Bizarre Beagle

This Ilyushin IL-28 'Beagle' was built from another of those rather nice old Tamiya 1/100 scale kits.  Despite being considerably large than the Lightning and MiG kits it retails for the same price (a bargain £3 or so).   The kit includes several choices of markings but completely ignoring logic I opted for a Finnish finish.  I think it was the bright red engine nacelles which clinched it.

The Beagle required a bit more filler than the other kits I've built from this range.  Hopefully no one will look too closely atbthe finished article...

BAC Lightning

For reasons I can't fully explain I recently completed this Lightning. Like my MiG-21s, this is a 1/100 scale Tamiya plastic kit.  I have a couple more of these in stock - could it be that I'm thinking about a game based on the air defence of the UK?  Only time will tell.

I used the markings in the kit, so my Lightning bears the markings of 5 Squadron RAF.

When I were a lad there were Lightnings based a few miles away at RAF Leuchars.  At air shows there in the 1970s you didn't so much hear them as feel them!  Damn impressive aircraft.

The kit was quite an easy build and despite it's age the parts fit was pretty good. 

Grown men and little 'planes

Further to my earlier report on the PVO Strany game which Martin and I ran at COW in July, Jim Roche has kindly given me permission to use the photos he took of the game.  I present three of them here for your further entertainment.  

Your humble correspondent shows off 'Red 66' (a 1/100 scale MiG 21) during the briefing for the Soviet team.

Alex, John and Russell posing proudly with the toy inflatable Vulcan.  Some people just have no shame.  Which is handy if you need players for a silly game.

More shamelessness in the form of smug Soviets Nick D, John B and Chris P.  Sadly the provision of authentic headwear did nothing to increase competence levels...

PVO Strany

I mentioned this game in my earlier post on COW and indicated that there was more still to come.  Here it is.  The game began (like so many others before it...) as a daft chat at the Sheffield club.  I will take this opportunity to shift some of the blame to my co-designer Martin Rapier.
The, er, 'concept' was to simulate the challenges of:
1. Getting a 1960s nuclear bomber to it's target unscathed (getting home and indeed the issue of whether there would be a home to return to is a different issue.  And possibly a further game...)
2. Detecting and intercepting a bomber in the days before reliable surface to air missiles.
Above is one of the protagonists - nearly as good as my own Vulcan - and below the enemy.

Regular readers may recall the construction of my MIG-21s a few months ago.  Getting the toy aircraft together was the easy part! 

The game was to involve the Vulcan with it's crew of three (pilot, navigator, flight engineer) moving along an umpire-determined route between various landmarks on the Knuston lawn.  These were given clever code names such as 'Big Tree', 'White Chair', 'Duck Pond' and 'Summerhouse'.  The final landmark was of course the target.  The RAF navigator was given the route.

There then followed the construction of a replica 1960s Soviet radar set.  For this I used the glass from a car wing mirror (Saab 9-5 if it's of any interest - aircraft heritage you see?) taped to the handle of a floor mop.  The Operator faced the building and could only 'look' at stuff using the mirror.  He then passed the information to the Ground Controller (call sign 'Big Ears') who had a radio link to the Fighter Controller ( whose call sign was inevitably 'Noddy') located out of sight deep in the building.  The FC had a radio link (on a different channel) to a pair of fighter pilots ('Green 61' and 'Red 66').  These could only be directed with reference to the landmarks.

The first radar team - Chris Perry and Nick Drage.

The Vulcan in flight.  Graceful, isn't it?

Nick gets to grips with his apparatus.

The first sortie ended with a successful interception of the Vulcan as it made it's final approach.  Exciting stuff!

The second radar team - Rob Cooper and John Bassett.  They looked very efficient...

...but it was all a facade.  The Vulcan had an uninterrupted flight and dropped it's nuke.

For the third and final game the Soviet Union was being scoured for manpower.  A measure of their desperation was the recruitment of Bob Cordery and Ian Drury as the radar team with Fred Cartwright as Fighter Controller.

The Vulcan pictured near 'Tree Stump'.  On this third mission, the brave boys of the RAF saw off two interceptions and reached the target.

The management at Knuston was worried (but not at all surprised...) at the mention of nuclear weapons.  So we used smoke grenades instead.  This time....

One of the Soviet teams.  Chris Perry (right) is typically looking the wrong way...

Our brave boys.  Flt Lt King, R; Sqn Ldr Armatys, J; Flt Lt Kleanthous, A.

MIG-21 - part 3

The three MIG-21s are now finished, following the expenditure of no blood, little sweat and only a few tears.   But a lot of silver paint.  I'm rather pleased with the results though.  All have been finished in Soviet markings as I need Russian aircraft for the planned game.
These kits have been a pleasure to build, so expect to see further models from the rest of the small range of Tamiya 1/100 aircraft on this blog in future.  Especially as some of my other favourites are included - such as the EE Lightning and Dassault Mirage III.  Oh yes.

'Red 26'.  This is actually the 'spare' Fishbed which I chose to model with its wheels down and centreline fuel tank in place.

'Red 66', with R-3S 'Atoll' AA missiles on the wing pylons.

'Green 61' - otherwise identical to Red 66.

61 & 66 in 'flight'.

Fishbeds and friends, with some very confused Roman cavalry in the background.

MIG-21 - part 2

More MIG-21 'Fishbed' progress to report.  The kits went together as well as I'd hoped, with only a tiny amount of filler being required to meet my (pretty low) standards.  I need two MIGs 'in flight', so decided to build the third with it's wheels down.

Following a previous disaster with trying to paint a 'bare metal' finish, Rich - he of westmodelsandfigures suggested I try the Revell (acrylic) silver.  A pot was duly sourced and I gave it a try on the MIG-21s.  Despite a decent undercoat of matt white (applied by spray can), the models each required three and a half coats of silver to produce an acceptable finish.  Is this normal?

Never a fan of trying to paint on framing and the like on transparent parts, I decided to paint over the canopies as I do on 1/144 and smaller aircraft models.  This has the added benefit of saving me having to paint pilots or internal detail.  These are wargames toys after all.

Coming soon - the finished models.

The three 1/100 scale 'Fishbeds' and some smaller chums.

MIG-21 - part 1

As part of the preparation for a game Martin and I are planning at next year's Conference of Wargamers I need a couple of MIG-21s.  As I recall owning a rather battered example of the Airfix version many years ago, I began looking around at 1/72 scale kits.  However, they all seemed a bit pricey - even on Ebay.  Widening the search a bit, I discovered a Tamiya kit in 1/100 scale - one of a small range of kits in this scale which have been around since the '70s, but I hadn't come across them before.  The fact that they are readily available for less than £3.00 each made the decision for me and as I needed two, I obviously ordered three of them! 

The kits come in a rather nice box - overlooked by some manufacturers, but I think it makes a difference.

The parts all look very crisp.  And thankfully there aren't too many of them!  Three sets of markings are included - Soviet, Polish and North Vietnamese.

I actually bought these a few months ago and have now built them all - more photos coming soon.