1/144 Shapeways models in progress - The H-12 "Large America" Flying Boat and the Halberstadt D. V fighter

In October I orders two models from the Reduced Aircraft Factory store on Shapeways. I received a Curtis H-12 seaplane and two Halberstadt D. V fighters. As with most Shapeways models, surface preparation is an arduous task that must be done to get the best results. That was true with these two models. A lot of time was spent filling the surface grain of the black strong and flexible material. 

Fortunately, the work is not hard, but involves repeated application of a gap filling material - in this case acrylic clear coat. It took several weeks to achieve the desired result, but then applying the primer coats took a mere two days. A good thing too as winter is set to arrive this week, putting a close to the spray painting season. 

Here's some views of the primed models ready for painting. Now to come up with a choice of paint scheme. The D.V are destined for Mesopotamia and Turkish service, I wanted something 'not-CDL' for a change. The H-12 is going to take some thought as the paint schemes on those beasts can be quite complex. 

The primed H-12 next to a completed Felixstowe.

You can see the common ancestry the two planes share.

Shapeways is getting quite good at the detail, but the 3-D printers still have limits on the really small details.

There's still a little graininess visible in this image. For a gaming piece, it will be fine. 

Great War - Air Action, North Sea

2/18/2017 was the date of Day Con, the first issue of what we hope will become an annual staple of the Dayton, Ohio gaming calendar. As part of the days events, I provided a Wings of Glory game titled "Clash over the North Sea". The game features two opposing combat patrols - one from the British Royal Air Force (formerly the Royal Naval Air Service) and the other from the German Imperial Navy's Marine-Fliegerabteilung.  The two forces - while on different missions - encounter each other over the North Sea and engage in combat. 

RAF naval Anti-Zeppelin patrol

• Felixstowe F.2A - "BN"
• 4 x DH-4

• Cotton/Betts
• Atkey
• RNAS "BI" x 2

Marine-Fliegerabteilung coastal approach patrol

•  Hansa-Brandenburg W.29 two seater float plane
•  Hansa-Brandenburg W.12  two seater float plane
•  Hansa-Brandenburg W.12 two seater float plane
•  Hansa-Brandenburg KDW float plane fighter
•  Hansa-Brandenburg KDW float plane fighter
• Friedrichshafen FF.49t wo seater float plane

Our Intrepid British players

The German players

Many of the models are products from Shapeways - for example, the entire German force in this game is represented with 1/144 models from Shapeways. You can see details on my experience getting the Felixstowe ready for action here  and on other posts throughout the blog. Bases for these planes came from The Aerodrome.  

The DH.4 are all stock Wings of War / Wings of Glory kits.

DH.4 engage the W.12 and KDW...

Scott's DH.4 take the left while Sean pilots the Felixstowe up the center.

Scott and Keith engage head to head.

The Felixstowe reaches the center of the battle

All the planes occupying a nice small space. The DH.4 in lower right have been mauled taking heavy fire and collision damage. 

Collisions! The KDW collides with the Felixstowe. The W.12 collide with each other! 

Keith did a good job keeping his planes together and fighting them effectively.

Even more collisions! That poor Felixstowe was a plane magnet in this game.

The Felixstowe is on fire! Remarkably, no planes have yet been destroyed...but it would not last.

Down goes the W>29, the FF.49, a W.12 and a DH.4...

...AND the Felixstowe.  The game falls apart. The F2A has burned up. A pair of DH.4 was destroyed. The FF.49, W.12 and W.29 fell into the sea.

At game end the Imperial Navy had scored a solid victory, still having three - relatively intact - planes on the table. The damage cards were unkind to the British. The Felixstowe drew three fire cards in succession sealing it's fate. A DH.4 drew the combination of a Fire card, followed by no left turn, no right turn and engine damage. Fortunately, it took enough damage we didn't have to worry about how to resolve the fire/illegal maneuvers that would have resulted from that mess.

A fun game - with the number of planes, I used double damage decks for both the A, B and C decks.

Queen of the North Sea sky

We often think of the air war in the Great War as one between dueling individuals. “Knights of the Air” atop their aerial steeds sparring in combat over the muddy trenches. It was the origin of the fighter pilot mythology – one man risking it all in battle with a gallant foe. As with many things the reality was much more complicated. The air war over the trenches was fought for specific aims – air photo reconnaissance, artillery observation and bombing. 

But a second, less glamorous air war existed. One that was as important – if not more important – to the ultimate outcome of the war. That was the air war at sea.  While naval aviation had no direct effect in the rare battles between the fleets, aviation was critical in the areas of naval patrol and interdiction. Airships and aircraft of both sides patrolled the North Sea on the hunt for u-boats, enemy aircraft – including airships, light coastal craft, warships and mine layers. In a defensive role, they escorted their own forces through dangerous waters. 

By late 1916 The Felixstowe flying boats were the premier patrol aircraft in the North Sea. Possessing great range, a good bomb load and impressive armament for the day, these aircraft were the Queens of the North Sea sky. 

Overhead view - roundels from Dom's Decals.

Felixstowe F2 early model ready for action. The red lines on the base denote various firing arcs.

Wings of War included the Felixstowe F2 (And Curtiss H-12) in the expansion game “Flight of the Giants”. You thought the Caproni and Gotha were big – think again! The Felixstowe is huge with a broadside of enough machineguns to make any German pilot think twice about engaging in combat. So much so, that the Germans would throw flights of W12 and W29 at a Felixstowe to even the odds a bit.  

Several nice models of the Felixstowe can be had from Shapeways from either Decapod or Colinwe. I ordered mine in the standard White, Strong and Flexible material. The model is an impressive piece of resin. The wingspan actually exceeds the length of the range ruler for the Wings of Glory game.

I didn’t model a specific historical paint scheme for this aircraft. Many of the planes were painted in a dazzle paint scheme. It was not as much camouflage as it was a colorful easily identifiable pattern to help identify a plane. Unfortunately this is something that is beyond my skill set to paint. 

Good port quarter shot of the model.

I went with a fairly bland combination of PC 10 for the fuselage and camel for the wings. It’s a fairly conventional scheme. To make it somewhat unique, I used decals from a variety of sources to put identification marks and symbols on the aircraft hull. 

The flag was scavenged from a set of decals for an Avro CF-105 kit.

Good shot of the magnets joining the model to the flight peg. The grain of the White Strong and Flexible surface is visible here, but when back up to normal game viewing distances the grain fades from view.

A strong rare earth magnet was attached to the bottom of the hull and paired with a magnet on the flight peg. This ensures the plane is not likely to tip over or fall off it’s stand. The magnets came from K&J Magnetics. 

The base ships without color. I had to paint all the lines and text. This is easy - the lines are laser cut and a paper backing protects the surface of the base while you paint. In hindsight - white is a better color choice for the altitude numbers on the acrylic base. The black numbers fade into the playing mat when not on the straw colored field,

The custom base is a product of the Aerodrome store. 

I know - I can't paint a straight line. 

Now to get this beast onto a table for a game!