Wednesday 30 April 2014

Bring on the Scouts!!

Howdy all,

Needless to say...but I will anyway, life has been busy since my last post.  However, trying as I am, I have managed to get some painting done and managed to get a couple of white teams done for Flames of War or Force on Force Vietnam.  Last year (I believe...) when Battlefront released the OH-6, I couldn't help myself and I very quickly snapped up two boxes of these models. 

Now as a small review, I have this to say: I do enjoy BF's minis, they have some great models, and I was very pumped when they introduced the Vietnam line.  I do have some of the initial hueys that were sold as part of the limited Wargames Illustrated release and when I compare those hueys with the new loaches...let me say it is night and day.

The loaches are completely plastic with some great detail.  They were a snap to put together taking limited skill to put together (thankfully I can fit that bill) and only took about 20 minutes a model for me to take off the sprue, trim down, and glue together...all while watching TV with limited battle wounds to show for it...win, win!!

They painted up very quickly and over the course of the following week I went from base coat to finished product within an hour or two per night...all in all, four loaches done within about 4-6 hours including decal work (the longest most frustrating part of the process).

Verdict:  an excellent model, fits together well, paints well, and looks great on the stand.  Well worth the time and the money!!

As part of the painting prep I also googled a figurative buttload of Vietnam era photos of the Air Cav and AeroScouts to determine any special markings/colorings that I could bring in to make these historic.  As per the BF and historical research I painted the tail boom orange...as per historic research I also included a black stripe on the boom.  I couldn't find a specific reference to this, but I suspect this was differentiating team or flight.

I liked the pics that showed a very cool mix of crossed sabres and cavalry pendants...and so I tried to emulate that with the choice of paintjob and decals with some distinct differences between the two teams to keep them distinct at the tabletop level.

Enjoy the pics...more to follow in the future.  As for whats next: Fate of a Nation Arab tank company, Air Cav Aeroweapons HOGS, and some last minute WW2 US shermans.

Take care.