Quick Campaigns: Wings of Glory + Bolt Action

 "Don't Cross The Streams"

Egon Spengler

Except when you should. As in this case.

Having been playing both Wings of Glory and Bolt Action for some time, I had wanted to set up a scenario in the air, and fight it out on the ground. Having also been a long  time student of American airborne operations in WWII, specifically the Glider Infantry, how many of my interests could I pack into the same sausage, as it were? 

Back in pre-COVID days, I had developed a set of homegrown rules and collaterals to allow the use of transport planes and combat gliders in Wings of Glory (check here for more information - it was in pre-blog days, a situation I may have to correct with a separate update here). The main challenge was in providing maneuver decks for aircraft that were, in WOG terms, so very slow, and reflect their use in battle. I had already found and built a tidy little C-47 kit in 1/200 scale, seen here on a borrowed bomber base and pegs.

As no one makes a WACO CG-4a model in 1/200 (yet), I improvised, scaling down the Fiddler's Green cardstock model to scale. I had made one in BW during a household toner shortage, and two in color, although I clearly didn't print to exactly the same reduction ;-). 

These are mounted on a couple of homemade acrylic bases. 

The scenario I had devised, loosely based on Operation MARKET-GARDEN was as follows:

Phase I: Wings of Glory

The Axis player defends, starting with 4 troop concentrations, 3 anti-aircraft batteries, and a lone FW-190D or ME-109K  for air defense.

The Allied player had 3 C-47 / Glider combinations, and 1 pair of either P-47s or Mustangs for air defense / flak suppression. 

Setup was as follows: Axis places AA cards on the West mat and troop concentrations on the East Mat. Allied player places 3 LZ cards in areas with no buildings, railroads, waterways, or large stands of trees, anywhere on the playing surface but more than a ruler from the West edge.

The Allied player places their transports and escorting fighters anywhere along the west edge,  the Axis places its fighter on the east edge. The game then proceeds as normal for WGS. 

The Allied goal is to safely land their gliders on the LZ (Base of a glider covers the center dot of the LZ). Each glider can deliver a max of 20 Supply Points to an LZ. The more damage they take, the less Supply they deliver; the more inaccurate their landing, the less they deliver, per a table in the above referenced rules. Even an otherwise safe landing requires drawing a "A" damage counter and subtracting that many points from your total, due to the hazardous nature of gliders in combat!

Phase II: The 60 possible supply points would translate into a 1000 point Glider platoon drawn from the Bolt Action Generic reinforced platoon, but restricted to units that could be delivered by glider: no tanks, trucks, half tracks, armored cars; no guns larger than the 37mm AT or 75mm howitzer. The Axis force would be 1000 points drawn from the German generic reinforced platoon, no restrictions.

Any losses taken in terms of supply points would be proportionately removed from the Allied force, rounding down, in whole units wherever possible. The Axis would start with one non-vehicle unit on the table, anywhere. All remaining units would have to enter as detailed below. All Allied units would start along one edge selected at random, with initial positioning of Allied troops limited by the accuracy of the landing in the prior Phase, after the German unit was placed. Their goal - take and hold the bridge at table center as shown on the map:

Each turn the German player can attempt to activate their off-board units via a two-step process. Roll 2D6 and consult the German Entry table. Each turn the likelihood that the relief column will arrive increases. If allowed, they must still pass an order test like a normal reserve unit. The edge of their entry will also be random for the first unit arriving, all subsequent units arriving from the same point. In order to allow use of flanks and not force everything through the center, I include a ford and a ferry on the ends of the bisecting river, to allow infantry units to move across without needing to cross the bridge.

We allotted 6 hours to play this out. With a late start and a lunch break, it was not enough ;-)

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The Game, Phase I: WGS

The table was set with two mats aligned on their long edge as spelled out in the scenario.  My brother Bill, "Big Bro", the German commander, had his AA spaced around the populated area in an Arc that would cover any approach the Allies could make, his troops held back near likely LZ locations. The LZs were placed in clear areas to remove some landing risks, but 2 of three would require a much longer flight in around German AA.

"I had some intel of a possible invading force but since June I considered all reports with skepticism.  The positioning of my forces were to protect as much territory from occupation as possible." 

The Allies split the Glider serials into two groups, planning on a nearly straight in approach, again to simplify accurate landing. The southern pair would fly in nose-to-tail in column. (I was somewhat limited as I had only printed one set of C-47 and CG4a maneuver cards. Don't do this. Print out one each. :-) )  It wasn't too bad until all were on the board; worse as gliders released. NOTE: We were playing without using Altitude rules, again for simplicity. For more experienced players, or those with more time or patience, use altitude.

Initial moves were straightforward, with glider serials plodding straight ahead, and fighters speeding toward each other. The Allies had chosen a pair of P-47s, feeling that they would be a good enough threat for the defenders while making them good ground attack / flak suppression tools. The Luftwaffe responded with a wicked FW-190D with its high speed and big cannon.

"I contacted our aerodrome to see if there was any possibility of support despite allied air superiority.  Only a single FW 190 was airworthy, but I ordered him up much to my later chagrin."

As the Transports moved ahead, the fighters tangled near the center while flak started going off.

The first flak burst underestimated how slowly the glider trains were moving, although the southern serial was so stretched out along their path it was hard to miss, the first volley split between the lead plane and its glider (a draw of 0 points, whew!). The fighters met head on, opening up as they came in range.

Unfortunately for the FW, one of the many B damage tokens was the dreaded BOOM...

It would be up to the FLAK batteries from here on. The P47s, freed of their interceptor role, reversed and went to harass the nearest battery, 

while to the North, the first glider cut loose and began its descent to the LZ, continuing to frustrate the flak by its lack of speed.

Note on the above picture the blue counters. On release, the glider has up to 5 moves to land / reach altitude 0. If you land in fewer than 5 - if you force it down faster to avoid flak or fighters, a "blitz" landing, you will risk doing additional damage and lose yet more supply points. Choose wisely. The same is true if your last move is not a "straight".  The C-47, now faster and free of its cargo, makes a sweeping turn and races (relatively speaking) toward home. The AA gunners found the range and hit it for 10 damage and set it afire before it escaped.

Down south the gunners continued their lackluster performance.

 The P47s went on a strafing run, blasting a flak gun out of the game (8 "B" damage tokens will do that...). The remaining gun was still a risk the Allies didn't want to face, so both gliders in the southern serial headed towards the nearest LZ - however, you lose an additional supply point for each glider landing before you on the same LZ...

Here we see the lead CG4 descending and the second cutting loose, the C47s turning away to escape if they can.

They managed to all land on their LZ without any additional damage. Still, based on the "A" token draws on landing, and the "2 gliders in the same LZ" effect, the Allies were down 6 of a possible 60 supply points, successful in Glider terms, but it would mean they would be removing 10 percent of their Bolt Action list before the first shot was fired...

END PART ONE.

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Click HERE to read Part Two - Bolt Action Glider Infantry Assault

POST-MORTEM

As a Wings of Glory scenario, it will not please players eager for lot of air combat; it is not air-to-air focused, the glider landing mechanics more similar to slow motion bombing. The Axis needs luck, strategy, and a good eye for AA to be successful. And can afford to be reckless, as losses in this phase have no effect on the second. I may consider allowing Allied air to attrit the German forces by strafing the Troop concentrations. The Allies had a near flawless delivery to the LZ yet still landed with a point deficit and a lack of significant anti-armor capability. I may consider starting with a higher Allied point total to help compensate. 

Union Pacific F7 part II

I haven't been idle over the summer, but other hobbies and priorities took precedence over modeling and blogging. Now that fall is here in full force, indoor sports once again bubble to the surface...

This is a continuation of a story started over a year ago, where I picked up an even older planned project to convert a Life-Like F unit in SOO colors into a UP passenger hauler: http://theatomfurnace.blogspot.com/2020/09/on-bench-life-like-f7-bodies.html. (click here)

I had last attempted stripping the body using Pine-Sol, but wasn't happy, and moved on to other parts of my backlog. I've been on a railroad kick for a while, and decided to pull this back out and give it the Easy-Off treatment. The original black, white, and red was unaffected, but it removed everything I had added and attempted removing in my last attempt. This gave me a clean starting point. I gave it a coat of white enamel overall as "primer", which proved adequate as a base color, but...

After the bad experience with the Badger UP Armour Yellow acrylic, I sourced a new-to-me brand, Tru Color which required its own mostly acetone thinner. This was sprayed over the white after a 24 hour drying period.

Covers well, nice color,  even sheen. So far, so good. I used Modelmaster Dark Gull Grey for my "Harbor Mist" because a. I had it, b. I am comfortable spraying it, and c. It looked reasonably close to.the roofs of the cars it'd be hauling. A little Tamiya tape for a sharp edged mask, and...

Crap. Lots of paint failure under the normally gentle Tamiya Tape. It was over a virgin, 24 hr dried enamel surface, and had itself cured for another 24. I would not recommend using tru-color over anything they don't specifically recommend, in order to avoid all of the rework.

Next High Risk item in my quiver: Walthers decals dated 1957. What was I thinking? "Gee, that's a good price on Ebay".

Fortunately for me, Walthers made a good decal, and the man who had these in his stash all those years kept them clean, dry, and sealed. Went on like new.

Film's a little thick but should largely disappear under a coat of acrylic matte varnish.

Fortunately the decal set came with a generous supply of red stripes which, after my tape mask disaster, would be preferred to mask and spray.

The trucks and fuel tank casting got the gray treatment as well. It will get its cab numbers, then an overall matte varnish layer. Then I'll add glazing and grabirons, and a pilot coupler. But first, a quick glamor shot:

Vallejo matte varnish applied:

In this shot you can see a trick from aircraft modeling applied to railroading, namely, preshading on black. Under the horizontal stainless steel grills of the prototype are openings into the carbody which show the internal framing. Not part of this old budget RTR model, I painted in acrylic black these openings, and once dry, oversprayed in chrome silver, but intentionally not heavy enough to hide the black. It allows those faux  internal openings to be revealed. 

........

Now for glazing,  horns, grabirons,  number boards. And some break in of an old, rarely run electric motor and drive train.

November Weekend - 1/48 2.5 Ton 6x6 by Tamiya

A few firsts for me. A - first vehicle not sporting a cannon of some sort. B - the first Tamiya kit I have built.  While my wife was burrowed in with hundreds of other "Griffinites" I was left to my work bench virtually undisturbed and essentially completed this build the first weekend in November (2021).  This is a companion piece  for the eventual diorama using the Revell P-61 I have built, which is the post that immediately follows this one.  So when you finish perusing just keep on going.

The Tamiya kit is very clean.  Other than the bits to be removed from cutting off of the sprue there is no flash.  Also, as you will see later, the tires are molded so cleanly there was hardly any "parting lines" to scrape away.

A very cool part of the kit is the white metal cassis - super clean mold.

The drive train and suspension are finely detailed.  The entire kit is molded in an olive drab; however, as with all plastic models, they will look like plastic without painting.

The first assembly is the drive train and exhaust to the cassis.  This is the one place the Tamiya instructions fail in that they suggest that only the exhaust be painted (gun metal).  As you can see, the under side and drive train really need a detailed paint application.

The wheels are easily prepped using Testors flat black.  I did not have to mix the black to give a good tire black look, but I did dry brush dark gray followed up with the Tamiya Weather Master colors later.

While the cassis sits I move to the cab assembly.  The seats are cemented in place and the floor painted and splashed with a bit of brown wash to give a typical used appearance.  Simply dipping the brush into flat brown and then into the cleaning thinner and flicking it over the cabin floor gives a good random pattern - no stippling necessary.

The cabin assembly continues with seat paint and weathering and installation of the steering wheel, shift levers, instrument panel and the carbine racks.  The driver is a five piece construct (arms, head and pot).  Painting of the face was interesting using toothpicks besides a fine tip brush.  He has blue eyes and sort of resembles Marty Ingles IMHO, which was unintentional.

The rest of the cabin is put together including the clear windscreen with the frame and wipers painted, The canvas top is a khaki (tan and yellow mix) with a little Tamiya Weather black rubbed on,  Black wash was used to highlight panel lines followed by the Olive paint.  The molded louvers I had to carefully paint (the rear face) with thickened black wash to give the appearance of openings. It was a steady hand, breath holding operation with an extremely fine tip brush.

Speaking of black wash, I used it on the back of the grill in order that it might show through to the front

which turned out successful.  Now we applied a bit of mud weathering to the underside of the fenders 

before putting it all together and attaching the completed cabin to the cassis with the included self tapping screws.

As can be seen, decals are applied as I go.  The Tamiya decals remove from the paper backing very quickly and they are sturdy as well.  Some of the best decals encountered in my experience.

Moving to bed construction I experiment with paint on the tailgate.  A brown wash applied to the "wood" after the Olive is applied gives a weathered look. I figure that the olive paint would not hold up or look quite the same as the olive on the metal framing.

As I put the bed together I continue to use the brown wash to all parts. 

I paint the upper slats while still on the sprue.  These are used since my intent is for the truck to be for cargo hauling and not for troops

I black washed the entire bed floor so that it appears used!

Detailed parts are added such as Jerry Cans and tools and headlamps to the fenders.  

This view shows the weathering of the underside and tires using brown wash and the Tamiya Weather Master "makeup", my go to weathering kit.

Now for a bit of DIY.  After applying decals, the tail gate is to be glued in place, but my intent with the anticipated diorama is to have the tailgate open and close, so I pulled out the pin vise drill and bits of 26 gauge wire, drilled the hinges and force fit the wire in place (no glue) and it works!

YES, the Jib Crane arrived and I immediately set to work.  The assembly was straight forward, but getting the pulleys and chain correct was challenging.  The instructions call for drilling and wire not supplied.  The key was getting the chain attached at the top pulley.  I ended up using monofilament to tie and glue the end of the chain to the pulley.

Then the chain is threaded through the bottom pulley and back up around the top pulley to be then wound around the winch drum.  The instructions were to attach the chain to the drum first, but I could not figure out how practical that  would be as the extra chain is to be cut off at he drum end.  So I worked from the top pulley and down to the drum where I wound it around four times to cover the drum, hit with the acc gel and then snipped off the tail that was left.

It seems that my procedure worked well enough.  I can pull the chain and raise and lower the bottom pulley.  You can see that the base plate has been attached to the truck bed.  The crane is force fit into the base so I can rotate the crane.  A really nice job of adaptation by those boys in the motor pool!!

Truck 37 - July 1944 - Normandy - which fits my scenario perfectly.  I did not know that the decals in the kit had this option.  I got lucky with this one.

So here is a staging photo using the truck with the Radome hauled into the bed.

My brother suggested some brown painted gauze to use as as a net for lifting.  I think I like the idea.  I guess I am not quite done yet, but keep scrolling down to view the P-61 build.😁

Autumn Challenge - 1/48 scale, Revell Northrup P-61

Known as the Black Widow, the P-61 was developed as a night fighter and the first specifically designed to carry radar.  Despite arguments to the contrary by the RAF, who lauded their Mosquito, the P-61 performed well.  It was shown to match the speed of the Mosquito (when properly tuned up) and it could out climb and even out turn the Mosquito.  The P-61 most often appears in glossy black (as befits a 

black Widow) but I had other ideas which is the reason for this photo.  I like Invasion Stripes!  And I have a 1/48 Mosquito sporting invasion stripes and on display, that I rehabbed and detailed in an earlier post.  

The purchase of the kit was at our local Michael's for less than $16

I ran across this image in my many P-61 searches which confirmed for me that the Revell is a retool of this Monogram kit.  Not only the molds but the barrel and crew shown here are on the Sprue😁

Ok, let's get started.  Here is a fit/finish issue right off.  I had to file and sand in order for the nacelle halves to match up.

On the other hand, the interior details for such an old kit I found fairly remarkable.  Here are bulkheads painted, plus radar and the M2s (for the dorsal turret) assembled and painted.

This early radar conjures up images from some of my favorite, campy, 1950s SiFi flicks - like this one!

A Hugh Marlow classic, "Earth vs The Flying Saucers" - catchy title😂

Here is more nice detail.  I was able to follow the instructions most of the time as they contained complete painting "suggestions".  My Zinc Chromate is a bit more green than some and my own mix of green and yellow.  The decal set is also quite detailed as can be seen here.

The cockpit floor with painted instrument panel and control yoke, plus crew seats each with a sight elevation assembly..

This is the "stern" compartment 

Both nacelle halves with panels and 20MM cannon.  Note at the very top of the photo the bottom of the cockpit floor has been detailed and will fit over the cannon with their ammo loaders.

The cockpit floor is now installed in the starboard nacelle half.

With the nacelle closed the cockpit detail looks pretty good.  The only DIY added is the seat belts (made from wine bottle foil) over the molded seat belt impressions - the foil is even easier than attempting to paint them!

I added this video, as an explanation of how I interpreted the kit instructions, which were not clear on the attachment of the wheels.  Being halves on the sprue they needed filing and scraping to minimize a noticeable seam.  They also required some type of unexplained retainer to keep the wheel on the axle.  I could have gone with the old heated knife, but I don't favor that technique.  Instead I used wire bent as a retainer clip

I did this for all the wheels allowing rotation!  Now I can begin major assembly.

The wing halves were straight forward with some minor cleanup needed.  Same for the aileron halves, which were glued to tabs in the wings in the down position.  I had the dark aircraft gray spray can and tried cotton balls to protect the completed interior - it worked well.  Same for the booms!

One of the reasons for my color choice, besides invasion stripes, is that the old molds feature raised panel lines as many of the era did.  The (light) gray coat allows for careful scraping to expose the molded black color so panel lines appear!

Another reason is that the tiny decals can be used, seen and even read!

Let the striping begin!  My tweezers worked as calipers for stripe width and the placing of masking tape.  I masked for the white (three coats needed) and then hand painted in the black.  As I have mentioned before, invasion stripes were mostly hand painted in the field; therefore, precision can be sacrificed.  Note also that the Star and Bars have been applied to the starboard wing.

Time to work on the R-2800 double Wasp motors.  Both the cylinders ("Gun Metal") and reduction gear housing/distributors were a mix I had to make.  

The starboard motor is completed including the prop.  I did not have to mask the tips for yellow as there were panel lines to guide me - easy and something I had not previously experienced in a kit.

Mounting the booms under the wing went well enough after enclosing the port side R2800s.  some filling of seams is required, but they are easily filled with Testors Window Glue-more on that later.

Besides showing both motors you will notice the dry fit placement of the front and rear canopy's with access hatches open.  The framing was mostly masked and done early on.

Hand painting the Olive is done with a soft brush and I work in sections.  The key is proper paint consistency and not trying to spread paint too thin.  It takes practice but I find the final product satisfactory in most situations, especially after a final dullcoat spray (once all decals are applied).

Speaking of decals......

With Olive finished I can complete the invasion striping on bottom half of the booms using the same technique as done on the wings.

Follow up with boom decals.....

.....and top wing decal sections, The red lines are six separate decals.  The mult-stepped along the rear of the wing was the trickiest to get "straight" with 4-90 degree angles.  The little  "No Step" and "100 Octane..." at the fuel ports are also there, but not very visible in this photo  Note the radome is painted and the radar is awaiting installation.  Now for a few more details.....

On this version there is a nose wheel fender. No pin/hole arrangement is molded in. The end of the fender tab is to be simply glued to the gear leg - easier said than done!

 I had to tape the fender to the wheel to even apply glue, but it got done.

The stern of the crew nacelle is enclosed with a plexiglass bubble that early on had a disturbing habit of imploding during high speeds.  Apparently the solution was to add some internal bracing, although I did receive a suggestion that it is a "Cup Holder" LOL.

So back to my stash for some left over PE for my DIY addition.

Some final touch up and zinc Chromate and she is ready for a dullcoat.

I sprayed on a coat of Testors clear dull coat and all is well for finally attaching the glass.  Fit and finish of same is mediocre at best.  Let me emphasize here my bias towards Testors Window Glue.  If I have not stated such previously I want to say, for me, it is essential.  Not just for the sealing of narrow seams, but for filling the gaps between glass and frame.  It can create small windows up to a 1/4 inch.  It looks opaque when applied but skins over into a clear gloss.  After it dries I simply touch up with the flat frame color.  These photos don't quite capture the gaps to be closed, but they were there, all over, that required sealing.

The radar is installed and the canopy glass in place with all access open.  This is one time the tolerances are good, as the dome can be pushed snuggly over the radar so that the display can be adjusted the way you wish - with or without the dome.

___SEE___!😃

I have sealed all gaps in the canopy attachment and done touch up where needed so I call  

 the P-61 itself completed 

The crew needs to be painted and a Diorama set up, so the job is not yet done!

It is November and I am back to the bench working on some details for the eventual diorama.

This staging photo shows the painted ground crew.  I tinkered together a platform for the radar technician with the unused dorsal turret opening cover, rubber grommets for wheels, bits of sprue, 22 gauge wire and o.5mm styrene rod.  The tool boxes are 1/48 scale obtained on etsy and painted and weathered.  Here is a close up and you can make out the snippets of left over PE in the tool boxes to represent tools.

My paint mix shows the gunner with a sunburn on his back and shoulders.

"Ah Nuts! I dropped my spanner down there!!"

Port side prop spins freely - no wobble!

This arrived and will be used in the diorama as a platform for the Jib Crane I have coming.  I figured I need something to raise and lower the Radome and pull an engine!  The Truck is a separate post just above this one. It will be my first truck and first Tamiya kit.

I find this photo particularly interesting.  In the backlight you can see the radar through the translucence of the Radome.  This P-61 is as I have built mine - not midnight black!  With invasion stripes the 422nd Night Fighter Squadron worked out of several forward bases in France the summer of 1944. I have not been able to exactly place tail number 25536, although it did exist.  I am taking the liberty of placing it in 422 squadron.  The diorama will include my Mk VI Mosquito of the 604th Night Fighters, also in France in July of 1944, along with the 2.5 ton Truck 37 (above - Normandy, July 1944).  The diorama will be my imagined scenario pitting the Mosquito against the P-61 as described at the beginning of this post, with the crew tuning up the P-61 and installing the quad 50 Cal dorsal turret.

It is Thanksgiving week and I am working on putting everything together:

The P-61..............

The modified 2.5 ton 6x6....

The Mosquito....

.....and a base.

Lets discuss my base work.  This is several one foot square chip boards mounted on a foam board.  The based has been sculpted with a box cutter and razor.   The chip board surface is scored and sprayed with gray along the front to represent a runway edge.  The whole surface is sprayed with a permanent glue.  I purchased different greens and gravel from the train section of my local Hobby Lobby......

....... and sprinkled them over the glue surface.  After 24 hours I spray the glue over the surface and fill in any patches the the glue may have blown off.  Now I wait to see what other touch ups may be required before mounting all of the diorama elements.

A test to see how the aircraft will fit.  I have on order an ICM Spitfire Mk. IX with pilot and crew on which I plan to use invasion stripes.  This way I can expand or interchange aircraft on the base.

Stay tuned!

Well, it is February 2022 and I finally got the P-61 on the base.