Aerodrome goes to School

[Big Blake]

Howdy Yall,

I am going to teach a WoG class this year during my summer program to middle school aged kids. The class is 2.5 hours long for five days. At the end of the class, the kids will take home a plane and deck for that plane for their very own.

So my questions are:

1) where would be a place to purchase 5 Entente and 5 Central planes at a reasonable price?

2) what year of the war would have the most planes available to purchase and keep the game balanced?

3) should I stay with Ares planes or try the other 1/144 makers out there? (am leaning towards pre-paints)

4) been hearing about Shapeways, would they be strong enough for kids to use?

Any help would be greatful ;)

cya

[Baron Rolf]

The deul packs are coming out soon and I think they come with the basic rules , I think this is great what you're planning on doing Blake as you're introducing these kids to something far better than computer games , let us know how you've got on with this project :thumbsup:

[Nightbomber]

A perfect idea. I made three 7-11 boys veteran pilots myself.
Stay with original NEXUS/ARES minis, do not mess around with Shapeways models which are for veteran enthusiasts.
Duel packs are ideal for your puropose, believe me. Good luck! :thumbsup:

[Watchdog]

I would suggest using series 5 as starters, then moving to Duel Packs/Series 1 reprints.

Fokker Dr.I and Sopwith Camel are so damn iconic that everyone will love having one. :)

Any custom planes will require a base, pegs and possibly some mounting (such as Gimbal Mounts), making the cost per plane significantly higher.

[MoonSylver]

Agree w/ all my fellow pilots above. Only thing I'd add is stay away from the early war planes. IMO, I think the kids would respond better to the flashier, harder hitting, faster, more manuverable & more durable planes of the current wave than the early war kites. :)

[Big Blake]

Series 5 plane can be found where?

[Boney10]

Think for you the Oberst and AA is the best buy, taking the new reprint of Series 1

Its the same planes that it all started with, Camels, Spads, Albatross and of course DR1

If you go the shapeways , FUD nice detail but I believe is a bit brittle, or can be, but no deck no base.
SWF will take the handleing, well mine have so far in a couple of conventions, but again no base and no decks, so what you save youll spend getting these.
I think your safest bet is the new reprints or try early DH2 and Halberstads, both use B guns and same deck, plus the DH2 is a pusher, something about pushers look good
Hop this helps

[Boney10]

Forgot to say, Ares all come pre assembled and painted with decks, base and pegs.
I already said about shapeways.
There is also Reviresco and Skytrex white metal but these are kits and need assembly also no base, pegs or decks :)

[Oberst Hajj]

Blake,

This sounds like a very cool project! Might I suggest that you keep track of their "kills". At the end of the week you could give the ones with the most kills an extra prize.

if it was me, I would go with the Series 1 planes. They are all iconic planes of WWI and readily available. With the duel packs coming out next week, you can get four different aircraft types, each in four different color schemes. I sell them though the Aerodrome Accessories (http://www.aerodromeaccessories.com/index.php/miniatures/wwi-miniatures-sets.html)web site for about 30% off retail. I could also hook you up with some extra stuff to give the kiddos as prizes.

Keith

[Big Blake]

Cool Oberst, didn't know AA was your gig.

These Dual Packs planes, all flew at the same time? I would like the kids to have contempory planes. Tracking kills and awards sounds cool also.

I will go check out the AA site to see the new planes.

Cya

[Big Blake]

Checked it out, so if I pick up the Dual Packs I could also give each kid a plane console and a ruler.

[Doug]

Blake, if it was me, I would go with the Series 1 planes. They are all iconic planes of WWI and readily available. With the duel packs coming out next week, you can get four different aircraft types, each in four different color schemes. Keith
I would also add the following point which have been stated by others in this thread with the intention of renforcing their points
Stay away from Shapeways as there is to much preperation work to be done and some kids may be put off by painting and they have to get pegs and stands for them.
The reason I started with WoG was you can take the plane out of the box and play with it straight aways plus the pegs stand and manouver cards are all there.
Dual packs to me would be the way to go as the kids will get 1 x German plane and 1 x Allied plane giving them a greater choise of what to fly. Good luck

[hatfieldsinal]

I would recommend all of the advice above. If you can't work things out with Herr Oberst for your purchases, you could check out Coolstuffinc.com. They are very reliable and have good prices.

[Oberst Hajj]

Checked it out.nso if I pick up the Dual Packs I could also give each kid a plane console and a ruler.

Yep, that's me!

From your first post, you were looking for a total of 10 planes. If you go with just the Duel Packs, you would end up with a couple of the same exact planes flying on the table... could get confusing as to which plane belongs to who. I would buy one each of the Duel Packs (4 planes) and then I'd pick up these:

Rickenbaker
Barker
Elwood or Stackard

Von Hippel
LvR
Kirschstein

That will give you the most even match up between all the planes and give the start of a couple of units (Jasta 11 for the Dr.Is and Jasta 5 for the D.Va).

[Burt]

I agree with the above, stick with the Ares planes for starters, they are quite tough and have all the necessary cards and stands.
Don