From Lorenzo: Reach for the Sky CamoMint style - no guns just cameras (35pts)

This next offering is well off my beaten track and comfort zone - except that was not always the case.

I am offering it as a DIY kit bashing entry in the library. (20 points please)

As a kid I made kits and these were I think aircraft before I discovered tanks and AFV's I think I must have made a spitfire but only remember a Mosquito, a Blenheim Bomber and some biplanes! Once I discovered wargames it was all tank kits and the rest is history as they say. However last year a new Osprey publication caught my eye. All about Photo Reconnaissance in World War 2.

So eventually I got the book for Christmas as a gift, then there was AHPCXIV plus a trip to a Doncaster Toy Fair repleat with aircraft kits. The next minute I had bought my first aircraft kit in decades. I could be making spitfires for the next ten years easy - just off this one book. It is a seriously interesting story. As I bought two kits (in case I fouled up the first one) I am quite tempted to try the Soviet version or US version which was preferred over their own Mustangs! Where to start - at the beginning of course - so no flashy blue or pink for me (notoriety is that PR flew special pink versions for dawn or dusk tactical missions but no one it seems can quite agree on the shade of pink). I gave up when I stumbled across an online site explaining that many colour war images were actually laboratory created in the 1940's then subsequently rediscovered years later but without clear provenance they were not originals. The moral of this story is to stick with pre 1900 wars except you then get all the artists interpretations - basically you cannot win so paint what you like!). Instead I opted for a 1939 experimental Mk1 in - wait for it - CamoMint.

My small bit of online research confirmed that aircraft like ships and even tanks are a "technical" nightmare. Add to that the absolute perfection of images aircraft kit modellers post online, then I simply offer a suitably rustic view on what would become a very important part of military information collection.

Transfers were from a very fast Hannants delivery after another supplier failed to deliver for me.

In the book the early paint scheme shows no white on the fuselage roundels. I tested my painting skills on a spare transfer and decided to leave it white - my explanation is the painter was following the roundel painting standard! Apparently there were zillions of painting standards even before the war got properly going. Anyway thats my get out.

The green I opted for was a washed out vallejo AIR 71.009 green over a Miniature Paints Matt White used as a primer undercoat main colour. None of the other whites I had held on the plastic too my liking. MP Paints are sold by Coritani so good on them as I only had a few of their paints. They came to my rescue. I then overpainted the lot in VJ MC152 silver grey very well watered down. I kept thinking of those painters at some french airfield in 1940 with german armour blithely racing past ("nope - slap on another coat of camo mint white wash Aircraft Man Jones......") A rare photo of the experimental flight in operation on the ground in Nancy, France 1939 is included in the book.

Finally the completed model - ok I may well varnish it all matt and have a go at the white on the fuselage roundel. Out of interest I do not use airbrushes at all in my hobby, owned one years ago but decided I prefer the brush. So what you see is all slapped on with an equivalent standard royal airforce 6 inch brush. Except in one of the photos it shows a paint job being done with a real life paint sprayer - hey ho.

So AHPC14 has dragged me further off the beaten track so much so that next week will be a no show - sorry folks. Points tally - i am not sure 15 pts for an aircraft? 20 pts for DIY kitbash

20mm vehicle = 15 points

History = 20 points

 Total = 35 points

Sylvain: I really like the research you did on this model. It makes you look at the model in a different way. I also which I could have access to all the vendors in Doncaster Toy Fair... Great job on that Spitfire, it looks clean and ready for action. Another great posting from the Monday Crew!

P.S. I added you labels.

 

From DougM - Krypton and a sudden weakness...(71 Points)

Don't you hate it when a post vanishes, and you have to redo it? Not as much as German pilots hated the weakness of the early Albatross Scout planes; a tendency to break up in mid-air..  so that's Krypton.

(Almost as much when you take a picture and spot a thousand errors in the paint job.. but enough complaints, it's time for the pictures.)

Some chap called Richtofen & some Recce also seems to have snuck in, so that makes a total of 17 x 1/144 aircraft, which are counted as 10mm vehicles @ 3 points each = 51 + 20 for Krypton for a total of 71.

It also gets me another Squirrel ..  for a total of 12

• 1/200 WW2 Japanese Aircraft
• 1/200 WW2 US Aircraft
• 1/200 WW2 British Aircraft
• 1/200 WW2 German Aircraft
• 1/144 WW1 British Aircraft
• 1/144 WW1 German Aircraft
• 28mm German Armour
• 28mm Japanese Armour
• 28mm 12th SS Panzer infantry
• 28mm Indian Mutiny Sepoys
• 28mm Dr Who
• 28mm Austrian Napoleonic

***

"A tendency to break up in mid-air" - so what? Quitters! Pilots are such a bunch of whingers, always needing everything to be perfect.

Anyway, the WW1 aircraft always bring out romantic notions of air combat (even as the reality of course was grim and deadly enough, even without your craft simply breaking apart on you). I quite enjoy the bonkers markings on the planes themselves, nods to the now-distant notions of chivalry in war. I'll throw in a few bonus points for the markings. Cheers!

GregB

From DougM - Lightning Elephants- Corsucant (sic) - (76 Points)

Not exactly a points bomb, and I am sure no surprise after my 1/200 Japanese WW2 aircraft...  this very versatile hex mat is no longer Kent, it is in fact, paddy fields on Asian islands. 

So first some Army Lightnings. The hard part was finding ways to make a very dull colour scheme a little bit interesting. 

And the Navy is here... F4F Wildcats. As usual, I didn't make them for a particular squadron, but kept them generic. 

Finally, you know when you think an 'army' is finished, and you spot something? Well, it doesn't come much more 'Imperial' conflict than the Indian Mutiny, and who could resist a splendid (and very well priced) AW Miniatures Elephant drawn limber? I think this will be my Deployment Point for Sharp Practice.

That's my 'Imperial' for Coruscant planet bonus, making a total of:

12 x 10mm 'vehicles' @3 each = 36

1 x 28mm 'vehicle' @20 = 20

Planet Bonus = 20 for a total of 76 points. 

Hopefully more to come this week... 

And Squirrels..  now up to 10 I think.

• 1/200 WW2 Japanese Aircraft
• 1/200 WW2 US Aircraft
• 1/200 WW2 British Aircraft
• 1/200 WW2 German Aircraft
• 1/144 WW1 British Aircraft (not quite enough for WW1 German Aircraft (doh!))
• 28mm German Armour
• 28mm 12th SS Panzer infantry
• 28mm Indian Mutiny Sepoys
• 28mm Dr Who
• 28mm Austrian Napoleonics

I was curious about the content of this post based on the title.  I was kind of expecting Incendiary Pigs or some other Anti-elephant ploy that used to exist on the WRG army lists.  However I am well satisfied with what you've presented Doug.  Love the aircraft and that Elephant is just the bees' knees.  Really good work on the saddle blanket and mahout. 

DougM: Yellow-Nosed B*st*rds! - Perelandra (60 Points)

The Spitfires need something to keep them amused, so using the finest historical research material, 'Battle of Britain' MGM 1969...  or MCMLXIX or whatever... I present the 'Yellow-Nosed B*st*rds' of the movie. Home 3d printed 1/200 Messerschmitt Me109E (Emil). 

I faffed around for a fair while figuring out what colours to use, and the cockpit framing and camouflage is inconsistent as I experimented with what I thought looked best. But here they are, ready to give 603 and 43 Squadrons a hard time. 

Of course, one of the drawbacks the Luftwaffe faced during the Battle was that they had to travel across water (Oceanic) and face the (Temptation) to linger too long in combat, risking running out of fuel on the return leg...  so pretty please a planet bonus.. 

Squirrel Points - these add another 12 x 3 = 36 points to 1/200 Luftwaffe to add to the 7 Heinkels, so enough to bring them up to Squirrel status. A grand total of 9 Squirrel points so far... 

From Dave D 

I Wondered when these might be along - another grand addition

From DougM: Noel's Comment and a Story - Noel's Comet 190 pts

So: many many years, ago, when I was living in Australia, I used to play DBA regularly. There was a local group in Canberra who used to get together to play one day tournaments - always in licensed premises, and part of my fun was to crack the first beer with the first game. I usually found that a winning smile would get me an early brew from the staff while everyone else was making do with takeaway coffee. And the additional challenge was playing the later games after the first few. After all, DBA is just a dice throwing contest isn't it? :)

So one day, there was this other guy there, watched me belly up to the bar, and followed suit. At the time, I was still smoking, so; although he didn't smoke, he and I got chatting out the back in breaks between games, as both of us played fast... Turns out, he had a blog, which I already followed, knew most of the Aussie players I knew, and was great company. Thomo the Lost - Ian Thomson. 

At the time, he was working in South East Asia, and was back in Australia for his mum, but from then on, whenever he visited Oz, he and his partner would come and stay at Chez Doug. The dogs loved him, and in between beer and gaming we had great fun. We would plan new forces, egg on each other to more and better painting efforts, and agree joint projects. 

We also went to the annual Cancon, and played  The one thing we never got to do was some aerial wargaming.. he wanted Khalkin Ghol, I wanted Battle of Britain, so instead we just got more megalomaniac, larger and larger pre-dreadnought fleets, more and more WW2 6mm, till I swear he had an entire Guards Armoured Division at 1:1. but still no aerial wargaming. 

We played off at Cancon, for the National DBA Title, (he kept claiming my Teutonic Knights were illegally based for the terrain, with snow, when I won..) Still no aerial wargaming.

Thomo was my Best Man when I remarried in Scotland in 2012. But no time for aerial wargaming. He kept on visiting until I moved from Australia n 2016.

And in 2021, he died in the Philippines from Covid. So too late for Aerial Wargaming. 

So these are for him. All home 3d Prints.

Fields of Kent look lovely this time of year... 'Wir fahren gegen Engeland'...

You sure we're heading in the right direction?

Uh-oh... Gruss Gott! Spitfires!

City of Edinburgh Squadron - yes, I know they weren't in Kent, but they could have been ...

And as we all know from the movies, Hurricanes take the bombers out, Spitfires go for fighter cover. This is 43 Squadron.

Run away....!!!

This was a disaster..  codes smudged, and in the wrong place!  The later versions were an improvement thankfully.

And the 'might' of the Royal Flying Corps...   F2b, Brisfits, 'Harry Tates', SE5a and Sopwith Camels

SE5a

RE8 or 'Harry Tates'

F2b

Sopwith Camels... no Snoopy I'm afraid.

Late Breaking..   those Spitfires have something to worry about... 

So that's my Noel's Comet, for Thomo. All the WW2 British are entirely hand painted markings, the WW2 Heinkels are balkankreuze decals as are the Yellow S and the recognition panels on White 1. The WW2 stuff is 1/200, and the WW1 stuff is 1/144.

I guess all these count for 3 points, each, but with all the markings, it feels like a lot of effort for 3 points!  *FROM 

7 Heinkels, 12 x Me 109, 10 Spitfires, and 9 Hurricanes = 38 x 3 = 114 points

16 x RFC x 3 = 48 points

Noel's Comet planet bonus = 20

Oh and Squirrel points..  lets see

1/200 WW2 Japanese Aircraft

1/200 WW2 British Aircraft

1/200 WW2 German Aircraft

1/144 WW1 British Aircraft

not quite enough for WW1 German Aircraft

28mm German Armour

28mm 12th SS Panzer infantry

28mm Indian Mutiny Sepoys

28mm Dr Who

28mm Austrian Napoleonics

So 9 Squirrel points only...  :(    but let's see what next week brings...

From DaveD . Having lost a great friend this year with who i  always ended up planning madness over the many years this hits the spot. So its good to see your tribute . Indeed i recognise the challemge per points efforts on these so I have topped you up 

From DougM - A Badly Judged Operation - LV426 (92 points)

Nothing says badly judged like December 7th 1941...  'Awaken a Sleeping Giant'.

So yet more home printed aircraft, this time for 'Bag the Hun', WW2 from the Too Fat Lardies. The WW1 stuff I printed off in 1/144, but the larger aircraft  WW2... (watch this space!) I went for 1/200.

I also - for some ridiculous reason, thought it would be easy to paint Japanese insignia.. idiot that I am..

And as always it seems, waiting for my naval hex mat to arrive... 

Zeros!  - some sort of colour shift here, they are more Greenish in real life.

Escorting some Aichi Val

And the Kates.. 

Some Nates to keep them company...

Slow Progress...  I was hoping to have more done this week, but real life you know.

Points = 10mm vehicles (I think?) @3 x 24 = 72

Planet bonus = 20

Total 92 points... 

Those tiny planes look great, Doug!

Tamsin

From DougM - Doctors & Planes - Klendathu, Skaro, Cybertron (90pts)

Continuing my thread of getting round the outer sphere, the next port of call is Klendathu, an ugly planet, a planet where an invasion goes wrong. And if you're a Dalek, well, this is where your invasion goes very wrong. Rose Tyler with a great big gun!

The lighting and camera work is appalling.. sorry! I claim it looks much better on table... 

And so on to Skaro, for Doctors. And the next Doctor in my Whovian ouevre...  A man who needs no introduction.

As someone else said, that scarf deserves bonus points. So Rose is a Crooked Dice temporal Traveller, and the Doctor originally Harlequin. So enough of the external ring and we are next to the Great Abyssal, so a hop skip and a jump..  and it's Cybertron. Transformational?

Well these guys are..  the Fokker Eindekker, 1/144 3d prints from designs by Jimbo, decals courtesy of Pendraken, and they transformed the war in the air with a forward firing synchronised machine gun. 

I have printed bases as well, pending the arrival of some clear hexes and rods from eBay. They are set up for the WW1 version of the TooFatLardies 'Bag the Hun' - 'Algy Pulls it Off'. Next, where would we be if we didn't have a few 'Heath Robinson'esque' Allied Scouts for the Eindekkers to tangle with? So here we have that masterpiece of aviation design...

The DH2. As we haven't figured out how to synchronise the machine gun to the propeller, we will just have to put the prop on the back.

Points wise.. ok

2 x Dr Who figures @5 each = 10, 

6 x 10mm 'vehicles' @3 each = 18

two uter ring planets @ 20 = 40

one centre ring @20 

a grand (ok not so grand) total of 88 points.. and the two Dr Who figures bring me to 25, this making  it a legal 'Squirrel' - 

 

From DaveD 

That is indeed a fine scarf on a classic Dr Who extra points indeed . O do like the Fokker , it’s on our gaming groups list to acquire for Wings of Glory. And a bounce around the galaxy it is too .