Armaments in Miniature (AIM) - a short review

David Schmid has been producing some of the finest 15mm and 20mm resin aircraft I've seen for a few years.

I really didn't have much interest in 15mm aircraft, until I started playing Flames of War. In FoW play, there are short, but effective rules for using aircraft.

Initially many of us just bought the "15mm" diecast planes, pre-painted - at $9.99 per vehicle. Pick up three planes, and you're ready to attack. The scale for these die-cast models are often wrong, and it looks a bit odd on the table with true 15mm figures and vehicle models.

Then last year at Historicon, I stopped by the AIM stall in the dealer hall. I spotted German gliders in true 15mm, and they were incredible!

I looked long and hard at all of Davids products, and I have to say they are some of the most beautiful and accurate I've ever seen. A nice touch is that they are all in true 1/100th scale (15mm) unlike the pre-painted diecast planes, which range from 1/87th scale to 1/110th scale.

The aircraft come in a small plastic bag with a stapled paper/light cardboard top. Inside are all the "bits" you need to build the model, and some great instructions. The models are molded from very clean molds, and require very little prep work as far as cleaning goes.

David also now sells scale decals!

I painted my gliders up and was ready to slap them on the table - until I found out that you need three gliders per platoon! I had only purchased two. My friend Bill picked up another one for me from Cold Wars this year, so I can now land a full platoon properly. Just three more gliders and my FallschirmjagerKompanie will be able to air assault just like the book says!

Another thing that David produces, which is absolutely brilliant, is the Terrain Clearing Stand. You can take either your resin aircraft or your diecast models and have them posed in attack posture for a more realistic display. This can be very useful to a Wargamer in plotting line of attack - which can directly affect an opponents attempt at firing anti-aircraft during your attack phase!

One issue that a person should be aware of with the Terrain Clearing Stand is that sometimes you have to tighten the screws on it, if you are using it with diecast aircraft, as they are heavier and tend to want to spin now and again. As always, read the manufacturers instructions and save yourself some heartache.

You will see David at the Conventions, if you don't attend any of the Cons, you can always pop in to AIM on the WWWeb and buy some of these beautiful models online. Got PayPal?

NEW!!! David has sent me a list of his new releases for next month! Have a look at these treats!!

The DFS-230B-1 with suppression machine guns and gunner, Hurricane IIC with 4 x 20mm guns, Hurricane IID with 2 x 40mm guns, A-36A Apache dive bomber, P-51A fighter/fighter bomber and a Japanese Army Ki-51 Sonia ground attack aircraft. In addition David sells proper scale decals for the DFS-230B-1 and Ki-51 Sonia. Next month he will be getting decals for the other models. More as I get the info!