Commonwealth Air Training Plan Museum Visit

A couple of weeks ago Jen and I made the 2 1/2 hour drive out to Brandon for PrairieCon, where I played in the fun games put on by fellow Conscripts Greg and Dallas. Saturday evening we were joined by Kim, Byron, Anne and Chris at my favourite Brandon watering hole/restaurant, The Dock on Princess. Yum!

On Sunday, Jen and I went to the Commonwealth Air Training Plan Museum, located by the Brandon airport. We'd been meaning to go for some time, and this was a great opportunity. During World War Two the British  Commonwealth Air Training Plan trained 131,533 Allied pilots and aircrew at 231 locations all across Canada. Brandon was a major centre for this effort.

There are several dioramas at the museum depicting day to day operations...













...including prohibited activities such as stunt flying!



There were uniforms on display...



...including this heated flying suit that looks like teddy bear pajamas!



There were some exhibits regarding women's role in the war effort.









The heart of the collection are the many aircraft located in the hanger portion of the building, some of which are illustrated below.







The father of our friend Samantha trained as an air gunner in a Bristol Bolingbroke (a license built copy of the Blenheim bomber), but the war ended before he was posted overseas.

















There were interesting exhibits such as CO2 based firefighting equipment...



...and war booty seized from the Japanese.



The museum is in the midst of restoring several aircraft, including a Hawker Hurricane.









The Fairey Battle in the workshop is interesting. There exist no plans, but the museum is working with a museum in Australia who are undertaking a similar project. Note both the R/C model (which the pile of junk behind it will eventually look like)...



...and the more detailed model fuselage covered in pencil marks.



The memorial of the fallen will be completed in the fall of 2014.



I urge anyone in the neighbourhood to drop by, and to consider making a donation to the Memorial Project.

Fun With Size And Scale - 1/56, 1/50, 1/43, 25mm and 28mm

Tanks on parade - from left, Force of Arms T-55, James Bond T-55M, Kitech T-72

A poster on TMP the other day asked if anyone had a comparison shot between some vehicles from Red Star Miniatures and some vehicles from Sloppy Jalopy.  I have some from both, acquired in my various rummagings in modern gaming, so here are a few pictures to help with the comparison for anyone who is wondering.

Like all such posts on TMP, this one elicited a discussion arc that seems to flow the same way - scale is not a size, the differences are slight, no they are not, etc.  Just look what happened to this guy when he floated a discussion on 1/56 vs. 1/50 - in short, don't bring it up on TMP unless you want to accumulate stifles and derision.

I'll save my editorial perspective (worthless as that is) for the end.  In the meantime, here are some different pics of the different kits that have seen action with us and our 25-28mm modern and ultra-modern gaming.  Apologies for the unpainted vehicles...

To help a little with the perspective of a gamer, I added some painted infantry to the shots - a 28mm "Chemical Commie" fro Eureka, a 28mm VDV trooper from Mongrel, and a 40mm Russian Federation infantryman from HLBS (from a line that I believe is no longer available....)

BMP-2s up first....the painted one is 1/56 scale from Sloppy Jalopy, and the unpainted one is 1/48 scale from HLBS*...

Sloppy Jalopy BMP-2 on left, HLBS BMP-2 on the right

Another comparison pic without infantry - no question the HLBS stuff is bulkier/heftier...

From left, a Mongrel Miniatures 28mm, a Eureka 28mm and an HLBS 40mm figure in front of the Sloppy Jalopy BMP-2

Same troops in front of the HLBS BMP-2 - you can see it fits nicely with the 40mm trooper - look OK with the others, but maybe a little big...

Now some BTRs....the unpainted BTR is a BTR-80 in 1/50 scale from Imprint, and the painted one is a "Russian die cast" from E-bay, allegedly 1/43 scale...

BTR-60 on the left - one of the die-cast ones that seem readily available on Ebay; the Imprint BTR-80 is in the black primer....these models are very, very close in size

Troops pose with the Imprint BTR-80....the 40mm lad looks a tad large...

Now some BRDM sized vehicles - a 1/43 scale (allegedly) from "Russian die cast" on Ebay, and a 1/56 scale BRDM with an AT-5 Spandrel launcher from Sloppy Jalopy...

Die cast BDRM on the right, Sloppy Jalopy BRDM on the left

This BRDM seems bulky for the 28mm lads, looks OK with the 40mm chap - the vehicle is allegedly 1/43 scale

The Sloppy Jalopy model is very compact compared to the Russian die-cast, but looks fine with the 28mm models - a bit small for the 40mm trooper

Finally, a little fun with some tanks...the T-55 is 1/56 scale from Force Of Arms, the T-55M (with reactive armour) is actually from a James Bond toy series, and is 1/50 scale, and the T-72 is a Kitech kit, which is (very allegedly) 1/43 scale.  The scale of the Kitech kits needs to be taken with an enormous grain of salt, given that ALL Kitech models have an undercarriage of exactly the same size, with the same road wheels!

Troops in front of a T-55 from Force of Arms models - tank is 1/56 scale

This 1/50 scale T-55M is a James Bond toy - from Ebay

This T-72 is allegedly 1/43 scale, from Kitech - back in the day when we first went nuts on moderns, we were picking these things up in bulk orders for like $5 a model...

I have snipped and whinged numerous times about 1/56 scaled vehicles.  The tall foreheads (particularly on TMP) will smack you down, lecture you on how you are wrong, not the models, that it is scale creep with the castings etc. etc. All of this may be true - but 1/56 scale just looks off - it's too tight - just odd - I call this the "1/56 effect".  But they are still nice models.

1/43 scale on the other hand looks fine for the tanks - but then I am basing this on a Kitech kit - who knows how close to "correct" the overall model is, and what scale it really is.  But I can't have my Russian infantry ride in 1/56 BMP-2s with 1/43 Kitech tanks on the table - the BMPs look way too small, or the tanks way too big, or both.  I will replace my Kitech tanks over time with Imprint T-72, T-80s and T-90s.  But you can't beat the price of those old Kitechs when we got them....and we have had some very, very fun games with them.  The Kitech tanks are still the only model I have ever used a hammer to assemble.

I have found that 1/50 "looks" the best for me when it comes to 28mm gaming.  The HLBS stuff looks awesome, but I suspect it was scaled to match their larger 40mm figures.  I don't have Red Star figures, but if they are a little bulkier - i.e. "heroic 28mm" - then they should look great with the 1/43 stuff and OK with the 1/50 stuff.

For all my subjective blather, however, it depends on what is available.  You will have your own opinion, and may very likely agree with the majority on TMP who would find my perspective uppity, ignorant and full of delusion (and you may be right). Sloppy Jalopy and others have put a nice 1/56 stuff out there.  Meanwhile, Imprint is expanding a range of 1/50 stuff.  The HLBS stuff is excellent. too. Take your pick, fill your boots, and roll some dice! Screw the scale.
*******
UPDATE - *Correction - July 11, 2012 - the HLBS models are 1/48 scale, not 1/43 scale as was originally stated in this post.  Sorry about that! GB. 

Fall 2011 Project Pile

After a summer and early fall in which very, very little painting was accomplished, I am trying to get the motor running again. My painting style revolves a lot around momentum - if I paint one or two figures, I'll probalby do 20 or 30. Moving was very disruptive to this routine, as a number of things I had set aside "so I would not lose them" (decals, dullcote, glosscote, paint brushes) etc. disappeared during the move.

By now I have managed to locate/replace most of the missing stuff, and I am trying to get a few projects from all over the spectrum moving forward. Perhaps because of the lack of output over the past few months, my efforts are even more scattered than usual for me (and that's saying a lot). I'm hoping this little post will serve as a bit of a target list to help get me focused.

Napoleonics

My 25/28mm Austrian contingent is off to a good start, but reinforcements are needed. Curt and I are planning to get together in the new year, and I hope to roll out with a newly reinforced brigade. I figure I will need to add four full new line infantry battalions, and a couple more artillery pieces, to create a serious fighting column to stand up to Napoleon's lackeys.



With each infantry battalion clocking in at 38 foot models and one mounted officer, that's a fair chunk of painting - 156 models, I think. On the plus side, however, I've got a fair bit of experience painting Austrian infantry figures, so the job goes very fast. Up first is a battalion of Foundry castings with yellow facings (a picture of the first "stick" is above). I've already finished 19 foot troops and one mounted officer for these guys in just over three weeks.

To shake things up, I will also do a battalion using the new plastic models from Victrix.



These guys will have light/sky blue facings on their uniforms. I hope to get into more detail regarding the Victrix models on a seperate review post later. Quick verdict: not too bad. A photo of my first "test painted" figure is below.



Finally, for Napoleonics, I also need to finish off my unit of Hussars - they are three troopers short of the target complement of 24 models (it's a long story, involving a lot of Foundry rage, problems from the move etc.). That's a ton of painting, but with the election gone and the NFL and NHL in full swing, I should find some time to make major progress.

15mm Sci-Fi

It's all the rage, and I'm fully infected. I am adding some heavy weapons and more vehicles to my Federal Army troops, and another platoon of Control Battalion infantry.

I'm also doing a "Nova Respublik" force - these are the lastes 15mm sci-infantry from Khurasan, and they are AWESOME. Watch for a product review/progress shots just as soon as I figure out how I will paint the vehicles...

28mm Sci-Fi

The lads in the Gün Schwarm ranks haven't seem some reinforcements in a long time. While it's been some time since they have confronted the deluded Kommulists on the battlefield, the last encounter, in which several new additions to the FutureKom lineup hit hard, still stings. Adding insult to injury, the Gün Schwarm grunts STILL do not have proper APCs/IFVs...well, stay tuned for a major upgrade to the Gün's fighting mobility, and some improved infantry to boot...

1/200 Sci Fi

While unpacking during the move, I stumbled across some more un-opened 1/200 Nichimo Regult model kits. Robotech is always a hoot, and another Robotech game very soon would be a blast. If there is one thing a Robotech game could always use, it's more battle pods. Each box has two models, and I have a pair of Zentreadi Battle Pods primed and ready for painting...

10mm Modern

Could I possibly do moderns in another scale? Well, OF COURSE I can. After some frustrating test figures from QRF (rapid review - the models SUCK), I have found the "Minifig" line has some great possibilities...stay tuned for some insane project updates on this file in the coming weeks!

So that's that - pretty unfocused, but at least some stuff IS in fact getting painted. I hope to have some more pictures for the blog very soon.