Vietnam Quad 50 emplacement - completed, fotos

Hans von Hammer

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...

we used both C-rats and the one that came out before MRE's (similar to an MRE but still different). These started to show up in July 1968, and were pretty common by September. You could find a 5.56 ammo can, and blacken the outsides of it. Then put it over fire with the guys cooking with it. We even had a polished steel pot (helmet) that we'd set on rocks to cook in

gary

Pawel

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

actually there's two kinds of C-Rats. The easy way to tell them apart is that one had ham and lima beans in it while the other didn't. Sadly all had chopped ham and eggs in them (looks like dog food). The later dehydrated rations came in four flavors. Chili concarnie, chicken ala king, and a couple others. We had C-rats for awhile that were Korean War vintage stuff. There's not enough Hinze 57 sauce on the planet to fix them!

gary

squeakie

Hans von Hammer:

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...

 

we used both C-rats and the one that came out before MRE's (similar to an MRE but still different). These started to show up in July 1968, and were pretty common by September. You could find a 5.56 ammo can, and blacken the outsides of it. Then put it over fire with the guys cooking with it. We even had a polished steel pot (helmet) that we'd set on rocks to cook in

gary

I wasn't referring to the so-called "Lurps" (LRRP-rations), Gary...  MREs are MREs, as in "Meal, Ready to Eat" and weren't fielded until the 80s...  The canned "C-Rats" were officially known as "MCI's" as in Meal, Comabt, Individual" and replaced the K-ration.   BTW, regarding the Ham & Lima Beans C-rat ( "Ham & MotherF*****rs if you ever had to eat 'em), they were gone from the MCI menu by the early 70s and according to several sources, including myself, were THE most-hated C-Rat....

Hans von Hammer

squeakie:

Hans von Hammer:

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...

 

we used both C-rats and the one that came out before MRE's (similar to an MRE but still different). These started to show up in July 1968, and were pretty common by September. You could find a 5.56 ammo can, and blacken the outsides of it. Then put it over fire with the guys cooking with it. We even had a polished steel pot (helmet) that we'd set on rocks to cook in

gary

 

I wasn't referring to the so-called "Lurps" (LRRP-rations), Gary...  MREs are MREs, as in "Meal, Ready to Eat" and weren't fielded until the 80s...  The canned "C-Rats" were officially known as "MCI's" as in Meal, Comabt, Individual" and replaced the K-ration.   BTW, regarding the Ham & Lima Beans C-rat ( "Ham & MotherF*****rs if you ever had to eat 'em), they were gone from the MCI menu by the early 70s and according to several sources, including myself, were THE most-hated C-Rat....

chopped ham & eggs never had a good response as well! The term LRRP ration came from the fact that they used them several months before anybody else ever saw them. They were easier to carry, and of course had a better taste.

gary

Heh, actually, I liked the "Green Eggs & Ham" MCI...  It was the only one I liked cold, too... That is, once you dumped the water off it... I never had a problem tradin' for it... 'Cept if'n I only had the Ham & MFers.... 

Hans, Gary - thanks a lot for reviving this thread for me. One thing is sure, I learned something about Vietnam War and I'm glad about it.

I went for Hans' idea to hide the labels on the boxes to make my error less bothersome. One box has it's label already hidden by a helmet. For the other I used a Verlinden bag to hide the label. Two other boxes will be partially wrapped in a shelter half, like Hans suggested.

Now I think everybody should know it's much easier to model something, if you work closely with apropriate reference. My ref was this foto:

Let me describe my method of painting such pattern. First I took a piece of Pawelite (my material for tarps - see previous posts in this thread) and painted it Revell 362:

I decided it was a little too dark, so I drybrushed some white Humbrol 34 on it and pencilled some dots in places where the little brown leaves would be:

Then I went on and painted the darkest leaves. I tried to position them relative to the little brown leaves and painted them using Humbrol 155 on a fine brush. My method of painting leaves is to go on with fine strokes in a herringbone pattern:

Next leaves were painted with Humbrol 149:

And another colour, Revell 361 plus the little brown leaves with Humbrol 84. I also revisited the previous colours a bit to adjust the patterns:

Finally I painted in the twigs with Humbrol 113.

How do you like it? Now I'm waiting for my shelter to dry, then I'm going to wrap it around the cartons and drybrush it a bit.

For those patient enough to read to this point a preliminary foto of the almost done dio:

Thanks for reading, looking forward to your comments, have a nice day

Pawel

Brilliant work on the tarp.  Your diomara is looking better every time I come back! 

A couple quick points. Teh camo shelter half was USMC issue, not Army. Although some soldiers may have obtained them thru the usual unofficial methods. Nice job replicating the oakleaf pattern Pavel!

Another difference between the Vietnam (and earlier) C-rats and later ones- no cigarette pack in the ration. The DoD eliminated the smokes in the rations I would guestimate in the 70s.

Andy - glad to hear from you again. Please stay tuned - some more patience (I know it's taking a long time) and maybe I can make the dio just a little bit better. Now I'm actually waiting for a rainy day to take some good outside fotos.

Stikpusher - thanks for your comments! About the smokes - I read about that. But most of the Vietnam war the smokes were there. They eliminated them in 1975 (wikipedia). But that's nothing compared to the shelter half thing - it sure would be easier to read the article on vietnamgear, than paint the thing. Now I have to think about it - make another one, OD (easy) or use what I made???

What would you do? I hope for your advice, have a nice day

Pawel

I do too, in the early 70's in the Forest Service (civilian employee).

(C-rations)

???

AWESOME!           Its beggining to look really ReAL !!

Like it!   

Well that's a nice thing you said Adam! Thanks a lot! And it's good to hear from you, too. Now I'm only waiting for a nice rainy day for good natural light foto opportunity and I'm going to call it done. Please stay tuned and have a nice day

Pawel

Pawel

Well that's a nice thing you said Adam! Thanks a lot! And it's good to hear from you, too. Now I'm only waiting for a nice rainy day for good natural light foto opportunity and I'm going to call it done. Please stay tuned and have a nice day

Pawel

So you want a rainy day for photo? huh.... so you're going to try to have it raining in the background?--Or you mean you want it to be overcast (cloudy) so you have even light?  Only thing 1st Pawel make sure you dullcote away any shinyness where it doesnt belong--only thing I saw in last photo  needing done--a little shine on sandbags and figures uniforms I would try to kill--know waht I mean-otherwise Im really looking forward to final photos--have fun with it! 

*INDY

Don't you love it when  a plan comes together?

I surely do! And that's one of my favourite lines too!

*INDY

So you want a rainy day for photo? huh.... so you're going to try to have it raining in the background?--Or you mean you want it to be overcast (cloudy) so you have even light?  Only thing 1st Pawel make sure you dullcote away any shinyness where it doesnt belong--only thing I saw in last photo  needing done--a little shine on sandbags and figures uniforms I would try to kill--know waht I mean-otherwise Im really looking forward to final photos--have fun with it! 

I actually want cloudy/overcast sky. For the light, but I also want some clouds over the horizon. I'll think about the dullcote too, thanks for the tip. Let's see what comes out of it, 'till next time

Pawel

Really good Pawel,

Like the "Poncho" that's what we call it here. The leaf pattern turned out well. Adams point on the shine is a must to get it right.

Look forward to new photos.

Cheers,

Richard

Richard,

thanks a lot for your comment, and kind words from a dio expert like you mean a lot to me.

So a question to you, but also to other modellers - how would you go about showing a scene after a rain? From your reactions I see I didn't get a convincing "wet" effect. everybody say "too shiny". I look forward to your comments on this one, thanks in advance and have a nice day

Pawel

Pawel, the dio looks excellent!  I think you captured the "wet" effect pretty well.  If you want to make it look wetter maybe try some puddles around the gun mount using acrylic gloss medium and maybe running a little of the gloss medium into the valleys of the tarps.  Aside from those minor additions I wouldn't change a thing.  Thanks for the great WIP on a too neglected subject!

                                                                                           Pat

Ok buddy, after a rain--that figures

The one photo isn't alot to go on, but now that you mention it , a recent rain explains the sheen on the ground in the back, and on the quadgun (maybe somewhat the rain-soaked sandbag too?) As suggested, some visable standing water should go a long way to reenforcing the effect, although it's a litle difficult to pull-off. What I think Richard was agreeing with me is we see so many scenes ruined by shiny figures. Over and over modelers make the mistake and nothing makes you have the impression of pieces of plastic like that sheen. I think toning down the sheen on your figures will improve the look even if the ground appears wet with rain. I hope you know what I mean Pawel--it's a fine point, but i think important one or I wouldn't bother--I'd rather you be happy with the thing than anything else--it's a very good build-do what you think is best , Buddy--look forwrd to those final photos.

Hi Pawel,

Adam's explanation is what I was getting at when it comes to shine on figures. Now that you mentioned an after rain effect then it's clear then. The wet look on the roof of the bunker captures the after rain effect however the overall effect depends on the amount of rainfall. The tarps for instants since it's waterproofed would have their tops shiny with trickles of water in a drizzle.

Most cloth fabrics would have soaked up the rain unless it's waterproofed then you get a slight shine. One effect you could do for the figures is to paint the parts of the tunic that is exposed to the rain in a darker shade. This works best for simulating sweaty armpits.

And to help the viewer understand that it's after a downpour is to have a touch of an action of perhaps someone clearing his flooded trench or squeezing dry his slouch hat. Just my suggestion. Do what you think is best as it's your build and I like what I've seen so far.

Look forward to the new photos.

Cheers,

Richard

Adam, Richard, Pat - thanks a lot for your comments. I especially liked the idea of Pat to add "wet" in the ridges of tarps. And I tried it too, but my Pawelite tarps drink up paint like they were very thirsty, so the end effect isn't much different from before. Anyhow, yesterday we had some really nice clouds to shade the sun and I went out and made somoe fotos. Here they are, for your viewing pleasure:

First the overall shots:

Then some with natural background:

Here I tried to emulate "THE FOTO" but I'm still not quite there...

Anyhow I'm calling my dio done. Hope you like it, I look forward to your comments.

I would like to express my special thanks to Gary (squeakie) - without him I wouldn't tackle this one. I would also like to thank all others who commented and helped me with this project.

Catch you later, 'till next time

Pawel

Photos are FANTASTIC!  Wish I could take them like that.  The down the barrels shot of the meat chopper really makes it look wicked.  Well done on a great build! 

                                                                                                                                                      Pat

Great work Pawel , not many will tackle the wet look , nice base as well.

Pat, krow113 - thanks for your comments and your kind words. I waited several days for the right lighting conditions and it seemes it payed off. And when you have the right light, the fotos practically do themselves. I also set the aperture to highest f-number - and then it helps to have a tripod with you, because the exposition times are getting long (more than 0.1s).

But let's not get too technical, maybe somebody else got any comments? Looking forward to them, have a nice day

Pawel

Good shots Pawel, some of them can pass off as "in country". Darker clouds would have made it perfect, I know Asian weather. We've had unusual heavy rain fall in the hot periods of this year.

Cheers,

Richard

Thanks a lot for your comment Richard, glad you like it! Of course I'd be glad to go with darker clouds, but didn't know how to darken them. But more seriously, I think the clouds I had came out brighter than they really were. Fotographing clouds is generally tricky, they show they real colour when the lighting is a bit on the dark side, and then the details on the first plan tend to show very dark.

Thanks again and have a nice day

Pawel

Pawel,

Arriving late to this thread, but I have to say WOW!  Very eye catching diorama.  There is alot happening without looking busy, and I do like the wet look.  It's different, and well done!

Bravo!

Chris

I really like the natural backgrounds! Something about sunlight & a realistic backdrop catches my eye. A few of your pictures could be mistaken for the real deal! I appreciate the time & effort to capture these images and consider it a branch of the hobby, that is taking realism in modeling to the next level by capturing the scene in a realistic photograph. Followed your entire thread and am impressed with the final vignette.

  Especially this picture... it would have fooled me easily!  I really enjoyed following your work in the diomaras forum.

SuppressionFire, Andy - thanks for the comments, it's so nice to hear. I'm glad I took the extra time to make the fotos. Now I'm going to take a short break and build a civilian truck, then I'm movin' back to military themes - Vietnam! Thanks for lookin' and have a nice day

Pawel