Somewhere over Bomb Alley - 1:600 Argentine Mirages

After quite a hiatus, my 1:600 Falklands War aircraft are slowly making their way off the painting table. Today I offer a few pictures of my recently completed Tumbling Dice Mirage 5 'Dagger' of the Argentine Air Force. (to be honest, it's been long enough I don't recall which model of Mirage I purchased!).

Carrying extra fuel tanks, these pilots made the long trek from airfields on the Argentine mainland to the Falklands to engage the British Harriers over San Carlos Waters (Bomb Alley). With no capacity for aerial refueling, the Argentine pilots only had five minutes over the target in their before they had to turn for home and refuel.

And yes, I've taken the foolhardy step of not waiting for decals and painting the roundels and other markings by hand (yep, I'm 'cheap' and impatient!). Happy enough with the result although photography accentuates the failings! ;)

At this stage I plan to use AirWar: C21 rules by Wessex games

Harriers and Avro Vulcan nearly done. More picture soon.

The Three Headed Dog: HMVS Cerberus scratchbuild in 1:600

 The wreck of the breastwork monitor HMVS Cerberus sits in Half Moon Bay, Melbourne, Australia, where she was sunk in 1926 as a breakwater. She sits there, decaying away, despite valiant efforts to preserve what is one of the last of the monitors. See: http://www.cerberus.com.au

Since reading an interesting account of the birth of the Victorian Navy (eg. of the Colony of Victoria ... not the era) by Wilson P Evans - "Deeds Not Words: The Victorian Navy", The Hawthorn Press, Melbourne 1971 - I've longed to have a scale model I could do some "what if" naval gaming with.

Why buy, when you can build, I say! Here is the first steps towards bring the Three Headed Dog back to life again - if only on the gaming table. The scale is 1:600.

With the basic turret roof in place, the pile of PVC begins to reflect the Three Headed Dog!

Interior of the aft turret awaiting the gun ports to be cut and the main guns fitted.

Gun ports cut and barrels fitted.

With the upper deck sitting in place, it's not looking right - too thick? Maybe it'll improve when the superstructure, mast and ship's boats are in place.

Well, the Flying Deck did improve visually when I cut it to the correct width (original was 20 feet wide). Then I've added the mast, fighting top, funnel and rear access to gangway.