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

model maniac 96 wrote:

OK, I gotta ask what and where are the trade forums??

There are none on FSM.  Go to sites like Armorama, Missing-Links, Planet Armor, etc.  They all have trade forums.

Gamewarden5 wrote:

model maniac 96 wrote: Nice, How did you do those bullet holes??? Thanks, Jim The whole section of wall is a work in progress. Here is how I made them. I had poured a slab of water mixable skim coating about a quarter of an inch thick. I can't remember what the original intent was when I poured it because it has been sitting in a drawer for about six months. When the idea for this vignette came to me I used the slab as part of the inspiration. My mockup gave me the approximate size of the pieces I would use. I cut the skim coat out with a jig saw (ruined a blade in the process). Next I measured an actual cinder block to give me an the scale size of .442X.241 inches. I transferred these measurements to the wall sections with a set of dividers and scribed the lines into the wall with an old nail. To create the impacts I punched a random pattern of holes with a punch all that were deep enough to wedge in a dental pick. To get the chippin effect I literally pried out the chips with a dental pick. I also filled the holes on the other side of the wall where the air bubbles from pouring the skim coating were very large. To fill the holes I ground up the chips from the tops of the walls and the bullet impacts to a fine dust and mixed it with white glue to form a spackle paste and did a suitable patch job. Thanks for asking~ Brian

HeavyArty wrote:

model maniac 96 wrote: OK, I gotta ask what and where are the trade forums?? There are none on FSM.  Go to sites like Armorama, Missing-Links, Planet Armor, etc.  They all have trade forums.

model maniac 96 wrote:

HeavyArty wrote: Looking good and a good idea.  To make your figures more accurate and easier, since they come with all the gear, you should look at getting one of the below sets.  They are not currently in production, but come up often on Ebay and the trade forums.  Either set would work for your needs.  They are much better quality than the blobby Tamiya figures too. Good luck and keep us posted. OK, I gotta ask what and where are the trade forums?? and great lookin dio man, I am in the process of planning something just like it!

I did that old Dragon set:

So did I.  I used them in my Vietnam MedEvac dio.  I swapped th etorsos out fo rones w/o flak vests from the Dragon 1st CAV figures to make them Army troopers.

Tonight! Fun with Elephant Grass.

I am testing a couple of different ways of modeling Elephant grass that was common in Vietnam. The first Method is below. The figure is included jut to show scale.

The grass is made from a Pampas grass blade that had the center rib shaved out and then the individual blades of elephant grass was cut using a #11 blade held still while pulling the pampas grass blade steadily to try to achieve uniform thickness.

I am also going to try the same method with a thinner blade of grass to see which best simulates the elephant grass.

I figure if I make about 30-40 clumps of blades of varying heights that will simulate a pretty good stand of grass that will be on the inside of the wall.

Maniac,

Thanks. I will update with the other method.

Brian

Gamewarden5 wrote:

Maniac, Thanks. I will update with the other method. Brian

Method 2 of elephant grass

Using natural vegitation the way I intended to simulate Elephant Grass did not work out. So, I went to Michaels and low and behold they had plastic grass that looked sort of like what I was trying to do, however they were very large in comparison to my figure.

I used a method similar to what I did with the pampas grass leaves.

First I separated the grass into plugs.

Looking at the bundles of blades there were too many so I made a smaller bundle and using my third hand I lashed the bundles together using a clove hitch with some button thread. I CA'd the bundle together and trimmed the thread and the parts of the grass blade below the knot.

Now my grass is more in scale to my fig. Seeing that elephant grass is between 9-12 ft. tall it is right in line with where it should be.

Now all I have to do is make about 30 more plugs.

I also started forming the ground work on the opposite side of the wall where the Marines are going to be.

Last but not least. I have also started working on the figures. I have not received the DML kit that I ordered yet so for now I am going to work on the two figures that I have.

As you can see I am detailing these figures using masking tape to make their H-Harness. I also detailed the gas mask with the appropriate straps.

Psstoff~

Thanks for the encouragement. Trying to keep things in scale is one of the hardest things for me to do. The grass in reference to figures, the tree in reference to the grass. For intermediate height I am trying to crack the code on bamboo. I have couple of ideas but there is very little information on how to model bamboo.

More Later~

~Brian

Good suggestion. I do have some small scale styrene rod. Now the only question is do I have the putty skills?

Thanks for the suggestion

More progress has been made. I started working on the groundwork. Notice the bandoleer for the grenadier for the rifle he picked up on the battlefield

Gamewarden5 wrote:

More progress has been made. I started working on the groundwork. Notice the bandoleer for the grenadier for the rifle he picked up on the battlefield

The M79 for the gunner I had orginally used on my PBR31-MKII and was shown as already loaded with the breech closed. I wanted to show this M79 grenadier to be shown loading his weapon to re-engage new targets. I had to find a way to disassemble the M79 so that I can drill out the breech and show it broken down shotgun style.

I did not like my orginal paint job on the M79 so I first stripped off the paint by soaking it in Westley's Bleche White over night.

I quickly figured out that my #11 blade was doing more harm than good so I used a dental floss pick as a small coping saw to separate the two halves.

Resulting in a properly disassembled M79 that I can now detail.

psstoff995 wrote:

WOW! Nice idea, turned out great

        It's great how you slit that weapon. Things like that look awesome in a dio. Tiny details make a huge difference.

    This whole viginette is really going to look fantastic. Can't wait to see the finished result.....

     HURRY!!!.......

     Boomer...

If that tip hasn't been in FSM before, get it in there, thats awesome!

BTW its looking great, I'll really like your grass the and the detailed harness on the fig.

'Bout the bamboo, another thing to try, nest different sizes of tubes in each other to fill the gap, then if you have it 'broken' you will see the different layers.  To ease with the putty, you could try gluing some styrene rod and strip around in the places where there are ridges.  If you then use a little more glue to soften this up it may be possible to flatten it down into those smooth ridges-or it could provide a frame for your putty work.  'Course I just thought of that and it may not work-but go for it.  For some texture after it is all done, use some medium-light grain sandpaper and put some scratches in it.

I am probably wrong but, the gas mask bag and canteen are too new. I dont think they had the kind with the water purifacation pocket on them in Vietnam and the gas mask bag is modern too. I f I am wrong I am sorry but it didn't look right to me.. Still looks very good,you have more paitents than I do messing with that foliage my eyes would go crossed lol..

John

Gamewarden5 wrote:

Here's Gamewarden's ref. shot, hard to call 'bout the pocket, but I think it's pretty close. And not that this makes it so at all, but a Legend Productions resin kit I have has the bag with the pocket...

Gamewarden5 wrote:

Method 2 of elephant grass Using natural vegitation the way I intended to simulate Elephant Grass did not work out. So, I went to Michaels and low and behold they had plastic grass that looked sort of like what I was trying to do, however they were very large in comparison to my figure. I used a method similar to what I did with the pampas grass leaves. First I separated the grass into plugs. Looking at the bundles of blades there were too many so I made a smaller bundle and using my third hand I lashed the bundles together using a clove hitch with some button thread. I CA'd the bundle together and trimmed the thread and the parts of the grass blade below the knot. Now my grass is more in scale to my fig. Seeing that elephant grass is between 9-12 ft. tall it is right in line with where it should be. Now all I have to do is make about 30 more plugs. I also started forming the ground work on the opposite side of the wall where the Marines are going to be. Last but not least. I have also started working on the figures. I have not received the DML kit that I ordered yet so for now I am going to work on the two figures that I have. As you can see I am detailing these figures using masking tape to make their H-Harness. I also detailed the gas mask with the appropriate straps.

keep in mind that there wasn't much elephant grass close to Hue, but there was lots of water and rice paddies. Elephant grass can be as short as a foot tall, and six or seven foot tall. Grows very dense. There was a pine tree (well sorta like one anyway) that grew in the area as well as the usual banana plants. Earth will be red or almost black (close to rice paddies). Baby blue and coral seemed to be the favorite colors up there. Very few exposed blocks as most were plastered over.

gary

jtrace214 wrote:

I am probably wrong but, the gas mask bag and canteen are too new. I dont think they had the kind with the water purifacation pocket on them in Vietnam and the gas mask bag is modern too. I f I am wrong I am sorry but it didn't look right to me.. Still looks very good,you have more paitents than I do messing with that foliage my eyes would go crossed lol.. John

The canteen cover depicted is an M1967 canteen pouch. Keeping in mind that the Tet Offensive kicked off in January 1968 it is entirely plausible that a newbie in country would have been issued a newer version of deuce gear. This canteen pouch is still in use today, so in effect it is a modern piece of gear. In fact when I turned in my gear last year I turned in two of these pouches brand new. 

More information can be found here.

http://www.olive-drab.com/od_soldiers_gear_canteen.php

http://www.vietnamgear.com/kit.aspx?kit=85

The gas mask that was worn by U.S. Marines in Vietnam was the M-17 gas mask.

Here is the gas mask pouch.

For some historical perspective Olive-Drab.com has a great repository of information.

http://www.olive-drab.com/od_soldiers_gear_gasmask_m17.php

Again, this gas mask was in service with U.S. Marines until the late from the the early 1960's throught the Vietnam war and into the 1990's when the M-17 was replaced by the M-40 field protective mask that is currently in service.

Thanks

~Brian

Tonight I tried to experiment with some of the detailing that I want to put into this project. I plan on the M-60 gunner being strapped with belt's of ammo. I cannot find any flexible belts of 7.62 ammo so I attempted to make them. I think this might work with a little refinement and not rushing the paint job.

Since this was an experiment, more of a proof of concept I am not too concerned with the initial appearance. What I wanted to know is 1. is it feasible, and 2 does it look to scale on the figure.

Here is what I have done

First I cut some .26 gage wire in about 1/16 in. lengths.

I mounted these cut pieces to a very thin piece of masking tape and used white glue to seal the deal.

In the next photo I am comparing to a 7.62 machine gun. Forgive the rushed paint job. I wanted to see what it would look like. If this method gets a thumbs up the next belts will have a cleaner paint job.

Last I wanted to see if the belt would still form around the figure, and if the belt is to scale on the figure.

Let me know what you think.

BTW I am still waiting on the vietnam set to come in.

Tonight more work on groundwork.