OK, here they are...

And here is my "stash" in the basement...all three columns on the right are 1/144 scale stuff. Also, I've got 23 planes on order that are paid for and in various modes of shipment to me...

Some of these (45-46 or so) are 1/72 scale....

Oh Yeak, my daughter wanted to make sure I included this shot...

As an added bonus today, I recieved an F4U Corsair, an "Emily" from Hobby Link Japan, and some US "Torch" decales and some Australian decales (going to do 2 P-40Ns as RAAF Number 80 or Number 75 Squadron) !

And this is why one of the rooms of our house is designated "The Guy Fort".

The door remains shut, and the SO does not enter this room at all.

In it is all of My Stuff -- including a metric buttload of plastic models.... >

The only data she gets as to the room's contents is the Mysterious Packaging which appears in the recycling bin every Thursday.

"Syd doesn't know. Syd doesn't *want* to know. Syd doesn't *care*." >

I took a quickie count last night and came up with 107 built, 23 enroute & 50 kits that will need built.

Some of the planes are pre-built, pre-painted 21st Century planes (which I have on good authority is or will be soon going out of business), some of them are unassembled, but pre-painted kits from companies like F-Toys, Bandai & CafeRio, and then some of them are just plain old fashioned, unbuilt, unpainted model kits from companies like Minicraft, Sweet, Platz, Arii & more.

I'm an old 1/72 scale model builder, but after playing a few games of Wings of War Miniatures, I thought the WWII game would be great if they had miniatures for it. Rodger_Wilco , on the old FFG boards, came up with the idea of using 1/144 scale planes. They are the same scale as the WWI miniatures, and can be easily adapted to fit on the same stands as the WWI miniatures use.

At first, I kinda scoffed at the idea of using 1/144 scale planes, as at that time, I didn't believe there was much variety in that scale. Plus, there were bound to be miniatures coming out for the game, same as the WWI miniatures. I was new to FFG at the time as well. Soon, I began to realize that by the time FFG (who is just a distributor anyway, I think) came out with WWII miniatures, I would most likely be in a nursing home.

So I stated to look at inexpensive, low time consuming ways to get some miniatures going for the WWII version of the game. 21st Century had available very inexpensive, prepainted, pre-assembled, 1/144 scale planes in toy stores, and so it started. Wanting more variety, I then began looking at model kits in the scale, but those are just the opposite as they are very time consuming and not always inexpensive. The whole time I'm doing this, Rodger_Wilco is practically shouting at me to check out the awsome, pre-painted ( but unassembled) kits on E-Bay. They are in many instances extremely inexpensive, and are easy to assemble (about 15 minutes or so, depending on the kit) with unbeatable quality.

Being an old model builder, and being not too computer savy, I did my best to ignore him and stick with looking at models, but the variety there only went so far. So after having had Rodger_Wilco email me the links to several items of interest on E-Bay, I finally took a look. It was like walking into the worlds largest Hobby Shop, only right in my own living room! It turns out that my wife already had a Pay Pal account, and after being skeptical about the reliability of buying things on line, I finally took Rodger_Wilco's advice and tried it.

Wow, was I suprised! Since then, I've had nothing but good experiences. There is a wealth of variety in this scale on E-Bay, and you can look for the prices that fit your budget. the shipping is more than reasonable, in fact, when gas was up around $4.00 a gallon here (it's currently around $1.90), it was actually cheaper in many instances for me to stay in my own home and order items from the other side of the planet! Don't ask me to explain how that is/was possible either, it just was!

Gotta run off to work now, but I took around 70 pics last night, plus I still have a bunch of pics that were up on the old boards. When I get home tonight, if I'm not too tuckered out, I'll get some more pics up.

Some of my old pics from over on the old boards...

you are insane!! you have a major problem J/K lol

in all seriousness those are awesome great job

I'm loving your work mate, loving your work!!!

Aaron

I recieved 3 B-17Gs & 3 Fairy Swordfish torpedo bombers the other day, and tonight had a chance to sit down and get them assembled.

They are both from F-Toys, the B-17Gs from Vol. 13, heavy bomber collection. the Swordfish are from Vol. 12, biplane collection. They are both the pre-painted kind, easy to assemble. The B-17Gs needed a few decales put on, but that was great as it allowed me to change up some of the fusalage letters to make it easier to tell them apart in a game.

The G model of the B-17 had the "chin' turret on the front under the nose.

The Swordfish were pretty cool, having the crew and all. All they required to finish was to put the tail and rudder on. I have some Italian Machii 200(radial engine) & 202(inline engine) fighters on the way, I thought the Swordfish, aside from looking really cool, would make for some nifty, early war, Med. battles.

Just got in a couple more, including a second RAF Mosquito in Far East markings.

I'm not sure exactly how to work these into a game of DoW, but I snagged a couple RAF Typhoons, cool looking plane.

The first of two F4U Corsairs, this one if from F-Toys. I have a second one that is a do-it-yourself, good ole' fashioned kit that I have yet to build.

And I got a couple French Spad VIIs from F-Toys to go along with the WoW game. I can't remember if they have Spad VII cards of the top off my head in that one...(it's late here)

It's kinda cool, they have the pilots in there.

I have 3 each of Japanese Judys, Jills & Graces on the way, as well as a pair of Italian Macchi 202s and a fourth Il-2 Sturmovik. Somewhere out there too, I should have 8 P-40Ns on the way from Bandai. I guess I'll be back with more pictures then.

Hi kaufschtick!

I've been watching this thread in amazement... so tell me, when do you get time to play WoW???

Can you do me a favour and spray a quick coat of clear flat on those Mossies... nearly blinded me! (originals were painted in a flat silver).

Enough of my nitpicking... Some kind soul has created new card artwork for the F-Toys WW1 biplanes (Spads and Albatros') and for the life of me I can't remember where I downloaded them from (my sincerest apologies to the artist if they're on this forum - the cards are stunning!). If you want copies of them, just email me at my address listed in my profile (unless the artist wishes otherwise?).

Now if it's not too much trouble, can you please leave some 1/144 prebuilts on ebay for the rest of us!

ara398 said:

Good question! With family & work, sometimes it is hard to find the time. But in between, I like to keep busy.

ara398 said:

It must be the flash that makes it look that way . Those Mossies are pre painted by a company called F-Toys (I had never heard of them until E-Bay), and they are super looking. My amateurish photo taking skills don't do them justice!

ara398 said:

Enough of my nitpicking... Some kind soul has created new card artwork for the F-Toys WW1 biplanes (Spads and Albatros') and for the life of me I can't remember where I downloaded them from (my sincerest apologies to the artist if they're on this forum - the cards are stunning!). If you want copies of them, just email me at my address listed in my profile (unless the artist wishes otherwise?).

I am hooked on playing WoW & DoW using the miniatures myself.

ara398 said:

Now if it's not too much trouble, can you please leave some 1/144 prebuilts on ebay for the rest of us!

Rodger_Wilco was right on the money when he suggested to me to check out E-Bay. Don't worry, there's plenty to go around on E-Bay!

My search is "1/144 - aircraft", and there are regularly around 2000 listings in the "buy it now" section, in addition to around 200 or so in the auction area.

Speaking of E-Bay, I just got in a couple bunches of late war, Japanese single engine torpedo (Jill & Grace) and dive bombers (Judy) along with a pair of Italian Macchi 202 Folgore "Lightnings". They are all pre painted, semi-assembled by F-Toys (at least, I think they were all by F-Toys). They are going to need some decales applied, I'll see if I can get them done and some pics up this Wednesday. I got lucky and won a pair of German Hs 129 twin engined tank busters a day or so ago, one European & one Desert camo'd.

ara398 said:

Hey, now that I think about it, the cards do come in handy for when the planes overlap! I hadn't thought about that!

I guess that would be cool, that plus the stats for them (single gun). Those could come in handy!

Kaufy , You are my HERO ............ Kaufy's mom, can I come to Kaufy's house to play????....... WOW man, you got some great planes there my friend. I am telling you that the guys you game with are very lucky. Had a game night a couple a weeks ago with Khayman 7 and we test played a 3 bomber attack and it was a blast. Tipped Suds and ate pizza and wings, Good Times... Can't wait to do it again. We did not have the bombers that you have so we used papercut outs but it was still a blast. Those bombers would add to the fun I think..... BTW, thanks for sharing some pics over here and I enjoy seeing them. Take Care SHEP.

Thanks Shep ! Glad you like the pics!

Hey, how do you guys do the bombers? I'm kinda waiting for Fire From the Sky to come out this June before really getting after the bombers. Till then, I'm trying to get the 60 or so kits I have left in my basement done, and I'm taking in ideas on how to use the bombers. I guess just give them a damage factor and off to the races! But how much damage, to what types of bombers? What about the many guns on planes like the B-17? I want to keep the bombers really simple so as to not take away from the game as it is now. Just curious as to how you guys handle them, or maybe you're sticking with single engine bombers like Dauntlesses and Vals, which will go pretty much like the two seaters from the WWI version. I guess it's the twin engine and 4 engine planes that I'm wondering about mostly right now.

I got in a pair of Italian Macchi 202 Folgores (Thunderbolts) the other day, by F-toys. They were overall plain green, so I decided to spruce them up a bit. The 202 had an inline, or liquid cooled engine, and was the same basic plane as the Macchi 200 (Lightning). The 200 just had a radial engine. I ordered from Hobby Link Japan a twin pack of Macchi 200 Lightnings by Sweet . There were some extra national insignia on the decale sheet with the Sweet kit, so I decided to do the plain green 202s in a camo pattern as shown on the 200 Sweet kit paint scheme. The 200 was shown in green overall, with a light brown speckled camo pattern over it, and vise-versa, in an overall tan paint scheme with a green speckled camo pattern on top of that. Since my 202s were green overall already, I figured I'd do the light brown over top of these, and then make the 200s tan with green on top of them.

I really liked how the 202s came out, I wish I'd snapped a pic of them beforehand, there really is quite a difference from then to this....

The wing insignia that came on the F-Toys version was just the black outline only, and was really hard to see. I used a couple spare insignias from the Sweet 200 kit, the ones you see above, that stand out better, and look super, at least I think so!

I spent the day putting the little posts on about 40 of the planes I had done recently, the post that allows them to fit on the WWI miniature plane stands. Counting these two, I have about 118 planes ready for play now. 10 more that I'll be working on this next week, 10 more in transit to me, and about 59 regular, old fashioned, build & paint them yourself kits downstairs in my "stash". I think it comes to about 197 in all, and I'm getting ready to grab up 3 Minicraft B-29s at the local hobby shops in town this week, for an even 200!

Do they have like a Betty Ford clinic for those addicted to plastic-crak!?!

kaufschtick said:

Do they have the wings of different length and shape?

csadn said:

Oh yeah, I forgot about that! A buddy of mine told me about that. I went to take a peak just now, and the left wing is a little longer than the right, and appears like it is a little skinnier. At this scale it is hard to tell about the shape, but the left wing is definately longer.

Kaufy, thanks for all the pics of your collection, it is outstanding! How exactly did you rig the WWII planes to fit onto the WoW stands?

Find the balance point under the fusalage, drill a hole and glue in either a plastic or brass rod that fits into the WOW 1 flying pegs. When the glues dried, paint the rod to suit your aircraft and then varnish it to give it the paint some protection...........although with regular playing, it will ware away eventualy!!!

Yeah, it's pretty simple to rig the planes, if you have access to a suitable material. I found at a local shop a package of styrene plastic rods that works just great. the size I use is 2mm. I found the packages of styrene rods back in the model railroad section, and it comes in all shapes and sizes. Square, semi circle, hollow tubing, "I" beam and all sorts of shapes. The package I got had about 5 or 6 rods of about 12-14 inches apiece, and if you're smart about it, you can fix up all the planes you'll ever need from just that one package. The packages cost about $3.50 USD, or right about in that ballpark.

I try to pick a point under the plane that will allow the rod to be added that allows the plane to rest normally on its under carriage, and is somewhat centered. I drill in a 5/64s hole, and super glue in the styrene rod, and paint to match the model.

Rodger_Wilco uses brass rod, I believe, and likes his planes to be in the "wheels up" mode. I've had pretty good luck so far with the styrene, and it has been pretty easy to work with. A good pair of "clippers" comes in handy with the styrene; as I now glue in a piece, and cut it to size after it's glued in. In this manner, I wind up not wasting any styrene.

I've added a few more planes over that past few weeks. These are some late war, Japanese single engine bombers, that should be easy to adapt to the game once the next boxed set comes out with the addition of Stukas, Vals and Dauntlesses.

These are Judy dive bombers by... I think; F-Toys. They are pre painted and partially pre-assembled. I was able to pick these up off E-Bay for a price that, for me (a poor white boy) was right on the money. About $2.99 apiece, and a total price of about $15-$16 USD, shipping included.

Grace torpedo bombers, same company, if I have that right, and about the same price off E-Bay.

Jill torpedo bombers, same as the above.

I was very happily surprised when I recieved these 21st Century P-47s. I attempted to buy a pair of P-47B Razorbacks, but wound up with a P-47B & a P-47D. They were both fantastic, especially the D. $6.00 each USD, pre-assembled. Some of the 21st Century stuff I have picked up can be pretty rough looking, but these P-47s were superb. I have a friend who tells me that 21st Century is belly up, and out of business. I have a P-47D twin pack by Platz already, and I've seen that Platz now offers the P-47B as well in 1/144 scale. The P-47 is somewhat rare to see on E-Bay, although I do see them there from time to time, usually in the auction section, which I tend to stay away from. Too pricey for me usually, and I see a lot of the less available planes going from $20.00 USD and up in the auction section. Again, every once in a while you can snag a good deal in the auction part, but usually I have to drop out of the bidding when the price gets too high.

The first of (hopefully) two Yak-9s, I think this is by Bandai, from one of the Wing Club series. Mostly pre-assembled, and pre-painted. Super looking plane. The Russian planes are nearly non-existant in 1/144 scale, as far as plastic kits or pre-assembled or build em' yourself.

There is a US company that makes several 1/144 scale Red Air Force WWII planes, but they are the metal ones. They come with decales (I've already purchased some decales from them, and they are good decales at very good prices), and are "wheels up" with no under carriage. The planes come in one solid piece, so no clear canopies. True North is the company, and I've been eyeing a possible pair of La-7s & PE-2, twin engine attack bombers. They're a good outfit from my dealings with them, you can check them out here:

www.truenorthminis.com/store/index.php

A pair of German attack bombers, Hs-129s, a hard one to track down, and one that can be rather pricey too. I had been watching these for several months, and wound up paying $20.00 each for these (ouch! ), and shipping on top of that! the thing is, that was about $10.00 lower apiece than what I had been seeing them go for. Pre-painted and about 90% pre-assembled. fantastic looking kits though.

And now for one of my favorites, ever since seeing Cliff Robertson attack that German heavy water plant in 633 Squadron!

I think these were Bandai too, not much assembly required. Gorgeous looking planes and a super kit. I had to get a pair of these in the classic green/sea gray to go with the pair in far east markings.

What an absolutely beautiful looking airplane!

Hey Kaufschtick!

Nice pair of Jugs!

Seriously now

I finally picked up a pair of Minicraft Avengers, I have tried and failed so many times with these planes on Ebay and now they are scarce, then I walked into the local rip off model shop and there were two on the shelf at $15 AU ($11.50US) each not cheap but what the heck hard to find. Also there are two Jacks as well, I'll have to wait until next week and hope they are still there. I,ve been concentrating more on WW1 planes trying to pick up bargains where possible, hard to do with our ordinary exchange rates. I've now got 6 planes completed from Jasta 15 care of Doms Decals and Schafers Fokker DVII. Also have 6 Snipes (just arrived) and 4 Neiuports (need 2 more) and so far 2 Camels (still looking for 4 more) these last lot are waiting for the next releases from Doms Decals (soon I hope) to convert to Allied squadrons. After that I'll chase after 5 of Rahn Dr1's. I'll post some pics of the DVII's as soon as I get my camera fixed.