1/4800th Russo-Japanese war battlefleets

Well if I'm honest only roughly 1/4800th and vaguely like the Russian and Japanese ships (think of them as caricatures).  On the other hand they are scratch built from cardboard and odds and ends I found in the bits box.  They are a step up from counters (just) and for me are part of a long history of making stuff from layers of cardboard.  It started when I was young (stop laughing at the back there, I really was young ...once) when my then best friend and I were playing a sort of proto-wargame based on a comic strip from the now long defunct boys comic/magazine Ranger.  This was 'The rise and fall of the Trigan Empire' a sort of science fantasy adventure story with some strange looking aircraft involved.  Of course our beloved Airfix didn't make any of these, so we had to make our own.  The first ones were created by my friend and I very quickly jumped on the idea.  Light and Heavy Fighters and bombers soon appeared but we never really came up with anything like a set of rules to use them.

A sample page from the story, the art work was actually pretty good

Over the years I have used the same techniques for any number of things but I have to say that it does work rather well for cheap and cheerful ships or space ships.  I think this is because once you create something remotely resembling a deck plan and give it a bit of texture and height the eye sort of fills in the rest.

The current Russian Fleet

You can see how a bit of texture makes them come alive (Russians again)

Any way, back to the Russo-Japanese war at sea.  Rob of the Cabinettewars blog has been good enough to supply me with his version of Damn Battleships Again as well as his campaign rules and map for that war.  I also have the Hong Kong wargaming society's additional rules some of which will be incorporated alongside Rob's rule additions.  The ships are fairly easy to create although the funnels are a bit fiddly.  Basing is on transparent plastic with some wakes and bow waves added.  I can knock out half a dozen in an afternoon pretty easily (I of course actually mean lovingly craft and not knock out).  Terrain is easy as its mostly sea which is basically flat and blue grey coloured with the odd island or coast line which is more lumpy and green-brown coloured.  You can tell I have studied this stuff extensively can't you?

The Japanese opposition

You can see how crude the models are if you zoom in on the nearest line

So far for the Japanese I have three battleships, one armoured cruiser and three protected cruisers while the Russians boast four battleships, one armoured cruiser and one protected cruiser.  I also have three bases of torpedo boat destroyers currently unassigned.  They may look outnumbered but the Russians have four more battleships awaiting funnels and a coat of paint and hulls for three protected cruisers are cut out and awaiting some superstructure.

RAF museum Hendon

Albatros DVa.  I started with this image to avoid the next one being the headline

Just back from a week long stint of looking after two of our Grandchildren.  The older of the two decided that he wanted to go to the RAF museum (without any prompting from me I must add).  So last Wednesday after lunch me, my son and two grandsons set off for the short drive from Watford to Hendon.  Well it would have been short had it not been for the small matter of an overturned lorry and a couple of cars all blocking the M1 for almost two hours.  Should have used the A41 I suppose but that was the way the sat nav said was fastest and I wasn't the designated driver for the trip.  

At least we were only in a queue, poor devils in the crash were much worse off

The result being that rather than a leisurely stroll around the museum, which it really does deserve, what we had was more of a fast trot or at least as fast as a five and eight year old can be persuaded to move when there are screens and buttons to press!

The lack of time was a real shame as there is a lot to see and do at the Hendon museum and it has grown since I last visited around 15 years ago.  There is a lot more interactive stuff both linked to the physical  displays as well as standalone stuff.  The later is mostly by the gift shop on the way out.  New from my last visit is the Short Sunderland flying boat, the expanded Second World War display and the World War One section.  A big hit with the tinies was the small airplane themed play park.

Tank buster Typhoon

The museum itself is free to enter, a donation of £6 is suggested, but car parking has to be paid for although coach parking is free.

I managed a few photos but not as many as I would have liked.  I will be going back next time I'm down there with the intention of making a longer visit.

SE5A with an DH4 (I think) hanging partly out of shot

Sopwith Triplane

BE2C slow and stable, so stable it was Eindekker fodder