Pulp Plane Library

[warrenpeace]

Valerik, thanks for the alert on that seaplane, which induced me to finally get an eBay account! Ordered one pronto. Wonder why those are so cheap. Perhaps they are made from spent uranium. I did pay $12 for a metal bank Texaco Grumman Goose at a junk store, but later paid $35 for a different metal bank late 1930's plane at a different junk store.

[FramFramson]

What I'm wondering is why on earth we seem to have no good junk stores/swap meets/flea markets here in Toronto for me to go troll around in. It's certainly not for lack of looking on my part.

There's garage sales (well, not at this time of year), but you could go to a hundred of those before you tripped over a usable toy... not really the most effective use of limited time.

[gweirda]

One of the local shops has the same old Lindberg Curtiss Jenny that Bob Murch built and his photos show it works well, though I might shorten the wings and fuselage a tad. So that's an option.

You mean, like I did...?   

It's my old railroad modeller instincts kicking in I suppose... they can only tolerate so much scale inconsistency.

I hear ya.  More than scale inconsistency for me, it's tablespace: aircraft are, for the most part, bigger than they need to be (in game terms), so presenting something that looks right and 'does the job' while still not getting in the way of the action of the game is important.  Heck, the plane in 'Casablanca' was -while critical- just background fluff.

[FramFramson]

Exactly. Too big and they're the whole table. Like most wargamers, my buildings have undersized footprints too, for the same reason. So buildings which are smaller in scale than the minis combined with planes much larger in scale than the minis only makes the effect worse. A single-seater plane which covers almost as much ground area as four cottages or a small factory is ridiculous.

[gweirda]

A single-seater plane which covers almost as much ground area as four cottages or a small factory is ridiculous.

Ridiculous, yes - but so much better looking than those cottages!  ; )

[pistolpete]

i just picked up a 1:48 Revell Stearman PT-17 because it looked pulpy to me.  i plan on working on it over the holiday break and hopefully will post some pics.

i have the williams brothers lockheed electra model which is 1:53 and fits well size-wise.  word of warning - it's a terrible kit to put together and takes a lot of fudging/finesse/effort.

as far as "scale consistency" i generally just eyeball it; i mean this is for gaming right?   look at just the figures themselves - lots of manufactures say "28mm" but some are as large as 32, some as small as 25.  we all pretty much wave that away with "people are different heights" but it's still not purely "scale consistent".

[FramFramson]

I bit the bullet and grabbed the He 111 - at $10 I couldn't resist. I might not use it right away, but I can always dry fit it to see how it looks. It's not what I need right away, but what a sweet league ride it will be when posing as the Amiot 370.

[tin shed gamer]

Right you lot are just showing off.
I followed Valerik's links as I've a soft spot for seaplanes.To get the same model to the UK they wanted $149 for shipping.Similar ones on EBay this side of the pond were $160 reduced from $ 220. Plus $138 for shipping.
( I was actually going to comment yesterday but though if I cant quite believe the price to get diecast planes from America then who else would?)
 
Being of the impoverished nature of have three of the kid at university.It's going to be the DIY route from here on in. ( and possibly even the cereal packet route depending how many come how for Christmas and who the bring in tow )
So Matt,Valerik  and the like if you've got show off like this😉
Then please endulge us poor folk this side of the pond ,with a few pictures more pictures of the planes you've made 'Pulp'.So we may dream of something other than Kellogg's .
All the best.
Mark.

[FramFramson]

What on god's green earth?!

If you UK folk want, you can have the plane sent to me and I can forward it on if you pay the postage. I just mailed a plane to vodkafan and it only ran me $15 in Canadian funnymoney. Those coin banks would cost more, but not $150! That's insane and absurd!

Not ideal, as you'd still be paying for postage twice, but uh cheaper than that craziness.

You'd probably actually be best off just contacting the seller directly and asking them if they can ship for a better price. Some of them will be stupid about it, but you only need one who isn't.

[gweirda]

By the way, how about paper-kits? They could be easily converted by zoom-copier. And then built using tougher materials. Lots of creative and talented folks out there.

A couple examples of floats/amphibs:
https://www.ecardmodels.com/index.php/1-48-supermarine-sea-otter-civil-vh-ajn-paper-model.html
https://www.ecardmodels.com/index.php/1-48-curtiss-mf-australia-paper-model.html
https://www.ecardmodels.com/index.php/1-48-junkers-w-34-vh-unm-paper-model.html

airliners:
https://www.ecardmodels.com/index.php/aircraft/1-48-fokker-f-111-klm-h-nabr-paper-model.html
https://www.ecardmodels.com/index.php/1-48-d-h-89-dragon-rapide-g-akny.html
https://www.ecardmodels.com/index.php/1-48-oplinter-air-taxi-ats-oo-ats-paper-model.html


There are other sites like  http://papermau.blogspot.com.br/search/label/aircraft  or  http://www.fiddlersgreen.net/

Resizing cardstock would, I think, be easier than whacking plastic (or worse: resin).

[ErikB]

Some of those "small" planes are actually that big.  Lots of helicopters are way larger than tanks.  I was surprised when I put them side-by-side in the same scale.  Doesn't help for that pulp-effect, though.

Has anyone looked at the Grumman Goose and Grumman Albatross?  The latter is pretty big (I've been in one) but they're cool looking amphibs.

Speaking of these planes, perhaps looking for planes with a side-by-side layout (pilot and co-pilot) in a smaller scale would make sense.  They'd have smaller wingspans yet still have wide fuselages that would look like they could fit a pulpy 28mm mini.

[tin shed gamer]

The Walrus is also a good choice for a Pulp seaplane,and a lot easier to get cheaply in 1/48.
As I mentioned I'm intent on scratch building a Goose in the new year.As my son has discovered Tales of the Golden Monkey,So ive been informed as i did his Tin tin figures ,I've now got to do the same with Jake Cutter,and friends. Corky must have a rifle!
So the Goose is a must ,and its not as if it's going to be a hardship because its one I've always had a soft spot for Cutters Goose.

As Frams briefly mentioned when it comes to paper passenger planes,A while back I had a gentleman's bet with him and came up with a Fokker tri motor made from cereal packet card and eight cocktail sticks.There is a tutorial floating around on the forum on how to make one for virtually nothing( which is what he's referring to when he mentions my tri motor plane,and if I remember rightly I managed to churn it out in around twenty hours)
Mark.

[FramFramson]

There's actually a post by you with pics of the plane about a dozen pages back in this very thread. I'd link it, but I'm phoneposting.

[gweirda]

I'm sure it's already been said:  Aircraft are terrain, not vehicles, aren't they?
They should look cool/right, but they should enable gameplay rather than detract from/inhibit it.

The Tin Shed (I refuse to acknowledge that it's a man - my fragile ego can only take so much comparison...) makes stuff that answers this question properly: The terrain should enhance the game.  Don't get hung up on scale, but do get hung up on how the piece will affect/interact with the game.

[FramFramson]

Made an interesting discovery today: The Douglas A-20 Havoc was of a very oddball size, being a very large fighter or very small bomber in real life. Saw one down at the local model shop in 1:48, and it really looks like you could tweak it a little to make a perfect heavy bomber or larger transport because it had a very bomber-like cockpit as well. At least, I'm PRETTY sure it was a Havoc - got to double-check.

A bit more 40's than 30's however. Might do better for WWII with two more engines added as a fake B-17 or such. But I suppose with a good chrome paintjob, windows cut in, and some convincing livery it might pass for a late 30's beast, something contemporary to a DC-3.