The only decal used on the carrier decks was an HBG Jap meatball decal, and with all else that went on with the carriers (like putting in magnets AFTER they’d been painted on some), even those had to get repainted. When the holes were drilled for the magnets (slightly over 1/16th of an inch deep to bury the magnet), the exiting plastic looked funny (like bombs hitting), so FJO took a picture:
Another angle on the Amagi:
Amagi (not quite finished, still needs the sides done):
Ryujo made from a Shinano. FJO got a saw and drill from the hobby shop and went to town- note the stern has been cut away under the deck:
Modded cruisers, with extra gun platforms on the tower: (these have been further modified- better pictures below)
In for a “rest and refit” to replace lost scout planes:
The various modded Akagi sculpts lined up with original Akagi so you can see what’s cut away from the Akagi sculpt to make a shorter light carrier- from the top: completed Zuiho, Shoho in progress with white putty before its sculpted away, 95% completed Amagi, Akagi at bottom. On the unpainted black Shoho-in-progress, you can still see where the tower was cut away. That tower was used on a OOB Shinano sculpt to make the Zuikaku in the first picture of the post. The pieces are lined up so you can see the front of the sculpt was cut off for the Zuiho, a little front and back for the Shoho, and the rear was cur off and the bow extended to better fit the ship profile on the Amagi.
Soryu (a little blurry, sorry!) Added better side shots:
Here is Akagi sculpt as Akagi, and again modded as the Kaga, with the tower taken from HBG’s Casablanca light carrier:
My long time friend and playing partner and I decided a while ago to paint our pieces, and although it’s a slow process, we’re having fun with it while getting it done. It started with a house rule that you had to build your long range planes if you got that tech, rather than have all your on the board planes get it immediately, due to that tech having game breaking effects on a few of our games. So I bought decals from HBG to differentiate some planes from others, and it took off from there until we decided to paint everything. We’d both painted our fantasy miniatures when we were in high school, but my pal, I’ll call him FJO, went on to become a professional painter. Not the typical interior/exterior house painter, but a master at faux finishes, working on auto show displays, museums, and stuff like that. When he decided to paint navies while I was doing aircraft, he knocked out the British navy in about a month. Then when he moved to the Japanese navy, him being a player who likes playing Japan, things began to slow down. He started with the destroyers, then found some interesting camo patterns while doing research and did a camo fleet. His first carrier was the Shokaku, and he hand painted it to look like the picture I’d printed for him of a schematic of the ship. But he was bothered that it was a Shinano sculpt, so I convinced him to chop the conning tower/bridge off and move it to the other side to see what it would look like. Well, although I glued the tower on the other side, that sculpt still sits unpainted, but it got FJO to thinking. Next think I knew, I was helping him cut down one of the 5 OOB Akagi’s I bought on sale from HBG to make a Zuiho. He has some putty that he uses to build up the bow or stern, or add guns if necessary, and he’s used it to great effect. He even read that the Takao cruisers had to be modified because they were top heavy, and only 2 were modded, so he modded 2 cruisers as well. He’s taken the Akagi sculpt and made a Zuiho, a Shoho is under construction, a Kaga, Hiryu, and Soryu. He used a Shinano sculpt to make a Zuikaku (since the Shokaku was made from one and they’re sister ships), and cut 2 down to make a Ryujo and the Amagi. So without further ado, here are some pictures of his carriers. First, the Shinano as Shokaku and with an Akagi tower for accuracy, the Zuikaku:
Are those the HBG versions? I bought a set of HBG Ryujos but they haven’t been painted yet. So… my buddy is a professional painter- master at faux finishes, worked on museum displays, zoos, auto show displays (that’s not really exotic wood or marble- he’s painted it to look that way), stuff like that. I gave him a print of a schematic of one of the carriers, I forget which by now since I’ve printed so many, and he chopped off the tower on an OOB Akagi and moved it to the other side of the carrier, filed some stuff off and built other stuff on with putty, and hand painted the deck and both sides to exactly match the schematic. I’ll have to start a separate post so we don’t hijack this one with them.
Kind of funny, or sad, but we didn’t even look for a Kaga or Ryujo on HBG’s site until after they were both done. Their Ryujo is a nice little thing for one plane, but my buddy’s is just a little bigger (also for one plane). I would have liked to have gotten an HBG Kaga because the detail in their pieces is so nice, but next to his Akagi, you can’t even tell they started out as the same piece. Some time this week I’ll post some pictures.
The first listing- 600-GB-02. Pico has a picture of the decal sheet here:
https://www.picoarmor.com/product-category/decals/
I didn’t buy the second listing because I couldn’t tell from the picture if that’s what I wanted or not. I’d recommend going with the 1/600’s for the proper scale for A&A planes.
I’ve done all of Japan’s air power- or had, until I bought some Japanese paratroop transports and jets from HBG, and a significant portion of the US air power, German, and Italian air power. All those were done with I-94 decals, but more are planned with some Dom decals. My buddy is working on the navies, and has finished the UK rather quickly, then bogged down making customized carriers for Japan out of the A&A Akagi and Shinano carriers. He’s modded Akagi’s to be a Kaga, Hiryu, and Soryu, and chopped a few down to make a Zuiho and a Shoho. He’s also chopped a few Shinanos to make a Ryujo and an Amagi. He’s done some amazing stuff I’ll have to share here.
Thank you! Those are the plain ones for the Battle of Britain Spits with no fin flash. The wing roundels are labeled “For Upper Wing” on the decal sheet, and after searching around to find a metric measuring stick, yes, the upper wing roundels are 2mm. Fuselage roundels measure 1.5mm, and although they’re a pain to work with, the effort is worth it. Without measuring, it looks like the lower wing roundels are about 1.75mm. Some of those will most likely be fuselage roundels on the bombers. I’ll have a lot left over after doing 22 fighters (20 done, 2 left to finish, some wing upper and lower roundels are I-94, varies with the era of the Spits, from '38 to '45, so no two are alike) 10 tacticals (in various forms, no 2 alike), and 10 (maybe more) bombers. We plan on using the leftovers for tanks, mech inf, trucks, and artillery. Some of the larger roundels from the I-94 sheets went on the carrier decks. The fin flashes on the I-94 sheets have to be cut down, but that’s another thing worth the effort, because they look great. For example, here’s a Spitfire based on an aircraft flown by Pilot Officer Robert Wendell “Buck” McNair D.F.C. (Royal Canadian Air Force) No.249 Squadron (Gold Coast) based in Malta, March 1942. Fuselage decal is Dom, wing upper and lower (not visible) and cut-down fin flash are I-94. The camera flash does something funny to the wing decals- those dark circles are not visible to the naked eye:
I got the 1/600’s from Pico (very friendly and fast), which are actually Dom’s, for our British aircraft. The sheet comes separated into 3 sizes- upper wing, lower wing, and fuselage. Here’s what they look like on the Spits.
Nice job! The “solution” for decals is Microsol. Most hobby stores will carry it, and its a must-have for Dom’s Decals. The I-94 decals available in the decal section of HBG don’t need it and are much easier to use than Dom’s because of the way they’re made. You’ll also want to protect the decals by spraying your pieces with flat lacquer. The 2 I-94 versions of the Japanese meatball, with and without the white border, are nice but only about a third of each decal sheet is usable on A&A planes. However, each decal is printed separately on the sheet and comes off in it’s natural shape. With Dom’s Decals, the whole sheet is one big decal with lots of little roundels printed on it, which makes it more difficult to use. Imagine cutting out 2 millimeter fuselage decals for your Spitfires (a job I just finished and I only lost one) and trying not to leave too much clear border that will hang over. Then the decal has to dry, and then you have to Microsol it carefully so you don’t move it (if you’ve taken the time to line it up with the one on the other side) and then wait for the Microsol to dry. If you’re REALLY serious about it, you can also buy one of those magnifying glasses with a light around it on a stand for around 50 bucks at Office Depot. I also suggest finding some Army Painter brand brushes and getting one called “Insane Detail” and another called “The Psycho”. They’re nice and small and will allow you to get really tight, crisp lines between colors, like on cockpit canopies and camo detail.
Keep it up and keep posting!
“A nation that loses its capital loses all of its saved IPPs (even if it does not technically surrender). Some nations can set up a second capital.”
Does the capturing player get to keep the IPPs?
