In the 80s, we tended to wear mechanics coveralls, both the cotton ones and the cold weather ones instead of BDUs or over the BDUs.

Or the faded green MOPP suit.

M. Brindos

but rather having a losing argument with his wife.

Dunno, sounfds like most of the Laoders I've met

Valkyrie makes some amazing sets, but the only thing I'd wish to see with them is an extra set of compatible arms so you could mix them up a little for some variation.

I need to get that first set for my Ambrams, but I'm not liking the loaders pose. It doesn't look like he's riding in a tank, but rather having a losing argument with his wife.

I'd have to pose him with just his shoulders and head sticking out. But that's just me.

It's also germane that being tank crew, like so much else in military life, is 98% boredom repeating similar tasks over and over again.  An 2% things that turn into Sea Stories.

Loader spends his time eyeballing the sectors the TC isn't; or just gawping about.  Gunner has it toughest-narrow field of view, and mostly straight ahead.  All while being in kicking range of the TC.

Now, I agree the kit makers are shorting us "active" track crews.  Pulling a bore brush, breaking track; just packing & unpacking the bustle racks . . .

Oh drat!!!

I've been working on a dio using some Vietnam figures for a tank based in W. Germany during the late '60s early '70s.

Too late to turn back now. Thanks for letting me know though that I've made a bit of a screw-up there Gino...

Real G

...that set ticks all the boxes...

Not for the original topic, 1970s Army tank crews.  Vietnam gear and 1970s gear, esp. stateside and Europe were not the same.

Since this thread originally posted, there have come about a couple sets that are perfect for 1970s Army tank crews, both from Valkyrie.

This set has both the older Bone Dome CVC helmet and the newer (late '70s) CVC helmet.

The same basic figures with a couple different arms and newer (late '70s) CVC helmets.

OK Tiger II, that set ticks all the boxes: Nobody goofing off.  Everyone in action poses.  Even the driver looks like the monkey has already slung the poo.  

This post came back to the top of the heap; if you're still looking for figures; here's another set from Bravo 6:

...and still no mass market plastic 1960-1970s US, British, and West German tankers  Let's add the French, as we now have decent AMX-13s and 30s.  And the Israelis.  At least Miniart has done several Soviet tanker sets.

That's the problem with all the awesome new armor kits these days, no figures.  Only Tamiya still does that, and they have upped their game recently.

Another whine I have is that most figure sets have at least one more  guys just standing around.  I prefer them all in their hatches, in "action poses", looking like they are trying to avoid a crazy monkey flinging its waste at them.  Either that, or in cold weather gear somewhere in West Germany, wishing the dang freezing rain would stop.

CapnMac82

USMC had their own Utilities until about '68-'69, before changing to the "tails out" blouse in OG-109.

Which then went through  a bunch of changes.  Confused even more by the ERDL camo going to SEA

What I want to remember is that AF (other than in SEA( kept their tucked-in OG-107 (or whatever Shade the AF called that) Fatigues.  They were last to adopt the Woodlands BDU.  DeptNav bought enormous quantities of solid OD 'BDU' uniforms with a minority, special units "buy" of Woodlands camo.  Eventually, that flip-flopped and the buy was 80-90% Woodlands, with a minority buy of solid-OD Utilities.

I'm pretty sure Stick is right about the Field Jackets, other than I want to remember that one of those models had angled pocket flaps rather than straight.

The tough part is the LBE & web gear--once the M-56 gear is introduced.  Which is the other fly in the ointment for using Marines to sub in--782 gear remains unique to the Corps until about '70-71.

Which is why the ALCE & LC-2 gear was made so adaptable--so it would accommodate all of the legacy gear in inventory.

 

I know this is Necro but Airforce had OG107 till about the mid 70's then went to OG507 till about 1986 before adopting the M81 Woodland.

I never cared for the perma press fatigues- no enough pockets 

But I loved the old Jungle Fatigues and was very bummed when they were phased out and replaced by the Hot Weather BDUs...

ps1scw

 

sad day when they took these away from us. (not mine, image from net)

 

You are right it was a sad day. I was with NMCB 4 when we made the shift. The embroidery shop was sure busy during that time. I was just glad I retired before the last uniform shift.

Robert

sad day when they took these away from us. (not mine, image from net)

NICE! I really like that first set of figures! Nice to see some action poses for once! I'll have to show these to Dad and see if he wants a set. He just got some Hornet heads in last week that look amazing.

Definately a "DO WANT".  :D  Thanks for posting those!!  :)

Ohhhhhh, nice find there TigerII! All of those are cool but I really like the second set. If only I could paint them that well... 

Hey Mike,

Very cool, thanks for the update Mike!

Update;

I've got these figure in my hands and they are worth every penny! Valkyrie is still including the mic booms as cast items and they are extremely fragile and difficult to remove from the casting block in one piece. If you can, I recommend getting some PE mics instead as they are, in this case, easier to work with.

The poses are excellent and natural looking (as you can see in the above picture) and there is no flash. The casting blocks are in areas that make removal and clean-up a breeze. The choice of early or late style helmets is a nice bonus and typical of Vlakyrie.

And one more thing worth mentioning is to answer the question about how well they fit in the hatches of an M-60A1. They fit perfectly. Even though they are wearing field jackets (I really thought this would make them too bulky to fit into the hatches thus redering all of my detail work pointless) they fit in the hatches with room to spare. You can actually see around the full bodied figures with little effort. The TC fits in the cupola with enough room to not contact the periscope and you can still see the details on the inside of the cupola around him.

No, you can't see much past that as he does stand in the way, but you can see enough to make your efforts worth-while.

These figures are a bit pricey right now, but they are a new release. If you're worried about value, Valkyrie hasn't let me down yet and can compare to Alpine and Hornet for absolute gorgeous detail levels and realism. If you need a crew for your M-60 series vehicles, these won't disappoint you.

Thanks for the read-through and have a wonderfull Valentine's Day.

Oh yeah. I may get more than one as well. They would go well with an M-60 slick as well as the A1, A2, etc.

Some Alpine heads and some arm changes and the possibilities are almost endless lol.

Cool, I'm going to have to pick up a set or three of these for myself.

Field Pants and Field Jackets, not bad for stateside or Europe during spring & fall. Those look good.

It took a while, but Valkyrie has finally announced these figures on Fb.  :D

These figures look great and I love that they come with the two different styles of helmets. It has also been mentioned that with a little effort they could be back dated to the late 50's.

The Air Force wore the same thing:

i213.photobucket.com/.../scan0007.jpg

i213.photobucket.com/.../scan0235.jpg

i213.photobucket.com/.../scan0003-5.jpg

i213.photobucket.com/.../scan0114.jpg

We started getting them in 1971.

Yeah I know.,.  Lots of crashes here in the evening commute...

When someone finds this crew, I'm hiring them. This evenings commute was totally insane.

USMC had their own Utilities until about '68-'69, before changing to the "tails out" blouse in OG-109.

Which then went through  a bunch of changes.  Confused even more by the ERDL camo going to SEA

What I want to remember is that AF (other than in SEA( kept their tucked-in OG-107 (or whatever Shade the AF called that) Fatigues.  They were last to adopt the Woodlands BDU.  DeptNav bought enormous quantities of solid OD 'BDU' uniforms with a minority, special units "buy" of Woodlands camo.  Eventually, that flip-flopped and the buy was 80-90% Woodlands, with a minority buy of solid-OD Utilities.

I'm pretty sure Stick is right about the Field Jackets, other than I want to remember that one of those models had angled pocket flaps rather than straight.

The tough part is the LBE & web gear--once the M-56 gear is introduced.  Which is the other fly in the ointment for using Marines to sub in--782 gear remains unique to the Corps until about '70-71.

Which is why the ALCE & LC-2 gear was made so adaptable--so it would accommodate all of the legacy gear in inventory.

I believe I'm thinking of this from the wrong angle. I was looking for an easy option where I wouldn't have to do much but paint them, but I need to change that way of thinking.

I'll figure this out guys. Thanks for all the feed back.  :)

All four services wore the same cotton sateen fatigues in that period. Different headgear of course. Later on the Army started using perma press cotton blend fatigues. I'm not sure if any other service adopted that uniform.

I'm needing to represent Germany in the mid 70's. I think it's the blouse pockets that are different besides the covers for Tankers. If I found the right set I could definitely modify them.

At this point anything close enough will work. I've found some, but they're not cheap and I can't put a whole kit on my wishlist just for a few figures... or... maybe. I'll get back to you guys on that subject.

Thank you for your input. You've got me thinking.  :)