2017 Group Build Possibility: Africa A-2-Z?v

[Roland Pulfrew]

Burundi, Congo, Djibouti, Eritrea etc, etc.

Now that we are voting for next year's GBs I thought it might be time to start canvassing for an option for 2017. Too early???

Anyway does anyone fancy an African GB? Could be aircraft only, or all military, or aircraft civil & military. Personally I would go for military aircraft but wouldn't be averse to any of the options as long as we got enough interested people and got through the vote. There are lots of great colour schemes, aircraft types, eras that could be covered. It would be great if we could get one model from every country on the continent. According to Wiki there are between 54 and 57 recognised countries that we could do.

I'd be happy to host if we were successful, but also happy to co-host if anyone else would like to join in. Anyone else interested?

OK, a bit of interest, so I'll start a list of names:

1. Me - obviously.

2. Mish (were you in or just commenting that it might be a good GB?).

3. CliffB

4. Knight Flyer - Burkina Faso Air Force

5. mlusiak

6. Pauly Boy

7. Rob G - an unnamed, unfinished Tucano

8. Modelling minion - Gabon Air Force

9. Georgio N

10. trickyrich

11. Smudge - Ghana Air Force(?)

12.

[AnonymousDFB1]

Sounds like a good idea, to me to keep it as open as possible can we say all aircraft military and civilian.

[CliffB]

Yebo!

Probably something civil from me.

Cliff

[Knight_Flyer]

Has my support too, a challenge for me to find the most unusual set of markings. Would be tempted to keep it absolutely open to cover AFV, cars and ships as well to give people the opportunity to build those if they want. Who knows, someone might enter a Mercedes 600 limo used as an army staff car or is that brass car.

[mlusiak]

Sounds interesting to me too. Lots of small air forces with various aircrafts, local conflicts, badly maintained highly weathered planes. I'm in!

[Roland Pulfrew]

Just to get people thinking this is the list of available countries:

Algeria

Angola

Benin

Botswana

Burkina Faso - Air Force - Knight Flyer

Burundi

Cabo Verde

Cameroon

Central African Republic

Chad

Comoros

Congo, Republic of the

Congo, Democratic Republic of the

Cote d'Ivoire

Djibouti

Egypt

Equatorial Guinea

Eritrea

Ethiopia

Gabon - Air Force - Modelling Minion.

Gambia

Ghana - Air Force(?) - Smudge

Guinea

Guinea-Bissau

Kenya

Lesotho

Liberia

Libya

Madagascar

Malawi

Mali

Mauritania

Mauritius

Morocco

Mozambique

Namibia

Niger

Nigeria

Rwanda

Sao Tome and Principe

Senegal

Seychelles

Sierra Leone

Somalia

South Africa - Air Force - trickyrich

South Sudan

Sudan

Swaziland

Tanzania

Togo

Tunisia

Uganda

Zambia

Zimbabwe

Biafra

Katanga

Libya Rebel Air Force

?

?

As I did Kenya and Uganda in the Lesser Built Air Forces GB I think I would bid for somewhere else (now what did I do with the rest of those African Migs decals?)!

[Knight_Flyer]

I like the sound of Burkina Faso even though I've never heard of the country. Quick search on the internet and - AZ have done a Shenyang F.5 kit in Burkina Faso Air Force markings. I was quite impressed by that.

[Pauly Boy]

I like it! Lot's of different conflicts and aircraft to choose from.

Could Katanga or Biafra or the early Congo be included?? I'd be in.

[Rob G]

1st question. Will it be the same as the Lesser Built AF GB, where there was only one entry for each country, or will multiple builds from each country be allowed?

2nd question. Can I do another Super Tucano if I promise to not finish this one either?

Either way, count me in!

[modelling minion]

Oooh yes please!

Gabonese Skyraider without a shadow of doubt!

Craig.

[Roland Pulfrew]

Damn! Tricky questions already!! To be honest I hadn't actually thought about rules, but how about this for a start?

Aim: Would be to build models from as many different African nations as the GB can achieve; ideally with one model from each nation.

Model can represent aircraft from a countries army, navy, air force or a national airline.

Once a force/airline has been chosen it is out of play ie as Knight Flyer has chosen Burkina Faso Air Force no-one else can chose BFAF, but a model of a BF naval, army or airline aircraft would still be OK.

New or old countries would be acceptable and any era so Belgian Congo would be fine, as would the Democratic Republic of Congo and Zaire, with models allowed from any or all of those nations/eras.

Not sure how to treat separatist states ie Biafra though, any thoughts?

If anyone wants to do a military vehicle or ship that would be OK (although I think we should focus on aircraft).

Any other thoughts/suggestions?

[Pauly Boy]

Any more thought on this subject??

Seems quite interesting as these venue's seem to be enjoyed by quite a number of modellers. Africa...always mysterious!

Cheers Paul

[Giorgio N]

I'm sure interested in such a GB, please add my name !

Regarding ideas, personally I'm fine with each modeller choosing a country and I love to see as many different markings as possible. At the same time I'm fully aware that this may not be so simple because while there are many potential countries, decals for the armed forces of some of these are not exactly easily available.

Separatist states: these have been fairly prominent in the post WW2 history of the continent, it would be a pity to leave these out. How they can be dealt with I have no idea, if the "one modeller one country" rule is relaxed then it would be easy, otherwise they would have to be included in the list. Easy enough for Katanga and Biafra, but what about today's Lybia, where 2 different governments exist, each with their armed forces ?

[Pauly Boy]

I don't believe we should worry about where someone is going to find their decals or information on a certain subject. If a country/model is chosen then i would assume that person has a "game plan" for it. As with another GB idea, something to do with "small/bush wars", with all details being finessed to death the build never takes off.

Pick a country, pick a subject and move forward. Each individual can take care of their own "game plan".

Cheers Paul

[Giorgio N]

I don't believe we should worry about where someone is going to find their decals or information on a certain subject. If a country/model is chosen then i would assume that person has a "game plan" for it. As with another GB idea, something to do with "small/bush wars", with all details being finessed to death the build never takes off.

Pick a country, pick a subject and move forward. Each individual can take care of their own "game plan".

Cheers Paul

The risk is however that once the most popular 3-4 countries are taken (and judging from the experience with similar proposals they'll be going fast), modellers who may be interested in taking part will not because they wouldn't know where to find decals for a suitable subject. Not a problem for me, I have my printer, some decal paper and some experience, but it's something to keep in mind.

[trickyrich]

Count me in for this one, sounds great!!!

It'll either be an SAAF beast or one of the very colourful African Su-25's not sure what country yet.

More than happy to help Co-Host if needed!

[Roland Pulfrew]

Well it all went quiet, but as there are a few more interested parties may I suggest the following:

- Aviation related subjects

- Ideal would be one aircraft from every air arm/airline in Africa; from any era.

- Aim would be No duplication of air arms so if SAAF is gone then anyone else wanting S. Africa would ideally choose Navy, Army or Airline.

- Overriding aim would be GB members, so duplication would be accepted as a last resort.

- Breakaway states "air arms" ie Biafra acceptable as long as documentary evidence of existence exists.

- What-ifs are out.

trickyrich - assuming we make it to the calendar the offer of co-host gratefully accepted.

[Rob G]

There's a myriad of decal options available for all sorts of places, so I'm sure that anyone who really wants to can find what they want, or do some old fashioned modelmaking and (gasp) mask and paint national markings.

For the question about separatist states, simply list them as Libya (Govt) and Libya (Rebel), using whatever indicative is the best summary of the political situation. Or use the full name of the party involved if that's more appropriate.

I take it that we'll be limited to forces operated by actual African nations, not those from outside who had interests there, so nothing from the colonial powers?

[Smudge]

I would be interested in this. Please add me to the list.

I have an Eduard 1/72 L-39 Albatross, Can't remember exactly what decals are in it but I think Ghana and Nigeria?

I'd be in with Ghana, at least.

Cheers.

[Roland Pulfrew]

For the question about separatist states, simply list them as Libya (Govt) and Libya (Rebel), using whatever indicative is the best summary of the political situation.

I take it that we'll be limited to forces operated by actual African nations, not those from outside who had interests there, so nothing from the colonial powers?

Happy with that. I can only think of Katanga, Biafra, Libya Rebel and I guess Soth Sudan (although they are now an independent state). Did UNITA in Angola have any air assets?

Colonial powers, I would suggest should be definitely out, African nations and African separist states only.

[trickyrich]

I think the easiest way to assess eligibility is as long as you can provide a photo of the beast you want to build in the correct markings of an African country then it will be fine!