Author Topic: I blame Gunbird! (Crimson Skies 1:72) (Read 17250 times)

Gunbird · « **Reply #30 on:** January 20, 2012, 08:18:11 AM »

That colourscheme is actually working really, really well

I think I need to order some more Minimi GAZ AA and AAA trucks (having just about finished all of them for my Soviets) and paint up a few in a civillian scheme like yours. I'm hoping they are doing a open bed by now so I can put some Flak in it as well. But first get to grips with some aircraft.

Parriah · « **Reply #31 on:** January 20, 2012, 01:55:22 PM »

Quote from: wayswatcher on January 19, 2012, 05:48:30 PM

Quoting the entire post? Really?

What's your point? other than the one on top of your head that is?

Gunbird · « **Reply #32 on:** January 20, 2012, 02:38:00 PM »

Cause it is a waste of bandwith and your comment could be easily made without reposting the entire post, thats why.

Erik, the kits just arrived. The Airfix Sea Fury comes with 4 rockets which you call Flash or Sonics, but bigger and a nice sleeved drop tank. The Hurricane you know, 8 of the little ones, plus 2 spinners and gun pods and simple drop tanks. The Hobbyboss Mig-3 is a tiny aircraft by itself, but the rockets on that one go straight to my WW2 Russians. Very solid bit of plastic, and comes with extra canopy so I could do one with the pit open and a pilot from Britannia....if they ever get here. It really is the perfect plane for a Desert Fox conversion, except for the solid tail. But I will manage that.

1 minor pity is that one of the MiG's came without decals, but I've got a ton of Russian stars anyway.

dijit · « **Reply #33 on:** January 20, 2012, 06:07:36 PM »

I'm amazed as to how you can work out what bits from which planes will work. I'm not sure I'd have to creative eye to see through them.
Duncan

Modhail · « **Reply #34 on:** January 22, 2012, 12:32:12 PM »

Dijit, I've found it's mostly a matter of teaching myself to look at planes/kits as a collection of parts rather than the finished product. Mostly wings, fuselage and such are separate sub-assemblies, so I look at these as separate items each.

Finished the Guntruck yesterday, but didn't have the light or the time to properly photograph it yet....

I did try a quick proof-of-concept solo game, using two of the 1/72nd planes, the guntruck and some random terrain I already have for other games.
This was a few game turns in:

I had one plane on the flight stand Gunbird loaned me, and the other on a semi-improvised "nape of the earth" base (essentially just a hex base with a nail in it....).

Here are my preliminary observations:

-I need to rip off the turret of the guntruck and magnetize it! Turning it is just way too fiddly at the moment....

-The idea for plotting movement works quite well. It's almost as quickly as just using regular hexes.
It requires quite a bit of on the fly fudging though, I had odd angles and half-hexes in shooting ranges almost every turn... Stacking models need a solution as well.

-The ratio of base/hexsize to size of planes/terrain means you will make more use of high speed, low-G maneuvres. G-rating becomes less vital, and speeds feel slower somehow.
I guess I could see it as if each game turn represents only a second of real-time instead of the 5-10+ seconds it represents in the original scale. May need to extend the maximum number of turns you can play in order to get some action in.

-I don't have proper stats or damage sheets for ground based units! I'll need to figure something out for that....

-Don't do strafing runs over open ground towards a quad .40 AA gun... It'll bust your plane up bad. :-D
I really should have used the building for cover first and then "hopped" over it for a short range burst, in hindsight. Thing nearly sheared my wing off!

I didn't have the time or opportunity to see how the improvised altitude rules I posted a few days ago work out. May need to run another test game sometime just for that, if/when I have 2 altitude bases available.

Parriah · « **Reply #35 on:** January 25, 2012, 06:47:16 PM »

did you post those ground measurements elsewhere? I just went back over this whole thread, and cannot find the movement rules here. could you go over them again? Plaease? Thanx!

Looks supercalifragilisticexpealidocious so far tho!

Modhail · « **Reply #36 on:** January 25, 2012, 09:56:53 PM »

Sure. Essentially they're just a hybrid of the Fasa and Clix rules: You still use the Fasa maneuvering sheet, but you lay out the maneuvres on the table with loose hexes of the same size as the bases, as in the Clix game.

I had already cut some bases for (possible) ground units, which left me with this:

The leftover piece gave me an additional idea to speed up tracing the maneuvres on the table:

Starting your move:

And final location:

A sort of "negative space ruler", if you will.

Since the field test, I've cut a set of single, double and triple hexes (connected in a straight line), with one 6-hex "negative space ruler" and two 3-hex ones. This allows me to plot most moves fairly quickly (though ideally, I'd like a 4-square ruler as well)

I've elaborated (a tiny bit) more on this on my blog

Thanks, I'm currently laying the basecoat on the first Brigand. Wish I'd chosen some easier colours though... I'll show it when it's less sloppy and hideous.

Parriah · « **Reply #37 on:** January 26, 2012, 03:09:42 PM »

Cool idea! Seems like it should work fantastically! Can't wait to see the colors! Did you go with the Raging Cajuns?
BTW WizKids put out a Louis Thieubadaux (sp?) Fury, so if you get the "Aces Wild" expansion of the WK game, you'll have a Raging Cajun paint job in your hands there!

Modhail · « **Reply #38 on:** January 27, 2012, 12:59:21 PM »

Hehe, nope, didn't go with the Raging Cajuns, but something close:

Here's the first of the Brigands, painting in progress:

The black on the fuselage still needs to be painted red as well. It just takes a lot of layers to get the red near even.
For the next one, I'm considering to just paint the entire thing in the cream colour and then doing the red over that. Should save me some effort, hopefully.
The divide between the red and cream needs some tidying up, maybe add a dividing stripe/pinstripe in white, black or yellow ?
Still need to decide on markings too, maybe add some yellow and blue checkering to the engine cowling too.
There will be nose art though!

And, instead of watching paint dry, I used that time to build this:

A militarized version of the DeHavilland Comet....
Small, fast, lightly armoured, with a .70 and twin .30 in the nose.

Base kit is an old Airfix one (Very cheap, but very poor quality by today's standards. I saw there's a DH Comet in the Airfix range again. I really hope it's a retooling and not a straight up re-release...

)
All I really did to it was magnetize the (very fragile) props and slap some plastic rod/tubing guns on it. Quick and easy.
This kit's fuselage is to narrow to put a proper plug in, so I just glued a chunky 6x1.5mm rare earth magnet underneath. The kit is so small and light, that should be enough to hold it securely.
So that's the British squadron started as well...

Benny · « **Reply #39 on:** January 28, 2012, 12:40:12 PM »

Sorry to go back to the Crimson skies and Ragin Caguns again (I have been playing lots of the X-box game recently) But with a bit of work that Dehaviland Comet looks a lot like a Dauphin flown by Louis Thieubadaux (sp?)

Parriah · « **Reply #40 on:** January 30, 2012, 04:09:09 PM »

Quote from: Benny on January 28, 2012, 12:40:12 PM

Sorry to go back to the Crimson skies and Ragin Caguns again (I have been playing lots of the X-box game recently) But with a bit of work that Dehaviland Comet looks a lot like a Dauphin flown by Louis Thieubadaux (sp?)

YES it does! I hadn't noticed that! But, put some floats on it, make her a single engine center-line, paint, spitting image!

BTW, is that a custom color scheme? I don't recognize it, but it looks real cool!

Modhail · « **Reply #41 on:** January 30, 2012, 06:49:14 PM »

Ooh, the X-box version... I'd like to have a go at that sometime, it's the only "edition" of Crimson Skies I haven't played. That's causing me some "completist itch" I can tell you...

Thank you! Yup, the colour scheme is custom. I wanted to avoid doing an established colour scheme, because that also pins me down on a certain background and playing style. By going custom I have the freedom to do my own thing, and also I can present them as militia, privateer or pirate as the occasion calls for it. I prefer to retain that flexibility.

The British squadron will be painted in (near)historical colours for '37/'38 (so brown and green camo on top, with a split black-white scheme on the bottom). Once I finish the current batch that is, one plane halfway down, two and half to go..

Modhail · « **Reply #42 on:** February 05, 2012, 03:44:04 PM »

Got some time to do hobby stuff today...
Which means the first Brigand now has her primary colours basecoated!

Here she is:

And a nice topside view:

The cockpit and turret canopies are just dropped in place for this pic, they haven't been glued on yet.
Since taking these pics, I've added a quick silver pinstripe between the cream and the red sections of colour. And pretty orange tips for the prop. It makes her look just that little bit more "finished"...

But now I'm stuck until I decide on a squadron symbol and other markings...

dijit · « **Reply #43 on:** February 06, 2012, 10:34:45 PM »

Looks prett good and just a little envious.

McYellowbelly · « **Reply #44 on:** February 06, 2012, 10:40:03 PM »

Quote from: Modhail on January 27, 2012, 12:59:21 PM

Base kit is an old Airfix one (Very cheap, but very poor quality by today's standards. I saw there's a DH Comet in the Airfix range again. I really hope it's a retooling and not a straight up re-release... )

Bad news, it's a re-release....again!This time in the green colour scheme
The comet is a great looking plane, unfortunately the Airfix kit only fits where it touches, which isn't many places!

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Author Topic: I blame Gunbird! (Crimson Skies 1:72) (Read 17250 times)

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