Delving Into 1/200 - The Planes

1/200 Scale Table Top Flights Roland D.II

After much time spent trying to find basing solutions and deciding on a scale for the Check Your 6! Great War project, I am going to focus on 1/200 scale - I think. Many planes are available from Table Top Flights, and Mike can create a post on the bottom of the plane that will still function with the Wings of Glory 1/144 scale pegs, meaning that I can use the pegs to represent TALs. With my friend Bob able to print pegs in both clear and translucent blue and creating hex bases in different sizes, I think I am finally onto something. 

With 1/200 now in play, I contacted Sieben Schwaben Spiele Decals to see if they can reduce some of their 1/144 scale Great War decals to 1/200. Yes, they can! Bernhard at SSSD had that request knocked out in a couple of days, and as a result I have placed an order for markings for Jasta 21 (in Albatros D.IIIs) and the 5me Escadrille de Chasse (in Nieuport XXIIIs), along with a sheet of Belgian roundels (you can find these re-scaled decals HERE). This will allow me to do one of the scenarios from Colorful Skies 3...almost. Table Top does not currently offer Nieuport XXIIIs at this time, and while the scenario indicates Nieuport XVIIs, the Belgians actually used the XXIII model, having but a few XVIIs. A quick email to Mike at TTF and he is looking into adding the XXIII, along with some other aircraft not currently on his site.

I also plan to collect Italian and Austro-Hungarian planes for additional scenarios from Colorful Skies 3, but in the meantime there are some scenarios for late war Americans using Nieuport 28s and SPAD XIIIs I can work on as Mike has those planes available. I have sixty-scenarios that feature late war Americans, and while a few of them are huge, many are very manageable in scope, with my target of 4-6 players - more than that and it gets too crowded around the gaming table.

That means that the collection of 50+ planes I have in 1/144 will be thinned out as I move away from Wings of Glory and into Check Your 6! Great War. I will still keep some of my favorites, mostly the ones I have customized or painted from scratch, but the rest will need to be moved along - and selling those will help fund the 1/200 scale project.

Belgian Aircraft

While some of the following aircraft might be a tad difficult to find, here are the pre-painted and color printed Wings of Glory planes for the Belgian air force (Aviation Militaire Belge). Some are Ares, some are Nexus, and some are Reduced Aircraft Factory via the now defunct Shapeways. I own most of the following, but still need to add the RAF Strutter, Breguet, and two of the Hanriots to my collection, which should be possible as RAF might have found a new printer for his color printed offerings!

Reduced Aircraft Factory

Sopwith 1 1/2 Strutter (4me Escadrille)

Breguet 14A2 (5me Escadrille)

R.A.F. B.E.2c (4me Escadrille)

Sopwith Pup (11eme Escadrille de Chasse)

Hanriot H.D.1 (1ère Escadrille de Chasse)

Hanriot H.D.1 (1ère Escadrille de Chasse)

Hanriot H.D.1 (1ère Escadrille de Chasse)

SPAD VII (5éme Escadrille de Chasse)

Nieuport 23 (5éme Escadrille)

Nexus

Sopwith Camel (1ère Escadrille de Chasse)

R.A.F. R.E.8

Ares

Hanriot H.D.1 (11eme Escadrille de Chasse)

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