miniMo | 19 Nov 2018 7:36 a.m. PST |
I've recently been inspired to start woking on the Brigade Models' Aeronefs that have been in the pile for a year and a half or so for Imperial Skies. Planning on doing some detailing work on them to create slight variations among multiples in the same ship classes, and upgrading the gun turrets on the older style sculpts to level them up to match the new and improved new style sculpts. Ordered an assortment of 1/1200 naval ships to plunder for bits, and these will do just the trick.: link May splice the fore and aft ends of some of the decks to kitbash some new flyers too. Contents shown here alongside a sampling of Brigade's Spanish aeronefs for size comparison. Prince of Wales: Very nice open detail on the cranes, good small turret options, the catapults are molded on amidships, but could be cut off for use.
Roma: Nice cranes and catapults, good small and medium guns.
Scharnhorst: The catapults are very short, but otherwise nice open cranes and lots of good deck details and guns.
Tirpitz: Catapult and cranes are plain but servicable, good turrets and bridge bits.
Missouri: Great catapults, nice crane and and small guns.
Heianmaru: This is a 1/700 kit with lots of deck details, and a few small AA guns.
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Allen57 | 19 Nov 2018 8:44 a.m. PST |
If you are unaware, know that Brigade offers turrets masts and cranes separately for mods and scratchbuilding. |
miniMo | 19 Nov 2018 9:13 a.m. PST |
Yes, I'm aware of those. These plastic kits have other bits that I wanted, catapults, deck details, and variations for superstructures and flying bridges. The plastic cranes have more variety of styles, and even bits of the main decks can be cut apart for detailing work. |
miniMo | 19 Nov 2018 9:23 a.m. PST |
I recently acquired a batch of mostly painted merhant ships. A number of them had a bunch of extra deck details added making them all unique and extra flashy. They have inspired me to super-detail my own! |
d88mm1940 | 19 Nov 2018 10:47 a.m. PST |
I don't even do this genre and I like what you're doing. Please show us the results. |
Gokiburi | 19 Nov 2018 11:08 a.m. PST |
I don't even do this genre and I like what you're doing. Please show us the results. Agreed. I may not play Aeronef, but scale comparisons like this are always welcome. |
javelin98 | 19 Nov 2018 12:39 p.m. PST |
Thanks for sharing, miniMo! |
miniMo | 19 Nov 2018 1:39 p.m. PST |
Results will be shown. Eventually…. Arrived in the mail today, a pack of (100) tiny telescoping antennae that stretch from 2.25" to 5". WIll take a bit of work to sort out attaching them to bases and affixing a magnet to the top. A perfect size and very inexpensive. Put in an order last night with Cigar Box Mats during their end-of-the-year sale, and included their tiny scale Stalingrad mat to use for Imperial Skies. The project is definitely on now! |
Canuckinator | 19 Nov 2018 5:39 p.m. PST |
I'll echo the thanks for the comparison photos – quite interesting. Do please keep us posted as the project unfolds. Any chance of a photo and some sourcing info for the telescoping antennae? |
miniMo | 20 Nov 2018 12:22 p.m. PST |
Here's a photo of the antennae. I'm leaning towards using epoxy to put a #10-24 hex nut on the top and a 4mm magnet inside that; and gluing a short plastic or aluminum tube on the base that the rod can just slide into. [edit: looks like I don't need to glue a magnet into the hex nut; just putting a 4mm magnet on the bottom of the ship will center in the nut and hold fine for gaming!] Bought from Aliexpress: 100pcs/lot short whip antenna mini FM Telescopic Aerial For radio remote; 57.6mm to 147mm. The item link is about to expire in a few days. I presume it will be re-listed, but if the old link doesn't work, search for the description above, I had found my way to these in the first place with google-fu. link
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miniMo | 20 Nov 2018 2:48 p.m. PST |
I'll be ordering clear acrylic bases from Litko, they'll be launching their big sale very shortly. The base of the antennae is the same diameter as Corsec's rods. So their dice-docks will fit. I'll be ordering some of those to use for the fighter stands to track hits. (Litko's dice-docks would have too small a hole to fit.) |
Canuckinator | 24 Nov 2018 2:46 p.m. PST |
Thanks for the info Moe. I'm still swinging back and forth between a solution like this or using rotation magnets mounted to hollow acrylic tubes and then using a variety of lengths of acrylic rod to represent different altitudes. The acrylic (being clear) is a bit less visually intrusive, but the extendable metal rods don't require keeping track of a bunch of loose bits. Hmm…choices choices. Rotation Magnets link in case they're of interest to anyone link |
miniMo | 24 Nov 2018 3:51 p.m. PST |
Right now, I'm still working on sorting out the shopping-cart details for the custom order with Litko during this sale. Having them etch corner-to-corner Xs on square bases for firing arcs. Pricier than plain clear bases, but much less expensive than the etched Corsec ones with the thread mounting build in, and I don't need the thread mounting. And 20% off is a good thing. After much hemming and hawwing I went with 4 sizes: 1.25", 2", 2.75", and 3.5". --Mo (short for Maureen; my handle here pre-dates my roller derby days, since then it's mostly Cat =^,^=) |
Lion in the Stars | 26 Nov 2018 12:56 a.m. PST |
Very awesome, Mo! Looking forward to seeing what you end up with. |
Canuckinator | 02 Dec 2018 3:42 p.m. PST |
Whoops, sorry Mo. I come from a family filled with Morley's – so "Eh Moe!" gets tossed around fairly liberally. Freudian slip :) I'm on the look out for some of the 1/1200 kits you demoed, but they are proving to be surprisingly expensive here in the Frozen North – particularly when used as transplant donors. |
miniMo | 02 Dec 2018 4:01 p.m. PST |
The Hobbylinc prices are very good, not sure what their shipping north of the border adds to it. |
miniMo | 02 Dec 2018 4:32 p.m. PST |
I was just poking at the Hobbylinc site and discovered they have a lot of 1/700 WW2 biplanes that all match the sizes of Brigade's fixed wing aircraft. Loaded the cart, and still pondering if I want to push checkout. But did toggle International Shipping to see what it said: $2 USD customs fee + actual postage. You'ld have to put a Canadian address in to see what USPS is charging these days. |
Canuckinator | 03 Dec 2018 4:18 p.m. PST |
Hmm…this calls for a look at Hobbylink's webstore. Sounds like I'd save some cash – assuming I don't need the bits until sometime next year… Thanks Canada Post :[ |