Regia Aeronautica (Version)

The toys get airborne in this blogpost with the Regia Aeronautica. My difficulty was I didn't have any Italian warplanes to hand so I had to think laterally to get what I wanted. So I bought a Revell Micro-Wings P-40E Warhawk and tried to turn it into a Macchi 202.Cue much bodging and hacking. first I had to trim off the huge air-scoop thing under the Warhawk's nose. Then fill it with greenstuff and get a more bodged stream-lined shape. Then I had to cover the aft section of the huge cockpit glazing. Again with green stuff and again much bodging. What I was left with after all the surgery looked reasonably like a 202 if you did this with your eyes: -_-

Here are some pictures of the bodge-in-process:

Air-scoop off. Putty in.

Underside. New nose and putty in-fill on landing gear

Gaps in wing roots & tail plane filled with putty

Close up of putty bodging on wings & tailplane

The putty was left to harden in its own time. I then turned my attention to those unsung heroes of all air operations: The Groundcrew. For without them no aircraft would ever fly nor engage in meaningful acts of war. Now, this being a Megablitz unit some creativity is called for. Sadly I have none so this is what I came up with:

I really like this chap. He looks like he knows his stuff and could probably re-arm, re-fuel and generally do an operational turn-round on his aircraft on his own. 

So what of the aircraft itself? Well, if you'll forgive the obvious bodges and remember to look at it with your eye-lids half closed here it is:

And finally the complete Regia Aeronautica unit:

I hope you all had as splendid an Easter as I did and I'll be back with more toy-based nonsense soon!

The Angels Wore Red

I've not been well the last few days. Managed, for months, to dodge all the flu & noro-virus malarkey all my friends have been laid low with but then I catch a cold! Bah!

You can tell I wasn't well while doing these Soviet air regiments. They look scruffy and at least one decal is hanging off the tail of the lend-lease Hurricane. Even the bases look poor to my streaming eye. The toys are all from Zvezda's 1/144 scale range for Art of Tactic. The LaGG-3 was a very poor aircraft despite its attractive lines. I was surprised that the Hurricane was quite noticeably larger than the LaGG and not much smaller than the Il-2. My favourite is, of course, the Sturmovik although even its combat performance was, apparently, propaganda enhanced. No matter, I weep for the toy Germans when they appear over the Megablitz battlefields.

Welcome to my new follower, kitnoob, I hope you enjoy what I do!

El Escuadrón Aereo Primero

Angered by a leaked report about the Tarbooshian armoured artillery tractors El Presidente has taken the following measures.

1. Restriction of direct coal sales to Tarbooshian agents.

2. Increased paperwork and a stronger bureaucracy in the coal industry for greater security.

3. Sourcing of kerosene supplies through El Presidente middlemen.

4. The formation of a aerial bombing squadron to pinpoint and destroy these unholy Tarbooshian creations.

Anahuacan purchasing agents made contact with our good friends in Caribia who assisted in obtaining the aircraft that will surely put paid, once and for all, to the dastardly machinations of that Tarbrush fellow, yes, we insult you!

This is the right piece of equipment in the right place at the right time with the right bombs right on target every time. The pilot is right for the job and is a right-thinking FSA citizen named Wright. Bearing all that in mind it has been decided to name our wonder weapon, quite rightly: The El Presidente!

Pilot Wright at the controls!

Sturdy construction!

Beware, minions of Tarbooshia, El Presidente is upon you!

The aircraft is a scratchbuild with an obvious nod towards The Wright Flyer. Wings, tailplane box and bit the pilot's feet are on all from balsa. Wing struts and rigging all from cocktail sticks. Ailerons are thin card cut to size and glued on. Engine blocks: balsa, propellers from coffee stirrers. I used plastic inserts from a couple of old pens as spacers between the engine and the prop.The propellor hubs are dressmakers pins. The tail is made of long kebab skewers, the bracers are matchsticks cut to fit.. Undercarriage is coffee stirrers, a cocktail stick and two slices from a cork. The pilot has a control stick in each hand to control yaw, height, speed and pitch (possibly). The pilot figure started life as a 54mm cowboy wagon driver. Scarf, goggles and gloves from milliput. Kudos to whoever spots what the scarf's colours refer to!

I need to construct a suitable 'flying' stand for it so any advice and guidance on this will be gratefully received. I'm thinking it will need a fairly large base to remain upright during Garden Wargames.

All the best!

SCW Naval: Franco's Rebel Fleet

I don't intend to spend a lot of time on explaining the ins and outs of General Franco's rebellious, illegal and piratical navy. All the details for the ships in my collection are listed in the links given in earlier posts on SCW Naval. There are a couple of ships missing. Baleares sister of Canarias for example.

Battleship: Espana

Heavy Cruiser: Canarias

Light Cruiser: Almirante Cervera

Light Cruiser: Navarra

Destroyer: Huesca

Destroyer: Teruel

Gunboats: Dato, Canalejas & Castillo

All models from Navwar's 1/3000 range. I used artistic licence for the gunboats. They're some kind of tiny, crap destroyer possibly from the Ironclads range.

Here's some heroic Republican Air Force, or La Gloriosa, planes on their way to show the rebels the error of their ways:

Chato Aircraft

Mosca Aircraft

Rasante Aircraft

I found this site which details several major and minor naval engagements during SCW. They also provide some simple rules. I'll be doing a play-test or two soon; results and pictures when I have them.

Salud y Républica!