Delving Into 1/200 - First Order

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In reviewing the several scenarios I have for The Great War (from both Colorful Skies and Billy's Boys) and after having an excellent chat one evening with Mike at Table Top Flights, I have placed my first order for 1/200 scale planes that are printed with a 1/144 scale post in order to use with the Wings of Glory peg system. I also ordered several of Mike's clear propeller blades to use on these planes.

Nieuport 28

I have decided to go late war Western Front for now, with eleven Nieuport 28s, eight SPAD XIIIs, and eleven Fokker D.VIIs. This gives me the flexibility to create ten scenarios featuring Nieuports vs. Fokkers, and another sixteen featuring the SPAD XIII, again against those same Fokkers. I think this is plenty to work on at this time, although eventually I'd like to recreate some Belgian and Lafayette Escadrille actions.

SPAD XIII

The SPADs will be painted as the 103rd Aero, the Nieuports as the 27th Aero, and I might do a quasi-historical Bavarian scheme for the Fokkers as a bit of an homage to my Bavarian heritage, unless I can get some late Jasta 18 decals made, which I think Bernhard at Sieben Schwaben Spiele Decals will be getting around to creating due to recent conversations. These various squadrons are not specifically featured in all twenty-six scenarios I will be able to host, but the two American choices are some of my favorites from the war. 

Fokker D.VII

Rehabbing Rickenbacker, or Not

Not having the luck I have had with other repaints of Ares planes. The areas where I painted over numbers and roundels is not coming out smooth, as if the decals are causing some less than grand paint adherence and flow (I had that issue, to a lesser extent, with the N.16 repaint I did for the Escadrille Americaine - the end result wasn't . So I have decided to forego the rest of the Rick repaint. I was also having some issues with a couple of the colors I selected anyway, but I believe I now have that sorted. Instead, in order to give Luke a wingman from the 27th Aero, I am ordering a SPAD XIII from Table Top Flights s paint seems to go on those planes rather well. So goodbye Rickenbacker! 

Rehabbing Rickenbacker

Yuck, yuck, yuck!

We hates it, we do! Nasty little hobbit...er, hideous Wings of Glory SPAD XIII of Eddie Rickenbacker. It has one of the worst, if not THE worst, color scheme of all the Ares/Nexus planes for Wings of Glory. And in their infinite wisdom when Ares had a chance to correct the horror that is Rickenbacker when they re-released the plane, they chose to keep the same incorrect colorations in place. Pink? Really, pink? Okay, maybe more like mauve. Lime Green? Seriously? It is to this day one of the most common planes you will find on eBay and some retail sites, and usually for a good price. Why? To be honest, it's a crappy looking plane! Not only that, but the SPAD XIII has been woefully under rated within the construct of the rules (more on that in a later post) and so while it was a very common plane in 1918 gamers avoid using it.

A little more like it!

So, what do we do with the pair of Rickenbacker SPADs that I own? REPAINT! I recently ordered some Tamiya paints that are purported to be pretty darn close to the colors of the French five color camouflage, and already owning a more properly done Frank Luke SPAD, I decided it was time to give Luke a wingman, in this case Joseph Wehner's #8. 

This is the first of a few posts showing my progress as I move forward with this rehab of a piss poor color scheme. I've never tried painting a five color camo scheme, but with proper colors (or close to them) at hand, and 27th Aero Squadron decals from Miscellaneous Miniatures, the first step, painting the undersides of the SPAD, has been completed. Tamiya color XF-57, Buff. As you can see it is a much more subtle shade, the paint flowing nicely onto the model. The shade is actually about the same as the wheel carriage, which Nexus/Ares should have used for the undersides of the SPAD as a whole.

I have never used Tamiya paints before, but am quite happy with the ease the paint moves from the brush and the smoothness of the paint once applied. I am actually happy that the single coat did not cover the American roundels as now they will serve as a guide as to where to place the decals.