Felix, Author at Felix's Gaming Pages

Heinkel He 162A-2

The Heinkel He 162 Volksjäger or “People’s Fighter” was a German single-engine, jet-powered fighter aircraft fielded by the Luftwaffe in World War Two.

The Heinkel He 162 was one of Germany’s last ditch attempts to win back the control of the skies with a cheap jet fighter capable of being flown by almost anyone. Like all the other weapons it came too late to have any effect on the outcome of the war. Developed under the Emergency Fighter Program, it was designed and built quickly and made primarily of wood as metals were in very short supply and prioritised for other aircraft.

Drybrushing of the Deimos Pattern Rhino

Have been working on my Horus Heresy Deimos Pattern Rhino. I put the Rhino model together and then gave it a white undercoat. I also sprayed the underneath of the model with Citadel Zandri Dust, then I painted the whole model yellow using a Daemonic Yellow spray from Army Painter. I then picked out some details, the exhausts and bolters using Leadbelcher. The stage after that was to wash the model using some Shade paint.

For the next stage I used some Citadel Layer Yriel Yellow. I took a large brush and gave the model, what I would call, a heavy drybrush. I put paint on the brush, and then used some kitchen towel to remove most of the paint, and then using a stippling process added paint to the model.

The plan was that this would take the flat surfaces of the model back to the base colour.

I then gave the model a light drybrush of Citadel Layer Dorn Yellow.

I had thought about doing some edge highlighting, but I realised that I didn’t really have the skill to do this.

I was quite pleased with how the model was looking.

Disassembled

The Focke-Wulf Fw 190 was a single-seat single-engine multi-role fighter-bomber, capable of carrying a larger bomb load than its counterpart the Messerschmitt Bf109. Entering Luftwaffe service in August 1941, the Fw 190 proved superior in many respects to the Royal Air Force’s main frontline fighter, the Spitfire V. It took the introduction of the much improved Spitfire IX in July 1942 for the RAF to gain an aircraft of equal capability.

At RAF London there is a two-seat Focke-Wulf Fw 190, which here is being disassembled.

The Fw 190 is to be sent to Germany and will be on long-term loan with the Militärhistorisches Museum der Bundeswehr in Berlin-Gatow.

FW-190 at RAF Cosford.

Shading the Deimos Pattern Rhino

Have been working on my Horus Heresy Deimos Pattern Rhino. I put the Rhino model together and then gave it a white undercoat. I also sprayed the underneath of the model with Citadel Zandri Dust painted the the whole model yellow using a Daemonic Yellow spray from Army Painter. I then picked out some details, the exhausts and bolters using Leadbelcher.

It was then onto shading the model. I used some Citadel Reikland Fleshshade Shade.

I then did some additional shading using some Citadel Seraphim Sepia Shade.

Didn’t quite get the result I was looking for. It now looks a little too old and battered, but I have decided I can work with that.

Boeing B-17G Flying Fortress

The Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress is a four-engined heavy bomber developed in the 1930s for the United States.

This Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress was on display at RAF London.

The B-17 was primarily employed by the USAAF in the daylight strategic bombing campaign of World War II against German industrial, military and civilian targets. The United States Eighth Air Force, based at many airfields in central, eastern and southern England, and the Fifteenth Air Force, based in Italy, complemented the RAF Bomber Command’s night-time area bombing in the Combined Bomber Offensive to help secure air superiority over the cities, factories and battlefields of Western Europe in preparation for the invasion of France in 1944.

There was a Boeing B-17G Flying Fortress at Duxford.

Reinforcements

I saw over on the Warhammer Community site a new (plastic) model of the Predator will be released. This Predator is based on the Deimos Pattern Rhino.

Although not as fast as the Sicaran, the Predator is a reliable ‘everytank’ for the Legion on the go. Instead of a complicated custom chassis, it’s built on the shoulders of the Deimos-pattern Rhino, providing armies with a dependable armoured fighting vehicle that can be easily modified and repaired as necessary.

I like the kit and retro yet modern look they have achieved with the kit. Well Forge World did do that ten years ago… This is of course a plastic version of that Forge World resin kit. The Forge World kit was of course inspired by the original plastic Predator model which used the original Rhino model.

The kit comes with a range of weapon choices.

I might get one to add to my Rhino.

Finishing off tracks

As well as painting the exhausts and bolters for my Horus Heresy Deimos Pattern Rhino, I have also been working on the tracks. After painting and shading them, I drybrushed them lightly, first with Leadbelcher. I then did a very light drybrush with Terminatus Stone.

I am quite pleased with how they have turned out. Once I have finished the main model I will affix them to the Rhino.

Hawker Hurricane Mk I

The Hurricane will always be remembered for the vital role it played, with its partner the Spitfire, in hectic battles during the summer of 1940. Hurricanes destroyed more enemy aircraft during the Battle of Britain than did all the other air and ground defences combined.

Designed by the Hawker Aircraft Company in 1934 it first entered service in 1937. It provided the RAF with a fighter 160kph (100mph) faster than aircraft then in service; with an increased fire power of eight machine guns.

When war was declared, on the 3 September 1939, about five-hundred Hurricanes were in service and several squadrons were sent to France. During the 1940 German Blitzkrieg through the Low Countries and France they fought a punishing rearguard action in which over 25% of all Fighter Command’s aircraft were destroyed.

As the Battle of Britain raged in the skies overhead aircraft production increased so that by September 1940 the number of Hurricane squadrons had risen from eighteen, a year earlier, to thirty-two.

It was in a Hurricane of No.249 Squadron that Flt Lt J.B. Nicholson was awarded Fighter Command’s only Victoria Cross.

Later in the War Hurricanes made a significant contribution to the defence of Malta, the desert war in North Africa and war against the Japanese in the Far East.

Hawker Hurricane Mk IIb at the Imperial War Museum Duxford

Hawker Hurricane Mk IIc at RAF Cosford

Panavia Tornado F3

The Tornado F.3 is intended for long-duration combat air patrols (CAPs) working in conjunction with Boeing E3D Sentry or other AEW/AWACS aircraft and was originally developed from the Tornado GR.1 bomber variant. The Tornado successively replaced the Lightning and Phantom squadrons in the air defence role.

Models on the Car Wars Workbench

Back in November 2019, I saw that Steve Jackson Games were going to “release” a revised sixth edition of Car Wars, using 1/64th scale models though Kickstarter. I took the plunge and ordered Car Wars 6th Edition on Kickstarter. Here we are in June 2022 and the box has finally arrived.

North America, A.D. 2070. It’s a new American frontier. The collapse of the U.S. government plunged the country back into the good old days — days of wilderness lawlessness, banditry, regional dictators, and of the men and women who combat them. Modern-day knights and gunslingers are in demand; but the automobile has replaced the horse, and the machine-gun and recoilless rifle have made the sword and Winchester obsolete. Car Wars is the game of autoduelling; futuristic vehicular combat where the right of way goes to the biggest guns. Players design their cars — complete with weapons, accessories, and crew — and then take them into the arena where one emerges victorious . . . and the others are annihilated.

In the core set I got there are two boxes each with six cars. These are really nice sharp castings and have a lot of detail. I really like all the vehicles. They are 1/64th scale models.

These are the six cars in Miniatures Box A.