28mm (1/55th- 1/56th scale airplanes)

[WillieB]

Just out of curiosity. Tried to run this poll at TMP but sofar no luck.

First a personal observation then a few questions.

Obviously there are almost no airplane kits in a corersponding 28mm scale.
Quite a few gamers use 1/48th scale planes, if and when such a thing is needed.
I find that they look great airborne, but usually too big if used on the gaming table as a static.

Moreover planes for 'our' period, say the Interwar years, are very thin on the ground.

I won't even consider 1/72nd scale planes as the simply look like toys next to a 28mm figure. Most kits in any scale are very fragile.

There, that was the statement. Now for the questions.

Would you be prepared to pay a higher sum for specific  good quality 1/55th scale planes in resin? I feel that resin is the most suited medium because that means the planes are quite strong and can be made with a fairly simple mould. I have absolutely no idea how much this would cost, but if the manufactures wants to make a profit it will have to be at least somewhere in the region of £20- £25. (30- 38 Euro)

If you did, what kind of plane(s) would you like?
I for one, would go for simply unavailable ones that can be used in a variety of ways.
I suppose fighter- bombers would be the majority, but perhaps also (civilian?) transport planes and the odd glider or so.

Decals can't be much of a problem since nowadays anyone with a decent printer and a computer can make their own. I've done it, so it must be simple...


Anyway, just to start the whole thing here are my votes for some planes.

Top of my list would be a Breguet XIX .
Used by nearly twenty nations  during the interbellum including the Spanish during the SCW, Rif War, China, half a dozen South American countries as well as European.

Another one would have to be the Airco DH 9a.
Again used by a number of interesting countries, including  Afghanistan, proto- Saoudi Arabia, Ireland during the Civil War, South Africa and India. Of course the Mongolians and Russians also used them as the Polikarpov R1 or R2.

Perhaps an SB-2?
Widely used, especially during the conflicts we're in the main interested in.

A Lockheed Orion could almost be used everywhere and is somewhat the ultimate 'pulp' plane. Can be a light bomber, your hero's getaway plane or whatever you fancy.

What do you think?

[Poliorketes]

The pricing doesn't sound to high for me, sadly I just started collecting 1/48 civilian planes during the last half year.

These are planes I find most suitable:

Junkers F 13. The first real passenger plane and build in large quantities.
Ford Trimotor or Fokker trimotor, passenger planes of the late 20ies.
British 2 seaters from just after the war, no matter which.
Dornier Wal.

[assi]

Im not sure if it fits, but ahve a look at the Henschel HS-123, i'll buy me one or two of them for my 28mm Adventures

[revford]

A couple of nice civilian planes in 1:56 would be great.  I'd go to £20, maybe even £25 if the kit look good.

The Lockheed Orion or the Junker F 13 both look perfect for pulp adventurers.

[WillieB]

Yes indeed, the Junker F13! How could I forget that?


@Assi,

I've got most of the suitable 1/48th scale planes by now including the Henschel 123, but as I said they are extremely fragile, and quite big if used as a static display.

Also, some of the rarer planes can sometimes  be expensive. Most are either short run or limited editions.
Recently bought a 1/48th scale Lockheed Vega and even with some years (read decades) of kitbuilding experience it was a chore. For 50+ Euros I was expecting something  better.











[/i]

[dominic]

Hi Willie,
a Westland Wapiti would be great as it is not available in any scale!
It was used by the British in Iraq and the Northwest Frontier during the Inter-War years.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Westland_Wapiti

Also a Hawker Audax biplane!  Not available in any scale.  Used by the British in Egypt, Iraq, India and the Northwest Frontier.  Also saw combat during the siege of Habaniyya in 1941.

http://www.historyofwar.org/articles/weapons_hawker_audax.html

[Mainly28s]

Well, a "Tante Ju" (Junkers Ju 53/3m) wouldn't hurt either- nor would a DC-3.
Then there's a pressing need for small scout planes like the Lysander, Fieseler Storch and whatever the US equivalent was.

[Vanvlak]

Handley Page H1500.....
Vickers Wellesley.....
Handley Page Herford....
Airco DH9....

[Trencher]

Sure, planes for 28mm miniatures would be fine. But I don't think that a "scale-creep" towards the 1/48 scale matters that much. Bear in mind that a DC-2/DC-3 or a Ju-52/3m is even in 1/56 very LARGE. Nowadays, you get much planes in 1/48 for a reasonable price, rarer subjects are done in resin.
And that's where some serious disadvantages for resin-planes kick in:
1. The sturdiness:
You can effectively "weld" a standard injection plastic kit together, a sensible use of glue provided. This way you could even build a plane with a "forrest of struts" (e.g. an Airco D.H.2, F.E.2b, etc.) with a relatively sturdiness for gaming purposes.
That is someting I wouldn't do with a resin kit. Especially not with a biplane.
Resin struts are unforgiving and brittle. If you exchange them with brass rods, it may be a bit sturdier, but it doesn't look right. Fixing the wings to the fuselage requires careful pinning as well.
2. Resin is prone to bend itself at higher temperatures, so if you expose your plane repeatedly to direct sunlight, a hot car in summer or a hot showcase-light it will pretty soon look like a Basset. Warped resin is a true bitch to straightening out. While tanks with their chunky resin parts are quite immune to this (I know, I know, it could happen there, too!), planes are a totally different story.
3. Resin is a quite pricey affair. In the £20 - £25 (30 - 38 Euro) range you would only get really small planes (like a Piper L-4, or maybe just a little single-seater...)
All in all, I'll stick with the 1/48 planes and can surely live with the slightly larger size.

[Vanvlak]

All in all, I'll stick with the 1/48 planes and can surely live with the slightly larger size.

Trouble is, the 1/48 scale Airfix Hawker Fury (very in-period) has a pilot who is far smaller than true 28mm...  

[Trencher]

Ho-hum. That's interesting. Seems to me yet another scale inconsistency... Does the Fury fit in well with 28mm miniatures, e.g. the Copplestone pilots? Given that the pilot is smaller than even a true 28mm miniature, is the plane also smaller?
BTW, I own a Curtis Racer by Testors (for 7 Euros, so I couldn't pass...) awaiting construction and I would say it fits well with 28mm miniatures.

[Plynkes]

Nope. £3.99 1/48th scale SMER kits are fine for me. I have no sizing problems with them vs. 28mm figs on the ground or in the air. They look fine to me and I'm a little confused with folks who say they look wrong.

And you'd have to make a pretty damn spectacular model to wean me off SMER's two most beautiful attributes: Simplicity and price.

£25? Thank you, no.

[Vanvlak]

Ho-hum. That's interesting. Seems to me yet another scale inconsistency... Does the Fury fit in well with 28mm miniatures, e.g. the Copplestone pilots? Given that the pilot is smaller than even a true 28mm miniature, is the plane also smaller?

I don;t have the Copplestone pilots, so I couldn;t rightly say - the aeroplane looks ok; the pilot is titchy but fits well in the cockpit, so I'd have to say that in spite of appearances, it too would be a bit small.

[WillieB]

I have to agree with most comments.
Resin would be quite expensive and biplanes for example, would still be relatively fragile.

Perhaps 1/8th scale is preferable, since it would make kit bashing much simpler. 1/56th scale  seems a dead end.

Oddly enough most (kit) pilot figures in 1/48th scale are indeed SMALLER than some 28mm figures.
Let's not forget that most so-called 28mm figures are actually nearly 32mm and even bigger. Some companies distort the dimensions, especially the width of their figures, which makes them quite bulky. A Copplestone pilot would be hard pressed (pun intended) to fit in a 1/48th scale cockpit whereas a much better proportioned  Anglian figure is almost a perfect match.

Leaves us with availablity. With the exeption of the JU52 none of the planes mentioned is, to my knowledge, available in 1/48th scale.

Breguet XIX
Airco DH9
Westland Wapiti
SB-2
Hawker Audax
Handley Page 1500 and Hereford
Vickers Wellesly
DC2 or 3
Ford Trimotor
Fokker Trimotor
Fiesler Storch (not sure about that one)
Lysander
Piper L4
Dornier Wal
Junkers F13
Lockheed Orion
Interwar British two-seaters

So perhaps there's still some scope, but I doubt if any mainstream manufacturer will jump in. Which means that we're back where we started, namely the so- called 'cottage industry' and smaller manufacturers.
But since most, if not all, of these don't have any injection mould facilities we're also back with resin as an altenative.
Who said life was easy? :-)

[CompanyB]

I briefly considered making a few 1/56 "Pulp" era planes.  The Biplanes from King Kong, and a P40 for Sky captain (still might do it...)

The problem though was because of the size..it was very difficult to get a model that was cheaper than it's 1/48 plastic cousin.  Even the rare resin kits of 1/48 models are not too expensive.

You need to sell between 40 to 80 of any resin kit to break even (depending on if you retail or wholesale)  That's pretty much an average.

That, and the fact that in our games, we use 1/72 planes for aircraft in flight (scale wise it works out with the perspective.  And that way they are easier to manage and not get knocked over.  

So that left the use for the 1/56 models as being on the ground, or for close in support (like King Kong!)

if there was a lot of interest, I'd consider adding a 1920's era plane to our 50 club, resin model poll.  40 to 50 firm orders, and it goes into production!

Brent
Company B