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:

Mat - GripMats

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.

Mat - GripMats

Custom Range Sticks and Deflection

The beauty of the Wings of Glory rules is the ability to add on house rules, in most cases with relative ease. However, the range of the machine guns, when compared to the size of the plane model, is very off. But one also has to consider the amount of playing space. I have a custom three feet by five feet mat which really well on the tables at the local hobby shop - room to maneuver a bit, with room for the miscellaneous gaming paraphernalia that goes along with miniatures gaming. Also, in reading the many house rules on the Wings of Glory Aerodrome, one thought was to measure peg to peg. My solution was to have custom rulers made, with a nine inch range, and changing the ranges to short (two damage cards), medium (one damage card at a +1), and long (one damage card), and measure peg to peg. I've not tried this on the table yet, but am eager to give this a shot. As for altitude, only the short range band is used, and treated as a long range shot.

The custom range sticks you see in the pictures were made by Pro Painted Studios out of Dorset in the United Kingdom. I sent them a rough sketch of what I was looking for, and they produced a wonderful looking range stick. 

Deflection – Measure from the peg of the firing plane to the peg of the target plane. If the line does not both stay within the firing arc and cross the rear edge of the targeted plane, then the shot is a deflection shot. In this case the defender draws two damage cards and decides on which card to keep. If this is a short-range shot, then another card is also given as damage. Example: A Fokker D.VII is firing at a SPAD XIII at short range. The line from peg to peg does not cross the rear of the target plane but is within the firing arc of the Fokker. The defender will draw two cards, keeping the card of his choice and reshuffling the other back into the deck. As this is a short-range shot, a second damage card is also given.

Some pictures showing the sticks and examples of range and deflection.

If playing peg to peg, this shot would be out of arc as the peg of the target plane is out of the firing plane's arc. If playing standard, this would be a medium range deflection shot as the arc of the firing plane does not cross the rear of the target plane's base.

A medium range shot (one card at +1)

A long range shot (one damage card)

A long range deflection shot. Draw two cards and the target player chooses which one to keep, and discards the other.

Looks MUCH better in person

Mat - GripMats

Hat in the Ring's First

A couple of pictures from this small project aimed at recreating the first encounter of the 94th Aero. Obviously there is more work to be completed, like some small paint details and the addition of decals, but I am fairly happy how the planes are turning out. The Nieuport 28s will receive French roundels as they bore on that day in April 1918 in which two Americans from the 94th shot down two Germans (a Pfalz D.IIIa and an Albatros D.Va, both from Jasta 64) over the American airfield. 

The planes are Table Top Flights, the stands and altitude rings are from Rival Sky Games, and I have added blue transparent tape to some of the altitude pegs to help delineate height.

A lot of work still to come, but the lozenge is on the Albatros D.Va.

Mat - GripMats

The Blue Devil

Completed! I'll let the pictures tell most of the story. Plane - Table Top Flights. Base and climb counter ring - Rival Sky Games. Colors - Foundry Bavarian Cornflower Blue (73B), Vallejo flat brown for propeller, pilot, outer struts, and wing and tail skids, Vallejo natural steel for machineguns and pistons, Vallejo white for rudder, and Vallejo black for tires. Decals - Aviation Wing crosses, Miscellaneous Miniatures skull and crossbones. Varnish - Vallejo gloss acrylic and matt acrylic. Gaming mat - GripMats. And I have the base upside down!

Mat - GripMats

Two Short AARs

Yesterday a few of us gathered at a local comic book shop to play a couple of Wings games. The owners were nice enough to allow us to the use the "Dungeon Room" free of charge (and had they known the nefarious nature of our group his decision to place us there was apropos). I forgot to take many pictures, so only a few here to illustrate the action.

The Albatros's fiddled with Dan, while I was sneakily diving down for recon.

Later in the game The G Dog closed in...luckily he also jammed!

Passing ships in the night...

I keep tinkering with all sorts of house rules and so in both games we used my diving modifications (see previous post). The first game featured two Belgian aircraft against a pair of Albatros D.IIIs. The Belgians had to recon a predetermined position with a B.E.2c, and for some reason that task fell to me, being escorted by camelbeagle (Dan)  in a Sopwith Pup. I gave the Pup pilot an Ace skill while one of the Albatros players (Bill - Old Guy) had Frommherz with two skills, and The G Dog (Ray) received one Ace skill. I was expecting another player to attend and give him a Nieuport 23 to balance things out, but he could not make it so the Belgians, outgunned and out skilled as they were, had quite the challenge.

Starting at three pegs, the maximum altitude for the B.E.2c, and seeing the Germans starting at four pegs, I immediately went into a dive to create more vertical space between myself and the Boche. I was now at two pegs and four climb counters (see the House Rules file to the right). The next turn I plotted yet another dive to drop down to two pegs, no climb counters. It took the Germans a couple of turns to realize that to get to me they had to come down to play. Frommherz stayed high to tangle with the Pup, while The G Dog came after me. By this time I was closing in on the target. Successfully taking a series of pictures of the target (a brothel I believe), and seeing G Dog starting to close, it was high time to bugger out. I fooled him into thinking I was going to continue on a right turn, but instead I reversed and made a series of left turns and headed back to friendly lines. I continued to dive until dropping to one peg. The pesky Albatros finally closed in, and layered a total of four damage points on the B.E.2c, with my gunner inflicting a bit of damage in return. But it was too late for the Hun, I was off the board!

Dan had a bit of a tougher time of it, dueling it out with Bill and taking some decent damage along the way, but he was also able to get off the board without losing his Pup. 

Nice looking Nieuport...be a shame if something happened to it...

Leaving The G Dog behind to go join the other fight

Yep, something is happening to that Nieuport...

And something indeed did happen!

The second game was a variation of my Hat in the Ring's First scenario - a pair of Nieuport 28s facing off against a rookie in a Pfalz D.IIIa and me taking an Albatros D.Va, the planes all starting at one peg. The G Dog maneuvered away from me, which was fine because I turned towards Bill as Dan and he were exchanging moves and damage. Dan hit Bill with smoke, and then I hit him with a fire result, and Bill kept taking a beating from the fire damage cards. Dan used some modified cards for the Pfalz, reflecting its ability to spin to the left (as evidenced by the remembrances of German kanone Max Holtzem), which helped him against the more nimble Nieuport. With Bill shot down, Ray choose to maneuver off the board. I took a few damage cards, but they were all zeros.

It has been awhile since I have had a couple of really good games like that, and again the rules changes seem to work well.

Mat - GripMats

A Bevy of Belgians

Perhaps not as complete as I would like it, or even as impressive when compared to some others' collections, but I am decently happy with my Aviation Militaire Belge selection of aircraft. I still needed to add the color printed Reduced Aircraft Factory Sopwith Strutter and Breguet XIV, but waited too long and they are now no longer available.

Might have to add some decals to the Hanriot and Camel as I am not liking the more modern 1:3:5 Belgian roundel. Yes, they were used, but the 1:2:3 ratio roundel looks much better!

Organizing a Belgian Bloody April scenario to feature a few of the earlier period planes.

Mat - GripMats

The Completed Ponnier

This nice little bird is completed! Added another coat of yellow to the rudder stripe, added the remaining decals, and applied a coat of matte varnish. The decals (made by I-94) were sent by a fellow gamer (thanks again, Keith). Alas, they were a bit aged, so some tore during the process, so I went with Miscellaneous Miniatures decals. The sizes are pretty close to the illustration shown.

After several discussions with camelbeagle and other on the Wings of Glory forum, I've decided to go with the following stats:

V Deck, B Gun, 10 damage points, Climb Rate of 4. I have been unable to obtain a maximum altitude for the Ponnier.

Colors: Wing surfaces and wheel covers AK Interactive Clear Doped Linen version 2, tires Vallejo Medium Sea Grey, fuselage and propeller Vallejo Cork Brown, Lewis gun and motor Vallejo Natural Steel, rudder flash Vallejo Black, Vallejo Carmine Red, and Army Painter Babe Blonde, struts Vallejo Flat Brown.

I cannot wait to get this little plane on the table.

Mat - GripMats

Adding Some Pop

A bit of a video describing the process: 

Ahhh, the wonderful colored prints that Reduced Aircraft Factory gave us via Shapeways, I do pine for those planes to be available again. When Shapeways unceremoniously shut their internet doors, I still had planes in the shopping cart, saved for a future purchase. And because I didn't buy the planes then, I lost out on adding to my growing collection of Belgian aircraft for Wings of Glory. 

As much as I enjoyed the prints from RAF, colors at times could be less than ideal. Solid primary colors did not print well, but details such as lozenge patterns were wonderful. In preparation for an upcoming game (the last flight of Werner Voss), I decided to give some of the RAF planes purchased for that scenario some "pop." Adding Mark I Decals and touches of paint, I think the end results were worth it. The texture of the Shapeways prints gave the planes a touch of a haze and a gritty feel, even after a spray of satin and a brush of matte varnishes. When deciding to add decals, I came across some mentions about placing decals on smooth (glossy) surfaces. I had not really had any issues applying decals to matte varnish surfaces in the past, but with the Shapeways prints I thought I would give the areas that would see decals a coat of gloss. Two things occurred - first, it was very easy to align decals with the smooth surface and a dab of Vallejo decal fix, and second, the colors "popped" a bit more. The grit and the haze were much reduced. So I have given these pair of Pfalz D.IIIs a bit of a rejuvenation - decals and gloss.

Upon arrival from Shapeways...

Varnish applied to the decal locations and decals started...

Decals complete (after applying Vallejo decal softener) and a coat of gloss varnish in place...

And the finished product after some matte varnish. They are a tad less shiny in person. The grainy feel is nearly gone, and the texture is nearly 100% smooth. I will be applying the same technique to Voss' Fokker once the appropriate decals arrive, and then onto my Belgian collection.

Mat - GripMats

Snipes on the Hunt After Action Report

At the Wright Flight monthly Wings of Glory gaming day I hosted the Snipes on the Hunt Polish-Soviet War scenario. Five players took part, and we used some modified rules (covered within the scenario found on the Downloads page above).

Using the random starting location generator from the Wings of Glory Aerodrome, the Poles, being on the defense, started in the center of the table, while the attacking Bolsheviks were two range sticks to the Poles' starboard. Within a few turns the planes engaged, with one Ansaldo taking some early damage. I had the Camel, and climbed to maximum altitude while the two Ansaldos became also separated in height. The players took a few turns to grasp the changes to the diving and firing rules, but worked both changes pretty well for the remainder of the game. The Soviet ace continued to lay down some heavy damage on the G Dog's Ansaldo, flown by an ace and representing Meriam C. Cooper's plane, he of later King Kong fame, continued to take a beating as his damage cards were of higher values in the A deck. Down went G Dog.

Down goes G Dog - note the heavy amount of damage inflicted

The other Ansaldo started taking damage, including the boom card (which we play at half damage rounded up) and limped off the board with just a point or two of damage remaining on the stricken aircraft. While  had a nice run at one at the Snipes, my altitude was too high for firing, so I decided that as the Soviets had two planes in excellent shape still on the board that it was time for some discretionary valor and headed for the safety of friendly lines.

All in all it was a short game, even with the modified altitudes for firing. The Ansaldos were given diving turn cards to enhance their historical performance, but the nimble Snipes were too much to overcome.

We laid out a second game in which I hosted and another player swapped in. The second game saw a much longer combat, with no planes shot down, but a couple forced off the table.

Starting locations for the second game

Planes: Table Top Flights Ansaldos, Ares Camel and Snipes

Mat - GripMats

Magnets - K and J Magnetics

Escadrille Americaine - Thaw's Nieuport 16

Before adding roundels

I am not 100% pleased with this one, but for a gaming piece it is decent. I took an Ares Nieuport 16, ripped off the top wing, removed the struts, tried to cut the rockets off, then reversed the struts so that the residue from the rockets that I could not remove would be less noticeable. I then painted it a nice AK Interactive Clear Doped Linen (version 2), gave it a little touch up, and applied Miscellaneous Miniatures decals (the bottom still retains its historical French markings). Thaw's N.16 is done.

The smoothness of the paint job does not match the Chapman N.11 I completed last year, and one can see some issues around the struts on the lower wings, but in the flesh it is not so bad. 

The finished product

There were two linen colored Nieuports in the Escadrille Americaine - Chapman's with confirmed American looking roundels on the top wing, and Thaw's speculated to be the same. Having these on the board against the normal green and brown Nieuports is a nice change of pace.

Looking pretty decent from a distance!

The base is a Rival Sky Games offering (I just received several bases - cost and shipping were very reasonable from Australia to the United States), while the mat is a new GripMats from Etsy (Break From Reality Games). Super happy with both of these products!