Wednesday, December 31, 2008

WoW planes for Trade or Sale

Santa was very good to me this Christmas but I think the old guy is getting senile. He gave me a number of duplicates, not that I don't like or want duplicates for repaints but I am only shooting for three or four planes per squadron and type. I have the following planes available:

Sopwith Camel (Barker) WW07D - two each, new in box
De Havilland D.H.4 (Atkey) WW08L - two each, new in box
Fokker Dvii (Schafer) WWo8B - two each, new in box
Fokker Dr I (Rahn) WW07L - one each, new in box
Albatros D.va (Udet) WW07G - one each, used, no box

I would like to trade for the following:

Watch Your Back! box set
Burning Drakens box set
Albatros D.va (Jentsch) WW07I - one, maybe two
Series III planes - pretty much any

So, if you have excess planes new or used, let's talk!

Chris

Monday, December 29, 2008

The Scoop on Series 4 WWI WoW

This was on the WoW Yahoo group from one of the creators, Andrea Angiolino.
"The next release is going to be the DoW WWII series 1 planes then Balloon Buster will follow. That's the kit with Ni.16 with rockets and balloon, 2 different color schemes. Prototyping is closing in these days, production will start just after WWII Series 1 I guess.Then Series 4 will follow. It should include R.A.F. SE5a, Pfalz D.III - D.IIIa, Breguet BR.14 B2 and Rumpler C.IV-VII,. with 3 color schemes each - some of them colorful indeed. Again, two Allied and two German planes, one fighter and one two-seater each."

In the repaint world-
Dom's Decals releases Jasta 37 decals (Albatros D.V) and is working on sheets for the Series III Nieuport 17 and Series II RFC Snipes.

Poilus




I just finished my LW French Infantry Company with the completion of the last platoon and the addition of air support. The French are a very interesting army to game with in FOW1918. They have a mix of weapons in a platoon, rifle teams, Chauchat teams, bomber teams and VB teams.


I will probably add some Chauchat teams to the CO HQ and build a Trench Mortar Battery in the future.

My French sniper patiently waiting for that target of opportunity.




The French tanks are an interesting lot. The early models were pretty much junk but can be fun to game. Minifigs makes the Schneider 1917 (above) and the Saint Chamond M16 (below)along with the FT-17. This is a chance to do some very interesting camo schemes.



For more info on the French tanks check out Landships - http://www.landships.freeservers.com/tank_articles.htm








For air support I went with the WoW SPAD XIII. It is to represent the famous Escadrille les Cigognes, Group de Combat 12, Spa103 'Storkes' with Fonck. They will also be great taking on Jasta 11, 15 and the others in WoW.





I was asked to add a few close-up shots of the infantry so here you go.




FOW1918 US Air Support, WoW US bomber group



The American Air Service used the DH4 'Liberty Plane' as it's standard general purpose two-seater aircraft. Aircrew operating the DH-4 were awarded four of the six Medals of Honor awarded to American aviators, with First Lieutenant Harold Ernest Goettler and Second Lieutenant Erwin R. Bleckley receiving posthumous awards after being killed on 12 October 1918 attempting to drop supplies to the Lost Battalion of the 77th Division, cut off by German troops during the Meuse-Argonne Offensive, while 2d Lt Ralph Talbot and Gunnery Sergeant Robert G. Robinson of the US Marines were awarded the Medal of Honor for beating off attacks from 12 German fighters during a bombing raid over Belgium on 8 October 1918.The type flew with 13 U.S. squadrons by the end of 1918. From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Airco_DH4



For FOW1918 the Wings of War 1/144 models make a great air support option. The DH4 would be right at home bombing and strafing the trenches.



For WoW the DH4 is a tough nut for the Germans to crack. It is fast, well armed and can take some major punishment. I removed the blob gunner and single Lewis gun that comes on the model with the dual Lewis gunner from Reviresco. This is more accurate for the US DH4 as it was armed with the dual rear guns not the single as the model comes. It is not a simple replacement. The original single Lewis gun is molded into the body of the plane. I had to use the Dremel.
I left the blob pilot as he is well under the upper wing.

Now to build a US ground force for them to support!

Friday, December 19, 2008

Reviresco Fighter Pilots Review



I was not able to make Fall-In this year but a friend went and picked up a pack of Reviresco Fighter Pilots for me.



The packing notes 30 figures but I ended up with more. I got 26 pilots, 5 observer rings, 10 observer/tail gunners 'German' and 6 observers/tail gunners with dual Lewis guns for a total of 47 figures. Some of the figures had a lot of flash and a few of the empty observer rings were in poor shape but overall most were okay. The pilots are fine, nice detail for 1/144. The observer/tail gunner 'German' (that is my title) is nice and looks to have a MG08/15 type gun but the observer/tail gunner with dual Lewis gun is only fair. Not sure how many planes I will actually be able to use him for. I may try converting him into a single Lewis.



The pilots paint up nicely but will not fit as-is into the WoW planes. They will not fit at all into the SPAD and I am still trying to figure out how I am going to get them into the Sopwith. The upper wing is in the way.



For the Dr1 you just need to cut the pilot at the waist and fit him in. For any of the series II and III planes you will need to remove the blob of a pilot. This is a touchy procedure. Kinda like playing the kids game operation, don't touch the sides.
I cut the top off, hand drilled a small hole in the center and then used my Dremel with a bigger bit to get the bulk out. I still chipped some paint so from now on I will do this prior to re-painting.



For the price it is not bad and if you do not have a lot of planes may be worth getting a friend to split it with you. If all you use are the pilots they come to about .32 cents. Not a bad price to not have pilotless planes.

I am still hoping to get my hands on some of the Peter Pig models in the future and will compare them.