Bag the Hun Painting Blitz

I've made good progress with the 1/600th scale Soviet aircraft for the Bag the Hun Continuation War project over the last twenty four hours, despite the usual weekend diversions. The grass green basecoat, German Grey camouflage pattern and blue undersides have all been sorted, with an overall Future ink wash to seal it all in and to pick out the panel lines. 

I'm going to do the canopies and exhausts, tomorrow given half a chance, then possibly finish off with some colour bits for prop bosses, fuselage bands and so on. I'm not in a rush but it will be good to get them pretty much over the finish line, sooner rather than later. After that, it's the dreaded decals, for which I will need to summon up some extra grim determination to get it done.

Algernon Pulls It Off Once Again

I'm thinking of giving this project a reboot once I've completed the Bag the Hun Continuation War scenario thing, as I have the mid to late 1917 RFC and Imperial German aircraft painted already, some nice blue hex stands and my old blue hex cloth, so only need to sort out some turn cards and it's good to go. 

Just need some decals

Ready to go!

I do need to add decals to the German aircraft but that's just a matter of spending a couple of hours, so nothing too troublesome. This also has the advantage of being useable for Wings at War: Duel of Aces, although I do need to make a set of flight stands for that and some ground targets, so a bit more effort required. 

Tally Ho!

Play Testing the Project

With five and a half of the scenarios drafted and the 1/600th Soviet aircraft being painted in a blitz, I thought it was about time I put a shout out to the club for play testing the Continuation War Bag the Hun project. I've set aside some dates in November when I can bring a couple of the scenarios and the required logistical bits and bobs to the club, so just need some volunteers. 

I have a couple already, which is a good start, but ideally want one or two more, especially for the larger scenarios that aren't so easy to solo play test at home. It's not a particularly popular set of rules at the club, quite a few players not being keen on the 'Why can't I do that?" factor, which they find frustrating. 

It's a bit like Marmite, you either love the unpredictably and split second immediacy of 'playing the period' or you hate the fact you can't plan three moves ahead for the perfectly lined up shot. I like the randomness but then I'm not 'in it to win it' like some people seem to be. Anyway, I'll see if I get enough interest in the next few days...if not it's back to the Marmite.

DIY Plane Painting Widget

This is handy!

I made myself a new widget for painting 1/300th and 1/600th scale aircraft, the latest in several along the same lines that I've developed to make it easier to paint the fiddly bits. This is just a cube of obeche craft wood left over from another project, with a 50mm flat head nail bopped into the top. It's dead cheap but really helps when it comes to painting magnet based models. 

Plan B...or is it Plan A?

After realising it was going to take me far too long to paint all the 1/300th scale aircraft for the Bag the Hun Continuation War project playtesting, I've gone back to Plan A, which uses 1/600th scale instead. Here's all of the Soviet aircraft for the scenarios I've written, which I'm going to blitz over the next week or two, ready to run some play test games at the end of the month. I'm still going to use the 1/300th scale models I've started on but for games at the club, once the article has been published in the Lard Mag at the end of the year. 

Flight Stand Refurb

I refurbished these DIY flight stands for 1/600th scale games today, with Bag the Hun being the rules of choice. It's not the first time they're been resprayed but they seem to be no worse for wear as a result of another coat of Sky Blue. It's started me thinking that it would be much quicker and more convenient if I used 1/600th scale aircraft for the Continuation War scenario play testing, leaving the 1/300th scale models for actual games at the club or for participation games. 

Bag the Hun Painting Progress

I've been ill the last few days so things have slowed down to a plod on the Bag the Hun painting production line. To pick things up a bit, I have started to base coat the remaining Soviet fighters, while also shifting the I-16's along with the underside ready for a coat of Vallejo Sky Blue. I've been thinking that I may have bitten off more than I can chew by shifting up to 1/300th scale, so for playtesting purposes I may replicate this lot in 1/600th scale, which is much quicker to paint en masse. In the meantime, I'll keep working on the stuff I have already started, with a few shortcuts to speed things up.

Hurricane Solo Scenario

The last 'bonus' scenario for the Continuation War project will be the Hawker Hurricane themed action that I described in an earlier post, based on an article in Key Aero about Detachment Kalaja in July 1941:

On the 15th, 2nd Lt Esko Ruotsila was back in the thick of it with HC-452: “Air surveillance reported five fighters at Simola. We met a three-plane patrol coming from the east, at 1,000m altitude. We attacked with the sun behind our backs. After the pass we separated a little from each other and engaged enemy planes on every side of us.

“Finally I saw one evading in the direction of Merijoki. I chased it until my engine started to act up. I turned back towards home. Then I saw Sgt Aikala chasing one enemy aircraft in Vilajoki direction. I turned towards them, and then the enemy took an evasive action. Sgt Aikala’s engine was also acting up. Both engines had the supercharger loose. The oil was leaking to almost dry. Simola observation post confirmed two aircraft had crashed.” 

Here's a bit more information culled from WW2Aircraft.net:

When the Continuation War began on 25th June 1941, HC452 had been assigned to Lentolaivue 30. In early July, 5 Aircraft including HC452 were transferred to Utti and incorporated into Lentolaivue 32.

HC452 was regularly flown by Vanrikki (Vanr. = Pilot Officer) Esko Ruotsila, he shot down an I-153 on 3rd and 15th July on patrols over the Karelian Istmuth followed by a shared victory on the 8th Jan.1942, an I-152, for a total of 2.5 victories out of the 5.5 claimed by Hurricanes. 

This ticks all the solo scenario boxes and has that added bonus of being a bit different, featuring the Hawker Hurricane rather than the Curtiss Hawk-75, which otherwise dominated the scenarios that I've written. I particularly like the engine problems as a scenario twist, so will aim to incorporate that as a feature to make the game a bit more of a challenge for the Finns.

Bag the Hun Painting Update

I've been off work today with a nasty infection which makes me look like I've done five rounds with Mike Tyson, so I'm whacked up on antibiotics and ibuprofen. I did get some painting done yesterday, however, with the camouflage sorted on the MiG-3 and I-16 models, albeit in a bit of a slapdash way, so much so that one of the MiG's had to be scrapped. I've also finished, to all intents and purposes, the LaGG-3 fighters, which now just need decals and a matt varnish top coat to seal them in. Getting there...