First East African Scenario

And like that, I have four scenarios created already for East Africa. Here is one of the largest actions to have occurred during the campaign, featuring all bi-planes!

The Fall of Kassala

GHQ Decals

While I do not use GHQ Models for my miniatures due to their crazy price point, I have picked up some of their ironically affordable decals. Finding their decal offerings can be a bit of a chore as the decals are mixed in with the aircraft listings, but gamers looking for another source for decals can find some very useful items from GHQ. 

Notice the off-centered blue on the American sheet left of center

Most of the packs come two sheets per pack, at $3.50 per sheet, and now I know why - they are made by I-94! The first sheet I grabbed was British WWII roundels for southeast Pacific. While I have no current aircraft that would feature these decals, I do plan to use some for Australian aircraft featured in the Under Southern Skies scenario book. Very cool mix of Hudson, P-40, and Beaufighter squadrons on this offering, along with roundels and aircraft numbers.

Next up are American Pacific and Europe national insignia that feature the red outlined star and bar and the yellow outlined star, the former that will be used on some future Hellcat purchases and the latter being ideal for Operation Torch. One sheet in the pack was perfect, the other sheet was off printed and is completely unusable. Now we will see how GHQ's customer service might be! UPDATE - It has been six days since I contacted GHQ about the decal sheet...my two messages have gone without a reply. UPDATE TWO - Still no reply. Shite service for certain! UPDATE THREE (10.21.25) - Dave at I-94 reached out and is replacing the sheet, even though it is on GHQ to make it right. Dave has great customer service!

I also ordered what I thought would be a large sheet of mixed American stars and stars and bars, a mix of blue and red outlined insignia, but it was one small sheet, for twice the price of the other sheets, and the outlines are fairly thin. Yikes! Won't order the $7.50 sheets again.

I needed some additional Soviet stars, so ordered a sheet that has both plain red as well as yellow outlined red stars. These will find use for both WWII and jet age projects. Add to that a sheet of white and red Soviet aircraft numbers that will find the same use. Both of these were nicely done.

The last sheet I ordered was a mixed sheet of Egyptian, Syrian, and Iraqi national insignia. I picked these up mainly for the Iraqi markings to use for some 1948 Arab-Israeli War Gloster Gladiators, but I might find some use for the others in later period Arab-Israeli conflicts. There are both versions of the Syrian roundel in this pack.

In some cases the sheets do not offer very many of any one particular size, which limits their usefulness somewhat. And now that I know these affordable decal sheets come from I-94, I'll just order from them in the future.

New Toys Ordered Part I - 1948 AIW

P-51D Mustang in Israeli Service

I have gone on a recent spate of ordering new planes. Some are to be used for future projects, others for expanding existing projects, while others will be to replace existing metal planes with higher quality 3D prints and more accurate paint schemes.

I have been gathering information leading to several more scenarios Check Your 6! for the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, and hence have ordered aircraft from Flight Deck Decals and Table Top Flights to cover all the events I can document, while also replacing some planes that are not quite right. Adding the below to some previous purchases is going to complete the 1948 project, once I have Miscellaneous Miniatures paint them all!

Flight Deck Spitfire Mk.Vc, Sea Fury, Macchi C.205, and Spitfire Mk.IX

The recent purchases include the following:

Flight Deck Decals

Supermarine Spitfire Mk.Vc - 5 (replaces metal versions)

Gloster Gladiator Mk.II - 2 (to use for the Iraqis)

Macchi C.205 Veltro - 4 (replacing a pair of metal castings and adding two for scenarios)

Supermarine Spitfire LF Mk. IX - 2 (replacing metal castings and adding two for scenarios)

C-47 Dakota - 2 (replacing metal as they are TOO heavy for CY6! official stands)

Table Top Flights

Avia S-199 - 3 (replacing metal versions)

Supermarine Spitfire Mk.XIV (to use as Mk.XVIII) - 4 (replacing metal versions with more accurate 3D prints)

The Commissioned Projects - Part I

On the Check Your 6! front I have several planes getting ready to be sent to Miscellaneous Miniatures for painting. This series will break down what is being sent off and how they fit into existing or new projects.

Early Italian World War II - I am adding a Short S.25 Sunderland and six Gloster Gladiators to the existing collection from departed friend Bob. Adding the Sunderland will allow me to tackle a scenario from Falcon of the Duce that I have been wanting to do for sometime - Slow Boat to Bardia. It is a tough fight for the Italians with four CR.42s facing off against the flying boat, which has a Robustness of 4 and machineguns galore. For those who have flown CR.42s, you know there is little in the way of punch when it comes to the Falco's armament against such a robust aircraft. This will make a nice Check Your 6! introductory scenario as I would run the Sunderland and give each new player one CR.42. The Sunderland will be painted as above. The planes are resin prints from Flight Deck Decals, scaled to 1/285th.

It is a fine casting...er, I mean printing

The Gladiators will allow me to tackle a few scenarios from the The Falcon and the Gladiator: The Air War Over the Western Desert 1940 – February 1941. This is a pdf written by Chris Stoesen and available via Wargames Vault, containing thirty-eight scenarios. The Falcon and the Gladiator is definitely worth the price as the pdf is well over one hundred pages in length and is filled with information to go along with the scenarios. While I have four Gladiators already, having six more will allow me to do at least eight scenarios from the pdf, using a mix of CR.32s and CR.42s along with a few other assorted aircraft. The Gladiators will also have the Temporate Land Scheme of dark earth and dark green, with half black and half white undersides.

The details are fantastic and the quality is amazing

The Curtiss Model 75 in Finnish Service

In a previous post I provided the Curtiss P-36/Model 75 in terms of Check Your 6! ratings. This post focuses on the Model 75’s service with the Finnish Air Force.

The Curtiss P-36, known variously as the Hawk, Mohawk, or Model 75, was used very little by its country of origin (the United States), seeing limited action at Pearl Harbor. However, several other nations used the Curtiss, in several different models, with varying degrees of success. France, in an effort to ramp up its military, purchased the Curtiss Model 75, variants A-1 through A-3, which resulted in the Curtiss making up nearly a third of the French fighter force by May 1940. Another country that used the Curtiss with great results was Finland, using captured versions obtained from Germany after France’s capitulation – the Finns utilized the Curtiss well into 1944, and donned the fighter with the name Sussu (Sweetheart). This post will delve a bit into the Curtiss while in Finnish service.

In Check Your 6! the Curtiss handles itself decently well for an early war aircraft. Using the A Maneuver Chart, the Model 75 also offers very good agility (+3) when not moving at maximum speed (4). Speed and firepower are where the Curtiss suffers when compared to aircraft introduced after 1941, but the ability to out turn most opponents along with upgrading the armament with two heavy machineguns (by the end of 1942) keeps the Curtiss relative even into 1944. Factoring in the overall exceptional Finnish aircrew quality, the Curtiss makes for a tough opponent. The A-4 version saw the introduction of the 1200 horsepower Wright Cyclone, but the Finns replaced the Cyclone with the lower powered Twin Wasp as it was deemed more reliable.

Nearly all of the Model 75s served in one squadron during the Continuation War, that being Lentolaivue 32, which completely converted to the Curtiss from the Gloster Gladiator shortly after the start of the war. The squadron typically consisted of three flights (of four to six aircraft each) and a command element. Of the fifty-eight pilots known to fly the Sussu at least sixteen of them became aces, Curtiss pilots claiming 190 kills, with the loss of just fifteen Model 75s, a ratio of nearly 13:1. Versions used by the squadron were the A-1 to A-4, as well as the previously Norwegian-owned A-6, a total of forty-four of all five types having been purchased from Germany. UPDATE (10/9/2025): According to the definitive account (Curtiss Design 75 Hawk P-36 and International Derivatives, written by Dan Hagedorn and Amaru Tincopa), the Finns utilized six Model 75A-1s, nine Model 75A-2s, nine Model 75 A-3s, seven Model 75A-4s, and thirteen Model 75A-6s. The Finns enjoyed flying the Sussu, calling it both robust and maneuverable. One might consider dropping the Agility penalty when moving at maximum speed and potentially increasing the Robustness to R2.

Books

We are blessed with several publications that cover the Finnish Air Force during the Second World War, many of them in English for us non-Finnish speakers. I will not list them all, but instead offer a few useful titles that I own:

Keskinen, Kalevi – Curtiss Hawk 75A – Stenman, 2004. A title that is mostly in Finnish but has English photo captions and an English translation section. Worth grabbing as it is focused mostly on the Model 75 (it does include some information on the P-40M that was captured and used by Lentolaivue 32).

Keskinen, Kalevi and Stenman, Kari – Finnish Aces of World War 2. Osprey Publishing, 1998. Typical Osprey offering that covers the aces that used various fighters in Finnish service.

Keskinen, Kalevi and Stenman, Kari - Finnish Air Force 1939-45. Squadron/Signal Publications, 1998. Numerous black and white pictures with some color profiles.

Persyn, Lionel, Stenman, Kari, and Thomas, Andrew – P-36 Hawk Aces of World War 2. Osprey Publishing, 2009. While there is a heavy focus on the Curtiss in French service, the Finnish use of the Model 75 is also covered in some detail.

Stenman, Kari – Finnish Aces: Their Planes and Units 1939-1945. MMPBooks, 2022. This pricey but large hardcover book (432 pages that weigh in at four pounds) is a deep dive into each Finnish ace, usually with a wartime photo of the pilot, black and white photos showing their various aircraft, and almost always a color profile of one of their aircraft. Included is a list of their victories, both confirmed and claimed but unconfirmed. This hefty book also provides detailed unit histories and several other appendices of information. Well worth the price if you are wanting a deep dive into Finnish fighter aces.

Aircraft Colors

Aircraft colors are often the subject of debate and confusion. However, the colors used on the Finnish Curtiss have been documented extremely well. I was able to find on the interwebs a document compiled by A. S. Marshall that provides Federal Standard 595b, RGB, and CMYK equivalents for not only the exterior but also for identification markings. The information for the Federal Standard colors came from Suomen ilmavoimien maalaukset ja merkinnät (Finnish Air Force camouflage and markings), written by Kari Keskinen, Kari Stenman, and Klaus Niska, published in 1996 by Apali Oy.

Early Model 75s in Finnish service were painted olive green on the upper surfaces and fuselage sides, with light blue under surfaces (RLM 65 should work as a good substitute). Later Finnish Model 75s were painted black and olive green on the upper surfaces, tail, and fuselage sides, with the under surfaces painted in light blue (some illustrations show light grey). As the black was faded in most cases, I suggest mixing light gray at a ratio four parts black to one part light gray. As with German-allied forces on the Eastern Front, the use of yellow on the cowling and under surface wingtips, along with a yellow fuselage band, were added to the Model 75s. Each flight had a distinctive color used for the aircraft number that appeared on the tail (yellow, white, or insignia blue with white outline). The aircraft number was the last digit of the plane’s serial number, a combination of a two-letter aircraft manufacturer code (CU for the Curtiss) and a three-digit number (example: CU-581 had a 1 on its tail). The serial number appeared in black on both sides of the fuselage. The hakaristi national insignia appeared in six positions (top and bottom of the wings and on the fuselage sides). Propeller hubs were usually painted black. There seems to have been no designated squadron insignia used for Lentolaivue 32.

AK Interactive makes a set of four acrylic paints for the Finnish Air Force. The colors included are black, olive green, light blue, and light grey. Arcus Hobby Colors also has a line of paints, available in enamel or acrylic, tailored for the Finns including a set for the Continuation War that has white, black, olive green, light blue, yellow, and grey. Lifecolor also makes a Finnish aircraft set, the acrylic colors being olive green, light grey, two shades of light blue, yellow, and black. 

Decals

Blue Sky Decals, Combat Miniatures, GHQ, Heroics & Ros, Hostile Aircraft, and I-94 Enterprises all make Finnish hakaristi in 1/285 or 1/300 scale. I am sure there are others, but these were the ones most prominent when searching online. Before someone makes a comment about the illustration of the hakaristi keep in mind that it was a symbol of luck prior to its modern day connotations.

Scenarios

In the Battles Above 4 scenario book (which features Eastern Front scenarios and available from I-94 Enterprises) there are three scenarios that include Model 75s (Claims For Everyone, Attack is the Best Defense, and 65 to 0). On the Check Your 6! discussion group there is also a scenario titled Finland’s Hawks, Stalin’s Falcon’s. The maximum number of Finnish Model 75s one would need to do all four scenarios is a very reasonable seven miniatures.

Where to Buy

There are a few companies making the Curtiss Model 75 in either 1/285th or 1/300th scale. As I use the former, I will list only those companies making 1/285th Model 75s that I have dealt with and highly recommend.

Flight Deck Decals – If I was choosing just one manufacturer, I would have to go with Flight Deck Decals. They offer the Curtiss in 1/300 but will do large custom orders in 1/285. These are printed planes, but the quality of the print and the material used is so good as to be amazing. You can find the Curtiss listed in two places – Other Nations WWII and USA WWII planes (both of these are found under the 3D Miniatures tab). In both cases look for Curtiss P-36-H75 Hawk. The price per plane at the time of this post was a trifling $2.10.

Raiden Miniatures – Code USA29 P-36 Mohawk can be found under the United States listing. At the time of this post, cost per plane was $3.00. My P-36s for Pearl Harbor are Raiden Miniatures. They are cleanly cast (being a newer addition to the Raiden line). Service from I-94 is exceptional, and they have online ordering.

Table Top Flights – A company with equally exceptional service, these are resin printed miniatures. Under the United States listing, look for Curtiss P-36/Hawk 75 (product code A-08-009-285) and be certain to click on the 1/285 box (they also make the Curtiss in 1/200 and 1/144). Cost is $3.50. The detail is excellent if subtle and the planes are cleanly printed. Easy to use online ordering makes working with Mike at TTF a breeze.

Next War, Next Enemy After Action Report

I was able to host the first scenario from the Falcon of the Duce Check Your 6! book that features the World War exploits of Franco Lucchini. I've ran this particular scenario before, but wanted to pull it out again as it features a variety of rules nuances, such as a diverse range of pilot skills (ace to green), early war slow but maneuverable aircraft, and light guns and frail airframes. I decided to run this on a three foot square Monday Knight Productions mat as the last time I hosted this scenario the comment was made of how long it took for the planes to close, and then in how little table space they wound up using once closing to range. The smaller mat helped greatly.

Not looking grand for the Brits on this end

The Italians had the advantage with aircrew skill (one ace and two skilled pilots), heavier armament (two heavy machineguns vs. for light machineguns for the Gladiators), a higher starting altitude, and a slightly better agility (the Gladiators suffering an agility loss when moving at maximum speed).

However, the Italians separated quickly, responding to the British splitting their planes as they struggled to climb. The Italian ace headed for a pair of Brits, comprising of one veteran and one green pilot. A head on pass failed to hit the Brits, but the Italian was able to get on the tail of the green Brit within just three hexes. At this point we all thought it was over for this green Gladiator, but the robustness check was ably passed. This green pilot had the best luck of the game, being shot at a few times and surviving, and even helping to knock one of the Italian planes out of the air.

The Italians lining up for the kill, but it was not to be

The other British pilot did not have the same run of luck, having taken one airframe hit and one engine hit on his two green pilots in a head on pass with the two skilled Italian pilots. It certainly looked as if they were easy pickings, with another turn of an advantageous position, but the Brits survived. Then the Italian player moved his Italians in a turn that placed him in front of the slower Brits. Down went one of the Cr.32s as a result! The other Cr.32 would take an airframe hit, and the Italian ace had taken an engine hit by this point. The ace took another hit, leaving one Italian left on the board, and that one unable to climb or dive due to a lucky hit. 

The result - an overwhelming British victory. They lost one Gladiator, had another damaged, but the Italians had two aircraft shot down and one damaged. Throw in the aircrew quality and the victory points piled up for the British players.

The death of an ace, the left Cr.42 about to go down

The planes were part of the collection of our good but departed friend Bob, so it was great to get them on the table once again.

Rating the Finns

Brian DeWitt has created four very good scenario books for Check Your 6! In Battles Above 4 he has provided several scenarios that involve the Finnish Air Force, both for the Winter War and the Continuation War. As a gamer of the less mainstream, I plan on obtaining the planes to do many of these scenarios. As an historian, I also like to keep things as historically accurate as manageable, and with gaming at times complete historical accuracy can certainly be a hinderance. Many Check Your 6! scenarios are representations of much larger historical encounters, necessarily so because putting dozens and dozens of aircraft on the table bogs down the game. 

One area though that is bothering me somewhat are the Finnish pilot quality ratings. Remember, it is the man, not the machine (but really the machine has a large part to play). So how are the Finns able to rack up such amazing kill ratios flying aircraft like the Gladiator, Fokker DXXI, Buffalo, Hawk 75 (P-36), and other such second tier types that as the war progressed were inferior to their Russian opponents? Take for example Lentolaivue 24, perhaps the premier Finnish fighter unit. Claims were such that this unit might have had as high as a 25:1 kill to loss ratio. While Russian/Soviet sources have not been fully examined to compare actual reported losses, even if Lentolaivue 24 managed half that kill ratio, it is an amazing feat. So how is that replicated on the table top? Pilot quality.

But that is my dilemma - in looking at many of the Finnish scenarios in the book, they are often outnumbered, and even the difference in pilot skill between the two forces for any particular scenario does not seem to be great enough to recreate the historical record. To be honest, based on my readings (thus far just a couple of Osprey titles and perusing websites), I believe the Finnish ratings in Battles Above 4 to be too low, the Russians too comparable, or a combination of the two. I would even be, in some cases, tempted to give the Soviets a poor rating as found within the Korean War scenario book for Check Your 6! Jet Age (the dreaded -1 pilot). 

I have a few titles on their way, including what appears to be an amazing work, Finnish Aces: Their Planes and Units 1939-1945 by Kari Stenman and Karolina Holda. I plan to go through Lentolaivue 24 pilots as deeply as I can, accepting that this squadron's performance might have been the exception, but overall I believe that Finland's pilots were well trained, skillful, and far superior to most of their Soviet opponents. Mr. DeWitt mentions that he gives "green aircrew rating for aircrews that are not adequately trained or marginally trained new pilots that are in their first few engagements." I agree with that assessment, but not when it comes to Finland's pilot training and experience. More on this topic once I have a bit more source material.

In Memory of Bob

This past Saturday I spent the day with my gaming friends, in the basement of a departed friend, Bob. Bob passed away at the end of last year, suddenly, unexpectedly, a tragic event that still affects me greatly. Bob's wife, whom I have known for many decades, graciously invited the gang over for a day of gaming and food, in memory of her husband and our friend. We had a grand time, but one that felt uncomfortable at the same time. To see what figures Bob was working on, still sitting on his painting table, to be gaming in his basement without him, and to go through his massive collection, at the behest of his wife, to take items that we wanted, left me walking away with mixed emotions. A high as a result of gaming with my friends and enjoying the banter, and a low as I miss my friend.

From Bob's massive collection of painted figures and boardgames, I came away with something that would always give me a memory of him. A few years ago, at the Check Your 6! game day, Bob hosted an Italian/British brew up with Gladiators and Cr.42s, and it was quite a fun time. Therefore, I came home from Bob's basement with his Italian CY6! collection (with the Gladiators as well), so that I could host that same event in the future in honor of Bob. I also choose a small boardgame based on Wake Island, an old Mayfair Games offering.  Not sure why other than the Wake Island story holds interest for me.

I'll snap some pictures of the Italian planes...Bob did some amazing paintwork on them. In the meantime, here are a few pictures of the Fire and Fury game we played. This was a combined scenario, designed by another friend, and it was a challenge. Some bad die rolling on the Federal's part kept us from obtaining our objective, but it was fun to run "Bull" Nelson's division at Shiloh just the same.