I've been looking to purty my game up, and I think the way to do it is minis. Has anybody else done this, and what are you using?
It looks like the way to go is 1/1200 scale. Magister Militum has the CAP Aero and 617 Squadron lines, and it has the vast majority of the planes that come with the base game. They don't have some of the more exotic craft like the Chengdu J-10 or the Tejas or the Thunder, but it's the only scale where I can find the F-22 and F-35. Plus they're tiny and relatively inexpensive.
I saw all of the Soviet planes except the Foxhound, and all of the American planes. Only other missing planes are the Rafale, the Viggen, and the Mirage 2000.
There appear to be a few US sellers of the CAP Aero planes, but they don't have nearly the stock as Magister.
Using Minis as Plane Counters
Hi, I had the same idea as you and went for the same minis too.
I've just got my delivery of the 1/1200 planes and even got some 1/600 tanks, guns and SAM and 1/6000 ships as targets.
I like them very much and have been using them for other games. The aircraft are a little too small. The main difficulty is basing them, there's no easy way to pin these minis unless you just glue them on to the base but I was going for the flying look. DON'T sneeze.
Alternate scale I've considered were 1/600 (tumbling dice) and 1/700 (trumpeter and pit-road) there's a decent range but I've not seen any Mig-21 or early, the only european aircraft I think is the Eurofighter. 1/700 are very detailed.
As for 1/600 they are great as you can do a squadron paint scheme, nose/tail art and weapon loads but to buy enough aircraft of all types (4+) would need significant storage space (which I'm very short on). Conversions/scratch build can also be done pretty easily to get the rarer aircrafts, but the range is the smallest. Very nice A-10 and F-16 by Oddzial Osmy.
Out of the three scales I liked 1/700 most but the very limited range does hurt.
I've just got my delivery of the 1/1200 planes and even got some 1/600 tanks, guns and SAM and 1/6000 ships as targets.
I like them very much and have been using them for other games. The aircraft are a little too small. The main difficulty is basing them, there's no easy way to pin these minis unless you just glue them on to the base but I was going for the flying look. DON'T sneeze.
Alternate scale I've considered were 1/600 (tumbling dice) and 1/700 (trumpeter and pit-road) there's a decent range but I've not seen any Mig-21 or early, the only european aircraft I think is the Eurofighter. 1/700 are very detailed.
As for 1/600 they are great as you can do a squadron paint scheme, nose/tail art and weapon loads but to buy enough aircraft of all types (4+) would need significant storage space (which I'm very short on). Conversions/scratch build can also be done pretty easily to get the rarer aircrafts, but the range is the smallest. Very nice A-10 and F-16 by Oddzial Osmy.
Out of the three scales I liked 1/700 most but the very limited range does hurt.
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mwaschak
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This is going to sound odd but when I was testing I just got out some old Micro Machines and Ertl style metal miniatures. Recently I had the itch to paint a custom scheme for my squadron and was trying the NavWar line but am having trouble finding all the planes I need in one scale. It seems the people who make the MiG-21 don't usually make the Eurofighter. I would prefer the smaller scale since I can get more planes for the money.
So thank you for the recommendations as well. I will see if any of these others fit the bill for me. I have also noticed that there seem to be a great variety of WWII fighters in one scale though so I am optimistic I can complete a MAS: MTO squadron next.
So thank you for the recommendations as well. I will see if any of these others fit the bill for me. I have also noticed that there seem to be a great variety of WWII fighters in one scale though so I am optimistic I can complete a MAS: MTO squadron next.