Here's the line up for the Honduran Air Force in the Football War of 1969, minus the C-47 transport / bomber aircraft and some assorted light aircraft, but with all of the fighter bombers and ground attack planes. These are all Tumbling Dice models.
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| Vought F4U-5N Corsair Fighter Bombers |
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| Vought F4U-4 Corsair Fighter Bombers |
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| North American SNJ-4 / T6-G Texan Ground Attack |
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| Cessna U-17A Light Aircraft Nuisance Raiders |
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| North American T28-A Trojan Ground Attack |
I went to the local recycling centre, today to drop off a load of old junk, only to find a whole load of high density insulation foam offcuts in one of the bins. I grabbed as much as I could get to, so now have plenty for another set of coastal terrain for naval wargaming. I just have to find somewhere to hide it from the wife, who will probably tell me to take it all back again if she finds out.
I've just finished the Honduran aircraft for the Corsairs and Cavaliers Wings at War project, with a coat of gloss varnish on the canopies just drying off now. They came out alright despite some headaches with the wing tip stripes and tail stripes, which weren't as difficult to do as I first thought. I still have the DC-3's to paint but they are identical to the FAS ones, so I'll do all four or five of them at the same time. I'm now going to move on to the Salvadoran aircraft, which should be a lot more interesting to paint due to their funky camouflage!
I've managed to locate a supply of 50mm long panel pins to use as Level 4 flight stands, replacing my existing 40mm high ones which will now be used for Level 3. This means that my lowest stands, which are a tree hugging 13.5mm high, will now be replaced by my Level 2 flight stands at 20mm. I won't change my existing stands for MiG Alley but will probably switch over to this new system for the jungle stands that I will be using for Corsairs and Cavaliers and Thud Ridge. This all assumes that the 50mm panel pins are any good but I should be getting them in the post next week, so I should be able to try them out on a prototype stand soon.
I've moved the Honduran aircraft along a bit today, adding the anti-dazzle black strips to the engine cowlings of the Corsairs, Trojan and Texans, as well as doing a bit of general tidying up afterwards. This was quite a fiddly job, as it's not easy to get a straight line or an equal spacing, but the next bit is even more fiddly as I have to add the blue insignia stripes to the tail planes and wing tips. I'm not looking forward to that but at least there are no decals!
I've decided that the best way to be able to develop a Wings at War rule set for the Alto Cenepa War, is to have a go at either Thud Ridge or Flames Above the Falklands, both of which feature the mechanics for fast jet combat and missiles. I'd originally thought of doing a Falklands War project but that requires a lot more effort in terms of terrain and ground targets than Vietnam, so Thud Ridge is the obvious choice, especially as I already have a set of jungle flight stands and most of the aircraft models for both sides. I'm going to stick with USAF operations, as I don't fancy trying to replicate the USN paint schemes and I can also just use a basic grass terrain cloth, together with my existing ground targets. This project won't happen for a while yet, as I have lots of other things to do first, but I think it's a good idea and will enable me to learn the rules required for the Alto Cenepa game.
Here's the last lot of aircraft for MiG Alley for the moment, four Meteors of No77 Squadron, Royal Australian Air Force. I had to trim the wings to make these Mk8 Meteors but otherwise it's a quick overall bare metal finish with some Type A roundels so nothing complicated, especially as I don't bother to do any black lining as life is far too short for that sort of thing in 1/600th scale. I do have some F-51's to paint for the South Koreans and some Tu-2's for the North Koreans, amongst other optional things, but I'm in danger of mission creep so will get cracking on the Football War planes instead.
I finished these today, adding the decals then giving them a couple of coats of matt varnish to seal it all in. They're not too bad, if not as neat as I'd like, but will do a useful job of low level night interdiction over North Korea. My eyesight isn't what it used to be but I think they will pass the arms length test? I now have four RAAF Meteors to add decals to and I'm done with the MiG Alley painting, so will switch over to the Corsairs and Cavaliers models, now that I've had a bit of a brush up on 1/600th scale aircraft painting. I'm also going to try to get in a game or two of al fresco MiG Alley tomorrow, if the weather holds up.
While I've been diverted off onto Wings at War for the moment, I'm still putting together my second modern naval project for the year, a counterfactual 'What If?' conflict between Chile and Peru, ostensibly over a long standing maritime dispute. This was resolved in 2014 at the Hague but as my flashpoint will be in the early 2000's, it would still be an active and emotive issue for both sides, so more than enough to kick off a small scale conflict between the two nations.
I've now obtained most of the surface vessels and submarines for both sides, so have moved on to the air assets. I will be using Tumbling Dice 1/600th scale models for these, as I already have a handful of suitable aircraft, so have ordered a pack of MiG-29's and Su-25's, together with some Sea Sprites and Bell 209's for the Peruvians. I have also ordered a pack of F-16's and a pack of Pumas for the Chileans, which should cover most of the bases.
I made a set of 40mm x 40mm flight stands for the B-29 bombers in MiG Alley ages ago, only to find that the models were so big that they just kept falling off. To sort this out, I pulled out all of the offending spindly panel pins and replaced them with hefty round wire nails, which have a larger surface area on the head that prevents the 'falling off' problem. Rather than waste the old panel pins, I made some new 30mm x 30mm bases and added the pins, to create some more 20mm and 30mm high flight stands, as these are the ones most often used in the game. I now have to decide if I'm going to repaint, detail or just leave the rather boring B-29's as they are, while I finish off the painted B-26 bombers with some decals.
