A wet and windy Sunday meant I was able to sit down at the workbench and assemble some Tumbling Dice Fokker DVII models for Jasta 40. If I chicken out of the lozenge upper wing camouflage, which is a distinct possibility, these can double up as Jasta 7 machines, which were all black apart from white tail fin. There's an additional lone Fokker Dr.1 in the line up, which will be painted up in a matching black and white scheme. Tally Ho!
It's been a long week and the weather is terrible so I'm looking forward to some quiet time this weekend, doing wargaming things. These will include undercoated the AK-47 militia T34 tanks and a little bit of Algernon Pulls It Off! stuff, perhaps involving some scenario writing. One thing I'm keen to do is to assemble and start painting a new unit of Fokker DVII scouts in 1/600th scale for Jasta 40, in the distinctive black and white scheme with lozenge pattern wings. It's about time I bit the bullet and had a go at something resembling lozenge pattern fabric, which may or may not turn out to be a good idea? I thinking of trying fine point Sharpie pens for this as a short cut cunning plan....?
I spotted this on eBay yesterday and thought that it was a good deal. The hexes are either a bit too big or much too small but, having said that, I'm sure I can use it for something naval or aerial. My old blue Hotz mat is getting a bit tatty and faded after twenty years, which means a replacement will be very handy, especially for Algernon Pulls It Off! and the Finest Hour campaign for Bag the Hun. Tally Ho!
I can now get to my workbench after the builders have cleared their gubbins from the garage, which means I was able to make a start on the militia unit for the FB group build. So, here we have three old second hand Skytrex T34/85 tanks, two built as normal 'old tanks' and one with a surplus Peter Pig nebelwerfer rocket launcher, although it will be rated as a tank like the other two. I added lots of stowage from The Scene and Debris of War, with figures chopped about to fit from the newer Peter Pig militia range. I'll start painting them at the weekend!
I was looking for a scenario to write for the Algernon Pulls It Off! group today, something suitably festive for the run up to Christmas, when I came across an account of a clash between Sgt.James McCudden of 29 Squadron and no less than Baron Manfred von Richtofen of Jasta 2 on the 27th December 1916. You can read itr for yourself here:
https://www.westernfrontassociation.com/world-war-i-articles/mccudden-meets-the-red-baron/
With a bit of additional research and some imagination, this would make an excellent scenario for Algy, with five Albatros D.II scouts up against three Airco DH2 'pushers'. I'd read about it before but hadn't considered doing anything with it, until the article caught my eye. The RFC pilots are all identifiable and easy to assign skill levels to, but the German pilots need a bit of guess work to be allocated to the Jasta 2 'kette'. I've got some likely candidates lined up, however, so it's really just a question of balancing the scenario set up and objectives, perhaps adding a few special rules for fun. Tally Ho!
I finished the Albatros D.II models today by adding the decals from Dan at Flight Deck, which means I've wrapped them up by the deadline despite not having access to the workbench for two weeks. I'm quite happy with how they came out in the end but I'm taking a break from tiddly planes for the run up to Xmas!
The Finest Hour solo campaign re-boot for 2026 needed some impetus, which I've added by ordering two sets of 1/600th Battle of Britain squadron decals from Flight Deck. These are for No.609 Squadron (Spitfires) and No.238 Squadron (Hurricanes) both based at Middle Wallop, which I drive past every day after work. The original solo campaign revolved around a fictional Hurricane equipped squadron based at the same airfield, which I will continue to use for my games, but I liked the idea of adding the historical units as well. Tally Ho!
A few months ago I asked Dan Arute of Flight Deck Decals if he could produce some broad band cross insignia in 1/600th scale, primarily for the Fokker DrI. I was looking for something else on the website today when I noticed that the Fat Balkenkreuz have now been added to the 1/600th scale range, albeit just with narrow white bands. Tally Ho!
