"Green Berets in Vietnam" & "Charlie on the Left!"

Excellent work! I must say it must have been difficult to paint "Tiger Stripe" camo on such a small scale. Finished product really is amazing

In the first dio, if the badguys are close enough to be engaged with a pistol, it is a little late for the other guy to be clickin' off the claymore...

In the second dio, the belt that feeds the .50 cal does not appear to be going into the weapon, thus, it is unloaded...

Some of your builders recent stuff has been pretty nice, MM. This stuff from PJ, while the basics look OK, the composition really needs some work.

model maniac

Nice little dios.

Regards

Gerry

The M151A2 (as the Tamiya kit is) is not correct for Vietnam.  The M151A1 (Academy makes one) was the version used in Vietnam.  Additionally, the .50 cal was not commonly used on M151s since the recoil was too strong and it cracked the frame.  

On the Green Berets, their barets should not be OD Green like the rest of their uniforms.  The beret is a darker, almost black- green color.

ghostt180, many thanks for your kind comments. Here's an earlier work from the same modeler with "Tiger Stripe":

www.falconbbs.com/m59-462.jpg

bbrownii, thanks for your kind comments. PJ is not so good at building trees but his groundwork is OK.

Gerry, thanks for your kind words.

Gino, thanks for your info & image. I didn't know athe difference between M151A1 and M151A2. I chose Tamiya's because believe it or not, it's cheaper ($ 8.08 + $ 4.19) than Academy's! ($12.56 + $ 6.24). As for .50 cabiber guns, I've seen them installed on WWII Jeeps, didn't they have the same problem?

As for .50 cabiber guns, I've seen them installed on WWII Jeeps, didn't they have the same problem?

The difference was that WWII Willys MB jeeps had a heavy duty steel frame and body, which could handle the recoil.  The M151 series had a lighter unibody construction to save on weight and it couldn't support the .50 cal.  The largest weapon that was usually used on them was an M60 MG.

or the occasional recoilless rifle but as you can see, the 151 in the back has a Ma Deuce

Your painting skills are impressive and the composition of the second is good, I just don't understand the composition of the first. I'm not trying to be a jerk here, but I think you need to really need to decided what story you're trying to portray. The guy using the pistol doesn't really go well with the guy with the grenade or the Claymore (making it hard to determine where the enemy is). I'm not sure what the fourth guy is doing but he doesn't really add to the desperate defense look of the other three, I'd suggest removing him and possibly the guy with the claymore or the guy with the pistol.

Again, not trying to be a jerk, you're good at painting and clearly put a lot of work into this I'm just trying tot make you aware of some somewhat messy composition.

Well that all boils down to the Figures that Dragon molded. In and of themselves they do not truly tell a single story. The two guys in the jungle fatigues are fighting up close and personal- one delivering a butt stroke with his rifle and the other engaging bad guys with his .45. The other two in the tiger stripes are still in close combat, hand grenade and claymore mine range... I cant remember anymore how many meters of wire are on a claymore mine spool, but it is not that much...25 or 50 meters max. Now if there was an overwhelming VC or NVA assault going on like in the old John Wayne movie, yes it all could be happening at once in close proximity, but without the bad guys in the picture, we cant really tell now.

Add in that falling VC figure from the Masterbox set above and/or some of the Dragon NVA Sapper set and then a good desperate struggle would show...

I remember a story a co-worker told us about his time in service in Vietnam. At the firebase where they were at, the VC would sneak up at night and reverse the claymores so it they were set off they would fire back at our boys. To prevent that from happening, the backs of the claymores were painted white. If you didn't see white, don't set off the mine. One night they were expecting a big attack, all of the claymores were reversed, but word came down to still set them off at a signal. The VC were allowed to get past the claymores then at close range the claymores were set off followed by all of the weapons in the base. The VC were hit from both sides and melted back into the jungle.I don't know how close this was to the fortifications, but it sounded like it was quite close.

Mike T.

stikpusher

 ...but as you can see, the 151 in the back has a Ma Deuce...

Right, that is why I said,

"...the .50 cal was not commonly used on M151s."   Your pic also shows M151A1 1/4 ton trucks as well.

Thanks for more comments since my last  reply, they're very informative. I enjoy reading them all.

Tried to load up a couple of pics with .50 on M151A1. Never mind.

Same problem