Hobby & Game Holidays

Well, it's the end of the year...and my hobby room has been a blasted mess for the last six months. So at the start of the holidays, I did a big clean up. The result:

Of course, I immediately filled the table back up again with the next two projects, but for a few moments, all was tidy and serene in my little corner of hobbydom.

For the last several years, I've always gotten together with my buddy Dave Coltman for a game over the holidays. Today we were able to hook up over a Command & Colors Ancients battlefield. Whenever we play C&CA, we always play twice and switch sides, with the winner being the fellow with the biggest victory banner differential. Today's scenario was Boudica's Revolt, 61 AD.

C&CA is a great game. One of the reasons I love it is that the scenarios are rarely balanced. As such, they play out with a very historical flavor (i.e. the winner wins). So winning, per se, is always a matter of degrees. The set up.

This scenario is invariably a Roman win. Dave took the British during the first match. Here he is contemplating his opening move, which will be a right flank activation to get Boudica into the battle.

Dave wound up winning the day with a total of 12 banners to 9. Good games!

Back at the hobby table, I have two projects going. I really want to get my Space Hulk Genestealers finished up. Elliot and I are already 4 games into our 12 game campaign...and I've been using his alien minis. I want to be able to use my own! Our campaign match is currently tied 2-2.

And for the next bout of WWI Canvas Eagles insanity, I'm taking on 8 Albatros D.Vs.

I'm about a third of the way into the project right now, and I'll start the series of build posts next week.

'Til then, Happy New Year!

Christmas in Banff

Merry Christmas!

My wife and I are spending Christmas in Banff, so I'm skiing instead of modeling and painting. No problem...I have several projects on the table back at home and I'll update next week. First off, I'm painting up all my Space Hulk aliens. Second, I have an insane new WWI modeling project...even bigger than the last one. Details on the way.

I hope everyone has a great Christmas day.

Canvas Eagles

A fictional dogfight between C Flight, 56 Squadron and a kette of triplanes from Jasta 19 formed the backdrop for our club's eight-player Canvas Eagles game last night. Kevin, Bob, Terry and Chris played the allied pilots, while Elliot, Matt, Andy and Chen-song played the Germans.


This turned out to be a swirling dogfight, with most of the planes taking plenty of damage (and there were lots of wounded pilots). In the end, the British lost two aircraft and the Germans one, with the allies losing an additional plane down under control behind enemy lines.


The low-light for me was setting Andy's plane on fire when he only had two fuselage damage boxes remaining...and having it burn for FIVE turns. Five damage chits later, no additional fuselage hits were delivered and the fire went out. Andy then promptly collided with Bob's SE5a and went down. Robbed! A few turns later, Andy had brought on a new plane, lined my plane up for a close range shot and promptly delivered a "Pilot Killed" damage chit result. Aargh.


Here's is Andy's plane on fire.



I managed to get pilot figures into all of the German planes before game time...now I have to paint up a few more for the next time the SE5as hit the table.



'Til next time...

Fokker Triplane Build: Part 4 of 4

Well, I can finally put this project to bed. It's been the better part of a month, but the six Fokker Dr.Is are ready to hit the game table this coming Tuesday night.

This build took about twice as long as the last group of SE5as I did, mainly because there was so much paint masking and decal work. As an example, one Jasta 19 triplane fuselage side would get a base coat of white primer, then a mask for the iron cross field, then a spray of desert sand (for the linen color), then the iron cross decal. Next there would be a light overpainting of olive for the cross, then the streak decal, then the serial number and finally the decal for the fuselage personal marking. In other words...it took a while!

Here the build is almost done...just waiting for landing gear, tail skid and propeller.

The builds are done now. Kirschstein's optical illusion plane from Jasta 6 is in the back left. The five Jasta 19 planes from early April, 1918 round out the shot.

Another view, this time from the front quarter. I'm running a Canvas Eagles game at the club on Tuesday, so I'll post some pics on Wednesday.

A final inspirational Jasta 19 painting...here Korner is diving on some English Bristol Fighters (even though at this time, these pilots were mostly fighting French opponents).

I'd like to do a flight of Albatros D.Vs next, but I think I'll take a little break and paint some Space Hulk miniatures heading into the Christmas holidays. 'Til next time...

Fokker Triplane Build: Part 3

For the first time in a few weeks, I'm feeling like there is light at the end of the tunnel.

The five Jasta 19 triplanes, and Kirschstein's Jasta 6 machine are starting to take shape.

This past week has been mayhem...the hobby table has been a jumble of wings, tailplanes and half-painted fuselages. At this stage I was prepping the fuselage cross fields. Jasta 19 overpainted their iron crosses to make these markings blend in with the surrounding camouflage fabric, and create an even background for the individual pilot markings.

Here, I'm just starting to work on Krischstein's fuselage bands.

At the end of this week you can see that all the major decaling work is done...and there was a lot of it! Final assembly over the coming week, and then these six Canvas Eagles miniatures should be ready for the game table.

'Til next time!

Fokker Triplane Build: Part 2

Off to Calgary for the weekend...so here's a quick update on the Jasta 19 Dr.I builds for Canvas Eagles.

As you can see, I finally got the last two required kits in, and I'm in the process of catching them up with the other three. All fuselage assemblies have been closed up, puttied and sanded down in this shot.

Here, the fuselage sets have been primed. You may also notice that there are six planes here...not the five I had planned. Easily explained, but only understood my masochists. I figured that while I was doing these five Eduard kits, I might as well toss in a Revell build as well. I had the kit and a set of nice FCM decals to use, so what the Hell? Like six is going to be that much more work than five!

For the sixth triplane, I'm deviating from my standard practice of modeling low-scoring pilots and am doing a build for one of the most prodigious triplane pilots of the war, Hans Kirschstein. Kirschstein scored 27 victories with Jasta 6 in his three months as a fighter pilot. He was killed in late June, 1918 as a passenger in a flight accident.

His triplane was known as The Optical Illusion, due to the nature of the black & white striping which reputedly threw off the aim of attacking pilots.

Here's a three-view drawing of the aircraft.

And here is the current state of this extra sixth build. The top wing striping is on and the Jasta 6 tail markings are done.

More next week. Until then...go Roughriders!

Fokker Triplane Build: Part 1

And now...onto the Jasta 19 Fokker Dr.I build.


As I've been threatening, I'm now starting into a build of five Fokker Triplanes for our Canvas Eagles games. I'm using Eduard 1/72 scale kits with Gunsight Graphics streak painting decals and the Pheon Models transfer sheet for the individual plane markings.


Why Jasta 19? Well, first of all, their markings in late March/early April 1918 were stark, and quite beautiful. They'll be easy to identify and differentiate on the game table.



Second, this was a work-a-day unit. It wasn't stacked full of celebrated pilots who were tearing up the skies of France. In fact, the unit was struggling in early 1918. I guess I'm a sucker for the also-rans! Be that as it may, as the last big German offensive of the war was getting underway (Operation Michael, March 21, 1918), Jasta 19 was one of four squadrons constituting Jagdgeschwader II, another fighter wing patterned after Manfred von Richthofen's very successful Jagdgeschwader I.


I have three of the required five kits on the hobby table...still waiting on the mail for the last two. However, the major components are prepped and I've started into the painting and wing decaling.



This is a flight line shot of Jasta 19 aircraft in April 1918. The first three planes you can see here will be included in this build.



In late March and early April, Jasta 19's leader was Leutnant Walter Gottsch. He was fated to be shot down on April 10th, 1918, just as the Jasta was starting to come into its own. His final victory total was 20 enemy aircraft. He was credited with 3 victories in this build's swastika-marked triplane before he was killed in action.



As I mentioned, Jasta 19 was a somewhat under-performing unit. JG II's new commanding officer, Rudolf Berthold, sent his own man to the squadron in order to give them a kick-start. This pilot was Leutnant Arthur Rahn. Rahn scored twice in his diamond-banded triplane. He was wounded on July 17 and finished the war with a total of 6 victories.



Leutnant Rudolf Rienau spent most of his flying career with Jasta 19. He scored once in his striped-fuselage triplane in early March, and then ran up his tally to 6 (flying a Fokker D.VII) towards the end of the war. He was shot down on September 13th 1918, but was saved by his parachute. He was killed in a flying accident in 1925.



Leutnant Hans Korner scored once in his zig-zag marked Jasta 19 triplane on the last day of March, 1918. He survived the war with a final victory total of 7. He remained in aviation after the war, but was killed in a motorcycle accident on the way to his airfield.



Back to the builds...


So I've tried to simulate Fokker paint streaks on models before. And while I was pretty satisfied with the result, it took f-o-r-e-v-e-r. This time around, I've decided to go with decals for the base paint scheme.



Here are three sets of wings with the decals applied (except for the upper wing ailerons).



Pheon Models supplies a lot of source information for their decal sheet. Here you can see the guidelines for Rahn, Gottsch, Korner and Rienau's machines.



Now, of course, this is a five plane build. So...which is the fifth plane? Well, as you may know, many German records were lost or destroyed at the end of the first and second world wars. As such, our knowledge of all pilots and aircraft is incomplete. Now, what we do know is that there was a Jasta 19 pilot known as Vizefeldwebel Gerdes. He scored a single victory with the squadron on March 16th, 1918. (Sorry, no pilot photo.) We also know the following triplane flew for Jasta 19 at that time, but it's pilot was unknown. Unknown pilot...unknown plane. I dub this Gerdes' triplane! It will be the fifth and final plane of this flight.



Some plan views of this build.



OK, hopefully the last couple of models come in and I can move this build forward.

Weekend Miscellany

After finishing the big SE5a build last weekend, I spent this weekend tidying up the hobby table and reviewing upcoming projects. Not the least of these is my planned quintuple Fokker Triplane build. I have three of the five models in right now, and started prepping these kits. I'm using Eduard models (gotta take a break from Roden!), and as I've said, these are going to be Jasta 19 machines from early April 1918. Pilot profiles and more detailed build notes next week.

My buddy Elliot and I are working on getting a Space Hulk campaign going. He's much further ahead on the miniature painting than I am. He's table-ready with all his Terminator Marines. I'm working on my Genestealers, but I suspect that Elliot will get his done first. I'll be using his in the campaign until I can get mine finished.


I'm not a fan of the Games Workshop standard paint schemes for the Genestealers, so I've worked up my own using the P3 Cryx Bane and GW Rotting Flesh colors for my slimy alien hoard.



Here they are on one of the Space Hulk game tiles.



One of my lingering WWI Canvas Eagles builds is an Airfix Hannover Cl IIIa. I don't have the jam for the intricate fuselage hex pattern paint scheme, so I've decided to go with a simple blue and white body. Top plane lozenge (by Pegasus) is on...underside lozenge to follow.



I took an opportunity this weekend to fix up a number of my Canvas Eagles planes that were a little war-worn from four years of campaigning. Many had detached magnets, dislodged landing gear axles and even broken wings. A lot of super glue later, these guys are ready to fly again.


Revell Fokkers (including one old Airfix Triplane) and a Roden Pfalz.



Airfix Albatros DVs and Roland CII. The DIII is the old Revell kit, and the Albatros CIII is from Pegasus.



Airfix Pups, Esci Nieuport 17 and a Flashback Sopwith 1 1/2 Strutter single seat bomber.



While waiting for the remaining Triplane models to arrive, I've started into the wing streaking using the neat Gunsight Graphics decals.



Also had time to play Warcraft with my wife. Here is her character, Birdee, on her new Bronze Drake mount, next to me on my Red Drake. Probably doesn't mean anything to non-WoW players...but to us, getting the Bronze Drake out of Stratholme was a big deal





Til next time!

SE5a Flight Build: Part 3 of 3

My wife has done a fair bit of pottery, and she can spend many, many hours on a piece...kneading the clay, making the form, trimming it, drying it, bisque firing and glazing...only to have it all ruined with the final firing (too hot, running glaze, exploding piece...whatever). I have shared that kind of anguish making models. You go through all the meticulous steps, only to have the finished plane ruined by a spray of the matt clear coat which, wrecks the decals, or mottles the finish or whatever. I thought I was headed into another one of those awful experiences as I was finishing off this flight of SE5as. As I spray coated the undersides, I was getting some staining...and I thought, crap...this Dullcoat is reactly badly with the Future floor wax on the models.

Happily, as it turned out, the mottling was minimal. All's well that ends well.

So, here were the final steps of the build...

I got all the decals on and sealed them with a generous coating of Future floor wax. Then I added the painted exhaust stacks...kind of rusty at the front end and darker metal towards the rear. Here is a shot of the planes just before the upper wings went on the the interplane struts were popped in.


I had previously sprayed the propellers with a deck wood paint color. Then I stained them with a sepia wash and when that dried I painted the tips light grey.


Here the SE5as have their wings on and struts in. At this point, they just need undercarriages, props, Lewis gun mounts and tailplanes. The Roden kit has no guide holes for the attachment of the landing gear, so I drilled these out as best I could.


And the result...five models in under 3 weeks. Much better than my normal build time.


I Dullcoated the models, glued magnets to the undersurface of each plane, and presto...they're ready for a game of Canvas Eagles.


Would I like to do more with these builds? Yes. They deserve a little representational rigging. I game with rigged and unrigged planes. Although there isn't much of a difference on the game table, rigged planes just look better overall. These guys will get some stretched sprue rigging at some point. Also, I have some pilot figures I'd like to paint up and pop them in as well.


Well, now that that build is done, I'd like to move on to a flight of Jasta 19 triplanes from April 1918. Here's a preview!


Happy gaming!