SAAF Buccaneer Joins My Air Force

South African Air Force Blackburn Buccaneer in 20mm, 3D-printed by my friend Joe

Here's the second addition to my 20mm air force for my Wars of Insurgency games. The biggest of the four 3D prints that my friend Joe did for me was this Blackburn Buccaneer. It was used by the South African Air Force in their border wars as a fighter bomber, primarily. It is also the star of one of my favorite stories about jets used in a ground attack role, occurring during the Battle of Cassinga. So, I definitely wanted one of them for my upcoming game at Advance the Colors 2019.

Close up of the canopy and nose of the aircraft

This aircraft was also way too big for the current flight stands I use, so made me rethink what I was going to use for them. I have ended up buying a couple small camera tripods, which though perhaps a bit more obtrusive on the tabletop, will be way more steady than the ones I've been using. My helicopters have already tipped over on those flight stands a half dozen times, incurring damage to the model.

Yes, the landing gear are down on this 3D-printed model - but beggars can't be choosers!

Every picture I could find online of the SAAF Buccaneer showed it painted mostly in a dull, gray color, unlike the camo pattern of the Mirage III that I painted up earlier. I made the best of it, though, using a medium gray with lighter gray highlights, and a final black wash to blend it all together. I know that a scale modeler would be aghast at my amateurish paint job on this aircraft, and wonder why I didn't use commercially available decals for the markings. I honestly was worried how the decals might show the texture of the 3D printed model (it is not uniformly smooth). Also, I wanted to do these relatively inexpensively, and they ARE gaming pieces, after all. Not scale models for display. That may be a cop-out, but I tend to err on the side of frugality in most of my approach to the hobby, so is par for my course.

My amateurish hand-painting of the insignia and markings on the model

I liked the new way that I did the cockpit canopy, trying to show the blue sky reflecting onto the glass. I think I will do it this way for the remainder of the aircraft models I paint up. Astute observers will have noticed this model has the landing gear down. I contemplated breaking them off, but the pylons were pretty strong. Plus, they attach in a recessed area between the fuel tanks and fuselage that would be very hard to sand smooth. So, I went with it, and painted it up with the gear down. Had I wanted to pay $30 (after shipping) instead of $5 for a die-cast Buccaneer, I could have gotten a more streamlined model.

Top-down view of the Blackburn Buccaneer screaming in for a ground level attack

Next up, I am painting a small batch of 28mm Saga miniatures. After that, I will begin on the six BTR-152 armored cars that my friend Mike 3D printed for me. They will also be used in my Battle of Cassinga scenario at ATC 2019.

20mm Mirage III first jet in my modern air force

A 3-D printed 20mm scale Dassault Mirage III, painted in South African Air Force colors

The next step in my Wars of Insurgency modern skirmish rules is to create mechanisms for close air support. I am pretty happy with the helicopter rules I've playtested at conventions the last couple of years. Now, it is on to fixed-wing aircraft!

The problem with that is where to get them from in 20mm or 1/72 scale (which is close)? My first choice would have been die cast metal ones. That is, until I saw the prices not only for the planes but also the shipping ($10 on Amazon). Even though I won't need many for my battlefield, paying $30 a crack was too much in my book. Kits were available, and cheaper, yes. However, my days of assembling 50-piece model kits where you glue antennas and miscellaneous tiny fins on a model are long since past. So, what about 3-D printed ones?

This Mirage III will appear in playtests of my close-air support mechanisms for my Wars of Insurgency rules

I searched on Thingiverse, and found four that were used by the air forces of South Africa or Rhodesia. None were in the right scale, but I had been told they are relatively easy to "scale up." So, I contacted my go-to, 3-D printer guy, Joe. He said no problem, and within a week I had a Mirage III, Blackburn Buccaneer, Hawker Hunter, and propeller-driven Lynx.

Top down view of the model - you can see some of the 3-D printer pattern on the wings that I tried to sand off

I painted up the Mirage first because it was one of the smaller models (you should see how huge a Buccaneer is in 20mm scale!). After sanding the models down to make the surfaces look smoother, I spray-painted it Krylon black acrylic. I followed that up with a 50/50 mixture of black paint and water, to seep into the smallest cracks. Then I did two coats of each base color -- the leathery, khaki
color first, then the green second. I then highlighted each color in a lighter and more watered down version of each color. Details were hand-painted on -- no decals (as you can probably tell...ha, ha!). I particular like how the canopy came out. Very understated. I simply put three different colors of blue on the upper portions of the canopy, on top of the solid black color.

I am pretty happy with how this 3-D printed model turned out, and it was MUCH cheaper than either the die cast or kids. Next up, the Buccaneer!

More Cubans & African Village

I continue to work in high gear towards being ready for this Saturday's first playtest of "Smokin' Some Cubans" at the monthly meeting of the Central Ohio Gamers Association (COGA). I have actually had these two batches completed a few days ago. Extreme cold temperatures forced me to hold off clearcoating them until it warmed up a bit.

Cuban Officer, along with the RPGs and LMGs for my Cuban continengent

The first group is of the RPGs and LMGs for the Cubans. There is also an officer figure present, which will finish out my force of Cubans for the scenario.  To come up with the needed figures armed with these weapons, I had to do a bit of improvising. First, all three RPG gunners are figure modifications. None of these was carrying an RPG, although the bottom right figure had a rocket of some sort in his hands. I pulled out some of my already-painted Liberation Miniatures figs armed with RPGs and stared at them, hoping for inspiration.

Finally, an idea came. The rocket on an RPG looks an awful lot like a spearhead. I pulled out my unpainted pack of weapons for my Ancients figures and pulled out a few different varieties of spears. I eventually settled on 28mm spears, trimming the shaft down to the appropriate length. I took the length I'd cut off and trimmed it further to create the handles. It was a very fiddly operation epoxying these two handles to the spear, but it worked. I then epoxied the weapons themselves on to the figures and I had the three RPG gunners I needed. The LMG-armed figures all came from another source of 20mm figures (FAA, I think). For the officer, I am pretty sure these are WWII Germans in soft cap, but I would not swear to it. With appropriate painting and mustache, they become stand-in Cubans. I really like the officer with his arm raised -- I think he's my favorite of the bunch!

More resin buildings for the Angolan village

Next up are some more buildings for the Angolan village that will be fought over in "Smokin' Some Cubans." All but the large hut in the back are inexpensive resin pieces from Michaels hobby store here in the U.S. I did my usual black base coat, sprayed and second coat brushed on, with 2-3 dry brush coats over the top. Both had a Camo Brown second layer over the black. However, the hut walls and the wood gazebo were followed up by Khaki, while the thatch roofs were a Dun yellow. I toned this down with light gray over it, and a final black wash. My usual method for resin buildings, it seems.

The larger "Chieftain's Hut" in the back is actually from Acheson Creations Celtic line. The similarity of architectural styles and materials makes it a good stand-in for a hut belonging to a village bigwig.

The next post will be of the village's fences, which I have been working on for awhile, now. Once they are done, the village is ready for the tabletop -- at least for the first playtest!

Cubans for Modern Africa

Liberation Miniatures Cubans in 20mm - can you see the cigar in the mouth of the guy second from right?

Each year I create a scenario that I will run at the various conventions to introduce my wargaming rules to the public. Like the second half of last year, I will be featuring my newest rules set Wars of Insurgency. This is a modern skirmish game with each player controlling 3-5 squads of anywhere from one or more vehicles or 3-12 figures (each representing one man). This year's scenario will be called "Smokin' Some Cubans." It will feature an engagement in the between the South African Defense Force (SADF) intervening in Angola on behalf of Jonas Savimbi's UNITA guerrillas. Their opponents will be Angolan and Cuban troops.

I have figures I need for SADF, as well as the Angolan and UNITA African troops. However, I have no Cubans. So, my last miniatures to be painted in 2017 would be 20mm Cubans -- most from Liberation Miniatures. I had a couple packs of Cubans in soft caps, not nearly enough for the size of force that will be fielded. So, I augmented them with some Liberation Miniatures government troops in steel helmets, as well as some of what I believe are World War II troops in helmets, as well.

More 20mm figures that will be used as Cubans - this time Liberation Miniatures government troops

I had intended to paint them exactly like a previous batch, beginning with a light olive drab and then adding a darker OD wash. However, I forgot what I started with as my base color and ended up choosing a darker green. Once they dried, I realized my mistake. However, contrary to my normal procedure, I had painted up 18 figures all at one. Rather than go back and paint over them, I decided to experiment with a new method. I went over the Timberline Green (lighter OD) with an even lighter dry brush of Stonewedge Green. Then, I followed this up with the darker OD -- English Yew Green. I realize these color names mean nothing unless you are using the same Delta Ceramcoat craft paints. I liked the effect these three colors gave. Different than the batch before, but still a shaded olive drab with depth.

More 20mm figures that will be used as Cubans -- these are WW II figures from I honestly don't know where (I take figures out of their packs and put them in ziploc bags, so don't remember...maybe FAA?)

I painted their equipment a variety of lighter and darker colors -- mostly in green hues, but an occasional khaki, as well. I was happy with how these came out. My favorites, of course, are the actual Cubans in soft caps. They have that "Fidel Castro" look to them, so I duplicated the moustache and beard on most of the other figures, as well. The guy with the cigar in his mouth (not sure if you can see it here) was classic.

Incidentally, these are my first experiments taking pictures with the Nikon Digital SLR camera I got for Christmas. I still have a lot to learn about it, but these came out fairly good. I need to figure out the macro setting, though. These are obviously not taken with macro...

Modern African 20mm Leaders

An officer of the UN Contingent from Ghana talking on a radio set. I think this figure began as a WW II American command set.

I am in the process of getting my modern Africa rules ready for publication by our company, First Command Wargames. One of the tweaks I am adding is a leader figure for each player's force. The only problem with that is I have not painted any figures up to specifically be leaders. There is one with sergeant stripes here and there, or ones waving their arms forward that players could use, sure. But I wanted ones that would stand out a bit more.

An officer from the Belgian-trained paratroop battalion of the Congo. Yet another figure I have no idea where it is from -- it was given to me in a pack of several figs by a friend who knew I was doing 20mm Moderns

I scoured my bags of unpainted 20mm modern miniatures and picked out 10 of them. Well, one was actually already painted -- a gift from a friend (but I planned to redo him anyway). I cleaned them up, primed them, and then designated which force they would be painted up to lead. Throughout the process of fielding my 20mm modern Africa figures, I have purposely utilized a variety of uniform styles so each player's faction would stand out on the tabletop. Some are more obvious -- like the United Nations troops in their blue helmets, white mercenaries in khaki, or the paratroopers in camouflage and red berets. Others are more subtle variations -- a couple different types of camo patterns, troops in olive drab, or khaki.

 

A mercenary commander from the same mystery pack. I called this one "Rambo" while I was painting it.

I wanted to ensure I had a figure that could be used for each grouping, so that would make painting this batch a lot like when I did the same with the RPG and LMG armed batch I did awhile back. Still, with organization, it shouldn't be too tedious. I tried to trick out the figures a bit more -- give them more flash on their uniform. Many had red epaulettes or even campaign ribbons on their chests. The militia ones were harder, so I gave one gold chains and another gray hair and beard (which I am going to have to go over again, as the black wash darkened up too much).

 

A militia commander, bedecked with gold chains, leads his boys through the streets

As a final touch, I made their bases raised a bit. I took wooden stars from the craft store and glued them onto the washers I used for my 20mm figures. I beveled the edges of the starts down with an X-acto knife to give a more sloped surface. The figures were glued to this raised area, which hopefully will look like a small mound the leader is standing on. Or even better, not be directly noticeable but just subtly make the figure stick out more.

 

Three officers in OD uniforms, the center one with campaign ribbons on his chest, direct their commands after dismounting from jeeps

I'd also recently painted a ruined resin building for terrain for this period. It belonged to my friend Keith and was cast in a white, sparkly material. I'm not sure where he got it, but it looks like a Dollar Tree or similar pickup. The scale is about right, and the building looks perfect for a gaming. So, I offered to paint it up so I'd have some more modern buildings to use in games. The front and back are significantly different, and the sides are essentially brick walls. I was really happy with how it turned out. So, it appears in all of the photographs on this page -- different sides, faces, or corners used for different officers. I also posed some of the already-painted rank and file from the squads the officers were meant to match alongside them.

 

A lieutenant leads his squad on a patrol through the streets. Note the raised bases to make him stick out more visually.

I like how they turned out, for the most part. Painting 20mm moderns is vastly different than 28mm Indians -- that's for sure! In my opinion, they are more akin to 15mm. You simply don't get as much detail to paint on them. Still, they go quickly! So, I'm sure I'll be scraping another batch together soon for the painting desk!

A good look at the resin building I recently finished off. Saluting out in front is an officer in dress uniform that I repainted as part of this batch of 10.

Another militia officers. I need to go over his gray hair more -- it was to subtle and had partly disappeared in my final black wash.