force or three at the moment but they will form the basis of the aircraft for the Indian, Chinese and Japanese Naval forces. So, what is being used? The aircraft are 1/1250th scale and a combination of Cap Aero and 617 Squadron, from Magister Militum. This scale was originally made I guess to provide aircraft for the 1/1250th scale ship collections as some of the aircraft in the ranges are carrier born aircraft with wings folded.

Anyway, in the collection are the following.

For the Indians:

  • Il-38 May
  • Tu-142 Bear
  • MiG-29K Fulcrum
  • Westland Sea King
  • Ka-27 Helix masquerading as Ka-28 and/or Ka-31
  • Sea Harrier
  • BR.1050 Alize

For the Chinese:

  • Tu-26 Badger
  • MiG-21 Fishbed masquerading as Chengdu J-7
  • Su-34 Flanker masquerading as Shenyang J-15
  • Su-30 Flanker
  • Ka-27 Helix masquerading as Ka-28 and/or Ka-31

And lastly, for the Japanese:

  • P-2H Neptune masquerading as a Kawasaki P-2J
  • F-16 Falcon masquerading as Mitsubishi F-2
  • Sikorsky Sea Hawk masquerading as Mitsubishi H-60
  • Sikorsky Super Stallion
  • F4 Phantom

And then to round all that out is a packet of mixed missiles. Of course, at 1/1250th scale and with my ailing eyes, one missiles is going to look like another.

Having looked at the models and started to prepare for the mounting I must admit that the Cap Aero are superior to the 617 Squadron models.The 617 models are fine in and of themselves, it’s just that the Cap Aero are a little finer – wings, tail planes and what detail there is is cleaner. I would recommend both ranges however, but I would recommend Cap Aero ahead of 617 Squadron. Just my opinion mind.

Next step, stick a brass pole into them and set the bases up.

First Batch of Repairs

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The damaged aircraft

The damaged aircraft

As I finally had a painting area set up I thought I would start repairing the Balikbayan Box damage – the damage after the move from Singapore to Manila. The 1/1250 scale aircraft were the first cab off the rank.

The damaged aircraft were an Indian Naval Air Force Il-38 May and a Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy Aircraft Tu-26 Badger. The Il-38 had developed a really weird dihederal during transport.

So, dihederal corrected and a touch of super glue Gel and the aircraft are as good as new.

What is a little more interesting at the moment are the coins.

The aircraft, repaired and in the air again
The aircraft, repaired and in the air again

There is a collection of 10 and 25 piso coins on the table as well. These are reasonably new here from what I can determine and whilst the 25 piso one looks brass and the 10 piso coin looks copper, both are magnetic.

I noticed the same thing in Singapore with the new coins there, Regardless of the silver appearance, they were also magnetic. I’m starting to wonder now either what the metal is they are made of or what is added to the coin to give it the magnetic features.

The reason I have the coins is that I am thinking of attaching them to the underside of the aircraft bases to give them a little more stability. Anyway, first repairs complete! 🙂

The coins are adhering to the magnet under the base
The coins are adhering to the magnet under the base

A Little 2mm Middle Eastern Village

Thomo the Lost2 Comments
Some 2mm villages - Brigade Models on the left and Irregular Miniatures on the right
Some 2mm villages – Brigade Models on the left and Irregular Miniatures on the right

I had about 10 minutes spare the other day waiting so thought I would quickly put some paint to metal. A couple of my village blocks for the Peshawar project seemed the appropriate way to go as I had them prepared a while ago and they were already undercoated.

The buildings on the left come from Brigade Models and are really very neat, although I feel I could have placed them a little more randomly on the block. Still, they give the effect and work well with other blocks the same size.

The village on the right is from Irregular Miniatures which have a large 2mm range of scenery, soldiers and habitation (and also a pretty neat train). The Irregular village does look more village like – the trees add a little to the ambience.

Ground surface was painted just using a variety of desert sand type colours. I am not sure about flocking at 2mm scale – will maybe do a test piece later and see if it looks alright or not.

There is also a Brigade Models Facebook Page which is easier to get to on smartphones than the ‘blog and where they are happily announcing new stuff and such. Brigade also posted details of how various folks (including yours truly) were dealing with their 2mm models. Have a look at Out There in the Real World.

Irregular Miniatures also have a Facebook page with lots of pictures of their various offerings – not so much in the 2mm line though.

Hmm, modern 1/3000th naval vessels under paint – but the call of the Aeronef is getting louder.

2mm Arab Village Buildings

Thomo the Lost4 Comments
The 2mm village under-coated in Army Painter spray brown
The 2mm village under-coated in Army Painter spray brown

After the stinging criticism from Doug the other day that I was spending more time planning and preparing than actually painting, I added some paint to these. The original buildings were shown in a Diversion – 2mm Middle Eastern Villages.

As I am planning on trying a brown undercoat painting method for the Khmer and Burmese I thought I would practice in the 2mm buildings – and at least I have some paint on figures 😆

A Diversion – 2mm Middle Eastern Villages

Thomo the Lost5 Comments
Irregular Miniatures and Brigade Models 2mm buildings and village
Irregular Miniatures and Brigade Models 2mm buildings and village

I thought the for a change last night I would not add paint to the 1/6000 ships mentioned in On the workbench – painting in progress as I did not have much painting time available and really, I wanted to give my eyes a bit of a rest. What could be better than to prepare some 2mm buildings for the Aeronef Peshawar project? For the curious, 2mm is approximately 1/900 scale which is about right working with the nominal 1/1200th scale of the Aeronefs and looks about right with the Land Ironclads stuff produced by Brigade Models.

I had purchased a load of Brigade’s 2mm scale Middle Eastern buildings as well as some Irregular Miniatures Middle Eastern villages. I had been debating about how to handle these. The Brigade stuff was absolutely going to have to be stuck to something as they were individual buildings (see 2mm terrain for how they looked fresh from the post office).

I finally decided to try them glued to 20-thou Plasticard. I worked on 30mm, 40mm and 80mm sized bases. By basing this way I can set multiple separated bombing targets for the Aeronefs and Aerostats as small villages or larger towns. The ruled grid in the picture is a 1cm square grid.

Cute aren’t they?

Back to the ships tonight – I want to finish painting them tonight and then spend time tomorrow labelling the bases, ready to post on Monday. Then I’ll out some paint on these and see how they look painted up.

Update 2 – on pre-electronic wargame figure ordering – a piece of history

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The parcel from Navwar
The parcel from Navwar

Yesterday I posted about Pre-electronic wargame figure ordering – a piece of history or rather Update 1 – on pre-electronic wargame figure ordering – a piece of history. I was expecting the delivery Navwar to arrive around 8 April or so.

I checked the letterbox tonight when I got home and found a parcel in there from Navwar. Now I’m impressed.

Posted the letter on 18 March 2013, Easter was in the middle of it all but the parcel arrived back here in Singapore today.

That’s a turn around of 17 days from posting order to receipt of goods – I guess letters are not that slow after all – I’ve had slower order fulfilment from on-line ordering at other firms.

Well done Navwar, Singapore Post and the Royal Mail.

2mm Terrain

Thomo the Lost8 Comments
The train set with a couple of additional items - like stations and embankment
The train set with a couple of additional items – like stations and embankment

I mentioned the other day receiving a parcel from Irregular Miniatures that contained, in addition to the 15mm Khmer, some terrain for the Peshawar project. That is, 2mm scenery for my Aeronefs and eventually Land Ironclads to fight over. I have already received some terrain previously so thought I would lay it out tonight and see what I had in total.

The first item was the train set. Every boy wants one and I have a little one – size doesn’t matter after all 😛

I have been thinking that for the Victorian Science Fiction project that I’ve nicknamed Peshawar, one end of the world will be the green fields of England and Holland, the other will be the dry wastes of Central Asia and the northern part of South Asia.

The locomotives, carriages and stations
The locomotives, carriages and stations

Connecting them will be a train line. The track, stations and locomotives are shown above. The image to the right is a close up of the locomotive and carriages and some of the track.

I selected the 19th century Iron Horse set and whilst it looks a little American Western in style, the trains will work nicely for Peshawar.

I had also ordered some terrain packs of villages, woods and hills, road sections, Middle Eastern village and buildings. They are illustrated below.

In what can best be described as a typical wargamer over achievement I also ordered buildings from Brigade Models as they had just released some really nice stuff too. Brigade also make the Aeronefs. The items purchased are shown below.

I am now wondering how best to handle the terrain for the Aeronef game. Part of me says to keep it loose but that is not so easy with 2mm terrain, it is easy to knock and move around the table. In one of the photos below you can see a brown board. This is an MDF board, about 3mm think and slightly larger than a sheet of A4 paper.

I have been trying to decide between modelling little terrain vignettes on small pieces of MDF with the edges suitable tapered to sit as throw down terrain on a table top. The other option is to build terrain squares on the A4 sized MDF sheets – some Central Asian/Middle East, the others European with some connecting pieces in between. Still pondering.

In the meantime, below is the rest of the buildings and such I purchased.

The Irregular Miniatures Horse and Musket Terrain Pack
The Irregular Miniatures Horse and Musket Terrain Pack

 

Irregular Miniatures Middle Eastern village
Irregular Miniatures Middle Eastern village

 

Irregular Miniatures road pack
Irregular Miniatures road pack

 

Brigade Models European (British) buildings
Brigade Models European (British) buildings

 

Brigade Models Middle Eastern village buildings - also a couple of forts in here
Brigade Models Middle Eastern village buildings – also a couple of forts in here

 

Brigade Models industrial and agricultural buildings and some more houses on the MDF board described above
Brigade Models industrial and agricultural buildings and some more houses on the MDF board described above

 

The Postman Cometh

Thomo the LostLeave a comment
The package from Irregular that arrived in my mailbox today
The package from Irregular that arrived in my mailbox today

One of the nice things about the mail box in Singapore is that parcels like this fit in them. The postman open a door and he can place mail in all letterboxes even when those letters or parcels are too big to fit through the slot in the letterbox. Good design really.

I received a parcel from Irregular Miniatures today. I ordered some stuff (unlike Navwar, Irregular accepts orders by electronic means). I ordered on 12 March 2013. On 13 March 2013 Ian Kay of Irregular put my parcel in the post and it arrived in my letterbox here in Singapore today, 21 March 2013. I’m impressed and I do love the service from Irregular – they are one of the best.

I’d ordered some 2mm terrain for the Peshawar project (1/1200th scale aeronefs and Land Ironclads – Victorian Science Fiction). I also ordered some of Irregular’s 15mm ancient figures, in part because I have never painted any. I’ve painted their 2mm and 6mm figures (and I’ll be honest here, the 6mm were not my favourites – I was spoiled early on by first being exposed to Heroics and Ros too many years ago to remember).

The contents of the package from Irregular Miniatures
The contents of the package from Irregular Miniatures

The 15mm figures will make up a Khmer DBA army and I will comment on them further later.

The 2mm terrain was some villages and woods and again I’ll comment on those in a later post. The best was the 2mm train-set. I have painted some of that before in  Oz and they look fine. They will fit in well to then Colonial world that is Peshawar, my Victorian Science Fiction universe.

Now I am just waiting for my copy of Shipwreck which should arrive any day now, and my Indian and Chinese navies. Judging from the past performance of Navwar, my letter should arrive in their shop tomorrow or Monday then 7 to 10 days later a parcel should arrive here.

In the meantime, tomorrow night will be set aside for a serious planning session to work out how to handle the 2mm terrain. Until that post appears here, goodnight!

The Decision is In!

Thomo the Lost3 Comments

OK, after much deep consideration I have settled on the next wargaming project. It is:

All of this is in addition to finishing the American Civil War figures and pondering 20mm World War 2 ((I’m pretty sure that will be 20mm)).

The perfect wargamer’s solution.