The Dragon Rises: Hongdu Q-5 "Fantan" - finished

"Fantan" and base finished

ready to fly CAS missions, using guns, rockets and two FAB-250 bombs to support ground troops

The aircraft is held in place by a strong magnet. The base can be adjusted in height.

The long painting war continues. :-D

The Dragon Rises: painting the Hongdu Q-5 "Fantan" part#3

Today a considerable amount of time went into cleaning the panel lines' excess paint away. After I was done with this step, I added some weathering and dirt to the aircraft, using washes and Tamiya weathering set powders. I think I am going to leave the Fantan this way, finally adding pilot, canopy, payload and base with the next steps.

The Dragon Rises: painting the Hongdu Q-5 "Fantan" part#2

Today I've painted the panel lines. I used Revell's matt black enamel paint, thinned down with turpentine. This needs to dry until tomorrow evening and then I have to carefully clean any excess paint around the recesses. Stay tuned.

The Dragon Rises: painting the Hongdu Q-5 "Fantan" part#1

I have spent this afternoon with painting little details here and there, that I wanted to be finished before the gloss varnish layers are applied.

The decals have been taken from various Soviet aircraft and out of the vaccu-form kit itself. Surprisingly they went on quite easily although they were already pretty faded (probably very old). Good thing about faded colours is: it looks natural on an aircraft that is used by the Chinese navy.

The decals were applied using the Micro Set and Micro Sol solutions. I will let everything dry over night and apply the varnish tomorrow. That will allow weathering and pin (panel) wash with oil paints next week.

I am really excited how the kit turned out. I would have never imagined I am capable of building a vaccu-form model. But I can also tell you: it was probably the one and only I will ever assemble. ;-)

The Dragon Rises: Hongdu Q-5 "Fantan" WIP #8

I have decided to give the Fantan a classic gloss white paintjob like its used with the PLA Navy air units. It just had the first layers painted on, so this is far from being finished of course. I painted the pilot (he's missing one arm, because otherwise I won't be able to fit the ejection seat into the cockpit - I'll glue it in place once he's in there).

Four FAB-250 low drag bombs that will go under the fuselage can be seen as well as a WIP of the Fantan's flight base.

This is what I am looking to achieve once completely painted:

The Dragon Rises: Hongdu Q-5 "Fantan" WIP #7

I have put primer on ;-) All coming together now. Barely visible that it was not an injection-mould kit.

The Dragon Rises: Hongdu Q-5 "Fantan" WIP #6

Another couple of hours went into the build and this is the current status: some more work with putty here and there and I think I really can go over with primer this weekend. *yeah!*

The Dragon Rises: Hongdu Q-5 "Fantan" WIP #5

Slowly everything is coming together. The cockpit canopy (which I took from a MiG 19) still needs some filling with green stuff, the fuselage needs another go with putty in some places but other than that its starting to look like a proper airplane. If works continues to go on like today I might be able to put primer on next weekend. :-)

The Dragon Rises: Hongdu Q-5 "Fantan" WIP #4

It's been a while since I last worked on my Q-5 "Fantan".

I have added the air intakes and put together the two halves of the fuselage. As you can see, a lot of green stuff was necessary to fill the gaps. :-(

I have not sanded the model yet so the filled gaps look pretty rough on those pics. Once having sanded them and adding a layer of fine putty (even more sanding afterwards) I am sure it will be looking OK.

I have ordered a 1/72 scale MiG-19 since the Fantan and the MiG are similar in appearance and the Q-5 is based upon the famous Soviet fighter. Some parts of this kit will come handy to complete the Fantan.

The Dragon Rises: Hongdu Q-5 "Fantan" WIP #3

Today I continued with sanding the parts of the wings and fuselage.

Here is what the wing's upper and lower half are looking like after I sanded them down:

And then glued together:

Obviously the parts will need some trimming here and there but more or less they fitting together quite well.

The two parts of the fuselage.

The fuselage was sanded down to a certain degree, too. I opened up the air intakes and cut out where the cockpit will be placed later on.

The Dragon Rises: Hongdu Q-5 "Fantan" WIP #2

Today I have sanded the first parts of the Fantan. I started with something small to try it and so the smaller rear wings were first to go.

The first pic shows the already sanded parts for the left rear wing. Above those you can see how the parts were looking like on top and from underneath before sanding.

 After sanding them with 120 grid and 180 grid sand paper, they became really thin but to my surprise still very stiff.

At first I thought the wings will be hollow on the inside but after sanding it became clear that the two halves will have a large surface to put glue on top.

Tomorrow the sanding process will contine and I might already have a wing or two show off with. :-)

The Dragon Rises: Hongdu Q-5 "Fantan" WIP #1

Following a few guides on the internet on modelling vacu-form kits, the first steps I took was using a black marker and draw it around the parts in an 45° angle. I tried to mark 50% of both, the actual parts and the styrene sheet around it.

 I then used scissors and hobby knife to cut out the parts. I tried not cut too close to the parts before they have been freed of the styrene sheet left overs around it. Next step will be cutting them out very closely using my hobby knife and then the sanding process will kick off.

The Dragon Rises: Hongdu Q-5 "Fantan"

It took me ages to finally find a copy of the Warrior Model 1/72 scale vacu-formed/resin kit of a NanChang Q-5 on ebay. This one came to me from a guy in Poland.

The Q-5 is a close air support/ground attacker aircraft, currently deployed by both, PLAAF (Chinese Air Force) and the PLA Navy.

This one is my first vacu-formed kit that I am ever going to assemble. That means its going to be interesting... If you look at the box contents, you'll see that the main fuselage and wings are vacu-formed white plastic, while weapons, cockpit and parts of the landing gear are either resin cast or white metal. The metal parts I won't need for the most part since I am going to assemble the kit "in flight" on a flight stand. I am also planning on exchanging the resin cast FAB-250 bombs with plastic ones from Dragon Models' Soviet Aircraft payload kits in 1/72 scale.

Check out the pics:

Contents: decals, instructions, painting guides, resin payload and detail parts, white metal landing gear etc..

Box: includes one kit, several decals for both, PLAAF and Pakistani Air Force.

Battle For Skira: USMC "Gators" (AAVP7A1) WIP #2

I promised there would be more and I shall keep that promise. :-) A long afternoon of kit building later:

Gator #3 assembled and #2 received its primer

Battle For Skira: USMC "Gators" (AAVP7A1) WIP #1

After finishing off the AH-1Z my next project for the "Battle For Skira" campaign is some ground vehicles. I picked my AAVP7A1 amtracks, call-sign "Gator", to be the next in line.

The models are one Dragon die-cast, expanded with EAAK made from resin (Black Dog CZ), and two Dragon Amtracks w/EAAK kits that got single pieces of stowage from Black Dog and other brands (S&S for example) glued all over the place. :-)

The diecast and one of the plastic kits are shown below in various stages of the current build. I need to assemble the next kit and will start painting when all are completely assembled.

"A Few Blocks Of Hell" - a Force On Force game report

Two players, infantry units only. Regular forces vs. regular forces.

Scenario played:
"A Few Blocks Of Hell", US Army in Fallujah, out of the FoF (Osprey) rulebook.

Optional rules used for the scenario: "Juba" (a sniper for the Jihadists) and "Raindancer" (a FO with medium mortars on call for the Army).

Forces:
Haymaker 1-1 (Squad Leader 1)
Haymaker 1-1-A and 1-1-B (two standard fire teams)

Haymaker 1-2 (Squad Leader 2)
Haymaker 1-2-A and 1-2-B (two more fire teams)

Raindancer (FO)

versus

Local Jihadists troops 1-5 (JD1 -JD5)
Syrian Street Fighters (SY1 and SY2)
"Juba" with spotter (Sniper Team/ weapons team with SVD rifle ( not suppressed), team starts hidden)

Table set up like indicated by the scenario (more or less)

TURN 1:
Initiative: US Army (as dictated by scenario)

1-1 merges with 1-1-B and they make a rapid move and decide to fire on JD1 once in final position. Using the method that works best, I moved the Squad Leader figure along the path they will run. JD1 and JD2 want to react.

My opponent declares that JD2 will react when the Army passes an open spot on an intersection. Reaction Test failed, so the US boys reach their destination, then the intended target JD1 declares it will react now. Reaction Test failed, now the Army goes first in the firefight. The US Army attacks.

One Jihadist gets hit and and goes down. We rolled to find out who got hit, the Leader goes down. With a casualty ("callous" was used to quicken things little) the Jihadists take their Morale Test. They were retreating.

1-1-A makes a rapid move with JD5 trying to catch them in the open. Reaction Test fails.

1-2 (leader) and 1-2-A rapid move towards their mission objective. JD2 again  tries to react and fails. "Juba" fires his sniper rifle but thank god, he fails to do damage. I chose to use the chance and try to spot the hidden sniper team, since he fired a weapon that is not suppressed but I fail to turn that bonus into something useful and so I move on, unable to find the location of the Sniper shooting at my boys.


TURN 2:
1-1 and 1-1-B rapid move towards a corner of a house and want to fire onto JD2. They'd like to react and fail (again). The fire of the Army resulted in zero figures down and no suppression.

1-2, 1-2-A and 1-2-B as well as the FO (Raindancer) move towards their objectives by rapid movement and aren't seen by anyone.

JD1, JD3, JD4 and Juba move to get into positions allowing to intercept the Army on their march to the houses they are looking for.

And before I foret to mention it:
1-1-A und Raindancer together with 1-1-B declare to be on Overwatch now.

TURN 3 (now it is getting really interesting):
Beginning with turn 3 initiative can change according to the scenario. So, we roll and guess what: the Jihadists actually beat me to it.

The local Jihadists JD1 fire on my advancing fire team and I fail to react in time, fire is exchanged and the RPG taking its toll on my Army soldiers. A rifleman was hit and went down. Making the Morale Test I fail and they withdraw to cover.
Raindancer and fire team 1-2-B also react to JD1's intensions and win the reaction test. With my opponent rolling a "1", the FOW card "Death Or Glory" was drawn and played on JD7 (random). The fire onto the Jihadists resulted into them being pinned.

They also lose their Leader, check Morale, fail and withdraw off the table! (no cover available).

JD4 was activated and moved with tactical speed into position to fire upon 1-1-A. My soldiers want to react and I fail the test with another natural 1. Fog Of War turnes out to be "In Your Face" and grants me 3 extra victory points. Thanks a lot.

We exchange fire and my fire team survives without a scratch due to bad die rolls on my mates' side. My return fire kills a rifleman and they have to test Morale. They pass and stand (but keep being suppressed until rallied).


Payback time. 1-2 and team 1-2-A move tactically and fire upon JD4. The Jihadists declare a reaction and I remind myself of the still placed markers on some units that went on Overwatch. I roll the die and still fail. Noooo!

So the reaction between Jihadists and my squad leader and fire team 1-2-A follows. Another 1 rolled results in FOW "All Clear". I had won the test so I finally open up on the JD4 squad. Three hits scored, three guys down. The following Morale test fails and the holy warriors retreat 11 inches into cover.

JD4 fails to rally but since they are in cover they just stay there.
I make my First Aid check on my downed Rifleman and have to find out the boy is dead :-(

1-2 and team 1-2-A on Overwatch.

TURN 4:
The US keeps initiative.

1-1 and 1-1-B rapidly move (time is becoming an issue to reach the objective). Since no one can trace a LOS onto them they just walk as I please.

1-1-A however is seen after I activate them and so JD5 declares its reaction with fire. 1-1-A wins and JD5 receives four  figures being struck by incoming fire, gets pinned by the sheer volume of fire and yet is capable to achieve a STAND on their Morale Test! The lonesome survivor shoots back but of course that was to no effect.

1-2-B and the bored FO (hadn't called in my arty yet) moved tactically and are seen by JD2 who immediately react by fire. Since I declared units on overwatch last turn, Squad Leader 1-2 and team 1-2-A open up and suppress JD2 with their Leader being shot. They pass their Morale test and stay were they are.

The Jihadists and all Syrian Street Fighters move with rapid speed into new positions to flank the Americans.

JD4 flees off table since they failed their Morale Test again.

TURN 5:

We began the turn but decided that its impossible for the local insurgency to stop the US to claim the houses on top of the scenario map. Even with less victory points for not reaching it by turn 4, the Army would have won with 18 points for killed Insurgents even without owning the objective. The "In Your Face" card would have done the rest. So we stopped it there.

Its noteworthy that the text above is missing some very specific details, so don't be surprized if something seems not to make sense. Can't tell you why though (seriously, deal with it).  The pics are from the game but not placed in between the write-up to display any events described, just some random images taken during the game, nothing else!

Battle For Skira: USMC Starwolf 1-4 (AH-1Z Viper) done

I have finished my 1/72 scale AH-1Z Viper, call-sign "Starwolf 1-4".