Aces High A Blood Red Skies Plog by CommodoreRob

Well it has been a while since I have updated this project. In fact it has been a while since I have done any BRS stuff. In September I have am planning a club game based around the battle of Midway (which I will detail more in a different post). For this game I need two carriers models one for the USS Yorktown and the other for the IJNS Hiryu.

IT’S A MATTER OF SCALE

The first challenge was going to be what size do i do the carriers in, BRS being a 1/200 scale game that was my first choice. So i went searching for 1/200 scale models for both these ships, unfortunate I could only find Yorktown at a walletr frightening price, so my next option was to drop down a scale to find 1/350 scale models. This I did do, again they are not cheap , but do able.

HIATUS AND INSPIRATION

This idea then got put on hold whilst I renovated my house. As part of that renovation I had oak laminate flooring put in and was left with some extra pieces left over. This gave me an idea… Would these boards be big enough for making some 2.5D carriers? After some calculations i realised yes they were, and better still they were wide enough for doing 1/200 scale ships …result.

PLAN

There are a couple of ways that I could approach this.

1. I could draw the carriers directly onto the boards
2. Or I could create templates using graph paper, which I could then transfer to the boards.

I decided that of these two the second option would give me a better and more accurate look to the models.

DRAFTING

The next stage was to draft up the Carriers, I found a couple of standard scale images on the web, which I proceeded to print out on A4 paper. Then comparing the dimensions of the real carriers to the images on the paper I determined the approximate scales for each drawing.

MEASURING

The next stage was to note some of the key measurements to the prints outs. Once I was happy with the number of measurements I had. There was some more maths involved in figuring out the 1/200 scale measurements.

delete

Next up is the Mustang’s, I will admit these are not my favourite planes of the Second World War

So I have decided to keep it simple.

One of the new Warlord hard plastic Mosquitos

I have been working on my BRS stuff for a couple of months now. It is a fun manageable project. Squadrons are either 6 fighters or 3 Bombers (although the Bombers are essentially just objectives ATM)

Anyway what drew me in was it appealed to my younger inner airfix building self… The days before I discovered gaming.

So here I am going to wax lyrical about the game and what makes it for me.

So first up I wowi admit that I have only had a few basic games, so I am no expert yet.

However the rules are clean, they are fun and they capture my view of the feel of the period really well.

This is only the second Andy Chambers rule set I am aware of playing, the other being Dropfleet Commander… honestly BRS is far superior in design and enjoyment.

If you have an interest in WW2 air combat then you really should try and get a game of BRS in.

So you have seen these already, but I thought I would add a few words about these. In my opinion the models for this game hit the right spot, the only minor issue is a bit of warping, but that is easily fixed with some hot water.

Warlord have so far released two batches of models, the first batch Spitfires, Me 109s, P51’S, Zero’s and the Yaks. These are soft plastic and made by Warlord, they are very well detailed for the scale, they are not all 100% accurate, and the less said about the stickers the better.

The second batch are the reboxing of the Zvezda 1/200 bombers and transports these are near little snap together kits, with real decals, but do not have a great deal of detail. But at 1/200 scale it’s not too much of an issue.

They are due to release a next wave of planes soon. Which will hopefully include Hurricanes.

Ok so the thing any scale modeller will know about is decals. When it comes to historical gaming I have messed around with some decals from time to time, but nothing like I did in my days of building model planes. This BRS project has resurrected that part of the hobby. Why? Well when I first opened the BRS planes I found that they came with stickers, now I totally understand why Warlord chose to add stickers these are game pieces and not models, it’s quick to get them on the table with stickers. But the modeller in me was … Nope not having these. So for all my aircraft I have sourced appropriate decals.

So to attch decals you can dodit in a number of ways. Add to  water and slide off the paper stick on aircraft and leave to dry. This has a couple of issues: they do not always stick very well, they look like they are transfers and they have a ridge around them.

The next way is to use a two part solution like microsol and microset. Microsol helps to remove the decal from the paper and place it on the model. After which you add the Microset onto the model and this dissolves the tranftra onto the model catching the ridges etc so it looks like it is painted on.

Similar to this I use Humbrols Decalfix which is a one solution product. That both removes the transfer from the paper and then helps fix it to the model and dissolves it like the aforementioned Microset. I would always use this over the other products out there it’s so much less hassle and gives fantastic results.

I have been working on my BRS stuff for a couple of months now. It is a fun manageable project. Squadrons are either 6 fighters or 3 Bombers (although the Bombers are essentially just objectives ATM)

Anyway what drew me in was it appealed to my younger inner airfix building self… The days before I discovered gaming.

So here I am going to wax lyrical about the game and what makes it for me.

So first up I wowi admit that I have only had a few basic games, so I am no expert yet.

However the rules are clean, they are fun and they capture my view of the feel of the period really well.

This is only the second Andy Chambers rule set I am aware of playing, the other being Dropfleet Commander… honestly BRS is far superior in design and enjoyment.

If you have an interest in WW2 air combat then you really should try and get a game of BRS in.

So you have seen these already, but I thought I would add a few words about these. In my opinion the models for this game hit the right spot, the only minor issue is a bit of warping, but that is easily fixed with some hot water.

Warlord have so far released two batches of models, the first batch Spitfires, Me 109s, P51’S, Zero’s and the Yaks. These are soft plastic and made by Warlord, they are very well detailed for the scale, they are not all 100% accurate, and the less said about the stickers the better.

The second batch are the reboxing of the Zvezda 1/200 bombers and transports these are near little snap together kits, with real decals, but do not have a great deal of detail. But at 1/200 scale it’s not too much of an issue.

They are due to release a next wave of planes soon. Which will hopefully include Hurricanes.

Well I ordered some of the new JU-88S from Warlord. These are reboxing of the Zvezda models.

The models are multi part snap together kits which are quick and easy to assemble. I have taken the liberty to remove the prop blades and because the tail wheels are pretty flimsy I took these off. I have not atteched the landing gears either.

Next phase was the last stage of the camo. Lots of wiggle lines that took forever to do… nothing like going for a crazy scheme to while away the hours.

I ordered a few Wellington’s from Armaments in Miniature, which arrived today. So I thought I would get them started.  These are really lovely resin casts. There was very little clean up to do.

I primed in my usual AP skeleton Bone. Then the underside and fuselage were done in a dark olive green from Vallejo.

I then masked off the top of the fuselage and engine cowlings and applied Gunship green again Vallejo.

Then I created the camo pattern using Vallejo dark sand

I then removed the masking and painted the engine cowlings and the wheels using Vallejo black.

I then used Vallejo engine grey to block out the canopy panels.

Next up is the addition of the Decals. In this case I used Humbrol Decalfix to apply the decals. It is a one stop medium. You pour a bit into a container, preferably one that will not react with the liquid. Decals are then soaked in the liquid for a few mins as you would traditionally do with water. The beauty of Decalfix is a Matt surface can be used. So when ready a thin coat of Decalfix is applied to the surface where you wish to locate the Decal. You apply the Decal and leave for a while I leave mine for 24 hours. In this time the decals are dissolved into the model and fit any contours in the model. They look as though they were painted on.

Next step is to add the Army Painter Dark Tone Dip using a brush and leave for 24 hours to dry.

And after a few light coats of AP anti-shine they are ready to play with 🙂

Here is the series of pictures I uploaded to the old Website for my Me109s

This is the series of pics I took for the Plog I did on the previous version of BoW. It shows the stages of painting my Spitfires.