Pendraken Miniatures Forum

(Right, time to give this a spin).
Over the last 40 odd years I've built up a sizable collection of 6mm models based up for Spearhead and Modern Spearhead. As part of this there has also been the obligatory collection of air support (both fixed and rotary wing) to go with it. This tends to look sort of OK for WW2 air support but modern aircraft are much larger. A chance discovery in Mr the Shy's lead mountain (its just as well it lives in the lower floor, I'd worry for his house if it was higher up) of some 3mm aircraft gave me an idea. The models are from Picoarmor and are made from one of the hardest materials known to man. I'm really not sure what it is but it doesn't take drills or solder and won't melt.












Unfortunately I was commanding the Tigers and it didn't end well....

And a couple of more modern shots. A10's in european lizard camo.


And some Russian Mig-27's and Su-25's to finish up.



I hope this has been of some interest.

They will drill, but take it slow and have several bits around...

Those are very nice :) .

Those look brilliant! Well done!

Those look really excellent, and address the visual problems of most "on table" air support

The problems:
Either your ground attack aircraft is to large that it dominates the scene (and is flying at 60 scale feet).
Or it's one little aircraft, and seems a bit insubstantial.
Or it's on a massive great stick that destroys any impression of flight.

You've got a good scale ratio (Inverse perspective - but it works), groups of aircraft, and relatively inobtrusive wire.


Let's turn and burn.

Cool

I've got 6mm aircraft to go with 10mm vehicles - and they can look a bit small (even taking into account being far away!). But this method of basing up a flight works really well. Might get me to sort out some more of my aircraft!

I think they look great - particularly like the diving Stuka formation  :D

I've got a mix of OO and Tumbing Dice 3mm aircraft.  Both are very nice but I prefer the TD ones as they are of a more normal metal and so can be filed & drilled easily.

Quote from: Lord Kermit of Birkenhead on 09 February 2022, 10:33:57 AMThey will drill, but take it slow and have several bits around...

I had a pile of bits but nothing seemed to work.
In the end I went with a bit of bent wire superglued underneath. Another suggestion I had for the comments section was magnets glued underneath.

Quote from: slugbalancer on 09 February 2022, 04:48:07 PMI've got a mix of OO and Tumbing Dice 3mm aircraft.  Both are very nice but I prefer the TD ones as they are of a more normal metal and so can be filed & drilled easily.

I've only had a quick look at the TD models and my feelin was a sacle down H&R style. The OO metal might be a pain to work with but the models just look spot on.

QuoteI've only had a quick look at the TD models and my feelin was a sacle down H&R style. The OO metal might be a pain to work with but the models just look spot on.

I've got photos of my TD models on my website.  They look good painted up.

http://www.slugbalancer.co.uk/ (http://www.slugbalancer.co.uk/)
Go to the Gallery and then 3mm Gallery and then Air Gallery

Quote from: Rhys on 11 February 2022, 06:22:21 AMI had a pile of bits but nothing seemed to work.
In the end I went with a bit of bent wire superglued underneath. Another suggestion I had for the comments section was magnets glued underneath.

What ever works. I have some OO Hinds I got second hand from Nik Harwood. They took an age to drill - seem to be made out of RHA steel plate but I did manage it.

As Rhys mentioned eariler in the thread I have some OO and TD 1/600th stuff for Spearhead/Modern Spearhead. They're painted and I have the decals, decalset etc I that I need.

Any particular advice on actually applying the decals themselves? mainly German and Soviet stuff.

FWIW I have just gone with wire twists to mount my stuff on, not drilled. My stands are very utilitarian compared to Rhys's ones.

QuoteAny particular advice on actually applying the decals themselves? mainly German and Soviet stuff.

Assuming the decals are not individual ones, cut the decals out as small as possible, fiddly but they'll fit much more easily.

Use a fixing solution such as Humbrol Decalfix.
Finally, patience, loads of it.

I use a pricker (of some sort). its essentially a pin on a handle. I suspect a toothpickwould work as well.
I'd hide the swear jar prior to starting.

A couple of suggestions on small decals

Putting a layer of gloss varnish on the area the decal is going is a good idea, as this reduces the silvering effect that can happen under clear areas of decals (the silvering is due to small air bubbles - which the gloss varnish avoids by being very smooth)

I cut the decals out, then put a drop or two of water on the side of my cutting board, and put the decal in this to soak it off the backing. This avoids the decal floating away which can happen if you use a cup of water.

To put the decal on the model, I use a paint brush to generally position it and then the point of a scalpel for finer movement. The key is to avoid curling or flipping of the decal. If this happens its often easier to move it back to the water and have a second go.

Microsol is very useful for softening decals to get them to fit to more complex surfaces - perhaps less needed on aircraft

Once dry another coat of gloss varnish gives protection. Then finally matt varnish to settle everything down.

OK thanks for the advice.....I'll shut the door so no naughty words are heard upstairs.

I use the same technique as fred and agree closed door might be a good idea!

I've got another couple of bases finished this week.
First up the Hs129's. I even added the 75mm PAK40 to one of them. No swearing was used during the decaling phase.


I also completed the base for my second stand of P47's.


This finishes my current WW2 air support project unless Pierre the Shy wants to buy anything else and split the packets of 8.

Very nice Rhys.

I'm trying to clear off my table so I can test a new ECW scenario, not be inspired to get out more yet stuff to put on it that I need to finish.

I have managed to get 30 bases of German WW2 armour completed today, so it has been productive O:-)

No I'm not currently tempted to get any more WW2 1/600th air support thanks, got all I need for now.

I'll be attempting some 1/600th decals later in the week.

They look cool - I particularly like the P47s  8)

Pierre - good work on finishing so many bases of armour - always good to get units finished off, seems too easy to get them 3/4 done then get distracted. 

In between a few real world dramas I have finished painting up my Hs-129's and Ju-87's which now just await decals, progessed two stands of IL-2's as well, one in summer and one in winter camo schemes.

Also significantly progressed Spearhead based (6mm) Tiger I and Panther battalions today. The latter have been sitting stareing back at me for months so time to move them on to make room for something else.....which will come from the small stack of stuff that turned up from Middlesbrough yesterday afternoon.

Amazing what a bit of motivation can do in reducing ones lead pile  ;)               

=D>  =D>  =D>

Haven't got on to prettying up the Luftwaffe yet but I have finished rehashing two more 6mm WW2 armoured battalions - Panthers and Tigers....about 30 more stands with the supporting stuff after work today. Looked at what else I have to finish off.....do I really have THAT much left to do?!?  :o  ;) 

Also being playing around with Bill's Celtic Fringe rules for the "For King & Parliament" ruleset. More about them later.....   

Still the lead mountain is definitely moving in the right direction.

Quote.....   

Still the lead mountain is definitely moving in the right direction.

Towards 10mm  ;D