Mercenary Air Force

I have become addicted to painting my 1/600 Tumbling dice planes and I may get more, having powered my way through most of the models.  Having abandoned attempts at subtle fine detail in favour of the most colourful historical paint schemes I can find, I am enjoying myself at last. 

I chose 1960s-70s aircraft as this seems to be the 'boom' period of modern jet combat. (I discount Suez and Korea as they were primarily WW2-with-jets; radar and missiles had yet to change things a lot)

*6 Day War
*Vietnam
*Yom Kippur War
*Indo-Pakistan conflicts
*Lebanon

 

All my planes are common, widely exported, and participated in one or several of the above wars.   Pictured are ANG F-104s, F-100s and late model F-86s.  Indian Folland Gnats, RAAF Mirage IIIs, Vietnamese MiG-17s, Czech MiG-19s, and a generic MiG-21. 

Although I gave my planes historical paint schemes, they are random in era and locale; I am not gaming a specific conflict.Instead, pilots are battling within the Riftworld.  In 1967, a series of anomolies appeared in the sky over the poles. 

Here is a picture of a rift above Alaska.

Reconaissance aircraft investigating these phenomena discovered them to be wormholes.  All the wormholes lead to a new planet - an uninhabited world, with identical flora and fauna to our own, including many now-extinct species. 

Spearheaded by USSR and the United States, there was a rush to settle the new planet.  Fleets of transport aircraft flew colonies throught the rifts to establish a foothold on the new world. 

The new planet 'Riftworld' - has many rifts, each leading to new earthlike planets. As sovreignty claims drag through the courts, powerful corporations amd government-backed organisations scramble to stake their claims, and make valuable discoveries.  Mercenary fleets of airships, helicopters, transport aircraft are common.Military surplus jets such as MiGs and Mirages are constantly in action as corporations violently enforce their claims...