Desert Spitfires (and other assorted aircraft)

After taking an exhale from the mad dash of the Pendraken and Badger Games painting competition projects, I decided to paint something as a bit of a diversion. In my previous post, I mentioned that I had recently read Angels in the Sky about the formation of the Israeli Air Force in the 1948 war. I decided to paint up the various aircraft I plan to game the war with. On this cold, windy Sunday I hastily snapped some photos of my aircraft. I apologize in advance for the less than stellar light quality and photos. 

First up are some Egyptian Macchi MC.202 fighters. I'm not sure if the roundels are the proper way but they are pretty small at this scale (1/600).

Here are some Israeli Avia S-199 "Mules" which are a Czech copy (and poor one at that) of the Me-109. 

The Israelis picked up some T-6 Texans and used them as dive bombers fairly effectively. I couldn't find any images of what color scheme they had in 1948 so I opted for a variant of a 1956 scheme. I might brighten the red cowlings up a bit. 

Egyptian Spitfires, I used a few different variants. I used Vallejo khaki and shield brown for the camo scheme. 

Some Israeli Spitfires, different variants and different camo schemes. Green/brown on the left and grey/green on the right. For identification and uniformity purposes I gave the Israeli aircraft red noses or cowlings and the Egyptian aircraft have white noses and identification stripes. 

Here we have an Israeli C-47 getting ready to bomb a village. The village is from Irregular Miniatures, I have a few more that I will paint up as bombing targets.

A rather dramatic posed shot of an Egyptian MC.202 on the tail of the C-47 as it approaches the village for a bombing run.

Here's an Egyptian C-47 in a natural metal finish. I should add that the bases are Litko 30mm squares and there are Pendraken dice frames on the rear of the bases. The Wings at War from Tumbling Dice rules require you to keep track of your aircraft's energy rating and altitude. I plan to do this with mini dice placed in the trays. 

A Texan on a bombing run with an Egyptian Spitfire chasing. 

Another (unfocused) image of the Egyptian Spitfires showing the difference in wing shape and color scheme. The decals are from Flight Deck Decals.

I have more of these models and will most likely add a few more aircraft for this project. Need to paint a few more bombing targets: another village or two, perhaps some troop concentrations, etc.