Vietnam Quad 50 emplacement - completed, fotos

Thanks for your comment, I'm glad you like it. Personally it helps me to have a foto to work with, then I feel like I have less decisions to make. Still in this one I'm gonna alter it a bit, adding some stuff and more people, so there's some guesswork left to do. I hope to post an update soon, so please stay tuned, and have a nice day

Pawel

Hello everybody!

It's been a long time, but finally I moved on a little bit. Judging from the quantity of comments I get it's no big deal anyhow. Apart of adding a few colours, as Indy suggested,  and working on "trash" to be put around the dio, I also made the tarps. I made them out of "Pawelite" - a new material I invented especially for this purpose. Pawelite is made sandwitching a layer of aluminium foil between two layers of tissue. Aluminium is there for strength and opacity, and tissue reinforces the material and gives the right texture. I used spray glue, Scotch 3M 77, to glue the layers together. The downside of Pawelite is it takes a lot of paint to paint it (highly porous) but I think it pays off in the end.

I put a large piece of aluminium foil over the tower and shaped the larger tarp over it while the paint was still wet. After the paint dries my tarps got a little stiff, but still bendable, so that's basically what I wanted. I shaped the entrance curtain after the paint dried, so that can be done too. It helps to glue little tissue rolls on the inside of the folds, to help them to keep the shape while you work on other portions of the tarp.

For your viewing pleasure, here are some fotos of the dio. The tarps are not secured in any way as for now:

Waiting impatiently for your input, I wish you happy modelling and have a nice day

Pawel

Pawel

It's been a long time, but finally I moved on a little bit. Judging from the quantity of comments I get it's no big deal anyhow.

 

Hey mate, don't be disheartened. Your work is just great. This site does seem to have lost a lot of enthusiasm. When it first started it was a hive of activity. I had a long break and came back to find it all had changed. It appears that a lot of the old regulars have disappeared. It's a shame. Oh well, there are still some great people around and new people seem to appear here and there and there is still some great builds happening.

Anyway, i have been watching your build, it's pretty damn good Pawel. Your new Pawelite is awesome. Did you come up with that on your own? If you did, i admire your ingenuity. Your method looks like it works a treat!...

The whole bunker is looking excellent and i look foward to seeing the next step.

Boomer...

Thanks Boomer, I must admit I started to lose hope that somebody is reading this... The forums really got a lot slower than say, a year ago.

Yeah, Pawelite is my idea. I was trying to combine pliablility (darn spelling!), shape keeping ability and texture in one material. In the end I like how it turns out.

So the next step, and I hope to have fotos tomorrow, will be planting grass (more about it in techniques forum) and fixing at least the entrance tarp along with the sandbag threshold. Tomorrow there should also be an update on my Quad 50 crew - in the figures forum.

Thanks again for looking, have a nice day

Pawel

Pawel,

Great diorama!

Once my kung-foo is up to speed I hope to model some 'Nam scenes. Read 'Tales of LRRP's in Vietnam' and must say those were some tough, brave soldiers. Also inspiration comes from my favorite moves:

Apocalypse Now, Full Metal Jacket and Uncommon Valor

Veterans that served there I respect your efforts and to some extent understand how difficult it really was.

Thanks for the comment, SuppresionFire!

The Vietnam War is said to be the best filmed conflict ever. Yeah, there's lot of inspiration. Hope to see your Vietnam related work soon, have a nice day

Pawel

PS. The figures for this dio in the figures forum have been updated too!

Hello everybody!

Somehow I managed another update. Regrettably, there will be a week or two of delay now, as my company sends me for a business trip. Anyhow I managed to plant the grass on my dio, as described in this article in the techniques forum.

Now my dio looks like this:

Waiting for your comments, I wish you a nice day

Pawel

Hello!

Back from the business trip. Looks like I didn't miss much

Anyhow, I painted the grass green for some variation and then planted some additional weeds. I also glued the tarps in place. It helps to glue tissue rolls on the inside of the tarps, to help keep the folds where I want them. I also fabricated the trap door that connect the tower to the rest of the bunker. I painted the door rust and glued them inside the tower in case someone would like to take a peek inside. Here's a shot for your viewing pleasure:

After glueing the tarps in place the dio looks like that:

Any comments this time? I sure would appreciate that. 'Till next time, have a nice day

Pawel

Great base work on there ,its screaming out for figs,equipment and action!

Thanks for the comment krow113! Well let's not have it screaming for too long, I have some stuff for the dio in production, let me show it to you on the foto below:

What we have here is (top row from the left): Quad 50 base, quad 50 turret with gunner, trailer wheels (detached), power charger and battery pack. Bottom row from the left: Sarge and his head, Brownie, two spare .50 barrels, Scarecrow with his head and his hat stack of ammo boxes, four individual ammo boxes, water can and fuel can.

I'm also considering other items and many of them are questionable. Maybe you could help me decide? Let me list the items and my doubts about them:

Casette recorder - some vets say getting batteries for it would be a real pain, depending how far the PX was.

C-ration boxes - would you eat that if a field kitchen was somewhere nearby?

Mermite can - would that be realistic in this setting?

Helmets for guys not wearing them at the moment. How about the guy in a boonie hat?

Rifles for everybody. Would that be correct? What arms would be issued to such specialized troops as Quad 50 crew?

I hope somebody can help me with the above questions. Any help would be much appreciated. Have a nice day

Pawel

Hello!

Recently I got some info from Hans von Hammer (thanks a lot Hans!) and I went on to do the C-ration cartons. I used my partially used C-rations sheet I got out of Academy's M-151A2 MUTT with Trailer kit. It's a Tamiya copy, could be had really cheap at my local supermarket and is packed with goodies - you get not only the jeep and M416 trailer, but also an M30 4.2 inch mortar with crew, lots of jerry cans, mentioned C-ration cartons, driver for the jeep and a few goggles useful for figures on vehicles. Not bad for under 7$ (after currency conversion).

So first I had this:

And the I med this out of it:

Not a big thing, but a step forward anyhow. Hope you like it, have a nice day

Pawel

Looking good Pawel!

Its at this point restraint is hard as all the elements are begging to be placed in the diorama. You have fought this urge well and executed a great deal of patience.

Thanks for sharing the WIP's, looking forward to the finish line on this one!

Hello SuppressionFire,

thanks a lot for your comment, glad you like my WIP.

Fighting the urge isn't so hard when I'm just building slow. Many of the details being glued to holders also helps

But I'll try not to drag it too long, and I hope it won't be long now - I have many more things to build. Thanks again, have a nice day

Pawel

Lookin good Pawel!

I like your groundwork alot--the grrass, footpath--all good. i noticed you stayed away from the red soil as usually depicted in Vietnam--any particular reason? Do something different  maybe?

So how long before that badazz gun is in place Buddy? tic toc 

Hello Adam!

Tic toc, yeah, I begin to feel that too... Well I went away from the "red soil" because I tried to replicate the color that can be seen on my reference foto (see page one). You don't have the same geological conditions in all Vietnam.

Thanks a lot for your comment, I hope I won't keep you waiting for long now, have a nice day

Pawel

Ah yeah the reference photo that started it all

Sorry, Buddy that was a while back--good reason*(I knew there was one) But really--the dirt is not red in every picture I've seen of that region, just seems like in every(other) Dio it is. Now that I see this photo again I see why you did several things--good work !

Thanks again Adam!

Don't know about you, but for me having a good reference foto makes the building so much easier. What I mean is all the things you have to decide while building. And then, after finishing your work you hear people tell you this or that is not right - don't we all know this. Worse still, if I know something is wrong, factually, with the dio. Now having a foto assures me in what I'm doing and solves many questions I have, sometimes many weeks after starting the build.

Now the foto I had for this dio isn't too detailed, but still helps, like with the colors.

It's really good to know you're watching this one so closely, thanks for it, 'till next time

Pawel

Hello everybody!

I decided, now that the figs are done, I'll post two fotos of the setup my dio is going to have. Now nothing is fixed, so if you have any suggestions, I'd like to hear them, the time is now. And don't be shocked by the big red heart - it's a stand in for the Quad 50, the heart of the dio. I'll also put substantially more stuff on, including rifles for everybody (except the Quad 50 gunner), C-rations, mermite can and fuel can. So, please tell me what do you think, here we go:

Thanks in advance for your comments, have a nice day

Pawel

Saw the finished figures over there- they looked great!

The dio's really coming together now, haha what's Sarge so upset about?

Thanks a lot for your comment Chris, appreciate it!

psstoff995

what's Sarge so upset about?

Not quite sure what's got into him, may have something to do with the .50 spare barrels Brownie got!

Let's see how it turns out, I'm waiting for yuor comments with the final assembly. Thanks in advance for your input, have a nice day

Pawel

Pawel

Hello everybody!

I'm planning a diorama inspired by this foto:

I'm looking for hints on how would such emplacement look like: how many people would be around, would it be OK if only the gunner was in his seat, where and how would the ammo be stored, and maybe someone has any info about old french bunkers. Internet says the foto was taken in the vincinity of Dong Ha -any info will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance for your time and have a nice day

Pawel

this photo sends a chill. Put a two and a half foot tall sand bag wall around the front, and it'd almost be too close to home

glt

I think you do concrete better than the Sea Bees did! Two small changes needed to be done.

* the tarp needs something to hold it down on top. Being as we didn't have anyway to drive a nail in the concrete, I'd just lay a row of sandbags ontop the tarp to hold it in place (one row is fine)

* the row of bags in front of the door needs to be moved away from the door a couple feet minimum, and should be at least four feet tall (four and a half would be best). Thats the blast shield used to keep satchel charges from being tossed in the doorway at will. Make the shield at least four feet wide (six to eight feet would be best), and about two feet thick minimum. Reason why is that the neighbors were always big on satchel charges.

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Figures look very nice. Better than anything I could do! They are clothed a little heavy, so plan on the scene to be in the fall or winter months. NO flak jackets! With local VC figures you looking at a 1967 or earlier time frame, as most were fixed by the Spring of 68. I would do the VC guy as a sapper. Sling an SKS or an M1 Carbine over his backside. Charges were often packed in sandbags, or old ruck sacks. Don't bother to set up Claymore "Klackers" as they would not be close by in a Quad fifty placement. It normally would be back a few hundred feet from the perimeter on high ground.

your doing quite well

gary

Pawel

Hello everybody!

I decided, now that the figs are done, I'll post two fotos of the setup my dio is going to have. Now nothing is fixed, so if you have any suggestions, I'd like to hear them, the time is now. And don't be shocked by the big red heart - it's a stand in for the Quad 50, the heart of the dio. I'll also put substantially more stuff on, including rifles for everybody (except the Quad 50 gunner), C-rations, mermite can and fuel can. So, please tell me what do you think, here we go:

Thanks in advance for your comments, have a nice day

Pawel

for some odd reason this page didn't come up the first time I accessed this thread. Everything looks good to me. Put the generator over by the left reat of the bunker top. The 105 box filled with dirt will hold down the tarp just fine. But I'd still put three or four rows of bags in front of the quad fifty. The color of the soil means little here, as just about any color imaginable was out there. Red and jet black were common up north, yet you still saw the yellows here and there.

you keep doing stuff like this, and I'll be sending you a "welcome home brother" message

gary

Hello Gary!

Thanks a lot for your comments, that's what I was looking for!

I intend this dio to depict the rainy season, and so I do the weathering accordingly.

I tried to model the sandbags in the doorway after the foto, so the pile is not too high. In the foto it looks more like a measure to keep the water out of the bunker. I'll expriment with sandbags around the quad, but then they can't be too high neither, or they will get in the way of the ammo loaders or restrict the lowest possible elevation of the barrels - I extra paid a lot of attention to this one after we talked about it.

Thanks again, you have been a real help. Please stay tuned and have a nice day

Pawel

I made some experiments with sandbags around the quad 50. While it sure would be good to have something to hide behind in case of an attack, the additional sandbag wall would change the look of the dio too much - too far from THE FOTO. So I decided against it. So dear viewers, I'll slowly start the final assembly of the dio, please hurry with your comments, or it will be too late!

Thanks in advance, have a nice day

Pawel

Pawel

Hello Gary!

Thanks a lot for your comments, that's what I was looking for!

I intend this dio to depict the rainy season, and so I do the weathering accordingly.

I tried to model the sandbags in the doorway after the foto, so the pile is not too high. In the foto it looks more like a measure to keep the water out of the bunker. I'll expriment with sandbags around the quad, but then they can't be too high neither, or they will get in the way of the ammo loaders or restrict the lowest possible elevation of the barrels - I extra paid a lot of attention to this one after we talked about it.

Thanks again, you have been a real help. Please stay tuned and have a nice day

Pawel

being as it's the monsoon season (same as here) you might also add some bits of green moss growing on the sides of the concrete. Not much but just a little bit.

gary

Gary,

I think I'm gonna go for the moss like you described it. For now I have the last shot of all the "stuff" that's going to end up on the dio:

And today I'll put the dio together. See you then, have a nice day

Pawel

No MREs... They didn't get fielded until the 80s... You need MCIs- Meal, Combat, Individual, the famous "C-Rat" in cans...

You could hide the labels though.. C-Rations are in waxed cardboard for some weather protection, but they usually would be tarped, probably with a shelter-half in this instance...

Hans,

thanks a lot for your comment. Dang, I'm modelling Vietnam War subjects for over 15 years now and still have a lot to learn. I didn't know about this C-ration shift. Now I have to rearrange my dio a little bit and I'll probably hide the labels. Back to the drawing board... Have a nice day

Pawel

No sweat... I recall EATING Vietnam-era C-rats in 79-80...