I have been pondering how to include aircraft in the next draft of WHEN EMPIRES CLASH!
The rules mechanics are fairly straightforward; it is how to represent aircraft on the tabletop that is causing me a few headaches. I want to use model aircraft, but there’s the rub; if they are in scale with the figures, they are too large (so I will have to use under scale models) and if I mount them on standard WEC bases, they cannot occupy the same square as a ground unit.
The options I have been considering are:
I then experimented with wire cut from an old wire coat hanger. My first attempt showed promise, but the aircraft model was unstable because its centre of gravity was not over the centre of the wire stand.
The rules mechanics are fairly straightforward; it is how to represent aircraft on the tabletop that is causing me a few headaches. I want to use model aircraft, but there’s the rub; if they are in scale with the figures, they are too large (so I will have to use under scale models) and if I mount them on standard WEC bases, they cannot occupy the same square as a ground unit.
The options I have been considering are:
- Use under scale model aircraft mounted on flight stands that use standard-sized WEC bases, and accept the fact that they cannot occupy the same square as a ground unit
- Use under scale model aircraft mounted on upturned plastic glasses – either beer glasses or wine glasses – that will fit over squares on the battlefield, thus allowing them to ‘fly’ over ground units
- Use under scale model aircraft mounted on home-made wire stands that have an open base that is 50mm square, thus allowing them to ‘fly’ over ground units
The Corgi Sopwith Camel sits easily on top of the very stable upturned plastic beer glass. However, as the images show, the size of the rim of the glass means that it covers four 50mm squares, and if it is placed over the centre of a square, the squares around it cannot have ground units in them.
The Corgi Sopwith Camel sits easily on top of the somewhat unstable upturned plastic wine glass. The size of the rim of the glass is slightly larger than a 50mm square, and if it is placed over the centre of a square, the squares around it can have ground units in them.
I then experimented with wire cut from an old wire coat hanger. My first attempt showed promise, but the aircraft model was unstable because its centre of gravity was not over the centre of the wire stand.
The wire stand allows ground units to fit into the square underneath the aircraft and the squares around it. The only problem arises from the fact that the wire upright is situated on the back edge of the stand. When the Corgi Sopwith Camel is placed so that its centre of gravity is on the wire upright, the model and the stand tip backwards; when the Corgi Sopwith Camel is placed so that its centre of gravity is over the middle of the square, it tips forward into a dive!
In this case the wire upright is bent forward so that its top is over the centre of the square. As a result the Corgi Sopwith Camel can be placed so that its centre of gravity is directly over the centre of the square, making the whole thing very stable.
A Corgi Bleriot Monoplane flies over some Egyptian Infantry. Perhaps this is a foretaste of events in the Balkans in 1913?
Hi Bob, Many thanks for the thought and I loved the model - where did you get it from? According to Vachkov the Bulgarians operated around 15 Bleriot aircraft of various marks - there is a picture of 1st Lt. Simeon Petrov at the controls of his Bleriot XI looking suitably serious........I like the idea with the wire base - I would be very intrigued to see how a Dirigible would look if mounted in a similar fashion....;-)
ReplyDeleteCertainly it is a feature for the Balkan wars that I will need to consider - aircraft that is. Russian Seaplane carriers and landing craft in the Black Sea during WW1 is another matter entirely..........;-)
All the best, Ogre
For the look of it the wine glasses still have it. They look elegant as well as functional. The wire looks...well a bit bodged up to be honest.
ReplyDeleteOgrefencer,
ReplyDeleteI thought that you might like it!
I bought the model Bleriot two or three years ago. It was part of an historical aircraft series that they did as individual aircarft or as part of a set.
All the best,
Bob
Trebian,
ReplyDeleteDon't forget that this is still at the experimental stage. I hope that once I have made a couple of proper wire stands (rather than prototypes made from wire coat hangers) that I can paint, they will look a lot less intrusive. If it doesn’t work, I have the upturned plastic wine glasses in reserve.
One thing that the glasses have in their favour is the wide top, which allows the model aircraft to ‘sit’ on top. The wire stand requires either that I drill a hole of the right size into the underneath of the model or I construct some type of mounting, both of which are time consuming.
I will experiment, and see how it goes.
Bob
Bob, Personally, I prefer the wire stands - simple and neat, whereas the wine glass will always look exactly what it is, a huge upturned wineglass inexplicably moving across the battlefield...
ReplyDeleteWith some judicious painting of the bottom to match your terrain, and an artistic wraith of cotton-wool 'cloud' around the upright, your wire stands would effectively disappear from the viewer's consciousness. They would be excellent for a gridded WWI dogfight game over a top down view of trenches, No Man's Land &c.
Lighter plastic kits, rather than the die cast models, would 'fly' quite easily on top of such stands.
Arthur,
ReplyDeleteI agree with you that with a bit of thought and effort – and some judicious use of paint – the wire stand will end up being more than acceptable, and will look better than the upturned glass.
I have been looking at the possibility of using small, clear plastic stands from Games Workshop to put on top of the wire stand NOT on the bottom. The idea is that the model would 'sit' on the upturned plastic base (which looks a bit like the bottom of the plastic wine glass) so that I don't need to make any complicated mounting on the model and/or the stand. It will also mean that aircraft could ‘land’ and ‘take off’ from the battlefield without me having to struggle to put it onto or take it off a stand when this happens. I will experiment with this idea at sometime over the next few weeks before I make a final decision about the design of the flight stand.
It is my intention to use plastic rather than metal model aircraft – if possible – for the very reasons you state. The only limitation I will have to deal with is the availability of appropriate kits; mind you, I suppose I could always carve some from balsa wood like I used to in the ‘good old days’.
All the best,
Bob