Blue Max, Red Baron

After watching the classic “The Blue Max” movie – which I can only recommend if you haven’t seen it yet – two things became obvious: I had to add an ace pilot to the German starfighter squadron that I had painted earlier this year and this fighter had to be red, just like the Red Baron’s fighter.

The stout design of Brigade’s Galland Attack Fighter, which somehow reminds me of the fighters of The Great War and its characteristics, made it the obvious choice for this role.

I planned to paint the fighter red, using white and black as spot colours and bronze for the metallic parts. But there was one thing I couldn’t decide: should I paint white stripes on the wings (the rest of the squadron have grey wings with red stripes), or paint the whole fighter red but use white numbers (instead of the black ones that the rest of the fighters have). Luckily, I had two spare fighters, so I could try both options.

These fighters need no assembly, so I started painting them right after cleaning:

• I didn’t want the colour scheme to be too dark, so I used a white basecoat.
• I painted the fighters with Mechrite Red but kept the stabilizers white, and on one of the fighters I used masking tape to cover the areas that would be the white stripes.
• Once the paint dried, I drybrushed the red areas with Ruby Red (Coat d’Arms 145) and repeated this step 2-3 times.
• I painted the canopies Macarage Blue, a panel on the noses black, and the weapons and the engine nozzles bronze (Vallejo 70.998)
• Washes: there was plenty of definition, so I decided that only the bronze parts needed a bit of Agrax Earthshade. Once it was dry, I highlighted them with Vallejo bronze.
• On the canopies, I used Teclis Blue, Temple Guard Blue and white to paint light streaks and I used the side of the brush to paint their frames red.
• All the white areas got a thin layer of Apothecary White contrast paint and a bit of white drybrushing.
• I applied the decals: Brigade’s black vehicle numbers on the white stripes and white ones on the fully red fighter. The crosses are from The Plastic Soldier Company.
• Varnishing: a layer of Citadel Gloss Varnish – except for the bronze parts – and one day later a layer of Vallejo Matt Varnish (70.520) to have a nice and even matte finish. I covered the metallic bits with Vallejo Metallic Varnish (77.657).
• As a finishing touch, the canopies got a layer of gloss coat to give them a more glassy look.

It was a quick and enjoyable painting session and in the end, I had two aces instead of one. I think I prefer the one with the white stripes, because its scheme looks more dynamic, but I’m happy with the red one too.

I followed the same approach for the stands like I did for the rest of the squadron: 3mm holes in the fuselages with the transparent caps of TT Combat’s Widgets pack that can fit tightly on the top of the standard black stands.

Now that the German starfighter squadron is complete, all they need is a proper game of Squadron Commander, where I can put them to good use.