My collection of 1/300 aircraft has been inactive. A pile of dead lead. That’s mostly because I did so much work with Daveshoe on plane projects. I was the painting dude and painted lots and painted them quickly. Dave was the game designer. Taking over that latter role is much more difficult than you might imagine.
But I have done a few things the past couple of months that have improved my air gaming situation. First, I’ve parted with a lot of my unpainted planes and narrowed my focus to two remaining projects. More about those shortly. Parting with the wretched excess really freed me to focus on the planes that were most important to me. Another thing I’ve done is sit down with my rules, the ones that Dave was so good with and begin figuring out what I’d need to do to run a game. I’ve even written some scenarios, designed some play cards like Dave had. I definitely have hope I could run a game soon.
I’ve also focused my plane building activities. One of those is a gradual build up to game the war in the Pacific from beginning to end. No that doesn’t mean I will have the Americans and Japanese on a 1:1 basis. But I will try to do lots of games that feature the major plane types from 1941-45. No laughing, I have the planes purchased for a Pearl Harbor game. They’ll be done this summer and perhaps a Museum of Flight game ready for November. The other period is Vietnam. I have the planes. I know what I want to do with them, it’s just a matter of painting them.
As I was painting my first raft of planes for WWII, the Marine aircraft at Henderson Field, I realized I didn’t have the proper U.S. markings and went to my favorite source for decals, Flight Deck Decals. I like their stuff and the way they are packaged to maximize the number of decals. The decals at I-94 Enterprises are actually better, but they’re a lot more costly with the way they are packaged. I’ve made a concession to cheap.
As I was selecting my U.S. star roundels without bars, I saw a new menu item for 3D printed planes. I checked it out and indeed here were piles of printed planes that could be made in 1/200 or 1/300. I chose two samples and gave them a try. I ordered two each of the Ki-43 Oscar fighters and P-40E Kittyhawks and anxiously awaited their arrival.
When the order arrived I gave them a quick look-over. Very nicely detailed with lots of panel markings to paint (sigh,) very clean. I found no mold marks or print lines. Perhaps the best part was the engraved triangular marking I could drill out to put my brass pin. Note: not all planes have these holes. Some of the Vietnam-era American jets do not.
In the how-do-they paint department, I did start with the Oscars and I really liked ’em. I have Ki-43’s by Scotia and MSD and I think these were the best of the lot. I painted the others in February, so I have a very recent basis for comparison.
Unable to leave well enough alone, I ordered more planes for a couple of future scenarios. Among those I ordered were some B-17E’s, PBY-5 Catalinas, P40B’s, and some G4M Betty bombers. They were a tish less expensive than metal models. However, most of these were larger planes. I don’t know if you’ve done work with large metal planes and hoped they’d work well with brass pins in brass bases. Whether it’s the Cant 1007Z Italian bombers, or B-24’s, it’s really hard. The weight of the B-17’s I purchased is so much lighter, they should play much better.
I’m really impressed. I compare them favorably to the excellent Raiden planes from I-94. I see more in my future.
A Gamer's Tales 