More Magnetic Storage Solutions

I have been frustrated by the way that my trusted blobs of blu tack fail to keep the homemade mdf bases on my 1/600th Cold War aircraft from sliding around in the bottom of their Really Useful storage box. They also tend to rip the fibres from the bottom of the bases when I do remove them from the box once they actually have stuck for a change. This has been a pain in the bum but I think I have a perfect solution to the problem:

http://www.tinytintroops.co.uk/

I've decided to try a different approach, using a combination of self adhesive magnetic and flexible iron sheet from Tiny Tin Troops, which I can stick to the bottom of the Really Useful Box and to the bottom of the hex bases. It's not too expensive and for a tenner I have enough for two boxes and multiple stands, assuming I cut the magnetic sheet to fit the bases as economically as possible. I'm hoping that this will solve my slippery, slidy base problem once and for all!

MiG Alley RN Firefly and Sea Fury ID stripes

I had a go at the black lines on the 'invasion stripes' last night, using a 0.3mm drawing pen, which wasn't as difficult as I thought it would be, even if some of the lines went a bit wonky and will need to be cleaned up. I had to cheat on the Sea Fury fuselage bands, which are very narrow so could only fit a single black line, but I think they look okay. I also mucked up some of the fuselage bands on one side of the Fireflies, partly due to the difficult angle at which I had to use the pen and partly due to a blip in the casting which threw the line off course. I'll tidy everything up later and then start on the decals, which should be relatively simple to do, I hope?

MiG Alley USN Corsairs Finished

I managed to finish the decals on the F4U-4 and F4U-5N Corsairs this afternoon, although it was all a bit of a rush and not as comprehensive as I had planned. I realised that adding tail insignia would be a step toward the edge of madness, so I limited the markings to wings only. I also didn't add any engine cowling bands as I originally intended due to a lack of time. This meant that they ended up an bit 'vanilla' but at least they're now ready to deploy.

The 'A' aircraft are F4U-4's of VF-884 (USS Boxer c1951), the 'B' aircraft are F4U-4's of VF-193 (USS Princeton c1951) and the 'H' aircraft are F4U-4's of VF-653 (USS Valley Forge c1951). The two F4U-5N night fighters, which should really be overall black and have red markings, are both from VMF(N)-513 (Wonsan AB c1950). I didn't have any red lettering and the black finish looked a bit boring, so they got an overall dark blue instead.

It's a shame that I had a few problems with white residue from the decals this time, which I haven't experienced before and which took some time to sort out, hence the rush to get these done and dusted. I also didn't mark up any aircraft from USMC units, which I had wanted to do, as these invariably had two squadron code letters, adding to fiddly alignment and cutting out. I guess I should do those Marine F3D Skynights to make up for it!

Re-Basing and Re-Cycling

I decided yesterday to de-base my 1/600th scale modern aircraft that I will be using for the Target Locked On! Flashpoint Baltic project. These were based on mdf hexes with wire stands but weren't ideal as they required the models to be drilled and glued to the wire, which proved to be difficult due to the very hard allow used for the Oddzial Ozmy models. This meant that drilling the holes was time consuming and some of the aircraft ended up coming unstuck.

I'm now going to switch to magnet basing for the modern aircraft which I think will be a better solution and will allow me to swap out the bases for hexes or squares, as required. The original bases won't be wasted, however, as I'll be recycling them for the 1/600th scale Tumbling Dice Cold War planes that I'm adding to my existing Target Locked On! Flashpoint Taiwan collection, which are based in the same way.

The Tumbling Dice models are cast in a much softer alloy, are easy to drill and stay stuck on the wire stands, so I might as well carry on using the method that I have used thus far and save myself some extra hassle in scratch building a load of new stands. The recycled ones will be used as bases for either some Soviet fighters and fighter bombers or for some Royal Navy carrier aircraft, although I've yet to make up my mind about which one I want to go for. Any suggestions?

MiG Alley USMC / RN Continued...

I have started on the black and white 'invasion stripes' for the 1/600th Royal Navy Fireflies and Sea Furies, with masking tape on the outer wings as a guide for the white basecoat but freehand for the inner edges and fuselage bands. This seems to have worked but will need some black lining to be tidied up and also black banding, which is another level of complication altogether! I've also painted the prop bosses on the RN aircraft and on the USMC Corsairs, using a variety of blue, red and white highlights. It's slow work but I'm getting there...I think?

PT Dockyard Turya FAC(H)

I spent half the morning in a futile attempt to kit bash a 1/700th scale Skoryyi class destroyer from an old Tamiya Narvik, before giving up when I realised it wouldn't work.

Drat, Drat and Double Drat!

To save something from the wreckage I decided to assemble a PT Dockyard resin model of a Turya class FAC (H), which I had originally decided to leave well alone. It went together quite easily, much to my surprise, although I did replace some bits with plastic kit parts including a new forward deck twin cannon mounting, albeit an incorrect one.

This wraps up the Soviet-backed FAC flotilla but I can't start painting it yet as the temperature in the garage is still way to low for spray undercoating. Never mind, as I have the MiG Alley planes to finish in the meantime and also plan to base some more 1/600th aircraft, either for the Flashpoint Baltic project or for my projected Cold War Soviets.

Osas and Grishas

I assembled the remaining Skytrex Soviet FAC's today including a pair of Osa II FAC(M)'s and a single P6  FAC(T). These took ages to scrape, file, sand and glue, but eventually went together quite easily. I also assembled the Combrig resin Grisha corvette, which was yet more fiddly even though I left off some of the finer details for wargaming purposes. I had to replace some parts with plastic bits from a cheap, surplus to requirements Udaloy class destroyer model kit, as the resin components were far too fragile to survive very long. This completes the Soviet equipped flotilla for the moment, apart from a cunning plan that I will reveal later.

Komars, Shershens and Romeos

I started on the 1/700th scale Skytrex models this afternoon, with a couple of Komar FAC (M) and a single Shershen FAC (G). These are pretty basic models and need quite a lot of sanding, cutting and trimming before they look okay, so I didn't get more than these three assembled to start with. I did glue together a Hobby Boss Type 033 submarine, however, which was much less fiddly and easy to assemble, having only three parts. This will be a Romeo class submarine for my Soviet equipped flotilla, useful as a scenario prop or as a focus for a game of 'cat and mouse' ASW.  The models have been temporarily tacked down to laser cut mdf bases for undercoating and then painting, with some more boats on the workbench for tomorrow.

Flashpoint Baltic - Reinforcements

The Oddzial Ozmy packs of 1/600th modern aircraft, that I ordered for my Target Locked On!: Flashpoint Baltic project last week, arrived yesterday. I also found the box of planes that I lost down the back of the workbench, so I now have more than enough aircraft to equip several NATO flights and a decent range of Russian aircraft too, instead of the measly half dozen Su-27 Flankers that I based up to start with. I'm thinking of re-basing these with magnets but in the meantime...

...there's a very good deal on at Fighting 15's at the moment, with all the O8 packs reduced to £2.50 and many of them with more models per pack than usual. For example, the pack of Eurofighters and Su-30 Flanker C models had eight instead of the now regulation four or six models. I'm going to add a few more aircraft before the stock runs out including some more ground attack aircraft (A-10s!) and some helicopters, not to mention a pack of Reaper drones. Bargain!

Snow Days!

Teachers in full retreat somewhere near Andover

I've just been emailed from work that I have two days off due to the snow! I won't get paid but it does means I can finish off the Korean War aircraft and get started on the Cold War FAC missile boats for the modern coastal warfare project. Unfortunately, the sprogs also have snow days, so they will be hanging about at home too and will need to be entertained. Anyway, I'm back off to bed having got up at 6am as usual!