Collecting formations of aircraft

Your forum dedicated to 1/32nd and smaller plastic and metal figures and vehicles.
Post Reply
User avatar
aferguson
Lieutenant General - MOD
Lieutenant General - MOD
Posts: 13632
Joined: Tue Oct 05, 2004 8:08 am

Collecting formations of aircraft

Post by aferguson » Fri Sep 11, 2015 1:50 pm

I've become intrested in collecting groups of aircraft that would fly together in some type of formation. By 'formation' i mean a V of 3 Spitfires, or a Schwarm of 4 Bf-109s, all the Blue Angels etc.

Aside from the obvious increased expense and display space considerations, the other problem is finding planes that look like they belong together...ie have similar squadron markings but different from each other.

For the Blue Angels or Thunderbirds, it's fairly easy if one buys the HM models. They come with individual markings options so you can create all the planes. But if you want 3 spitfires flying in a V formation then it's not so easy. You would probably need to buy 3 of the same model then modify 2 with different individual squadron markings. Same for 109's, B-17's etc.

However, i think this could be a fun twist on collecting. I've already started doing this thanks to Corgi's inexpensive Flight line. They make a Red Arrows Hawk model that's not bad for $20. I purchased 5 off Amazon for a great deal and am going to set them up in a V formation. Maybe next year i'll get 4 more and have all 9 Red Arrows. The nice thing about the Red Arrows is that they don't have individual aircraft markings, they all look identical, except for the little serial number which, with my fuzzy old eyes, i'm not too worried about them all being the same.

Has anyone done anything like this? I'd be willing to bet some have got all the Blue Angels or Thunderbirds; has anyone collected other 'formations'?
i never met an airplane i didn't like...

The_Helicopter_Pilot
Officer - Major
Officer - Major
Posts: 974
Joined: Sat Sep 01, 2012 3:27 am
Location: Cordell, Oklahoma
Contact:

Re: Collecting formations of aircraft

Post by The_Helicopter_Pilot » Fri Sep 11, 2015 5:03 pm

I do something similar, I do heritage flight formations, such as my 1/144 scales, I put a B-52 with a B-17, and a B-25, F-4 with a P-51, and F-86, and C-17, with a C-47, also in the larger 1/18 scale, I got my sidewinders F-18 with a Bunker hill F4u, and an FMS Blue A-1 Skyrader..
A helicopter does not want to fly, it just vibrates so much that the ground rejects it

USCGMK2
Officer - 2nd Lieutenant
Officer - 2nd Lieutenant
Posts: 427
Joined: Fri May 11, 2012 6:53 pm
Location: Mississippi

Re: Collecting formations of aircraft

Post by USCGMK2 » Fri Sep 11, 2015 6:29 pm

I've done the 1/72 formation of aircraft from the Bunker Hill. I think someone posted pictures of the same set up here. But I have the HM Helldiver, Avenger, and Hellcat and then the Dragon Corsair all together.

tmanthegreat
Officer - Brigadier General
Officer - Brigadier General
Posts: 11237
Joined: Tue Oct 05, 2004 7:38 pm
Location: Central California

Re: Collecting formations of aircraft

Post by tmanthegreat » Fri Sep 11, 2015 9:00 pm

A company like Hobby Master tends to make lots of different repaints of the same aircraft type - for example the Spitfire Mk I/Mk II - so you could get a formation of Mk Is that all have different squadron codes. Problem is they are rarely from the same squadron...

I have my 1:72 and 1:48 grouped by era and theater. My 1:72 is mostly grouped in shelves concerning WWII in Europe, WWII in the Pacific, Korean War, Cold War/Vietnam, Modern, and Current jets. Also have a shelf exclusively for Cold War and modern RAF aircraft. My 1:48 covers pre-WWII (Interwar) aircraft; WWII in Europe; WWII in the Pacific; and the Korean war. Don't have any modern jets in 1:48 diecast just yet...
"If you fail to plan, you plan to fail."

Dauntless
Officer - Brigadier General
Officer - Brigadier General
Posts: 4107
Joined: Tue Jul 01, 2008 12:18 am
Location: Albuquerque

Re: Collecting formations of aircraft

Post by Dauntless » Sat Sep 12, 2015 7:44 am

When I can get them from the same squadron and the same time frame yeah. Closest I've gotten is the 610 Squadron Spitfire set of three from Corgi, after tracking them down individually. There's an HM 610 Beaufighter so that might work too.

You can find some from the same squadron sometimes, but like mentioned the HM Bunker Hill Helldiver, and Hellcat, they are dark blue from a slightly different time period as the Avenger which is tricolor. Though the yellow cowling ring was put on for the Tokyo raids, so maybe the Avenger is from the same time period, just not painted overall dark blue yet? There are more of the dark blue so not as hard to do, and you can add a Dragon or Corgi Corsair as mentioned.
Same with the Gunhurz or Green Hearts Dragon Warbirds. You can get a nice 109G, and a nice FW-190, but the Butcher Bird is winter camouflage, so sometimes thats the best I can do along with themes, or opponents. Like the Battle of Britain, or PTO which is my favorite.

Not much of a jet collector so no Thunderbirds or Blue Angel sets. HM seems to make a few matching pairs with the different jets they make. Seems easier to match up a few of them. Though the recent 19 Squadron set of three 1:48 Spits looks tempting if not expensive.

You can also match up a few of the Witty Wings Zeroes with the Skymax Vals from the same aircraft carrier. They are exactly the same color of (debatable) grey color and look nice together. The HM Kates require a little research and are mostly green regardless of the time frame.
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::>=}:
Good trader list: hworth18, Threetoughtrucks, mikeg, cjg746, jlspec

Coreyeagle48
Officer - Brigadier General
Officer - Brigadier General
Posts: 2070
Joined: Mon Oct 04, 2004 11:25 am
Location: Lehigh Valley, PA

Re: Collecting formations of aircraft

Post by Coreyeagle48 » Sat Sep 12, 2015 9:05 pm

Aferguson:

For the formation teams. You have it easy depending on your scale preferences.

Corgi produced a Red Arrows collector set some years ago as part of their showcase collection. It included all nine Red Arrows jets. It was released for the 40th display season. It came with special stands, cards for the pilots and a special cardboard display base you put together. It was a really nice set. The Red Arrows planes were about 1/160 scale I think. You can find this set in the on ebay uk if you look hard enough.

Italeri produced a 1/100 scale set of the Frecce Tricolori aircraft. You could get all 10 planes. They made Sabres, Fiats and the MB 339's. They were nicely detailed. The planes were available individually so you would have to hunt down the plane numbers. They are hard to find as Italian collectors and fans of the team bought these quick

Atlas produced a set of aircraft for the French display team. The planes attached to a cardboard display panel with the crest for the Patrouille De France on it. It was a nice set, the jets were 1/100 scale (Alpha jets)

Model Power made a team set of 1/100 Blue Angels F-18's in a boxed set many years ago. This is a really hard to find set today

Hogan made a Blue Angels and Thunderbirds team set in 1/200 scale a couple years ago.

Corey
Trade References

tmanthegreat
hworth18
raiderad6
Snake
USCGSARdog
ThreeToughTrucks
Jnewboy
The one and only "Razor"
Rowsdower
Pizzaguy
pickelhaube
vmf 214
popeye357
JOC
Jwcarpenter

Post Reply