Sky Pirates Teaser

I got a shipment of planes in from Internet Hobbies today. Four SPAD 13 C.1s, Four Albatros D IIIs, and a Curtiss Jenny all in 1/48th scale which is the closest common scale for 28mm minis. I intend to use these planes for a pulp campaign I've been working on called Sky Pirates which will run from WWI through WWII and perhaps a bit beyond. It took the models about a week to arrive after I placed the order which is a pretty good turn around.

The SPAD 13 C.1s are Testors models. They cost only $6.37 each and they are very simple kits. Both of the factors make them excellent options for wargame models. Complicated models are harder to put together and tend to be more fragile due to many small parts. Since these are going to be handled a lot their simple construction should be a major asset. Also the SPADs will be player character planes and I hope my various players will try their hand at building and painting their own aircraft. I purchased four of these planes to serve as models for ground action or low flying action during my games. I will be using 1/144 scale planes for higher altitude combat.

One odd thing about the SPADs is the size of the pilot model. The planes are suppose to be 1/48th scale and they do seem to be but the pilot figure is very under scale. I'd say closer to 1/72 scale. 1/48th figures are usually taller than 28mm figures and as you can see here these ones are not. I will likely be using some head a shoulder pilot minis from Copplestone Casting instead of the kits stock pilot figure.

The Albatros DIIIs are from Glencoe Models. They cost $8.68 and the kits are somewhat more complicated than the Testors SPADs. I got four of these kits and I may get more if they go together well. These planes will be used by Graf Manfred Orlok and his squadron who have an uncanny ability as night fliers.

The Curtiss Jenny is a Lindberg kit. It cost $10.20 and it's definitely the most complicated of all the kits. This kit will be part of the Sky Pirates squadron and it will be used as a trainer and observation plane. I'm not looking forward to doing all the rigging but I don't think the plane will look quite the same without it. This plane in particular will be used mostly as a scenic piece so hopefully it won't get handled quite as roughly as the other planes.

The Jenny model crew and pilots seem to also be a bit on the small side for 1/48th scale but not nearly so much as the SPAD pilots. I think I may use these crew and pilot figures.

Well hopefully I'll get started on these models soon. Ideally I would like to start my Sky Pirates campaign right at the start of WWI. These planes of course are not suitable for that. They are more mid war planes but the campaign will be broke down into several mini campaigns with different aircraft and theaters of operation. I'm not having an easy time finding early war plastic plane kits so I may resort to trying to find paper models instead. If I can't I'll be starting the campaign mid war using these models instead. Either way these models will get used either in the first of second phase of the campaign.