Looking good!  Interesting livery - air america, interesting group.  I look forward to your completed diorama. 

Fantastic job. I to am looking forward to the diorama.

Pretty good job there.

I only saw the CIA Hueys once.  Two of them were hopping across the taxi and runways we shared with the local Air Force.  Twice they caused a inbound C-141A make a hard left bank to avoid them.  After the second time they got together and took off low over our side of the base  and disappeared to parts unknown.  Normally if one of their aircraft came in we would have to post a guard and then try to avoid them as much as possible.

Looking good and an interesting subject. One question though. Did you paint the main fuselage silver? It looks like bare, gray plastic. Air America helos were bare metal/silver and dark blue. The seam up the nose needs some attention too.

HeavyArty

Looking good and an interesting subject. One question though. Did you paint the main fuselage silver? It looks like bare, gray plastic. Air America helos were bare metal/silver and dark blue. The seam up the nose needs some attention too.

 

Hey Gino; I built this model a few years back and shelved it. Like I posted, the fit on this kit wasn't that great. I'm in the process of tidying up that nose seam. As for the main fuselage the kit was painted white. Not all of their choppers were bare silver and some of the info pics I checked out were of a white and dark blue chopper. Some of them were silver. Here are a few of those pics. The 3rd pic looks like bare silver.

There was a story about an AA helicopter that arrived at a listening post in Laos, which was under attack by a number of NVAF biplane bombers.

One crewman in the door with an AK managed to shoot one down and cause another to fly into terrain, at least that's how I remember it.

Bill

TigerII

...the kit was painted white. Not all of their choppers were bare silver and some of the info pics I checked out were of a white and dark blue chopper. 

I have of heard of them being silver and blue.  The two pics of actual aircraft both look silver to me.  To each thier own though.

Well try this website which describes the Vietnam Hueys; including the Air America color schemes: https://vietnam-hueys.tripod.com 

Accordingly they were in both silver or white and blue.

I guess I have never seen the early white/blue scheme. Looking good then.

That's cool! I'm so used to American helos painted in green- it's nice to see something different. Looking forward to seeing what you come up with for the dio.

You know G, I enjoy your enthusiasm. Here are three WIP photos of my diorama. The structure and roof ladder were both scratchbuilt. I like how the ladder came out and I also need to weather the structure before I put the components together. Now onto the figures.

Yup, definitely looking the part.  Coming along nicely.

Yeap, great representation of the iconic photo. I assume you're not adding as many figures as Gino's picture? I'd think the chopper crew and a few refugees would get the impression across. 

Looking forward to seeing how she works out! 

Love your work Tiger II. Will be watching with much anticipation!

Hey Gamera, you are absolutely correct. The chopper crew is in the chopper & I'm adding a crewman and four refugees. That should get the impression across. Here are the preliminary figures. I need to tweak some things and then the whole diorama should come together.

Well its finally done. Its April 29, 1975 and the NVA and VietCong are on the verge of capturing the South Vietnamese capital of Saigon. This vignette is just a small rendering of a famous photo. The chopper landing roof is shorter than the actual photo and there are only 4 refugees; but I like the final rendition. As always all comments and critiques are greatly appreciated.

It came out very nicely.  Great job.

Yeah great job capturing the photo in 3D! 

Well done.  Sure captures the action of the photo.  Nice piece.