**Finished!!! 07May09** Taking Cover Hue 1968

To everyone that is checking in on this post.

There is nothing new in this post. I moved the photos in my photobucket account into their own folder and as a result it broke all of the links. I went back through the entire thread and updated all of the photo links that I could.

This is not a cheesy attempt to bump my post back to the top of the list!

       Gamewarden, that's a nice little vignette and congrats on the win.That palm tree really came out great also.

       I've been able to shape the Dragon ammo belts using a 60-watt bulb. Holding the belt over the bulb with a pair of tweezers it only takes about 20-30 seconds for the belt to become soft enough to shape it.

Gamewarden,

Sorry that I missed your initial posts of your completed work.  Congratulations on your placing at the show!  Well deserved.

I'm with you - I really don't know how you would be able to model 1/35 M-60 links without it rapidly becoming tedious...  Someone out here might have a suggestions, but I'm drawing a blank.  Still, that is a sweet little vignette.  Good job!

On the helmets and helmet bands. I simply ran out of time to get the bands on. On the fatigues, I did not know exactly how much to fade them so I erred on the side of caution. On the weapons mix, You are absolutely that there weren't many M-4 type of weapons, but I broke the one M-16/A1 that was on the sprue and did not have a backup

Don't sweat the helmet bands.. Most, if not all, Marine units never had them issued..That tradition still holds true today for K-pots..  Also, there were a number of Army units that used the CAR-15 in 'Nam, so having one pop up in a Marine unit isn't all THAT unlikely, and they look enough like M-4s that one can get away with it in 1/35th scale if you lose the 30-round mags (30-round mags are dead give-away that the weapons aren't 1960's 'Nam-era...)  They didn't get manufactured or issued until the 70's and were pretty rare in 'Nam even then... Although you'll see them all the time in "'Nam Movies", it just means the technical advisor ain't that good at his job..

Faded jungles aren't that hard, but fading them in a firefight dio is kinda hit & miss... The climate and physical exertion of the moment would have a GI or Marine Grunt sweatin' like a hooker in church and you'd be faced with painting the dark sweat stains... Not to mention that you get dirty pretty fast, so the upper thighs are always darker than the rest unless they're freshly-laundered..

Guys,

Thanks so much for the excellent feedback. I did make it for the contest and I took a 3rd place trophy in Figures-Vignettes/Dioramas all scales category. 

I have read all suggestions in great detail and I will make some adjustments to the dio. On the helmets and helmet bands. I simply ran out of time to get the bands on. On the fatigues, I did not know exactly how much to fade them so I erred on the side of caution.

On the weapons mix, You are absolutely that there weren't many M-4 type of weapons, but I broke the one M-16/A1 that was on the sprue and did not have a backup(note for later)

On the links for the brass, I was just stymied on how to make them. I did see a set of PE .50 cal brass links, but nothing for 7.62.

I really appreciate all of the historical context, and new Ideas for another vignette (Perhaps some GI's hunkered down in a cellar with some NVA standing on top of the roof... 

I have gotta say that I absolutely loved doing this project. There is not enough recognition of what soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines did during the Vietnam War. A small tribute and a hearty Thanks for your service.

~Brian

Gamewarden5 wrote:

I see what you mean by the stiffness of the belts. That is a result of my first attempt at making belts and the glue I used stiffened quite a lot and when I tried to mold the belts around the gunner they literally broke into pieces. Next time I will try a glue that is a little more pliable.

Gamewarden5,

First off: GREAT JOB!! These guys look awesome and your dio groundwork is fantastic! 

Just a suggestion on the ammo belts.  I struggled with DML Dragon 1/35 ammo belts and getting them to look real when draped over something/someone and I finally found that if you cut the ammo belt into segments (2-4 rounds per segment) then glue them back together with super glue you get GREAT results.  You may have to use a very thin strip of masking tape as a backer to give the links & glue something extra to hold onto, but if you run it along the linkage it only adds a little extra detail!  :)   Here's how it looks on my version of Tamiya's German MG team:

Hope this helps!! 

psstoff995 wrote:

squeakie- that sounds like the documentary I watched- if not the same event, very similar. Thanks for the info. That artillery Major up the road sure made the wrong call that night. Hope he did end up getting relieved. Trumpeter makes some PT76s in 1/35- not sure if the time period’s right or not... Thanks again squeakie. And thanks for your service.

A101 was just down the road from Khe Shan, and the problem was really nothing more than inter-service rivalry. The Major was pretty arrogant, and just wasn't gonna commit his 105's. What the guy failed to realize was that the fire missions are recorded in at least two different places. Still it made for 350 WIA/KIA that evening, and some very deep and bitter feelings. Sometime around noon a 400 man Mike force retook the place (they staged out of Da Nang AFB). I've seen arial recon photos of the place that were taken after the place was over run. But don't remember if they were before the Mike Force went in there or after. If you decide to go that route let me know, and I'll look around for those photos. I might add that copies of the recordings are supposed to be a matter of public record now, and there are even transcripts of them so I'm told (Note: I've never heard the recordings or seen the transcripts).

    An interesting thing about Lang Vie is that there was actually three different places with that name, and all close by. The first was a small town that went by that name, and of course the second was A101. The third one was when they moved A101 closer to Khe Sahn. There was also at least one (and maybe two or three) French coffee plantations close by. At least one was run by a double agent, and I think he was later fixed.

gary

Gamewarden - Very nice work. Love the brass. Agree with squeakie, except SF the M-16 of VN is the full length with the triangle front guards.

Nice LAW and great work with the "blurp" gunner.

The only thing missing among all the brass is the links!!

Very nice build!!

Rounds Complete!!

psstoff995 wrote:

agentg wrote: Those usually failed to function in the humid enviornment! I was watching some documentary where a firebase was worried of a NVA tank assault so they had a bunch of LAAWs airdropped in- tanks did end up attacking, the airdrop damaged most of the lot, even the one’s that did manage to fire- the rocket ricocheted off the tank. I think they ended up digging in and waiting for daylight so an air assault could be made with extreme discretion as the GIs were dug in all around the enemy... don't remember the battle- I had it written down somewhere because it was one of the few instances of NVA tanks I had heard of actually assulting a firebase. Thanks for the tips on uniforms agentg, it’ll definitely help me out with my own future builds.

I think the first admited instance of NVA armor in country was at Lang Vie (A101). They used PT76 amphibious tanks. There was an urgent call on the fire push for arty from just up the road, and the Officer in charge refused to shoot saying the "cannon fire" was their generators backfiring! I had the pleasure of listening to the skip as it evolved into a nightmare. It got down to being trapped in a collapsed basement whispering on the radio while you heard the other guys chattering ontop of them. While all that was happening you could hear the tanks moving around inside the perimeter. There was a call after the fact for a court martial of a certain Major, but his commander covered it up. Both were later relieved so I was told.

I never saw a Marine using a CAR 15 in RVN. At that time they were mostly used by SF folks. The M16's were all early ones without the forward assist and had the triangle shaped front stock. Bird cage flash supressors started to show up in March (late). Thirty round mags were maybe another three months away as well

gary

agentg wrote:

Those usually failed to function in the humid enviornment!

I was watching some documentary where a firebase was worried of a NVA tank assault so they had a bunch of LAAWs airdropped in- tanks did end up attacking, the airdrop damaged most of the lot, even the one’s that did manage to fire- the rocket ricocheted off the tank. I think they ended up digging in and waiting for daylight so an air assault could be made with extreme discretion as the GIs were dug in all around the enemy... don't remember the battle- I had it written down somewhere because it was one of the few instances of NVA tanks I had heard of actually assulting a firebase.
Thanks for the tips on uniforms agentg, it’ll definitely help me out with my own future builds.

I see what you mean by the stiffness of the belts. That is a result of my first attempt at making belts and the glue I used stiffened quite a lot and when I tried to mold the belts around the gunner they literally broke into pieces. Next time I will try a glue that is a little more pliable.

I am glad you liked it.

~Brian

I really like your work very much!!!  Good luck at the show this weekend.  The only thing I saw that didn't look right to me was the ammo belts as they looked stiff over the wall.  It would be very loose and hanging over the corner of the wall if you know what I am talking about. 

 I have bookmarked this so I can use your instructions how to create that real good looking palm tree one day! 

Done! I really pushed through tonight and got it together. Thanks for everyone's help, and thoughtful suggestions. Forum input like this really helps me improve.

This is only my second diorama/vignette. I would like to think some stellar examples of inspiration on this site. Hans Von Hammer, The Doog, AJ Lafleche, Mannstein's revenge to name a few. I read your posts and absorb alot of info that helps me improve.

PSSTOFF your encouragement is greatly appreciated. I still have one more day so if there are anymore helpful suggestions please chime in. If I can get them accomplished I will. 

Here are some pics.

Some details were just too ambitious. I did try HvH's suggestion on the ammo belts but I could not keep them togther when I tried to form them around the gunner's body. So instead I laid them up on the wall.

Elephant grass, and bamboo...after researching the battle of hue I saw very little elephant grass and no bamboo so I opted to go for a grittier urban setting. 

The brass casings are 26 ga. brass wire, I cut about 200 to simulate that these guys have been in the fight for a while.

The M72 LAAW is entirely scratchbuilt.

Overall I think that this project turned out pretty good. 

More to come later....

What next?

Gamewarden5 wrote:

Nobody cares until they start to smell fresh cut grass in the desert or the sweet smell of almonds and then its GAS! GAS! GAS! and we hope we remember how to donn and clear. Is it breathe in first, or blow out first? Aw shucks I can never remember? Gotta move the charms, and TP out of the way so that I can get my mask out. Thanks Brian

"Is it breathe in first, or blow out first? " Neither.. It's "STOP BREATHING", lol... Then don & clear....

I loved watching the cereal boxes and oranges fall outta the carriers, lol....

At the top of the tree where all of the fronds attach I used expoxy putty to make a ball that I smoothed out to drill holes to attach them.(I don't know what you would call it in botanical terms) The original one I had made was ginormous (really big) and the tree in my opinion looked like a cheap babydoll's head with really bad Cy Spurling hair club for men hair plugs. Simply put I wasn't happy with its previous state of male pattern baldness, so I chopped off the head and remade the attachment point much smaller so now the tree has a nice lush head of hair that all the ladies want to run their fingers through.

Today is jamming on the figures, (After I take two final exams, After I work a full day)

Have a good one,

Brian

All that extra detail really paid off, I’m sure you can finish this for Saturday, just take your time and don’t worry about us! You can fill us in after the fact. Slow is smooth and smooth is fast right? haha

Good luck!

I have been turnin' and burnin' tonight. I am pushing to get this finished for a contest on Saturday in Winston Salem.

Progress tonight. Got the figures primed yesterday morning before work. This morning sprayed the mid-tone color on the figs. Tonight got the low-lights, and highlights done on the figs, rebuilt the palm tree, and started on the rubble for the ground work. 

I found a fantastic source for really rough looking texture for the ground work. The cheapest potting soil I could find. This has a little bit of everything in it including small bits of wood to add the extra textures.

I will post more as the week presses on and I am frantically trying to finish this.

~Brian

Progress has been very slow this week due to pushing to finish the semester. I had a metric butt ton of makeup work to complete and I still have a project to finish by Monday.

Here is what I have done tonight.

I worked on the RTO. I scratch built his soft pack for the AN/PRC-77 on his back. I also scratched all of his web gear.

Tomorrow more homework, and hopefully some primer on these guys.

I also ran across an excellent reference book on HUE.

Marines in HUE CITY A portrait of Urban Combat, Tet 1968 by Eric Hammel

And a terrific website http://www.virtualarchive.vietnam.ttu.edu/starweb/virtual/vva/servlet.starweb?path=virtual/vva/virtual.web the Texas Tech Virtual Vietnam Archive

~Brian