Part II - Bringing The Lafayette Escadrille to Life

As mentioned in the previous post, I am working on an easy project on a few Wings of Glory/War Lafayette Escadrille planes to bring them to a bit nicer look.

The first step to modify what will become the Haviland N.17 was to mix paints to match the Wings of War silver-doped color. Using six parts of Vallejo silver and five parts Vallejo natural steel, one can obtain a pretty close approximation. The painted over portion is a bit shinier than the rest of the plane, but this should not be an issue once I give the plane a coat of varnish.

Painted over the three red stripes on the rear fuselage, and have applied a white band

The second step was to use masking tape to paint a white fuselage band around the Nieuport. This was trickier than expected, simply because it was a challenge to hold the plane while trying to line up the tape. But, once I was able to get the two pieces in place, then I applied a coat of Vallejo white. A second coat was added, yielding this okay, but not great result. Good enough for the tabletop, but not for my OCD.

Band in place, three bars painted over

Then it was time to add the Sioux head decals to all the Nieuports. Using a little Vallejo decal fix, and soaking the Miscellaneous Miniatures decals in warm water, I was able to place the decals over the existing dull looking Seminole heads. This addition really brought some life to the Lafayette planes!

Touched up the rudder flashes a bit. Not perfect, but much better than they were initially. I then added coat of gloss varnish which was going to be followed by a coat of matte, but I like the look of the gloss enough to leave it as is. 

Complete!

The new decals are adding a splash of color

Not completely satisfied with the white fuselage band, but from three feet is works

And a video summarizing the project:

Part I - Bringing The Lafayette Escadrille to Life

N.1844 with some bad decal placement. This will be the miniature used for a repaint.

I own three of the Wings of War Lafayette Escadrille Nieuport 17s - two marked with three red stripes on the fuselage side, and one with a "T" on the fuselage. According to Jon Guttman's SPA124 Lafayette Escadrille - American Volunteer Airmen in World War 1 (Osprey, 2004), the three red stripes on the first mentioned Nieuport are "coup marks," but in his Nieuport Flyers of the Lafayette (Albatros, 2006), the three stripes represent Captaine George Thenault's rank. Four different pilots flew N.1844 - Thenault, Lufbery, Hoskier, and Willis, so whether the personal markings represent coup marks of the Native American Indians or the captain's rank, one plane needs to be converted into a different N.17. As one of the models has the three stripes in an awkward position I will use that model for the "repaint."

Colors to be mixed for the repaint

I will be using Dom's Decals suggested mix of six parts Vallejo silver and five parts Vallejo natural steel to paint over the three stripes. Then I will add masking tape to paint a vertical white band around the fuselage to represent Willis Haviland's N.1887, which later became George Hinkle's plane with the addition of an "H" on the fuselage and red trim on the white band.

The rather dark and dull looking Seminole head will be replaced

On all three N.17s the Seminole head looks rather dull, the colors looking rather muted, almost black and white. I will be using decals from Miscellaneous Miniatures to add some color to the planes. While the decals represent the later Sioux motif, I think they will work nicely as Seminole heads and will enhance the plane's colors rather well.

The decals to be used. I have used some on Reduced Aircraft Factory color 103rd Aero SPAD S.VIIs to great effect. See THIS POST

I also need to fixe the rudder flashes on two of the N.17s as the red portion has a bit of decal missing. 

This is a rather easy project, or should be, with really only the masking and painting of the white fuselage band presenting the hardest aspect. I should be able to knock these out over the next couple of days, in time for some Bloody April fighting at the monthly Wright Flight gathering.

A Revisit to the Basing Solution

My constant search for an ideal (for me) flight stand for Check Your 6! might be finally at an end.  My parameters, and hence my issue in finding the type of stand I desired was that I wanted something that visually indicates TAL on the playing surface, that isn't too tall and prone to knock overs, and that doesn't cause polarity issues with the magnets I have on my miniatures. Let me summarize my issues with existing base configurations:

• Official Check Your 6! bases - Do not visually indicate a plane's current TAL. Dial numbers are small, and the dials can be very tight or very loose. This causes players to constantly ask about altitude on enemy aircraft and is not visually appealing.
• Litko - Using the dice trays, one can make it a tad easier for players to see current speed and TAL, but again having a peg fixed to the base means the visually aspect of differing TALs are lost. 
• Antennas - Can be costly, and the ones I have found are far too large. Ideally this would be a great solution but I would need antennas that only extend an inch or so per segment as I do not want planes towering over the table top, making them susceptible to knock overs.

I had been looking at the flight stands from the Dockfighters: The Ale Wars as I like the fact that the system uses peg pieces in two sizes to indicate altitude, utilizing magnets to connect the pegs in combination to represent varying TALs. Smaller pieces can represent a single TAL, while the larger pieces can represent two TALs. I was worried that would cause polarity problems since my miniatures have magnets that do not all follow the same pole so I had held off on buying any until Bernhard at Sieben Schwaben Spiele Decals suggested I give them a try.

Image from Woodpecker Games site

The Dockfighters flight stands offers other very positive aspects - they have a moveable dial that one can use for speed (up to twelve), and have a series of colored rings that can be used for either aircrew quality or to make it easier to keep track of each plane (I usually have a player run two planes). One other possibility - since the peg pieces can be combined, one could represent multiple CABs, but I would not recommend this as the plane becomes wobbly and subject to knock overs. And, very important to my needs, the magnets in the Dockfighters peg pieces are round balls that adjust to the polarity of the next piece or the plane, solving my polarity issue.

An ace Me 110 (indicated by the red ring on the base), Speed 3 and TAL 2, chased down by a veteran (blue ring) Swiss Me 109 at Speed 4 and TAL 3

A consideration for those thinking about this basing system - larger metal miniatures, such as bombers, wobble a bit as well. My solution for this, as a four-engine metal bomber even has issues on an official CY6! stand, is to go to 3D printed miniatures for larger aircraft. They are much lighter and and hence work with both systems very well.

A bit of a video showing the flight stands: 

Price came out to be $72.00 USD, which included shipping from Deutschland. That comes out to be $3.60 or so per stand. The official CY6! stands are $32.50 (including shipping) from I-94, or $5.42 per flight stand.

I will be hosting a game soon, and will be using the Dockfighters flight stands in lieu of my official bases. If things work out, this means I will have a crap ton of stands for sale!

100 Hour War - Planes Needed

The Mustang is incorrectly shown with no wingtip tanks and with yellow recognition bands. The tanks were removed and the bands added after the last air to air combat.

On the Check Your 6! discussion group one can find five well written scenarios, and a background history, for the 100 Hour War, generously provided by Tom Ballou. Tom assembled the scenarios prior to the release of The 100 Hour War - The Conflict Between Honduras and El Salvador in July 1969, written by Mario Overall and Dan Hagedorn, so Tom's take on some of the actions are a little different than the most recent historical interpretation, but the core components are in place. The five scenarios call for an interesting mix of propeller driven aircraft.

Using the aforementioned book, I am developing several additional scenarios, both historic and "what-if", with a target of creating a scenario book. The scenarios will allow players to ease into Check Your 6! through a variety of missions, and there are cooperative scenarios in which the opposing side simply consists of ground targets and anti-aircraft assets. What follows are the aircraft needed for the various scenarios, including some changes to what Tom had initially offered, based on the updated information from the book.

Finding the specific aircraft however might a challenge. Only GHQ make a specific F4U-4 in 1/285 scale, but at $7.00 each they are ridiculously priced. Raiden handles the basic F4U, which should stand in as the FG-1D model used by the Salvadorans. MSD Games makes an F4U-5N in 1/300, but there is some question as to if the Hondurans had the radome in place or not (one photograph, taken before the war of an Honduran F4U-5N, shows the radome in place). Otherwise an F4U-4 work, filing down one of the protruding guns on each wing to represent four cannons instead of six machineguns. Flight Deck Decals and Table Top Flights both have F4U-1A and F4U-1C Corsairs. My suggestion is to use the 1A as FG-1Ds and F4U-4 models, while using the 1C as the F4U-5N. This is a far more affordable option than using GHQ.

Mustangs are even more perplexing. First, there is understanding just what Mustang is being used. The vast majority of Salvadoran Mustangs were Trans Florida Aviation, modified for counter-insurgency (COIN). One needs castings with wingtip tanks (the tanks were not removed until the last day of the war, and those Mustangs did not see any combat), and hardpoints. Scotia Grendel, in their Collectair range, does offer the III model, but it is not what one needs for this war. The photographs of the III model do not have an under fuselage air scoop, which the II model would have, and the engine used in the III drastically altered the appearance of the Mustang. I suggest to simply use a P-51D, which can be easily sourced, and either add some sort of wingtip tank, or use the casting/print as is. Raiden, Flight Deck, and Table Top all offer affordable P-51Ds. 

The Trojan T-28 is yet another issue. Before Shapeways went belly up, one was available in 1/285 scale, although with landing gear down (if my memory serves correctly). There are no alternatives in 1/285 or 1/300 for the Trojan. There are files available for those who have 3D printers, which I do not have. If anyone has the ability to print me a pair of T-28s, I would be happy to purchase the file and the planes!

The AT-6 (SNJ-4) Texan is easy to come by as several manufactures carry the venerable trainer. I have some from Table Top Flights to use for Syrians during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War and they should work well enough for Central America.

The C-47 is covered by several companies, my preferred would be Flight Deck Decals as the quality of Flight Deck's resin print is amazing. 

Balls of Fire - After Action Report

Initial setup of VF-66

I finally hosted my hypothetical late Second World War scenario, called Balls of Fire. The game features the Ki-100 Goshikisen against the Ryan FR-1 Fireball. Why these two planes? Because I can! 

The Japanese setup

The scenario is set over Sagami Bay, southwest of Yokohama. VF-66, a specially assembled Navy fighter squadron that pulled experienced pilots from other squadrons, had been training on the Fireball for months as the Ryan was the only plane fast enough to intercept the Yokosuka MXY-7 Ohka. However, the war ended before VF-66 could see action. This scenario assumes the war extended long enough for VF-66 to get into action. Their opponents are the pilots of the 244th Sentai, a home defense squadron, with its own selection of experienced pilots. 

Both sides have spotted and are starting to react

The players can only plot forward maneuver codes until either completing a successful spotting roll or after taking fire. 

Five hearty players from the Check Your 6! Southwestern Ohio Group met at the local game store. Initial setup is a bit randomized. While the opposing forces set up in opposite corners of the board, their starting CAB and TAL are determined by a roll of the dice. The Japanese started with three formations, two at Medium CAB and the last at Medium Bottom. The Americans started at  Medium CAB. Numbers favored the 244th Sentai with six aircraft, while aircrew quality leaned towards VF-66 (the Americans had one ace, two veterans, and one skilled pilot, while the Japanese had three veterans, two skilled, and one green aircrew).

The first five to six turns were simply approach moves until the Japanese closed to within spotting range. They were successful in spotting the Americans while the latter failed to spot in return for one turn. However, as distances were great, the Americans spotted the next turn so there was no impact with their initial failure.

Maneuvering towards the Imperialists

VF-66 moves to engage

Scratch one Ki-100! Ys, I used an afterburner marker to indicate the destroyed Nippon

One of the best opportunities for the Japanese fell short and resulted in an airframe hit in return

The Dance of Death starts

Can you say airframe?

The last formation of Ki-100s close in

But for naught with another airframe hit

The setting sun on the Japanese Empire, another good chance to damage a Fireball failed

The Americans did not fair overly well with their damage dice results, but they were just enough to result in several airframe hits. The Japanese lined up a couple of good shots, but the Americans had a wave of successful robustness checks. And once the forces had closed, it was a day of Split S and Immelmann maneuvers, neither side wanting to show tail to the opponent.

More Japanese fell from the sky. With two Ki-100s now out of ammunition and no damage on the invading Yankees, we called the game at fifteen turns. It was a tough day for the Emperor's 244th Sentai.  I had the American ace (VF-66 commander John Gray) and did well, inflicting two airframe hits. The Japanese commander, Teruhiko Kobayashi, not so much - I think he was one of the veteran pilots that were shot down.

Some takeaways:

1. Having the players start within five hexes of their respective edge corners was too far apart. Next time they will start within their respective areas (A for the Japanese and F for the Americans). This will allow the forces to get into action sooner.
2. Having a random die roll for TAL worked well, but having one for random CAN kept one Japanese player out of the game for quite some time (both sides had to hold course, CAB, TAL, and speed until spotting the enemy). Instead I will have the players are start in the same CAB, but still randomizing each formations TAL.
3. Dice of course determined the outcomes. Had the Americans failed a robustness check or two, the game would have went quite differently. 

• The updated scenario is available under the Downloads section on the left.
• Planes are MSD Games FR-1s and Raiden Ki-100s, painted by Chris at I-94.
• Game mat is from Deep Cut Studio.

Possible Basing Solution - World War One

I am still in the decision making phase - do I keep the numerous 1/144 scale planes I have for Wings of Glory and find a different basing solution to use with what I call Check Your 6! Great War, or do I go to a smaller scale and use the numerous bases I already have? What I do not like about the Check Your 6! bases is the the lack of the visual - no matter what TAL a plane might be, on the tabletop it is the same height. What I like about the Wings basing system is the pegs used to denote different altitudes. Is there a way to combine these two aspects without having to do the antenna route? There just might be.

Litko sells flight stand peg toppers. These small rectangle-shaped pieces have two holes - one that fits the standard 3mm flight peg found on the Check Your 6! and Litko bases, and a smaller hole that fits a Wings of Glory peg. Using a standard Litko 1.375 inch base (the same size as the official Check You 6! bases), the question becomes how does one denote speed while also finding a way to use the peg topper, all on one base? Litko sells a flight stand dice tray that holds a 12mm six sided die which solves the issue of how to indicate speed.

Now I need a solution to tie all three pieces together. I could order flight pegs and then try to cut them, an exercise that sounds both time consuming and frustrating, or I could try to find a peg or cylinder that would be of the correct diameter (3mm) and length. The length would need to be 9mm as each part I need to connect (base, fight stand dice tray, and flight stand peg topper) is 3mm. Interweb searching was not getting me to a simple solution, so I tried looking at magnet suppliers as many have cylinder shaped magnets. Total Element makes a 3mm by 9mm cylinder, so I ordered 100 for not a lot of money. The good news is that they fit perfectly, aligning all three parts together. A spot of acrylic glue on the dice tray and another on the peg topper secures these pieces in place on the base.

Here is a video that should clarify how these stands would go together.

One can now use the Wings of Glory pegs along with a Check Your 6! basing style for Check Your 6! Great War. There are a few other considerations to ponder, but at least a basing solution, no matter what scale I choose, has been potentially sorted (if I go with a smaller scale, Table Top Flights can print airplanes with a peg already in place, or I can attach a steel disc to the top of a few pegs, and add a magnet to the bottom of a plane).

The Commissioned Projects - Part VII

And now for something completely different....

The Cold War of the 1950s, other than the Korean Conflict, really is not an era I have studied. However, that has changed a bit with this next project, and a visit last year to the National Naval Air Museum in Pensacola, Florida (see this POST). The museum has an FJ-4 Fury, done up in Marine livery, which I found to be a beautiful bird, and one that takes its beginnings from the F-86 Sabre. Add to that a recent eBay purchase of the Profile Publications booklet on the Fury, and I started to become hooked.

Let's add another recent Profile Publications purchase, that on the Saab J 29 Tunnan, or Flying Barrel, which has some ties to the Focke-Wulf Ta 183 (featured in this POST). The Tunnan is both sleek and ugly, which is right up my (MiG) alley. The search was on to find out more on both the Tunnan and the Fury.

The Saab J 29 Tunnan

A little internet research yielded some interesting results. The Fury FJ-4 was delivered to operational units in early 1955, while the Tunnan came onboard in the early 1950s. What would be the suitable opponents for a clash over Scandinavian skies? The MiG-15 was still the primary fighter for the Soviet Union, with the MiG-17 introduced in the early 1950s. These four aircraft types were operational during the same era - brilliant! 

One always needs MiG-15s!

Now readers of this blog do know that I prefer 1/285 for my Check Your 6! gaming, but I was willing to start this little Cold War project in 1/300 just The next step was to find miniatures in 1/285 or 1/300 scale. Fortunately, Flight Deck Decals makes both the Fury and the Tunnan in 1/300 scale, so the Allies were covered. And knowing that if Flight Deck made these two more obscure aircraft they would certainly also carry both MiG models. A quick check on the Russian Modern Jets yielded positive results. Now I was set!

The Sabre-like FJ-4 Fury

Here is where great customer service kicks in. Dan at Flight Deck knows I prefer 1/285 scale as I have had him custom print 1/285 scale aircraft for me in the past. I placed my order for four J 29s, two FJ-4s, four MiG-15s, and a pair of MiG-17s, expecting to receive them in 1/300 scale. But no, Dan knocked it out of the hanger and custom scaled the jets for me in 1/285! Talk about knowing your customer base...good show, Dan!

The MiG-17

Ratings for the Tunnan and the Fury will be the next challenge. The Fury is "basically" an advanced F-86, so perhaps using the later ratings will suffice. Speed and climb rates are close for the Fury and the F-86F, and wing area is nearly identical, while the heavier Fury has the advantage in thrust. For the J 29, I have looked at other jet data, so here is my take on the planes for this "what-if" project:

Thoughts on CincyCon

Heading to Israel, albeit slowly

I have only been to a couple of CincyCons in the past, a fairly large and well organized convention in greater Cincinnati. It has moved locations a few times over the years, but for the last last several editions has found a consistent home at the Butler County Fairgrounds in nearby Hamilton. The facility is large, with plenty of parking, and good lighting for gaming. This is also a wide variety of vendors and a flea market. The historical pickings are a little thin, but I-94 made it to the convention, and I know a few of us spent some shekels with them. Having plenty of unpainted planes already I only picked up a scenario book (the well done Under Southern Skies). My other money was spent on some food, which is also another nice aspect of CincyCon - there is a kitchen and so food can be purchased onsite as reasonable prices.

There were plenty of historical games going on, but seemingly not enough gamers to fill them - I might suggest they reduce the number of historical games a tad so as to allow the remaining ones to fill. But that is a concern that is beyond my purview - although as a gamemaster I would want a good amount of gamers in my event.

This year saw at least five Check Your 6! games - including one I hosted and two others in which I was a participant. Alas, I did not take many pictures. I planned on waiting to see how many gamers I had play before putting together a scenario, having brought all my 1948 Arab-Israeli aircraft. Since we had four of us, including myself we just selected an aircraft, and so in the first game (we had time to play twice) I took a C-47 escorted by a Hawker Fury to bomb an Israeli airfield. Flying a C-47 is an exercise in the mundane, but I was able to get to the airfield and make a bomb run, which failed to hit. I took an engine hit while moving to the field. The turn following I purposely made an extreme turn, and caused myself go out of control, at Surface Low CAB and TAL 2! My plan was to crash into the field, but I passed the aircrew check and recovered. Yikes. At that point we called the game.

An Avia S-199

And the rarely used Beaufighter

Closing in to bomb the airfield...get that Avia away from me!

Engine hit taken, bombs released, time to get out!

The second go 'round saw a pair of Israeli Spits against a Hawker Fury and a Macchi C.205. The Egyptians soon made sheep stew out of the Spitfires, while having lower quality pilots the superior agility of the Fury and the Macchi helped negate the difference in crew quality.

One Spitfire downed, and the second in my sights...

I played an unsuccessful 1956 Arab-Israeli game, commanding a pair of MiG-15s for a few turns before getting blown out of the sky. In the evening game (Foxtrot 4 from the Check Your 6! Jet Age book) I had a pair of Skyhawks. One took a Sidewinder in the arse, but the other dropped its bombs and became basically a fighter, shooting down a veteran Harrier. Alas, the Brits still won the game on points.

Skyhawks over the Falklands

Overall, I would return to CincyCon as a GM - the $30.00 weekend fee being too rich for me to game with the same guys I can game with for free at the local game stores (which is also probably why many gamers did not attend). Offering a Saturday only fee might be a way to generate more attendance. Also, perhaps offer a $5.00 shopping badge to help get some money to the vendors. Also, I think putting all the Check Your 6! games on a pair of tables in front of the I-94 booth would be a good way to promote the game while also helping I-94 sell their products. Regardless, this is a well organized convention and the location works well, so consider making it to CincyCon next year!

The Commissioned Projects - Part VI

From the Wardrawings site

Next up, completing the Burma project. I recently received an order from Table Top Flights that will allow me (once the planes have been painted)  to host six different scenarios from a variety of sources (the core rules, Battles Above 3, and one additional scenario found on the Check Your 6! discussion group). Focusing solely on fighters as the prospect of having a dozen bombers on the tabletop does not excite me.

I am adding three Ki-44 Shoki (Devil Queller), two Curtiss Hawk Model 81 (known to most of us as the P-40B/C), six Ki-27, two Hurricanes, and three P-40E models. This will provide, along with the existing planes I have already for Burma, all the aircraft needed for the following scenarios:

With these planes getting ready to ship off, once completed they will give me all the Burma I need!

The Peregrine Falcon

We know the plane by its American callsign, "Oscar," but the Nakajima Ki-43, to the Japanese Empire, was called the Hayabusa, or Peregrine Falcon. It is one of the most common of Japanese aircraft, but the Mitsubishi A6M series is far better known, and more often used by Check Your 6! gamers. However, the Hayabusa racked up half of all Japanese fighter victories during World War II, seeing action across the empire.

Often mistakenly called "Zero" in Allied reports, the Japanese Army's first retractable gear fighter was manufactured from 1939 until 1945, in three main types. The Hayabusa was to be the replacement for the beloved Nakajima Ki-27 (later known to Allied forces as the Nate). The Ki-43 prototype was not favored by military test pilots, but design improvements led to a favorable response by the Japanese Army, albeit at the sacrifice of strength and protection. The Ki-43-I was initially armed with just two Type 89 7.7mm machineguns, progressed to one Type 89 and one Ho-103 12.7mm machinegun (the most common gun arrangement on the Ki-43-Ib), then completed its run with two Ho-103 machinegun (the Ho-103 was classified as a cannon by the Japanese as it used an explosive shell). Speed for the Hayabusa was just over 300 miles per hour.

In 1942 the Ki-43-II was introduced with such improvements as light armor for the pilot and a crude form of self-sealing fuel tanks. Other improvements included a reflector gunsight, a taller canopy, and a three-blade propeller. Equipped with a more powerful engine, performance was enhanced, but speed and the rather weak armament were still detriments to the Hayabusa's ability to cope with more powerful Allied aircraft.

In game terms we have the following:

In 1/285 and 1/300 scales we have a few quality choices for the Hayabusa. Flight Deck Decals offers both the Type I and Type II models, while Raiden has one Oscar available (from the pictures on their website it is difficult to determine which type). Table Top Flights also provides both a Type I and Type II model. There are other companies that produce the Hayabusa, but the three aforementioned are my preferred ranges.

One can obtain some double duty in purchasing the Hayabusa. Compiling the various scenarios that feature the American Volunteer Group, from both the core rulebook and Battles Above 3, and adding in the Dutch East Indies scenarios from Battles Above 3, one needs a dozen Oscars. 

This highly maneuverable and successful aircraft deserves a bit more attention from Check Your 6! gamers.

The Commissioned Projects - Part V

The next project being commissioned is a Rumanian-Soviet scenario featuring the obscure Heinkel He 112, perhaps an equally obscure I.A.R.80, facing off against Soviet I-16s. The scenario, entitled Romanian Barbarossa Redux, can be found in the Downloads section to the left. It is a modification of a scenario found on the Check Your 6! discussion forum.

The Flight Deck Decals Heinkels will be painted in an aluminum finish, with theater yellow distinctions, while the Table Top Flights I.A.R.s will be completed in a brown and green scheme, again with theater markings. 

The Soviets, a half dozen castings from Raiden, will be in the basic early war dark green upper surfaces with light blue undersides. This way I can also use them for facing off against the Finns (yet another project).