Aircraft are an integral part of naval warfare from WW II on. Players have tried different ways to represent them on the playing board, using dice or counters or preferably, miniatures. The problem was that the miniatures available were not the best choice. 1/300 aircraft miniatures were available from several makers, but they looked real strange on a 1/2400 board. A few packs of 1/700 planes, designed to detail plastic ship kits, are available, but they don't cover the range of type we need. The best bet until recently were the 1/3000 planes available from Skytrex. They covered the important naval types, but the molding was poor to awful. At that scale, a P-3 and Il-38 may look similar, but I believe that on that scale a MiG-21 should look different from an F-4E! Additionally, the planes were molded to a metal base, and required some heavy carving to make it into a presentable mounting. Several miniatures manufacturers now make 1/2400 aircraft. Superior tried a few types, the F-14, S-3, and A-7, which did a lot to dress up their US carriers. GHQ has done many more, covering a full range of American and Japanese WW II types and modern US and Russian types. More are planned. One solution uses commonly available plastic or stiff wire. Many commercial plastics houses sell different sized clear plastic pieces. These include small flat discs or squares and rectangles and thin rod, as small as 1/32" diameter. Typical prices are 10 cents for a 1/2 inch disc or 15 cents for a rectangle 1/2 by 1 1/2 inches. If you wish, stiff wire can be used instead of plastic rod. First, decide how high you want to mount the miniatures. Low-altitude aircraft, like modern F-111s or WW II torpedo planes, can be mounted as low as 1/4 inch. Medium and high altitude aircraft can be mounted at increments of 1/4 or 1/2 inch, but should not be mounted over a few inches high (except maybe MiG-25s and SR-71s). Over that height they wobble a little, and are more vulnerable to a casual swipe of the hand. Next, decide how many planes to mount on each base. Only patrol and other specialist aircraft should be mounted singly. Modern fighters should be mounted in pairs. Fighters should be grouped in threes (early-war British and Japanese) or fours (most WW II fighters). Most bombers in both WW II and modern times should be mounted in threes. The guide is to mount them in the smallest tactical groupings, whether its called a flight, vic, cell, or division. The mounting is simple. Drill a hole in the clear plastic base, making sure that the drill is vertical, then glue the right-sized rod or wire in place. After the glue hardens, a drop on the other end of the rod lets you mount the miniature. If you are reluctant to use miniatures, use silhouettes transferred to clear acetate sheet. Depending on computer or xerography skills, these can be scanned or reduced and copied, providing an instant squadron. Thanks to Pat Hreachmack, Ed Kettler, and J. Sperling for their suggestions. BT Back to The Naval Sitrep #6 Table of Contents Back to Naval Sitrep List of Issues Back to MagWeb Master Magazine List © Copyright 1999 by Larry Bond and Clash of Arms. This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other military history articles and gaming articles are available at http://www.magweb.com