A couple of years ago already, I bought myself the starting elements of a Dutch army for Team Yankee. I've always liked the concept of the Cold War gone hot (to game, not to experience!), and I was always a big fan of the Twilight 2000 RPG, the Operation Flashpoint PC game and of course the Team Yankee and Red Storm Rising novels.
But when I got to finally play Team Yankee at Poldercon some years back, I was really disappointed in the game itself. It was just lining up the entire board edge with units and rolling forward into the storm. Even 40K had more maneuvering and decision making, and it just wasn't very tactical at all, so I kind of abandoned the whole project.
However, since then there have been several interesting games on my radar that might be a better match with my tastes. Games like Seven Days to the River Rhine for instance (even though I have not played that one yet either) and I have high hopes for the upcoming Flashpoint by Osprey as well. And these prospective games did rekindle my interest in the period.
And then several threads appeared doing just about the same so, stoked up, I ordered some very cheap (€3,- a piece) 1/144 Starfighter model kits from AliExpress for use in this project. See; in Team Yankee the Dutch receive air support from the Germans in the form of their Tornadoes, but the Dutch airforce at the time was pretty large and geared towards this very purpose, so I wanted Dutch aerial assets as well.
I doubt this would make a difference in gameplay anyway.
Later research taught me that by 1985, the Dutch airforce had transitioned completely from the Starfighter to the F-16 though, even though there still were a couple of squadrons of NF-5A's around. But I had these Starfighters and I was determined to make them work. So I found/created this (sort of) loophole.
All remaining Starfighters were transfered to Volkel airbase, where the former type traning unit was based as well. And there they were stored for several years before being sold off or scrapped. Which means that in 1985, there were several squadrons worth of Starfighters mothballed at Volkel (all still very much historically correct).
And my head canon this then unfolds as follows: the attrition rate in the first couple of days of the conflict was so high that there was a lack of operational F-16s, so it was decided that the remaining Starfighters would be made flight ready and put into action. There was still enough personell trained on the type, both ground- and flightcrew, and there was no shortage of parts either (here we get into the what-if).
So this is why my Dutch forces are receiving fast mover air cover from a pair of venerable (but really fast) Starfighters. And because I like some variety in my units, I decided to make one of them a TF-104G instead of a single seater F-104G.
This meant I had to convert one of the kits into a two-seater, which I did with ProCreate. A product I needed anyway, because these kits were as quality as their price would suggest. I started this hobby from a model kit builder's angle, so I cherished the opportunity to get stuck into some actual model kits again.
But they were just horrendous!
They required so much filing, sanding and filling, and then more sanding and other modeling shenanigans that I can't recommend these kits to anyone. Not to mention the many inaccuracies, wrong angles and curves, etc. All of that really dragged on the build(s) and I was temporarily distracted with shinier projects inbetween, but I eventually powered through, and got them finished this weekend.
I also had to make my own decals, in addition to buying Dutch roundels, and my homemade ones, printed on transparent decal paper are a bit thick, and it shows. Must be the extra layer of varnish I gave them after printing. I usually do 2, but this time I did 3...
Both jets are based on real life counterparts. The single seater F-104G is based on the plane in this awesome picture of a ridiculously low pass:
I armed the jet with two Mk84 bombs for ground attacks, and obviously it also has its M61 Vulcan cannon for helicopter hunting:
The two-seater TF-104G was combat capable, even though it had to make do without the M61 cannon, which had to make place for the backseater. So I armed this jet with two Sidewinders for helicopter hunting and two GAU-3 rocket pods for ground attacks.
I based her on this piece of artwork:
Resulting in this model:
And here they are side by side:
Finally, I could not resist putting them on my aerial gaming mat I originally bought for Battle of Britain and Crimson Skies games. But with a little imagination, it can also double as a patch of Northern German countryside:
Yes; I still need to make some suitable flight stand for them and I need to paint in the hole for the gun on the singleseater, plus perhaps some weathering, but I'm happy to call them done at this stage.
So now I'm going to have to finally dig into the pile of 15mm Cold War models I have, because the cat's out of the bag with my first two models for the project done. Next up are two BO-105 helicopters, which are also very nearly done, and then it's on to the tanks. Or Infantry first? We'll see...
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April 20, 2024, 09:35:23 AM
September 21, 2007, 12:31:05 PM
