The USAAF and the RAF in mid/late WW2 for Rapid Fire! rules and in 20mm ...

This one shows the Allied aircraft for both the Pacific and European fronts. Its another collection that mixes decades old models with an Avro Lancaster finished last night. The usual plastic brands are acompanied by Luppa and Altaya die-casts. This post concludes the WW2 aircraft from the major participants as smaller countries like Poland and Slovakia have their aircraft shown while showing the rest of the army.

Resurrected Revell Avro Lancaster in 1/72 for Rapid Fire! rules

 

Many years ago I got a very old Revell Avro Lancaster. The way I got it can´t be remembered, as it was a friend´s gift or it came in a lot of 2nd hand kits bought somewhere in a fair. Its state was appalling as someone had built it using all purpose glue (as we did with our first models) and plenty of parts were missing something I only found out last week. Searching in the web I found this Revell kit as the one from 1982, so over 40 years old, in the mean time retooled in 1994 and again in the 2000s.

The interest of this model for me lies in some heavy bomber support for operations like Goodwood, something I´m around for decades and largely done in terms of models. 

One of the rear tail rudders was gone it was copied in 2mm card dipped in super glue for strenght. The same for the rear wheel which is an Altaya one from an unknown aircraft. 

Several of the Brownings 1919 were missing and replaced by pieces of plastic broomstick.

Two of the propellers were also missing and were replaced by some slightly smaller Matchbox Heinkel He 111 rotors and plastic card blades. 

But the biggest problem was the absence of the big bomb bay. A piece of hard styrofoam was used to fill the hole. A bit of plaster was used in the end to give it a smoother look. 

Next: more Vietnam or a video on the Allied aircraft from mid to late war. 

The Japanese IJA and IJN aircraft in WW2 for Rapid Fire! rules and in 20...

The Japanese airforce of WW2 is an old pleasure of mine and, together with a Tarawa wargames table and a few Japanese tanks and US Amtracks, its the only few things I have for the Pacific. The models are Hasegawa, Fujimi (most of them from the good old days of cheap Japanese models), Airfix, Matchbox, Italeri and Altaya. If you want a detailed post on how I built the Ryujo Aircraft Carrier go to https://jpwargamingplace.blogspot.com

Rapid Fire! IJN Ryujo Aircraft Carrier in 20mm

 

Since finishing the Attacker/Bogue class aircraft carrier I wanted something similar for the Japanese. Maybe because I was around Vietnam models lately the interest of making a Japanese aircraft carrier finally rose. Again the problem of these things is size as they would be several times bigger than this in 1/72nd scale. I chose the Ryujo for being one of the smallest of the 18 different aircraft carriers Japan had in WW2. Smaller then the Ryujo only the Hosho, but this one was kept as a trainer and survived the war with minor damage only to be scraped in 1946.The Ryujo on the other hand was sunk in the battle of Eastern Solomons on the 24th of August 1942. 

The Ryujo was called the "illegal aircraft carrier" as it was built small and light in order to exploit a loophole in the Washington Naval Treaty of 1922. This caused problems as it became top-heavy and its ship-like format at the lower deck made tons of water to enter which caused electrical and engine problems. Like this Ryujo suffered several modifications in 1936-37 and 1939-40.

Making a reasonable card bow on a model ship is always complicated but finally this one came out. The round windows were made with a paper punch on thin card paper. Some necklace thread was used for the anchor. The commander´s cabin became a bit small as I placed the radars a bit above were they should be covering what should have been a larger window area. 

The 23mm dual guns were made from Atlantic HO guns older than me. The crew is also Atlantic and a quick paint job on these Italian modern figures makes the part.  

The same for the much larger 127mm naval guns. Due to laziness I didn´t glue any detail on the cabins and just painted some details. 

The funnels were made from electrical PVC tubing with a plastic grid

The "Airfix" stern had some Airfix dinghies, Airfix WW1 tank wheel parts and an older paint mixer. It was kept simple as its a very complicated area of Ryujo to be made accurately.

In the end this model is 85cm long when it should be 2,5 meters long in 1/72nd scale. Obviously you have to compromise between a reduced model and being kicked out of the house. So these kind of smaller aircraft carriers (and then heavily reduced in RF! style) are the maximum that can be done in wargaming terms. Only the more fortunate of us with endless space can aspire to make Akagi, Shinano or USS Enterprise with around 4 meters each! 

As a proof of the shrinkage effect - if its necessary - the guns on the model are 12 tubes while the original one had 24. 

This is the true Ryujo size, something that dwarfs my model. 

I started with a simple layout of the model to calculate the relative position of the gun's bays and other larger details, the landing deck, height and overall design. 

The base and upper upper deck were cut from platex and the two bottom halves were cut from 3 millimeter cardboard. 

The middle deck was placed with the help of two vertical reinforcing squares of cardboard. 

Beams of wood were used for securing the upper deck. 

The life boats were made from pieces of carved blueboard. 

The 127mm guns had the side and support structures made from blueboard. There is one of these guns per box so eight boxes of the heavy artillery set of Atlantic had to be opened and coupled. 

The small radars (in red) were made from whiteboard markers. 

If done today I would have extended the bow some three more centimeters and the upper deck would get two more centimeters in  width. 

Also the lower deck should have had some two centimeters less in height. Even so it became a reasonable model for wargaming. Even if, obviously, will never wargame as intended in the Washington Naval Treaty of 1922 :)

Next: The Japanese aircraft in video

Able Archer/ RFR rules - Vietnam in 20mm (part 8) - The NVA infantry

The North Vietnamese infantry is one of the essentials together with the Vietcong for the war with the USA between 1963-75. Half of the figures are the new Orion NVA while the rest are old ESCI. A total of  three battalions of NVA, a full regiment, was added. 

These two B-11 107mm recoiless rifle were added to the Vietcong. The models started with very old barrels from the Ontos Anti Tank vehicle that Atlantic produced in the 70s. Then all other parts were made from scratch. The figures are ESCI and Orion.

Here you have the models before painting. The guns became bigger than they should as they departed from the old Atlantic parts which were made as toys and always big, particularly the vehicles. 

Each battalion has one more base than the VC and the 81mm mortars were scratchbuilt from EverGreen plastics. 

For the bases of the mortars I used small wheels. The figure in the middle lost its AK47 and received a mortar round. 

Next: a WW2 Japanese Aircraft carrier (finally, after many threats). 

The Soviet VVS in WW2 for Rapid Fire! rules and in 20mm size

This group of Soviet aircraft covers the entire conflict from Barbarossa up to the Berlin offensive. The models are mostly plastics (Airfix, ICM, Italeri, Eastern Express, Gribovski, Revell and Encore) with many Die-Cast (Altaya and Luppa).

Next: the NVA infantry.

Able Archer/ RFR rules - Vietnam in 20mm (part 7) - New pieces of terrain

 

Just a few more pieces of terrain and some civilians to give life to the table.

These two models came from China by Aliexpress. They are metal and intended for decoration. But at around 2 euros each and 1/72 scale they are just too good to be left behind.  A simple paint job and a base finished the lot. The "Vietnamese Buffalo" is in fact a metal Skytrex African animal and much skinier than the intended one. 

A swamp was made with some GW plants in the middle. 

From Temu came these bamboo sticks. I cut many of them in half and took the leaves from the bottom part. The left overs were spread on the base and painted in sandy colors to look like faded fallen material. 

Next: The NVA. 

The Mediterranean and N/A air battles in WW2 (British Vs Italians) for R...

The name is just an excuse to show its three parts: the British desert aircraft, the Regia Aeronautica (the original aim of the video but just too little) and a British Aircraft Carrier. The Aircraft Carrier is scratch built and the aircraft are from the usual brands plus Super Model for many of the Italian aircraft.

The Luftwaffe for Rapid Fire! rules and in 20mm size

This collection tried to get the basics of the German Luftwaffe for all WW2 periods. There are all major brands like Airfix (some from the 1957 originals) , Revell, Matchbox and several of the newer Altaya and Luppa die-casts. The darker Me262 is a Frog model from 1972 that I forgot to mention.

Able Archer/ RFR rules - Vietnam in 20mm (part 6) - Nguyen Van Bay´s mount and a new paddy field

 

Nguyen Van Bay goes on the hunt for one more US aircraft over his beloved Vietnamese rice fields. He even carries a "Kill Box" under him (eh, eh). 

The model is Hasegawa and portrays Nguyen Van Bay´s Mig-17. This Mig-17, even if outdated by US standards, was a headache for the USAF as is was quite manouverable and very dangerous in close combat due to the three cannons it had (the initial batches of F-4 Phantom didn´t have any). It had no air to air missiles and was subsonic, but somehow the Mig-17s seems to have shot down 77 US aircraft (VPAF claim, with US sources saying a bit less) in exchange for 100 Mig-17 shot down. Not bad for an aircraft from the 50s. 

Nguyen Van Bay shot seven/eight US aircraft (five, according to US sources). He seem to have been an extraordinary figures showing incredible skills while flying his Mig-17, and shooting down his enemies from a distance of only 100 meters (A-4, F-4, F-8 and F-105, at least). He was taken out of service quite quickly, the NV governament didn´t want to loose him as he was important also to teach and inspire other pilots. 

The table needs to look as Vietnamese as possible. New terrain was added as this extra paddy field made of the usual plywood and BlueBoard walls

I´m making some risky curves and angles on these paddy fields as I want to include forest patches or villages close to them. I already received plenty of bamboo sticks, the next piece of terrain to be built. 

Next: The NVA infantry and more terrain or a Luftwaffe's video.