Custom carriers from OOB's and painted pieces

The UK navy that FJO knocked out in about 6 weeks back in January and February a few hours each night after work.  Not as detailed as the Japanese, but we didn’t have the cool tiny brushes, pens, or magnifying lenses back then.

Close up of the last 2 Vals that were done.  HBG sculpts. (No cockpit lines yet- those were added later, shown below.)

A few Japanese bombers. Had no idea they were that dusty!

Bombers finally got their cockpit canopies and noses and tails inked and final coat of clear 5/25/2019:

While FJO is busy on his customized Shoho made from a cut down OOB Akagi sculpt (the unpainted black one in the comparison picture shown earlier with Akagi and 2 other cut down sculpts for Zuiho & Amagi) I’ve been working on the UK air force. Three or four years ago we’d bought some decals from HBG so we could separate long range planes from regular for a house rule.  I slapped some paint and decals on 10 Spitfire sculpts (the flat wing sculpts I don’t care for) and those became the long range UK fighters. I’ve re-done them since I got Dom’s decals from Pico, and repainted the green camo (leaving the original plastic color), and added fuselage roundels and fin flashes and squadron markings to others to separate them into distinct aircraft. Some got underside wing roundels, while others were painted as part of a set of historical progression Spitfires from a reference page I found while googling paint schemes. Here’s the flat wing set from a few years ago looking like they’re flying on our glass topped board (who needs plane stands?), and most from the re-done set.  The sculpt isn’t perfect- neither of the 2 OOB versions are. Both have messed up rudders that need to be filed down to the correct shape, so I guess in a way these have been modded too. You can see the difference in rudders in the pics below.  Top picture on the glass table is the older version (all these planes will get squadron letters later).

2 more on a print of the historical reference page (same bottom, one has fin flash and one doesn’t), and early Mk1 Spit with black & white bottom (note leading edge of wing) with a later model Spit fashioned after Brian Lane’s plane with the oversized fuselage roundel.

Battle of Britain Ace Brian Lane’s plane again with the early Mk1. I like this sculpt vs. the flat wing version, but it also has a bad rudder that needs to be filed to its correct shape. I used a rough emery board to get most off then a smooth one to get the gouges out and define the round shape more.

The Shoho in progress. Remember this is the cut-down black Akagi sculpt from the comparison picture on page 1 of the thread.  You can’t see it here but there’s an orange mini sub on the hull deck under the aft striped section of flight deck.  At the front, there’s a gun platform between the 2 support posts for the flight deck.  In the middle, the original Akagi’s exhaust spout has been carved down to be a smaller spout with a gun platform next to it.  The sides are in the process of getting the various gun mounts and deck lines added before the portholes are added.  The base flight deck color is down and it’s outline defined to match the schematic found online.  Elevators, arrestor cables and deck lines will be added later.

Got some shots of the Zeroes and Vals last night.  Missing 2 fighters, one green one lost and one Oscar yet to be painted, and one Val yet to be painted.  The HBG Oscars have nice landing gear detail on the bottom of the pieces that are highlighted but I didn’t get a picture to post.  The white Fw-190’s are built by Mitsubishi under license from Focke-Wulf. :lol:

And a year and a half later, here is the entire Mitsubishi A6M Zero set with the Fw’s (one missing) on the left and Ki-43 Oscars at right, with cockpit canopies done. Makes a big difference:

The Vals with finished canopies:

Thank you, John!  With the Zeroes and Vals out of the way, it’s time to get back to the Spitfires.  Earlier, I posted a Mk1 from the pre-Battle of Britain (BoB) RAF.  Here are 3 from 19 Squadron, early BoB roundels and undersides.  If anyone can tell me where I can get numbers small enough to fit on the rudder of these planes, I’d love to put a red, black, and white “19” on each of these.  (Edit: I-94’s letters work great for squadron markings, as seen later in the post- aircraft alongside a quarter for scale. All UK aircraft now have squadron markings.)  They didn’t carry the fin flash yet, so these don’t have them.  The second pic also has an early Desert Air Force (DAF) P-40.  It probably has the wrong roundels, but it’s the starting fighter for Egypt in our games.

Another of 19 Squadron and the P-40, along with a Spit based on the Malta camo colors.  Needless to say, it’s the starting fighter for Malta.

A few late war Spits, Czech and Polish squadron.  (These get appropriate squadron letters, shown later in the post next to a quarter.)

We’d bought some Hawker Hurricanes for our Anzac forces, but I had to swipe a few for the UK, since 2/3 of the fighters in the BoB were Hurricanes.  Only have one done now, so here it is with another grey/green Spit, but this one has a darker grey and a lighter green to distinguish it from the other, and a traditional dark earth, dark green Spit to represent 303 Squadron, the Polish squadron.  FJO is Polish, so I had to do that one for him.  I used the same tan on that one as I did for the others with tan, but I put a black wash over it to darken it up a bit before adding the dark green.  I wish I’d done that before I finished the others because I really like the dirty look and more authentic dark earth color.  I did it on the Hurricane as well, and I think it helps the piece look cool.  Nice sculpt from HBG, really authentic looking when you paint it up.

Another 2 views of the Hurricane, 303 Sq., and alt color grey/grn.

The “Big Wing” on our glass topped board, which is currently covered with FJO’s painting set-up and a mess of painted and primed pieces.

And some of them again after squadron letters have been applied:

We use them for “Check Your 6!” also. Here’s a group of them that failed to stop the Luftwaffe from hitting their target:

Thank you, John.  I’ve been enjoying your pictures as well!  Your latest made me look forward to getting to land units.

I’ve started on the Mosquitoes and have found tons of paint schemes on google.  There are also a ton of documentaries on youtube for roundel reference, and even found 2 whole films- “633 Squadron” on youtube for the Mossies, and for Spits and great story, “First Light” on Vimeo (BBC production of the book).  (“Sink the Bismark!” is also on youtube.)  Well, before I get too off track, here are the first 3 Mosquitoes (later, these get squadron letter decals and cockpit canopies drawn in):

Two other views: