50th Anniversary Vietnam War Group Build

Peter & Bish, thanks for the compliments.

Bish, I have a few different approaches to using the Future for  mud: 1) just brush on the Future and while its still wet, sprinkle on the sifted dirt, and paint it all up later at the end, this gives a more precise application and thinner dried mud look, 2) mix up an untinted batch of whatever viscosity I choose, apply with a cheap brush, then paint up to taste afterwards, great for a heavy build up of wet or dried stuff, and 3) what I did here a variation of the last, mix up a couple pre colored mud batches, apply with the cheap nylon brush, then go back and adjust the color if or as needed.

I am still coming up with different ideas to tweak it. Bot on any of them it usually requires more than one application. Or combinations of a couple of those techniques.

Well, I finally got the 57mm Recoilless completed and added, and new photos taken with it up top. I'll get them edited and posted tomorrow. Right now I have to get paid to go watch a soccer game, I mean work overtime at one ;)

That could be VERY dangerous duty. It's either fans or moms, don't know which is worse.

Be careful out there.

Seriously.

This was a MLS game, not many proverbial "soccer moms" there. But a moderate crowd of adult fans and few rowdies or hooligans among them last night. And I was as safe as the situation allows.

Stik, I'm curious, what over there passes for a football hooligan.

Well compared to what I have seen on the news from your part of the world, the rowdy fan clubs here are not bad compared to what you guys have there. And nobody really uses that particular term here. But some of the Latin American teams fan clubs can be pretty drunk and unruly with some mini riots going on. There are some serious rivalries from the old countries that those folks bring here. Throwing rocks and bottles, trashing cars, fighting, explosive types of fireworks,  and such. World Cup time in those communities can get pretty exciting, and I don't mean in a positive way. But in most cases their numbers are not that high,  perhaps a few hundred at most.

Oh, and here are the photos of the now truly finished ARVN M113, complete with 57mm M18 Recoilless Rifle. I think it balances out the top deck better now.

Things are not all that bad here now, but back in the 70''s and 80's, footie was not a game to take the kids to. Now its to damn expensive for the thugs to go to. Eastern Europe is another matter, a lot of trouble over there. And I have seen some of what goes on in South America. They actually banned alcohol at football grounds 30 years ago, that was the start of cleaning things up.

Am I right in thinking that the MLS is the highest level of the game in the US.

That's nice Stik, the M18 is a nice touch, handy to pack a bit of a punch.

Nice build all round.

I agree about the M18 Bish, and thank you for the kind words. Yes, Major League Soccer, or MLS is the top level here for the game here in the US. The local team, L.A. Galaxy, is the one that hired Mr Beckham in attempt to draw more fans in, and I gotta say it did work. they are going the opposite way locally about alcohol and the games here. The stadium that we have has just started allowing "tailgating" with alcohol in the parking lots before the game this season. So far no major bad incidents have occurred. Its just that some of the fans want to "tailgate" after the game when we want to close things down and go home. MLS games are not cheap here either. Especially the beer and booze.

Hello!

I'm pushing forward to finish my Whale - it's almost done - the only thing left is the correct main gear wheel - I'm still waiting for custom PE to correct them. The thing is the kit's wheels are correct for so called "Version" - EA-3B, RA-3B, TA-3B and ERA-3B - but incorrect for "Bombers" - A-3B, KA-3B and EKA-3B - that had smaller brakes.

But for today I installed the wire antennae - made them of stretched sprue:

Also note the AN/ARR-15 antenna on the rear cabin window looking like shades - the decal was provided by Hasegawa without telling you where to put it.

I also spotted some missed panel lines on the underside - I pencilled them in, and also added a tie-down ring at the base of the arresting hook, a holdback fitting (the yellow arrow points to it) and the refuelling hose drogue. I also painted the lights:

I also fitted the crew access/escape hatch and the catapult bridle attachment hooks (from the Eduard PE set):

So, like I wrote the only thing left now are the wheels - I'll let you know when I fix this. Hope you like it - thanks for reading and have a nice day

Paweł

That looks superb Pawel! You are so close to being done with this one!

That is really nice Pawel. Love the finish and some great detail there.

Fantastic job Pawel, I love all the little details you're adding, they make a major difference in how it's looking

Hello gentlemen!

Stik, Bish, Bob - thanks a lot for your kind words, they mean a lot to me! Now for the wheels and I already got some Vietnam-related plans. Thanks for looking and have a nice day

Paweł

Wow, Pawel, that Whale is certainly a stunner. Way to go....geez!! Love it

Rob - thank you very much for your kind words, I'm glad you like it!

Have a nice day

Paweł

This is my last diorama for this build. . this is my attempt to recreate a NVA bunker in the The A Shau Valley of northern South Vietnam was a key infiltration route for North Vietnamese forces during the Vietnam Wa

Thanks for looking

Mac

Nice work there MAC! Any chance you can get a shot showing the whole thing in one view?

MAC - nice work! You might want to get back to those white speckles and blend them in/paint them over - that would IMO help the overall appearance of your dio a lot. Thanks for sharing and have a nice day

Paweł

Pawel - Great job on the Whale; really love what you did with it.  Really sharp all the way around.

MAC - Pretty cool dio, really captures the look of a muddy, jungle fortress.  Reminds me of the movie "Hamburger Hill.'  

monitoring :)

Hello!

Sorry to revive this thread, but I have unfinished business here. I fully intend to complete my Whale! So after a long time, here's an update!

We're talking about this part:

It's the main landing gear wheel, which would be correct for the so called "versions" variant of that aircraft, but not for a "bomber" - and the EKA-3B belongs to the bombers.

It's wheels should look something like this:

That means work. First I got to my trusty lathe and took the unnecessary part out. I really needed to man up on this one for fear of destroying something:

What I got was a very clean wheel:

Now I had to add some detail. I designed my own custom PE part in CorelDRAW! and let a small company etch it for me. That's what took so much time. After I got the parts, I had to shape them. I have built a matrix out of two pieces of iron and turned a brass punch on my lathe. One gentle tap of a hammer and the part was shaped, like on the photo below - on the left - BEFORE, the original part. On the right - AFTER the shaping. You can see the heat discoloration on the part on the right - that's because I heated it with a gas torch to make the material softer and to prevent it from cracking:

Now the easy part was to cut the parts out and glue them to the styrene:

Now I'm going to paint and weather them. I hope you liked it so far - thanks for reading and have a nice day

Paweł

I can't wait to see this one finished!

Well, Stik - the wait is over! Here's the final update:

I painted the wheels and weathered tham a little:

 One thing left was to put them on the model:

And so the whale is finally completed, after two years!

Let's take a look at the completed build:

Thank you all for your attention and for your comments. Now I can't wait to see that in the completed section! I hope you liked it and have a nice day

Paweł

Outstanding job Pawel-great job of weathering and your attention to detail-especially the one off PE wheels speaks to your level of modeling....