Decals first try out

I had already some planes painted up on the Dutch air war of 1940. 4 Fokker G1, 4 Fokker DXXI, 2 Bf110, 4 Bf109 and 3 Do17. I also do have some others left to paint. But I could not finish them as the roundels where missing. But last friday they did arrive. And because the planes were already painted and coated in gloss I could directly start.

The four Fokker G1 wihtout the roundels to start with.

I started with the four Fokker G1 planes. After a quick search on the web, I determined that decals should be put at six positions. Top and bottom of the wings two each, and on the outside of the tail boom. Also there has been two variations in the 1939-1940 period. The 4 color rozet the same as in use today, which was replaced at end of 1939 with a orange triangle.

As I wanted to try out multiple sheets of the decals, I did one of the Fokkers with the Rozet, and the other three with triangles.

The Fokker G1 with rozets on six positions. The rozet on the tail boom was not yet flat, so has been later solved with some extra decal soft.

Next to the Fokkers I did also try out the German “Balkenkreuz” on the Do17. Process of application is quite simple. I did already have experience with scale modelling kits, especially smaller scale, so it was not to difficult to handle. First cut out the decals, close to the edges. Put them in a little water for a couple of seconds, and put them aside (I placed them on a cutting mat with contrasting color, to easily spot them) After a short wait, I picked up with the decals on a sharp exacto knife blade with a needle. And placed them on the planes. With a needle I put it in the correct position. With a dry large soft brush, I pressed them in place. Because the brush is dry it will soak up all the extra water. After that I put a drop of Revell Decal Soft on it, to secure and form it in place (it will force it in the recesses, and make sure that it is flat. To secure it I do a matt varnish afterwards (still have to do that. Only Have done on of the Do17s to check if there is no chemical reactions)

All the planes done so far. For the Fokkers I have still to do the orange triangles at the tail booms, and two of the underwing tringles.
Another view of the planes.

At this moment I am very happy with the decals, and how they work. Now I have to make some production line. Finish all the Fokkers G1, do the Fokker DXXI and paint up the Fokker CV, so they can also receive decals. Then finish all the Germans, and I can play the first game.

Hope to make a better photo progress report of the different steps in the future. Maybe with the Dutch cold war or the Ethiopian and Eritrean planes.

Decals arrived

Last friday the ordered decals arrived. What is very quick, as I ordered them on the 12th of july, and they arrived at the 19th, from US to NL.

It are 12 different sheets (packed per 2) They look very nice, and are recognizable for every country.

I hope to show some of the roundels on the planes soon. For the others I have to order some new planes to test them out .

Battle prep: The Battle of Three Roads

Recently I was searching for a follow-up on the Battle of Cinq Bras. I just searched for wargame scenarios in google, and stumbled upon the deepfriedhappymice website.

They do have a nice collection on Napoleonic wargame scenarios for Grande Armee. One of the scenarios is appealing, and hope I can convert it to the 2-by-2 wargame rules we are using. The Scenario is called The Battle of Three Roads, and is a hypothetical alternative history, were Napoleon did not attack Wellington at Waterloo, but started a maneuvering war threatening the supply line and the left flank. Trying to defeat the enemy in detail. (Original scenario)

It is not possible to use all the terrain rules and reinforcement rules as written, but the map and the forces are possible to use. I have colored the map, and made it square, to fit my purposes. And also added some towns, to complete the terrain.

For the forces, I have to look on what I have available. I do have some pontoon bridging models in my stack, so probably need to finish them quickly, as engineering platoon. For the rest I need to check the available forces, and find some way to create labels.

Hopefully we can play this scenario at the end of July.

Small scene from “Battle of Mont Saint-Jean or the Battle of Waterloo” colored litho by Antoine Charles Horace Vernet (called Carle Vernet)(1758 – 1836) and Jacques François Swebach (1769-1823)
(Source: Wikipedia)

Decals on order

For the different 1/600 air projects, I was in need for decals. I hope this enabled the finish of the planes, and take it to a little higher level. For most of the projects decals were readily available. But for the Ethiopian, Eritrean and Somali air forces, no suitable could be found. Luckily Dan from flight deck decals was willing to create these new ones, which are now available on his website.

I have ordered the following list. I hope they arrive soon. I have no experience with them yet. But hope to show the results when ready.

New decals:

  • 1/600 Ethiopia Imerpial Roundel
  • 1/600 Ethuipia DERG Roundel
  • 1/600 Ethiopia modern roundel
  • 1/600 Somali roundel
  • 1/600 Eritrean roundel

Existing ones:

  • 1/600 USAF Markings 50 /50
  • 1/600 USAAF & USN Post War White Star Red Bar 1947-1950s
  • 1/600 Soviet Red Stars White Red 1943 – 1992
  • 1/600 Spanish Spain Aviación Nacional Roundels
  • 1/600 Netherlands Modern Roundels
  • 1/600 Netherlands WWII Roundels
  • 1/600 German Balkan Cross Black, Thick White Band with Black Edges

So if you are in need of some 1/600 decals, plese check out his website, as he has many variants available, and when not, he is willing to create new ones.

https://www.flightdeckdecals2400.com/

Next step painting some planes in stock and use the decals. Probably working on the Dutch 1940 planes, which are already half way painting.

What are human rights in war?

Rules of war (in a nutshell) – Source: International Committee of the Red Cross

To look deeper into human rights in war, I have looked to the internationally general accepted rules. Please be aware that this is a quite modern creation, which was first negotiated after world war 2, and updated several times.

Protocol Additional to the Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949, and relating to the Protection of Victims of International Armed Conflicts (Protocol I), 8 June 1977.
Protection of the civilian population
Article 51 — Protection of the civilian population

1. The civilian population and individual civilians shall enjoy general protection against dangers arising from military operations. To give effect to this protection, the following rules, which are additional to other applicable rules of international law, shall be observed in all circumstances.

….

4. Indiscriminate attacks are prohibited. Indiscriminate attacks are:


(a) those which are not directed at a specific military objective;


5. Among others, the following types of attacks are to be considered as indiscriminate:

(a) an attack by bombardment by any methods or means which treats as a single military objective a number of clearly separated and distinct military objectives located in a city, town, village or other area containing a similar concentration of civilians or civilian objects; and

6. Attacks against the civilian population or civilians by way of reprisals are prohibited.

Some parts of article 51 of Protocol I, Convention of Geneva Source: ICRC

Looking at these rules, it is easy to find violations on these rules. Only looking at the world war 2 all sides did make use of these kind of attacks. Think on the Luftwaffe bombing on London, Rotterdam and other cities. But also widely used on allied side, bombing German cities and the American nuclear bombing of Nagasaki and Hiroshima.But even in modern times, it is still happening. Think about some Israeli attacks, US drone and anti terrorist attacks in the middle east. US shoot down of Iran civilian airplane in 1988 (Iran Air Flight 655). And before mentioned wars of Ethiopia.

In modern times these violations are often overlooked or other wise dismissed by the actors. Or research on these items otherwise blocked or hindered. A good example is the research on the downing of flight MH17 in Ukrainian. Were both sides blame each other, and Russia actively hindering the research and spreading a lot of disinformation. In my research I have read trough some international court cases of Eritrea and Ethiopia, on the Badme war. And it is quite difficult to determine what is actually a civilian or military target.

As example, there was a new Electricity plant in Eritrea. It was bombed by Ethiopia. Is this a tactical target and military objective as it powers the military air base? Or civilian as it is the power source for the whole city, and the civilian side of the air base? May the people suffer because the military have a base close by, and do have mobile power plants in case others are brought down. It was a very confusing case. In this case the power plant was considered military valuable, and therefore a legitimate target. But it did increase the suffering of the inhabitants of the city, and reduced the first aid capabilities to the city, because no civilian planes could land on the airfield anymore.

It has learned me a lot of new insights. War is always dirty, even if the good guy is fighting it. And people will suffer, both when it is a violation against human rights and when it officially is not. Next research case will be civilians in war games.