Making the USS Aerial Carrier Small Business

Making the USS Aerial Carrier Small Business

The idea was for an airborne carrier for the pulpfigures Rocketeers.  I used this for pulp flying game of Rocketeers and Flying Monkeys vs Eureka Stukasuri.  Pictures from the game come from http://thescattergungamer.blogspot.com/

My only picture of the two games

I had the idea for a relatively large model, but easily transportable and one that does not dominate the gametable.  I started by sketching a design on one side of a manila folder.  I then cut that shape onto both sides to get a symmetrical shape.  Traced that onto a piece of blue foamboard and cut it out with a band saw.  This gave me a airplane shaped slab.  I shaped the sides with a hot knife, then smoothed the cuts with a hand sander.

I planned to power fans in the wings to give it more of a pulp look.  In order to do this, I had to leave space for the batteries and fans.

 

The areas for the circuit and the tail cut out of a piece of hardboard.

I needed a flight deck and covers for the top of the fans and cut them out of more hardboard.

Next comes assembling the wiring and soldering the connections

The blue foam did not give a surface that I liked for this.  I took the long way and wetted down manila folder pieces and pinned them in place with silk pins. 

This gave the foam some strength and a look of piece of sheet metal riveted to the structure.  The coating is done and a look at the top.

The bottom with a view of the plane shape template in the top right corner.

I was thinking about going with a blue color scheme like a PBY, but my wife said that it screamed for a silver look.  It always pays to listen to my wife and I ran with it.

The bottom with the silver scheme, which I dirtied up a little since it looked too much like ductape.  I looks browned than it is since it sits in an oak entertainment center.  The engines are built out of a tube from cash register tape and the top of an air freshener bottle.

The top view, we mainly see the electric circuit installed.  Right towards the front is a hollow for the guts of a disposable electric toothbrush.  The toothbrush works by having a weight that is offcenter on the axle.  When this spins it causes it to vibrate.  I placed this in the model it causes the model to buzz or hum when turned on.

The three dents are for rare earth magnets that attach the flight deck.

In order to get the wood plank look on the flight deck, I glued dollhouse hardwood floor to the hardboard, then stained and varnished it.  The lines and numbers on the deck are art tape.  I tried cutting small piece and placing them, but that turned out slower than laying the tape on the deck and cutting out for the gaps.  The conning tower is built from fairly thick plasticard with strips to give trim.  I drilled out the portholes on the sides.

Arctic Board Pictures

Picture of Glacier.  I took a chunk of blue foam insulation, glued it together, then attacked the edges with a hot knife to get the ice cracks, painted dark blue green and blended to a light blue for the glacier ice.  On flat surfaces I flocked with woodland scenics snow.
Evil snowmen frolic in the foreground

Finnish troops hold off Maruading Yetis.  The Shacks are scrach built out of bass wood.  The roof snow is a mix of wood glue and corn starch

Polar Bear around a hole in the ice, hard to see the water surface here, behind the left Polar bear is a carcas I scratch built out of some ends of wire for ribs and a bit of canvass for hide.

Penguins cluster arond another hole in the ice.  Styrofoam on a board with a hole cut in and a water surface painted in the hole.

Largest Ice Hole.  Same basic technique as the smaller pieces.  Better picture here though.  Gebirgsjagers and U Boat crew unload supplies .  I placed small pieces of glass in the water area to look like newer chunks of ice that have not been snowed on.

Research station with one of the shcaks burnt out.  Main point of this picture is to show the snowglint effect of the ground styrofoam.

I cannot find pictures of my frozen river or woods, they will come in time

Villanueva De La Canada

We tested out a scenario for Historicon's Spanish Civil War mini campaign.  It was part of the opening action of the Battle of Brunete.  The Republican Army attacked a salient to prevent the encirclement of Madrid. 
The International Brigades attacked a Falangist garrison and after a protracted effort secured the town.  Overall the battle was a limited success as it achieved the aim of preventing the fall of Madrid but at a horrific loss.
The town

The defending Falangists

One of the attacking units of the IB

The second half of the Attackers

Early success by the defenders in destroying one of the Soviet supplied T-26's

Meanwhile the IB infantry had infiltrated the Olive groves into room to engage in a firefight with the defending Falangists.

At this point the Falangist luck went south and they lost thefirefight against the numerous attackers and it became a one sided affair.  The IB will not have the advantage of the olive groves and wil have some added leadership since historically they gave a great account of themselves despite overwhelming odds.

All Things Zombie continuing action

Action continued in our All Things Zombie Campaign.  The mission was to hit a grocery store that rumor suggested had not been looted.  Rumor also suggested the zombies were changing and seemed to move faster in this area.

Zombies were milling around a traffic jam in a suburban part of town.  Our group is now pretty experienced.  JM is rep 6 and has a Rep 5 follower - Sarah Conner.  JB is rep 6 and has a rep 4 follower, JW is relatively new and is rep 4 with a  rep 4 follower.  I am rep 6 with a dog.

We started down the street gunslinger style, clearing zombies in front of us.  THe only glitch early on was JB's follower failed both dice on a being charged test and bolted the table. A couple of turns in and i got a little antsy and ducked into the two story colonial.  Two military guys hiding there let me know I was not invited and sent me packing.  We started zigzagging into buildings with the goal of getting to the grocery store with some  additional loot.  Nothing much in any of the buildings until we hit the diner.  Two gangers were hiding out and I found keys to the hummer by the grocery store.  The gangers joined us and both JW and I added a follower.

We made the grocery store unscathed, and despite limited zombies, we were looking at how to get out with the most food.  The path was nearly free on zeds but blocked  by crashed vehicles.  We left the grocery story to clear the way, returned 5 zeds to their previous dead state.  JB headed to the hummer witht he keys since nobody trusted me behind the wheel.  He backed it to the store and we loaded it up.  Everybody but JM, SC, and I piled into the hummer.  JM, SC and I ran to clear the path by moving the blocking cars.

JM had to kill off some zeds hiding in the tour bus, but it was not too badly damaged and started up fine, as did the k-9 police car.  In the mean time, JW, always looking for ways to liven things up had blasted the Texaco truck with his shotgun.  The next turn was  random event and JB had to turn down behind the trailor.  Just before they did turn, JW was able to toss a grenade at the leaking fuel, which hit and ignited the truck.  Next turn two of the pumps ignited and the fire was really going.

The fire spread and ignited the rest of the pumps and underground tank

While that was going on JM and I had succeeded in clearing the way, though the fire and explosion was drawing zeds like moths to the flame so to speak.

Overall a pretty successful expedition, two recruits add, food secured, three more working vehicles.  Sarah went up hte rep 6 which is quite an accomplishment since at one point she was rep 2.  Views of the carnage from street level

Dystopian Fleet Action

We played a four player fleet action a couple of weeks ago.  It was FSA vs Empire of the Blazing Sun and Brittania. 
Since JM wanted to go full fleet sets, we were stuck with making up a fleet from my Predreadnoughts.  I have 3 BB's and two Cruisers that matched point wise, but is off balance for normal fleet requirements.

JM was put off by the power of three FSA BB's.  Since the models are without anything that could stand for Rockets, we decided they were all Shield Equipped.   Started off long range with FSA doing damage to frigates while bombers closed in to weaken my fleet.

My Cruisers sunk so fast I didn't even get pictures of them in action.  Meanwhile the BS frigates had obliterated a squadron of FSA Frigates, leaving only some sad bubbles.

On my side, the Brits, closed in trying to overwhelm my three BB's with too many targets and reduce my long range gunnery advantage.

On the other flank, the basic  BS and FSA fleets had fought pretty much to a standstill.

In the end, the smaller ships had sunk each other and each side had two badly damaged Battleships.

We met yesterday to finalize plans for a 6 player economic/political campaign based on the Dystopian rules.  More to follow in the future on that score.

Zombies Campaign Hosted at Pair a Dice Games day 9

We met last Saturday for some more Zombie gaming.  The setting was suburban. 

It was JM, A, L, and I, we rolled relatively few zombies to start the game with and it looked like a cakewalk.  We had to find a group of stranded children in the crossroads area and get them to safety.  They have keys to a boat in Old Town and that may be a way to get clear of the Zed infection.  We were a little cocky and split into two groups with myself, A, and L heading left.  JM and his peon came from the other direction and checked out the motel rooms.  Since I am not agile, I did not keep up with A and L as they sprinted into the diner and out the other side.  They headed off to the Trailer park as I plinked zeds out the diner window with a scoped rifle.  Life was good, we were shooting little and generating almost no zeds when we did.  L quickly found the kids in the second trailer.  It was time to exfil the kids and between bad zed activation and few of them on the table to begin with, the table was clear of our life challenged opponents. 

I found a Mustang with the keys in it and drove it up to pick up some of the kids.  This is when things went south.  The random events for this game were to generate d6 zeds on doubles.  Between that and bad initiative rolling (with the Mustang V6 running) we soon had a bunch on our hands.  A runs up to a minivan - great for carrying kids and finds out that inside is an uncooperative military guy with a rifle.  Why he sat there with all the action going on, I don't know.  A decides to draw on him after a failed meet and greet.  We figured the shots were simultaneous.  A hits the guy with a knock down, but is himself knocked down in the return fire.  The military guy recovers and drives off, but there is a growing crowd of zeds.  No problem, I am rep 5 with a car and zeds get squished in a hurry by cars.  I make one pass and smash a bunch.  The car lures the zeds away from A who finally makes his recovery from knock down.  I am coming back and on the last zed in the road fail my drive check boxcars - ugh. 

 I am unhurt but stunned, luckily I get activation before the Zeds and shoot some before heading to the Police car.  Check inside and another mil guy rep 5, run the meet and greet and I luck out and recruit him, SWWEEEEET, handy to have a good back up.  It is time to peel out, A has grabbed an old pickup, JM, L and the kids are in a Hummer,  we just need to make it off the table.  The military guy was in the cop car already, so I figure he is driving anyway both are rep 5 so pretty good drivers.  There are two zeds between us and the open road.  I pooched the roll and dropped boxcars for a second consecutive driving check.  Roll for effect, I am stunned and the driver - dead.  I finally get another recruit and he dies before I even pick a figure for him.  I jump on A's pickup and we roll out of town.  A and I both rolled to go up a rep, we came away with three vehicles and the kids, a pretty good round.

We were done so quickly we decided to do a quick turnaround and hit the same town again, focusing on areas we did not get the first time.  Cockiness almost got us a bunch of time.  JM left his peon behind and it was just the four stars.  A and L headed over to the garage while JM ran ahead and went into the small warehouse.  He found a rep 3 survivor and promptly sweet talked her into joining him.  He is both chatty and charismatic.  It was not a good decision on her part.  JM and she headed out the front door while I went in the front.  A double zed turn and bad rolls to summon had JM and his new minion surrounded.  JM shot and meleed his way out (Rep 6 is handy that way) but she went down to the swarm of zeds after only passing 1d on being charged. 

JM did not waste a tear on here and took advantage of the subsequent feast to head over to the gas station.  I bolted across the street as well.  While we searched the gas station I found a grenade, Hmm, a nice target sat outside dining on our erstwhile ally.  I dropped a grenade right into the middle of them, 24 zeds were feasting on the poor girl.  Meanwhile A and L had caught up and were checking out another building.  We watched in awe as the zeds bounced from the grenade and then died trying to pull themselves together.  JM had shaken off his scare and was finding that the motel had become a military barracks, none of them were willing to sign on though.  Maybe they saw what happened to JM's last recruit.  I headed over to check the other motel building, but while JM's side was filled with troops, mine had a uniform three zeds to the room.  They fought me to a standstill in the first room, but died in the others after I bolted on them.  Unfortunately the mob had descended on my door while was checking out the room.  They had the door half off the hinges when JM dropped a grenade on that crowd.  They were all knocked down so I bolted while they were down.  A and L had headed over to the Trailer Park.  A had rolled the Cult figure when he went up a rep after the last game.  He ran into a trailer with two rep 4 gangers, the meet and greet was not good gangers had 5 dice, and A had 4 (5 for rep -2 for different alignment, +1 for cult) so was outnumbered, as things would go it did not matter and the two gangers joined up with him.  We cleared off the table with another 2 vehicles and A had acquired two followers.  Since they had killed zeds and found loot, they rolled and one of them went up.  A good day of gaming, some tension and some success.

Dystopian and Zombies

Zombies in the Police Station. 

We played a quick game of ATZ a couple of weeks back.  No pictures this time.  It was a simple explore mission, JM, L, JB and I were checking out a Police station.  It was a pretty clean mission with no casualties, recruits or new vehicles.  At one point JB bowed out and A took over - we converted him. JM and his peon Sarah Conner both gained a rep with JM doing the happy dance that he was now rep 6 after suffering through the first six games without gaining rep, now two in a row.

We also have played a Dystopian game - again no pics.  It was JM and FC with the Brits against L and I with FSA.  We tried a different scenario, I played a harbor defense force with two bunkers and we called my Russian round battleships shield towers.  While the British fleet took heavy losses, they were able to sink half the merchants securing a draw.

Napoleonic Day

I have been well behind on posting.

We tried out a game of Sharpe Practice with mostly MV's minis.

MV, JM, KA and B played the British attackers.  JW FC, and I had French.  The sides were almost even with the British having one group of Rifles in addition to regular troops.  Since this was our first experience with the rules, we went with everyone having regular light troops.  The battle was in two clear flanks.  I was lined up against B and we got a late start due to the Tiffin card coming up and ending the movement cycle.  In the meantime JM had gotten some good movement and we had misread the rules on "Grasping the Nettle"  and his troops advanced with great speed against JM's troops.  He hit JW's disordered troops and obliterated one group. 

THe dice rolls after all mods JM had the mass of dice JW had a single die

This meant that JM's victorious Brits had their  left flank  hanging in the wind.  Fc's troops started picking at their flank with enfilade shots and the results were not Pretty.

I moved my troops up to put fire on B's Brits but soon discovered how tough the Sharpe Practice card with its extra shot per turn.  By the end of the game the end result looked grim for my flank, while JM and JW had been rendered ineffective due to losses.

I enjoyed the rules and will play again.  I hope to get my Hussars and Dragoons into action as well.  The Perry dismounted Dragoons paint up very nicely and I have some of the Steve Barber dismounted Hussars.  FC, JW and JM played a quick simple game with the cav for a bit.

Zombies Campaign Hosted at Pair a Dice Games day 7

Defense- We had stirred up the Gangers by crossing their paths too often and an alliance of convience brought the AB Positives and Schwinn Bikers to our door.  We had siezed the Junkyard from the Schwinns a while back and they came with force to take it back.  Attacking in the early predawn hours allowed them to get close before coming under fire from the walls.  They dealt with the zombies in their way as they approached, but the sound was enough to get the defenders on the wall.

Poker chips represent unrevealed groups of gangers.

Massive fring back and forth dropped D's Selen character, many gangers and drew zombies like moths to the flame.

Some gangers make it to the gate.  The next group gets mobbed by zeds.

They give a good account for themselves, but between defensive fire from the wall and zeds, they are whittled down.  At this point they knocked Inzeos down.  Things look iffy

In the meantime the clown and geek have sawn their way through the containers and into the outer compound.  This was the last flank in threat.  Right about this time, a random event allowed the defenders to reposition to the roof of the Junkyard and JP blocks the gate with a towtruck.
Defensive fire was enough to eliminate the remaining gangers on this flank, and a swarm of zombies chewed the other gangers down to five that begged for mercy.  Two were recruited to stay on, the others slipped off into the night - we may see more of them later.
Next up will be some sort of Raid to clear out remaining clumps of gangers.