Winston-Salem Airshow 2011

Hi kids! Once again its time for the W-S Airshow, and this time we're starting out with a biggie! The "Aluminum Overcast" itself, the B-52! It was delayed flying in from Greenland, or Guam, or maybe North Dakota, but it got here! It made a brief appearance, just a single flyby, but I guess it'd take a couple counties to turn around and come back. One of the few planes where you can build a campfire and sing a few songs while on a 24 hour mission. Bomb runs by these are called "roto-tilling."

Ok, ok, I took a lot of pictures of the thing. So sue me.

And you thought we have a wierd hobby. Here's a financial analyst practicing her relaxation technique, wingwalking. And that's her ex-husband flying the Steerman biplane. Good luck.

One of two F-104 Starfighters that did a flyby from GSO. Guess the runway at IRT was too short. One had a mechanical shortly after arriving and returned to GSO. They said it's the fastest single engine plane ever. Possibly the loadest, too.

A-4, A-1, and F4U fly in formation.

A-4 Skyhawk, this is the type of plane McCain was flying when he was shot down over Vietnam.

The RV Demo team, they said they were the largest demo team in the world, flying the "RV" design by Dick Rutan. Not sure how big the Snowbirds from Canada are, but 12 is a lot of planes!

Same again.

An aerobatic performance by what the annoucer said was a Yak, the program said was a Sukhoi. You just can't trust those Commies! The engine is an illegal copy of a western design, only it rotates the opposite way; supposedly due to the stolen photos of the blueprints being printed backwards. Commies. Go figure.

Speaking of commies.... I think it's either a Yak-18 or maybe a Yak-50. Who can tell anyway?

A small helicopter set up for search and rescue. Don't know what kind.

Remember what I said about strange hobbies? Once they pay their admission, they'll let anybody in.

A-1 Skyraider, Vietnam era ground attack plane par excellence! They could carry anything, and lots of it! I've got some pictures of them with actual kitchen sinks hanging on the hardpoints, just to prove they could drop everything on Charlie.

A-4 Skyhawk, this one is from the Navy Surplus facility near Tuscon, AR. They bought it around 2004. It's the Playboy squadron, you can see the emblem on the tail.

F4U Corsair, when a P-51's 1600HP just ain't enough! There were two P-51's at the show, but they're so common you can't swing a cat without putting it through a P-51 prop disc. Why take more pictures? Why the inverted gull wings? So the 14ft prop won't hit the ground!

A P-3 Orion. Doubt if they're going to find any subs in the neighborhood.

F/A-18 Hornet. You can tell it's a late model "Super" by the square intakes.

A homebuilt aircraft called a Highlander from Just Aircraft. It just looks absolutely fabulous! And with tires like that you could land anywhere, backyard, gravel, sand, maybe on top of a B-52.

Biggest thing at the show, a Fed/Ex. Probably an Airbus. The commies. If it ain't Boeing, I ain't going!!!

The new HondaJet, currently undergoing FAA trials. They're built in GSO.

Well, that's about it for this installment. The show repeats Sunday Sept 11, so you still have time to get out there and see the action. And yes, I did buy another t-shirt, this one with a picture of an F-4 Phantom, since it's the BEST PLANE EVER. So why do I now have six t-shirts with Phantoms? Maybe because its THE BEST FREAKING PLANE EVER.

Ork Kustom Battle Fortress conversion

I have been assembling an Ork force for Apocalypse games. One thing I lack is battle wagons to carry the lads into battle. I picked up a couple of toy trucks at Goodwill and came up with a plan.

Here are the trucks. They seemed a bit large for battle wagons but I figured I could make them work.

Once I took them apart, I was sure they were way too big to be used as battle wagons, so instead they will be Kustom Battle Fortresses. The first problem was that all the molded bits had to go, time to break out the dremel tool.

After a good while of sawing and grinding I have flattened out the top of the hulls. Here is a group of twenty boys to show how big it is. The Battle fortress holds thirty models so I should have plenty of room to carry the load of boys when I am finished.

A picture of both hulls. the one with the boys is from the humvee toy and is about ready to start on. The dunebuggy one on the other hand is going to need some card put down to cover the holes left from were the seats were.

The toys are way too high off of the ground so I will add some half inch foam to the bottoms to bulk them up and add a little more thickness to them. After cutting the foam I hit a snag when I found my tube of liquid nails had dried up so I am at a standstill until I make a supply run.

The Kustom Battle fortress can have three big gun turrets and I am leaning towards either all big zzappas, all flakka-guns or a combination of the two. I am thinking about having magnetized turret so I can swap them out for some variety. When I get my gargant built having two Kustom battle fortresses with three flakka-guns each will keep the the flyers wary.

All thoughts until I get the hulls finished.

ColKG

Ogre Kingdom Conversions

With all the hype about the new Ogre Kingdom book, like many others, I have pulled out my old Ogre Kingdom models and done a little wish listing. The last time I played the army was in 2008 for a Warhammer Fantasy League at the now defunct Castle game store in Greensboro North Carolina. The army had its beginnings way back in the day in my Dogs of War army as a unit of Golfag's Maneaters. When the Ogre kingdoms army was first released I bought in and picked up enough for a small army. One perk of being close to the only Games Workshop store in North Carolina (it was in Concord and of course, has been closed for many years now) was a free ogre to build and use for an in store event. The event was an Ogre Pit Fight.

Here is the model I built. They had a list of options and I picked an iron fist and Cathayan long sword. In hindsight, I found that the two options could not be used together in the army book but I went on to field it as a maneater with a Cathayan longsword. I made the longsword out of greenstuff and resculpted the shoulder to get the pose. The gnobler is actually an old goblin spearmen and the sashimono was made from plastic rod and a dark elf flag. This was my original plastic ogre and would influence me later when I came back to the army.

I added more parts to the army mostly by buying secondhand and Ebay. The model below I received in a lot from Thom Foster, a local gamer, that headed west for greener pastures.


The model originally was a much different, incomplete hunter conversion. I really liked the oriental theme of the model with the straw hat and the tengu geta shoes. I also liked the cannon ball bolo hanging down. I ended up breaking the model apart and redoing much of the conversion. I resculpted the arm holding the bolo, the feet, the back end of the harpoon launcher, the helmet and added a chest plate.

Here is a side shot showing the harpoon launcher from the original hunter model. I made a wire armature and extended the harpoon launcher with greenstuff then used another piece of wire to form the trigger.

Here is a closer look at the tengu geta. They are made from pop sickle sticks. Originally they were just glued to the feet but I added some greenstuff to make tabi socks and a braided strap.

A view from the back showing the strap for the breastplate and a chrysanthemum buckle I sculpted. I really like the way the chrysanthemum came out and plan to add more to the army eventually.

I have one of the Ninja maneater models and along with my original cathayan long sword armed
maneater I wanted a third one to field in a unit. So I built this one. I made the sword and tsuba from an ogre weapon hand and greenstuff. I greenstuffed the gut plate and added some symbols and a ogre sized sickle from the gw zombie kit.

A side view of the longsword and kama sickle.

Last is a hunter model with a converted naginata. This was another conversion started by Thom but I swapped the original weapon tip with a sword I had cut from a reaper figure and put in the bits box. He also had a large bow from a unknown source but I was thinking about sculpting an ogre sized daikyu bow. From what I hear about the hunter in the new book that may have to wait for another day.

I have yet to get the army book but still plan to pick up some new models when the hobby budget allows.

ColKG

Azazel and other Daemon Prince Wip 2

I have been working on the Daemon Princes and took some progress pictures.

I have added a little more detail to the Azazel daemon prince's thigh.

Here is the front view. I have bulked out the thigh a bit and started adding some scales to match the other leg. One difference is that the replacement leg from the oop steed of Slaanesh is allot thinner than Azazel's other leg. To tell the difference you have to know what you are looking at but I think they are close enough for a warped creation of Chaos. I may go back and bulk up the calf but not till I finish the thigh first.

Here is a back view of Azazel's thigh. I added more muscular detail and still need to add some more scales to the upper thigh. It is a little thinner than the thigh on the other leg but still more proportional to the lower leg.

Here is the front view of the other Daemon Prince's neck. I have bulked up the neck muscles some more but still need to adda bit before I am finished.

Here is the back of the Daemon prince's head. I am still working on blending the skull back into the neck, while building more detail to the neck musculature.

The other side of the neck. It still has a big gap that I need to fill in to make the throat a seamless transition from the torso to the head.

I am slowly working on them a little greenstuff at a time. It is going to take me a while but I will get them done eventually.

ColKG

Catawba Gamers August 2011 part 2

Welcome to the final instalment of the battle report from the August 2011 Catawba gamers monthly game. The game was Chassepot and Needlegun and played at Parker Banner Kent and Wayne in Cornelius, North Carolina.



The Prussian Guards take refuge in the ruins on the French left as the Infantry and mitrailleuse pour a withering fire into them.

The 8th Chasseurs charge out of the cornfield, While the 69th hold.

The French right turns into a giant swirling cavalry melee.

The French take the worst of it and fleeing units cause a withdrawal of several other units.

The French form up to retake Vionville.

The 69th infantry move up to cover the 8th Chaseurs flank.

The Prussian Guards abandon Vionville and their impending doom but charge the flank of the 69th infantry.

The 8th Chasseurs break the Prussians and several units end up being removed because of being below fifty percent and failing their leadership roll. The Prussian Guards fail to close on the 69th, starting a continuing trend. this leaves the 8th Chasseurs expose and they take many losses from the subsequent Prussian shooting.

Another regiment of Prussian Guards charge the French Mitrailleuse.

Plagued by failed leadership rolls the French Guards now are able to catch up and deploy in the French center. A Guards regiment Charges in to help the French lancers.

The French Mitrailleuse open op on their attackers as they charge in.

All six shots hit and cause the Prussian Guards to halt.

The 69th Infantry suffer from a failed leadership roll and stand in the open, exposed. The Prussian Guards charge them again but once again fail to close.

Vionville reoccupied by french forces the 69th Infantry move back into the cornfield and prepare to sell their lives dearly.

The French force the Guards to withdraw under a murderous crossfire.

The Guards turn and charge the 69th again. They fail to close for a third time.

The Prussians charge out to try and break the French line and are halted by fire.

The survivors of the 8th Chasseurs a Pied withdraw, unbroken, with their colors held high.

Another regiment of French Guards charge in to help the French light Cavalry against the Bavarians.

The French Lancers and Guards break the Bavarian Cavalry.

They overrun into the Bavarian Infantry.

Who they also rout.

The other two regiments from the French Guards brigade charge the Prussian cavalry.

The Guards force the Prussian cavalry to withdraw.

End Game. The Guards prepare to charge the Prussian cavalry when the game is called.

There was much debate about the games outcome. We finally agreed that the French players performed better than the historical result and left it at that. I had a great time and look forward to the next game. There was some debate about the Prussians having to roll to close into close combat while the French closed automatically. The rule did make a big difference in my part of the game and cost the Prussian side. The flip side is that the French have a worse leadership and this many of our units standing in the breeze at very bad times. I would call them both part of the rules that add flavor to the game.

I would like to thank Chuckaroo for running the game and Matt at PBKW for letting us use monopolize a good bit of his gaming area for the ten hours or so we played.

ColKG