Thank you GMorrison, Gamera and TheMongoose for you comments. CapnMac; I hope that tinnitus clears up.

Great dio TigerII. When you can bring back those kind of memories for people with how you portray a model you're doing a stupendous job 

GMorrison

it's a wonder any of you can still hear.

Huh?  Speak up!

Not the hearing loss so much as the tinnitus--which has better and worse days.

Oh that's lookin' good!!! 

Thank you all for your service and it's a wonder any of you can still hear.

A good friend of mine was a commander of a Marine Battery of 105s in 1965-1966 up near the DMZ. He'll get a kick out of this thread.

Reading how much DRUMS01 enjoyed my diorama, I had to take some more pics with a suitable "Vietnam Jungle" background. So here they are. Enjoy.

Hey Drums; thank you for the kind words on the diorama. I appreciate it very much. I was a Forward Observer, although I was in the Marine Corps. A graduate of the Fort Sill FO course. I never had the pleasure of being with the 8" SP guns and spent my time in the Corps with the 105's, which I loved for their accuracy too. But I was also there when we had the sateens, steel pot, .45, jeeps, C rations etc. To this day, I can still call in all 3 fire missions for arty. Whether shooting HE, VT, WP or even Illumination at night, it was exhilirating. Later as an NCO I became my battery's FSCC NCOIC and received two Meritorious Masts (Commendations) for my work and a promotion to Sgt. I am extremely happy that my diorama was able to take you back to that time. I hope I did it justice. Thank you again.

All of which is far different from being on the Operations side and designing the pre-designated fires, which were meant to be coordinated into the lareger OpPlan (area denial; counter-attacks, screening, etc.)

All of which had to be double checked with the FO to make sure there were no terrain issues for the planned fires, the redlegs then had to decide how to achieve those fires.  Which then meant making sure to coordinate the logistics for the arty.  These fires were then communicated to the units going ashore for their use.

Not near as glamorous as making the loud booms.

DRUMS01

everything you said about the FIST team is spot on; is that what you did?

Partly, I did 23 1/2 years active duty as a Field Artillery officer.  I held all sorts of jobs; from CO and Bn FSO to Bn XO and Army Staff at the Pentagon.  Co and Bn FSO were the most fun though.  I always loved being up on the hill blowing sh!t up.

HeavyArty, you are correct on both counts, I was indeed a redleg 13E (FDC), and everything you said about the FIST team is spot on; is that what you did?. My least favorite missions were sending smoke down range (nothing got destroyed), instead the smoke round was to obscure an area for offensive or defensive movement by the forward elements on the ground. I was fortunate enough to have a great FDO and Battery Commander as they let me go with the forward observers up on the hill a couple times to watch them perform and see the steel hit targets. 

Some of my most vivid memories were participating in night fires using the illumination round to light the sky while another HE/PD round for adjustment on the target. Or watching the impacts of an ICM rounds bomblets, or seeing "Willie Peat" rounds (white phospherous) burn everything it touched. I remember calculating a "zone and sweep" mission as part of a batallion fire mission which saturated a grid square in hundred meter increments. Calculating the firing data and shooting simulated nuclear rounds. This is a totally different process compared to a standard munition. I also remember the challenge of receiving fire missions from American, British, French, and German units (in thier language). And last but definately not least, watching an M110 gun battery dropping thier gun tubes to the deck and firing a "bee hive" round into a tree line to clear a firing point. The sound and devestation of those thousands of steel fleshetts (like mini darts) cutting down and splintering the trees was amazing. That was the only time I've ever seen one of those rounds (ever).

1/29th FA (M109 unit), 2/83 FA (M110), and 3rd Sqdn 3rd ACR (M109). I remember being schooled in the art of manual calculation of all firing data at Fort Sill, OK. Then as technology grew I can remember the automation of determining firing solutions using FADAC (the first FDC computer), a TI-59 calculator with a special firing chip, TACFIRE, on and on. I also remember going from open air voice missions, to encrypted voice, to full secure digital communication missions. 

When  I went into the Army, the primary uniform was still the pickle suit (solid green) and they still had kakhi's. There were steel pots, Colt 45's, jeeps, C-Rations, M60 tanks, and so on. By the time I got out it it was kevlar helmets, Beretta 9mm's, Hummers, MRE's, M1 Abrams, etc. No more pickle suits, kakhis, soft caps changed to berets, cochran / black boots, mess kits, BDU's, almost everyting changed from the early 70's to the late 80's. 

TIGERII, and HEAVYARTY: Thanks for allowing me to digress. My sincere apologies to the build string.

This is a wonderful build which definately brings back memories to me (as you can tell). 

Display this one proudly as you did well to make a good model into a great one!

Ben

"Zero Mils, Steel on Target"

Sounds like you were a RedLeg.  Another RedLeg here is most welcomed.

DRUMS01

the Forward Observer (FO later renamed FIST)

The FO didn't become the FIST (Fires Integration Support Team), he is part of the FIST in Light and Mech Infantry companies. 

In a Mech Infantry company, the FIST consists of 10 Soldiers; the FSO (Fire Support Officer - an LT), a FS SSG,  a FS SPC to run the radios, PFC driver for the  FIST-V/BFIST (either M981 or now (since early 2000s) the M7 BFIST), and 3 FO teams (1 per PLT).  The FO team consists of a FS SGT and a SPC/PFC. 

In a Light Infantry company, it has the same 10 guys, but no M981 FIST-V/BFIST; they all hump.

In Armor companies, the FIST is just the 4 guys in the FIST-V/BFIST.  There are no FOs at the PLT level.

This is a nice diorama that brings back some memories.

A Fire Mission would begin when the Forward Observer (FO later renamed FIST) would call into the Fire Direction Center (FDC) by radio. It would occur something like this... Tango 43 this is Foxtrot 68, Adjust Fire, BMPs with dismounted infantry in the open, Grid 43925744, request Battery 2 Rounds ICM". Then the FDC would manually send a challenge which the FO would then authenticate the message with matching CEOI's as they did not have encrypted digital messaging back then. As the FDC RTO received this call, the chart operator would simultaneously plot the targets grid location and send the range and deflection off the RDP to the person calculating the firing solution. The FDC uses the range and direction along with the ballistic and barametric corrections to calculate the deflection (direction), quadrant (elevation), charge (amount of gun powder to range the target), and if applicable the time (to set on the time fuse).

Most Fire Missions would start as adjust fire missions till the target is ranged. This would be done by the "base piece" which is normally the number 3 or 4 gun in a six gun battery.

For example, the FDC during this whole process would normally call out to the base piece (for adjust fire) "FIRE MISSION, ADJUST FIRE, BASE PIECE ONE ROUND". Remember that for adjust fire missions the round is normally HE/PD until the fire for effect phase. Or it could be as complicated as "FIRE MISSION, BATTERY 2 ROUND(S) CHARGE 7, ICM, DEFLECTION 2438, QUADRANT 496, TIME 32.6", FIRE WHEN READY, REPORT WHEN ROUNDS COMPLETE". 

This would allow a portion of the gun crew to cut the powder (remove any necessary bags) from the tied canister charge at a distance from the gun (for safety reasons). In an orchestrated event the gun team would load the desired round with fuze (PD or TIME) set and on the carrier, hook it to the loader/rammer, flip the rammer to the load position, and ram the round into the breach. Only then would they deliver the powder charge. The loader would yell out the charge to confirm such as "charge seven white bag, I see red!". This signifies the powder is loaded correctly and the loader sees the red dot on the powder charge. The breach is closed, then primer is inserted (roughly the size of a 410 shotgun round) and then the firing pin is locked over the primer. At that time is when the lanyard is attached (again for safety reasons). Once all of this is done the gun chief, based on the iniitial commands, either fires or reports to the FDC that they are ready, such as "BASE PIECE READY" (example of an adjust fire mission). 

While most missions would be called in first as adjust fires, there were ones that were known surveyed targets, supressive fires, or Final Protective Fires (FPF's) (often danger close), which would normally involve the whole battery up to even a batallion fire mission. This could involve three or more batterys totalling 18 guns. For FPF's or pre planned fires, there wasn't all of this, normally a code word or call sign, and then a self authentication. This is different from the challenge and authentication of a normal fire mission.

Depending on the target the round could then be HE/PD, HE/Time fuze, ICM, Willie Peat, etc. At that time the FDC would normally call the battery to load one round or as the needs and target require 2 or more rounds, and fire when ready, or fire at my command. Firing at the FDC command would either be for effect, or when Danger close to alert the FO of splash for observation and further corrections. Splash would be called to the FO around 4-5 second prior to impact to allow the FO to remain in a protective position and only show himself to see the impact. Most always FPF's would be fire when ready.

The FO normally ends the mission, Tango 43 this is Foxtrot 68, END OF MISSION; BMP's burning and dismounted infantry destroyed, estimate 35 casualities". 

Believe it or not all of this would occur with a round going down range in well less than 30 seconds; depending on the proficiency of the FO, FDC, and gun crews. 

Yup, I remember when......

Ben

ww2Xplorer

during which period this vehicle was used exactly?

It was originally fielded in 1964 during Vietnam and was in active service until the mid '90s (about '94).  

Very cool diorama. I am curious, during which period this vehicle was used exactly?

Yup, I missed that part.  The figure looks much better with the helmet swap.

HeavyArty

It looks good to me.  I do see two fixes.  The RTO needs a haircut and the shirtless guy's helmet looks weird.   Other than that, everything looks great.  Good job on it.

 

Hey Gino, what I was really going for was that the gunner did not have the firing lanyard in their hand. I was thinking about using EZ line. As for the other two. You have to remember this is Vietnam in the field, sometimes the Army gun-bunnies were a little lax with their haircuts and you're right that helmet was really bad. The figure had a somewhat large head but I changed that and he looks somewhat normal now. So I'll just post my last pic on this diorama.

Ohhhhh, that's some nice work!!! 

It looks good to me.  I do see two fixes.  The RTO needs a haircut and the shirtless guy's helmet looks weird.   Other than that, everything looks great.  Good job on it.

A Happy & Safe New Year to everyone. I finally got some work done. The figures were finally finished along with the scratchbuilt round hoist. Then I was able to put all the components together to finish off this diorama. However there is still one tweak that has to be done. I wonder if 'Heavy Arty' (Gino) will notice it? As always all comments and critiques are greatly appreciated. Enjoy.

I finally received my helmets, now I can prime them, paint them and finish my figures. While waiting I was able to put on some Army ranks and name tags on the figures. I've put together my PRC-77 and components and they'll be ready for painting. Also my M110 did not come with a rounds hoist, so I scratch built one. Seems like all my components are coming together.

I ordered the helmets but they have not arrived yet. I still have to add some rank insignias and unit patches to finish off the figures. Now to finish the base and tweak what needs to be tweaked. Enjoy.

I've kitbashed the figures together with what I have in my parts box and primed them and I've started the groundwork. I'm waiting on another kit and then I'll do the wooden bern slats at the gun position. Its coming along and I hope to finish before Christmas.

Thanks for the comment Gino. The powder bags were a scratch build. Also thanks for the tip on the powder charge rear. Sometimes reference pics don't give you everything. This is what happens when you're attached only to 105mm arty batteries.

The rounds and powder cans are looking good.  I wouldn't weather them too much though.  They didn't sit around that long once they reached the guns, especially the fuzed ones.  Where did you get the powder bags, they look good?   Of note, the rear of the powder charge should be red.  It is the igniter pad and always goes to the rear when loaded.

Here are the rounds along with 2 powder charge bags. Now onto the base and the figures (whenever they arrive). Looking forward to a figure kitbashing.

Thanks Gino for link on the indi-link metal tracks. But I'll make these work for now. Here are some pics of the AM 8in rounds. Instead of a flat olive drab color I went with a deep green color instead. The copper rounds just need to be decaled and then I'll weather them a little bit. 

There are also indi-link metal tracks by Spade Ace Models out of China as well.  They look the same and go together the same as the ones RealG listed.

Spade Ace Models M110 Track Review:  https://www.armorama.com/modules.php?op=modload&name=Reviews&file=index&req=showcontent&id=9692

It's a shame that there's about nuttin' in the post-korea to pre-vietnam era. My Checkpoint Charlie dio died for a lack of interest in converting all of those figures.

Looking really good, TigerII!

There was a metal track set from China that I got through E-Bay:

They provided steel wire for the pins, which are very hard to cut.  I'm planning on substituting brass or copper.