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

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:

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

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!! 

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

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..

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!

       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.

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!