It’s not just Necromunda that’s a fun spin-off game, another
one I enjoy is Aeronautica Imperialis, I started this little squadron project a
fair while ago now, but I am going to post it up on my blog to keep things
varied and as a reminder for something for me to get to! I posted this up at
Warseer, Dakka Dakka and the friendly Airspace community (sadly quiet these days) sites originally so will be copying my text into here from my old logs there!
An Imperial Navy fighter group from the planet of Kurfürst. Jagdgruppe (Hunter Group) 319 comprises 3 Jagdstaffeln (Hunter Squadrons), Jasta 80 a Thunderbolt Squadron, Jasta 1715 a Mixed Squadron of Lightnings and Thunderbolts and and Jasta 488/L a Lightning Squadron. It is quite common for Kurfürst fighter squadrons to be deployed in mixed groups of fighters, meaning they can provide the full range of aerial operations.
The planet is a temperate Imperial World, with a rotation and solar influence not unlike Holy Terra. Kurfürst features a good variety of terrains, tending towards deserts and tropical rainforests in the equatorial zone and a range of temperate plains and the expansive Ironwood forests. Somewhat lacking in natural refinable resources he main tithe and export of the world is Imperial Guard soldiers, this is complemented by a Naval base from which the Jagdgruppen are drawn. Although it has manufactorum capabilities Kurfürst's limited resources means that production goes wholly to supplying it's own Guard and Naval regiments and is unable to provide export to other Imperial Worlds.
It is widely believed, although unsubstantiated, that Kurfürst is belongs to a sector settled by the same colonists which settled the Imperial World Krieg. Several nuances of language and traditions are shared amongst a number of planets within Segmentum Tempestus. Despite this shared heritage Kurfürst never suffered the same atomic scourging that Krieg did. The men and women of the planet are as a result much less dour and fatalistic in their outlook.
Jagdgruppen 319 is an experienced combat unit. It features half a dozen notable aces amongst its ranks and the usual mix of experienced veterans and newer pilots. It's pilots are fond of displaying personal iconography and markings alongside the Squadron markings on their fighters, and this practice is encouraged by the Commanding Officers of the regiment for morale and 'esprit de corps'
The 319th Wing's flash displays the Imperial Saint Kára in her guise as the Huntress (a popular symbol amongst the Fighter Corps of the planet) wearing archaic armour and carrying a traditional hunting spear, her helmet is one is shown in the traditional Kurfürst style still worn by Infantry Regiments of the Guard and PDF. Unusually (especially for a fighter squadron) Saint Kára is not depicted in this badge with wings.
Onto the little planes!
To start off with I cleaned then assembled the little buggers, before I had a scheme in mind i sprayed them black instinctively. Then when I decided on light grey as a scheme I airbrushed them... and the result is... 
A finish nearly identical to the Resin colour! Oh dear. Never-mind it's just the start. The mad sticky-taping begins for the next possibly too complicated for me stage!
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| It's what I was going for apparently. |
I had two intro games of AI and it was enough to convince me to splurge on this project and buy me up some aeroplanes. I love military aviation and history combine that with my 40k fandom and it was a perfect nerdstorm.
I have made an attempt at a lozenge like scheme. With the same colours and using a neat floor mesh thing as a template. I initially attempted to replicate the lozenge scheme by cutting out a template of an actual pattern, but the results were unsatisfactory. This way I've done it now gives a fairly good 'impression' of it whilst remaining feasible to my sanity.
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| Here is the WIP of the aeroplanes. |
The late war Pfalz with it's Silber-grau paint scheme and it's Lozenge fabric wing are the inspiration for the base colours of my Jastas.
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| Rise of Flight, an awesome WW1 Flight Sim (and Free to play!) |
And here is the final result of the lozenge pattern. Now onto the hand paintbrush for the rest.
Then below it is fully painted up. I was a bit dubious about the camo on the wings at first but it really turned out pretty well. It was fun to paint all the little details. The decals are from the Imperial Guard kit.
Vizefeldwebel Ludwig Gaim
Ludwig Gaim is an experienced pilot in the squadron having previously served as a bombardier on a Marauder squadron. After gaining experience during the Supression of Mordox VII, Gaim applied for single seaters and upon completion of his training course was transferred to Jasta 80.
A steady and cautious pilot VzFw Gain has slowly been achieving kiills without reckless flying. His total now stands at 4, making him one away from Acedom.
His Fighter displays the Lozenge pattern camoflauge evident amongst all the Jagdstaffel's fighters, as well as the Jasta 80 markings of a Yellow horizontal stabilizer and elevators with black vertical stripes. His personal markings of 3 horizontal red stripes have been added to the nose of his Thunderbolt.
