Great paintjob, Bob. The Italian plane looks perfect, but the Turkish are awesome. I also have some Turkish repaints done especially for games with my Turkish friend living nearby. Any sources for Turkish aifrcaft profiles?
Great paintjob, Bob. The Italian plane looks perfect, but the Turkish are awesome. I also have some Turkish repaints done especially for games with my Turkish friend living nearby. Any sources for Turkish aifrcaft profiles?
"We do not stop playing when we get old, but we get old when we stop playing."
Kurt von Crailsheim (Oct 1915, FFA 53 - CDL Fokker) and Ernst Freiherr von Althaus (Dec 1915, Kek Vaux - Grey Fokker)
The EII are convert from the Valom Fokker EIII kit. Happened by miscalculation than intention. Had the decals made up; ordered the Valom kits and then realized that the decals were for EII and since Crailsheim died on 30 December 1915 there was no chance he used the same paint scheme for an EIII. The conversion was pretty easy - scrap off the compass on the right wing and bulk up the right side of the cowling.
One further mishap was I lost one of the wheels from the sprue. I know this can easily happen and was 'paying attention' but it's been a distracting couple of weeks. Anyway at the last stage when I went to glue on the wheels I found one of them (for the grey Fokker) missing. Panic - but preserving my toilet paper supply I realized the sprue was about the right diameter. I chopped off a couple of disks (2 so that the wheels would match), from the sprue and not a toilet paper roll, and put a bead of modelling paste around the rim for a tire. They're not elegant and I may some day replace them but more likely I will forget all about it.
ETA: 4th photo has silvering on the aluminum bits. I had forgotten to do this in the other photos.
Last edited by ShadowDragon; 03-27-2020 at 10:08.
Great job Paul. I try my best when doing mine and that keeps me occupied and out of trouble.
Since I'm stuck at home anyway, I decided to do up a custom storage tray for some Shapeways models I have procured. Namely, a trio of the RAF FE 2b. They are just the wrong size and shape for Keith's trays, as well-made as those are. And then, as long as I was doing that, thought I'd post the how-two here; aimed at those of you with your own 3-D printers. If you don't have one of those, but are handy with hobby tools, this works for a tray made of hobby wood, as well. Seven fairly easy steps:
1. Procure your supplies: A 3-D printer, filament, the miniature(s) you're working with, and a roll of micro-cell foam, available at most home crafting stores. You'll need this for cushioning:
2. Measure out your model.
3. It helps to draw up two things here. One is a footprint blank of the model in question:
Note that some of the details of the storage tray vary a little bit from the blank. The idea here is to have something you can move around on the plan in the next step.
4. The next step is to draw out a full-scale blue print.
The main variance, you will notice is that the empennage cage space differs greatly from the blank. But it helped to have the blank, as that was what finally got me to understand that I just wasn't going to fit more than four miniature compartments *and* their corresponding card compartments on one tray. The extra space is to allow fingers to get at the miniature easily. When drawing up the blueprint, remember to allow extra space for the cushioning: ultimately, you want a close enough tolerance so that your miniature isn't bouncing around in the tray, but loose enough so that you don't have to apply pressure when removing the mini for play, or returning it to storage. Also, in my specific case, my 3-D printer has a maximum object print volume of 150mm x 150mm x 150mm. I therefore, had to plan for six sections of tray.
5. Print out, assemble, and glue the individual compartments into a semi-finished tray.
Again, in my particular case, I had a number of other things I was 3-D printing for my household, so on a whim, I made each section a different color. If your blueprint (as this one does) necessitates a compartment crossing a print section, then re-write your measurements in terms of each individual section when you go to designing the print object. It will save a lot of headache later.
6. Attach the microcell cushioning.
Note that I went for the minimum amount of cushioning I considered necessary: that stuff is expensive!
Also note: don't try and do a continuous ribbon all around the compartment. The microcell foam doesn't follow right-angle contours very well.
Also note: don't use plastic glue/cement or epoxy to attach the microcell foam, use ordinary white glue. The microcell foam doesn't stand up very well to anything but white glue. (For those of you unfamiliar with plastic model cement, it actually works by partially melting the plastic an literally cementing the plastic parts together as it dries.)
7. Make a final check of your fit: this is actually best done after printing out just one compartment of each of cards and miniatures. If you've messed up the measurements/printing, you've wasted a minimum amount of time and material.
Now, If I get to feeling I want a prettier, more "finished" look, I can fill the dead spaces with styrofoam (cut to size with a hot styrofoam cutting wand), pop that in the tray. The cover the thing with more cut-to-form microcell foam.
Last edited by zenlizard; 03-25-2020 at 17:20.
Oh, and the next thing on my workbench: Paint those FE 2s! As a happy coincidence, my daughter got a few custom fantasy figure miniatures from Hero Forge. She & I both have Fridays off, which means we set up a miniature painting date for two days from now.
That's a great job and how to Sam. Have to post your and daughters get together this Friday.
Nice work on the tray for your Fees, Sam.
Mine are in a spare Famous Aces box with loose pieces of foam.
Hope to see the planes themselves Over the Trenches some day when you rejoin the campaign.
It still makes me smile that you are on a Magic card! I was watching Antique Roadshow the other night and a lady brought some of her husbands "old Magic the Gathering cards". I guess she had something called an Alpha Set, complete with a Black Lotus. The appraiser dude just about passed out. He wouldn't even touch the cards - even with his white gloves on. Said they were worth up to $100,000. So I googled... cause it's what I do... and a mint condition Black Lotus card sold on eBay for $166,000. And I thought I was absurd.
Wow those 406’s look amazing. Well done sir
Never Knowingly Undergunned !!
Those are some beautiful aircraft!
Those are much better then the ones I have.
Really nice, Peter
Run for your life - there are stupid people everywhere!
Nicely done, Peter.
I will have re-look at the FitS scenarios and see if I can give my Belgian Hurricanes and French Dewoitaines a chance at the table.
Do I see an early war game at some time in the future ? I know we have plenty of planes for that.
More German bombers?...got to get some. Have 1 HE 111 with the white paint job and 3 AIM HE 111's, Need the new types ones now.
Fantastic workmanship Peter.
Really great job on the 406's Peter. Hope to see them in person once the conventions are back if you're running a France 1940 game.
What exactly are these colorful Italian planes?
They are Savoia Pomilio, S.P.3. Unofficial stats are Y deck/B/- or C/- or B/B, 14 damage.
A lot of amazing stuff posted this month. I am loving all of this!!!!!!
There will be some lucky recipients of your excellent work.
Clipper, pretty awesome! Love them!
Almost look like bottler openers that come at your beck and call...could make a fortune with those.
Sadly, as usual, the March bench is turning into the April bench. If I'm good tomorrow (and don't crash into a restful novel), decaling will happen Sunday.
Karl
It is impossible for a man to begin to learn what he thinks he knows. -- Epictetus
Sorry Daryl. I thought they were yours. Those SP 3's are pretty nice. Now I have to get them into a game when thing settle down.
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