Tiger II - thanks a lot for your kind words! I'm glad you like it. That cooler - I wouldn't get it right without folks on this thread showing me what it should look like. And then I had some luck to try an idea and it worked. Now I know how to paint galvanized stuff like that.

Thanks again and have a nice day

Paweł

Hey Pawel;

You did an excellent job with this piece. Cutting him out and putting him on top of the ammo crate really put this piece over the top. You did a great paint job and everything looks authentic, especially the Covey "bug juice" cooler.

SprueOne, Capn - thanks a lot for your kind words! They mean a lot to me!

Capn - special thanks for your research here, it was a great help for me to understand what goes where and does what! I'm sure it will be very valuable for other modellers too!

Thanks a lot for your comments and have a nice day

Paweł

Excellent work, as always.

Great paint work and I especially like the scratch built details. Nice finish

Hello!

Thanks a lot for your comments!

goldhammer - when modelling Vietnam-related subject I especially value the opinions of the people who "been there, done that"!

Gamera - I'm really glad I did the rework, I'd hate to invest work in a vignette that doesn't really make sense to me or one that I'm not convinced about. As it turned out it wasn't very hard neither.

Thanks a lot for your kind words and have a nice day

Paweł

Pawel: Great job there! And really nice work on reworking the figure, makes much more sense to have him sitting on the crate and I wouldn't even know you'd modified him if you hadn't said so. 

Extremely nicely done.....would make any in-country grunt homesick

Hello everybody!

Thanks a lot for your comments!

Barrett - I have tried my best to do just that!

Griffin - I thought so too, I just don't know what to put on this plate!

Glenn - yeah, heating those C-Rations! That's why I went with peaches here - because there's no heat source to be seen. Not even a C-ration can stove.

keavdog - you're right, I've always heard how important mail from home was to the people, and most of the time we see some men's magazines in the vignettes, so I tried to show reading the mail.

Thanks for looking and have a nice day

Paweł

Really nice piece.  Did a great job on the story with the clear focus on the letters from home  (I assume).  And all the details around the figure really sets the scene.  

Wow, great job Pawel. That came out looking top notch. It needs a name plate on the base. 

Remarkable work, Pawel. It's better than the original would have been! Barrett

Hello Capn!

Thanks a lot!

That video is really nice and informative! You sure have to be careful eating food that is that old!

And I'm calling my vignette done! I have mounted it on a piece of stone and this is how it looks like now:

I would like to thank all the people here that helped me immensely to build this one and they have also made this build extra enjoyable! Thank you very much and I'm counting on you for my next Vietnam builds! Have a nice day

Paweł

Extra sharp.

Oh, and check this out on a meal, Combat, Individual (cautions, Steve is addictive

Nice! (It's a thing he says)

Check out the photos of guys eating MCI in VN at the beginning.  Also not a bad idea to ceck out the rest of his MCI videos to see slightly better condition rations.

Hello!

It is a cool picture indeed - let's re-post it here:

I just couldn't let you all down with the watch, so I started with the strap - I have painted a portion of clear decal sheet OD, and then I have cut a stripe about 0,7mm wide out of it:

For the watch itself I took a piece of stretched sprue about 1mm in diameter and started painting the watch face on its tip. I first painted it silver, then gloss black in the center. Then I took the tip of the knife shown above (Swann-Morton surgical blades - I just love 'em and they are cheaper than X-Actos!) and tried to scratch out the pointers in the black paint:

Now I had to cut off a thin slice of the tip and glue it to the hand in the right place. As for the bracelet - I took a piece of cotton thread, painted it silver, then treated it with white glue to prevent the fuzz. Glued it on the other hand and here's how the Dude looks for now:

Now it's just a base and it's almost there! Thanks for lookin' and have a nice day

Paweł

GMorrison

In the peaches picture, right?

i went back and found it, quite a picture.

 

Thanks. I try and put something together for Vets day and another theme Memorial day.

In the peaches picture, right?

i went back and found it, quite a picture.

GMorrison

I don't have an opinion, however I doubt any soldiers are without one. Ask Glenn, he'll know. He also has a wrist bracelet on, we all had those in the US in the 1960's. Could be woven leather, Indian fabric, silver, lot's of stuff. 

 

I don't remember what watch I had. Probably a Timex that may even be laying around still someplace. Really when I think about I don't even know why I wore one. It was what it was and it's not like we had meeting to attend! Wrist band I don't remember what it was made from. Often boot laces were braided and worn by some. Some guy made one for me which is pictured in this thread that via d-rings and grenade pins kept all the little needs in one place.

Cigs, at least by guys in the field or FSB were almost always kept in one of those cheap plastic waterproof cases.

Pawel

Rob - you mean Graf as in Grafenwoehr, nicht wahr? In Vietnam you wouldn't necessarily carry the liner together with the poncho, would you?

Yes, Grafenwoehr Jacket is the standard old style (OD green) wet weather parka with a poncho liner sewn in. It was warm and dry. By the time woodland wet weather parkas arrived, the field jacket and wet weather top were all but replaced by the Goretex jacket.

The poncho liner had strings attached so you could turn your poncho into an ad hoc sleeping bag. Not as warm as a real sleeping bag, but was more water proof since the outer shell is your rain poncho. It's also a smaller item to carry than a sleeping bag. The liner can't be worn while tied into the poncho since it does not have a hole for your head.

Hello Pawel .

Heris a link h I found by chance , I find that there many of good informationbut if you know it , too bad but that can serve to the other , is this step .

phil .

http://david.brubakers.us/Vietnam/

PX-bought Timex watchers with green plastic bands were pretty common.  As were Timex with standard black bands.  For Marines, or those scoring R&R to Hong kong, Thailand, or the PI, metal banded watches would sometimes be acquired.

Now, perons cautios about reflections from the watch crystal would often wear them to the inside of the wrist.  If memory serves, Timex dial is 30mm on a 20mm band.

1968 coke bottle:

OD poncho liner:

I don't have an opinion, however I doubt any soldiers are without one. Ask Glenn, he'll know. He also has a wrist bracelet on, we all had those in the US in the 1960's. Could be woven leather, Indian fabric, silver, lot's of stuff. 

Pawel

Hello!

GMorrison - how necessary is it in your opinion?

Griffin - Yeah, that could take some serious microelectronics to pull off!

Have a nice day

Paweł

 

We don't want no stinking electronics. Must use all mechanical insides on that watch!

Hello!

GMorrison - how necessary is it in your opinion?

Griffin - Yeah, that could take some serious microelectronics to pull off!

Have a nice day

Paweł

GMorrison

How about a watch?

 

One that actually works. That would be something

How about a watch?

Hello everybody!

Griffin - Thanks a lot for your kind words! As for the cigarette it's already done! Doing some math tells us the 1:35 cigarette should be around 0,2 mm. I first thought about finding some wire, but then my eyes encountered some stretched sprue laying right there on the workbench (just shows you why it's so important to never clean up). So I just used that. Paint it white, paint the filter, glue it in place with some paint, THEN cut to length (better for handling!) and paint the ash on the tip.

As for the bottles, it's only paint. I was trying to show earth colour showing through the glass and light reflections. There are modellers in Poland who don't like it - I can't do any better than that, but I think it's not bad, especially at the right viewing angle.

Glenn - thanks a lot, it means a lot to me! I'll write it again, your Vietnam photos on the net are really cool, I like to browse through them from time to time, to try to get the mood of the place back then.

And I have adjusted the shading on the top of the shirt, previously the brus strokes were a bit to visible. I have added the cigarette, as described above, and the letter from home:

The lighting angle looks kinda funny after rotating the photograph... Here's another shot showing the letter a bit better - but then the photo is blurry - sorry for that!

As for the letter - I have designed it in Corel DRAW!, printed out and there it is. If anybody would like to use it, here it is too - letter from home in 1:35:

Just print it out without rescaling (300dpi), cut out on the inner side of the line and fold the envelopes - and you're ready to go.

Now it's actually only the final assembly left to be done - unless anybody sees something that needs a correction, that is. Thanks for reading and have a nice day

Paweł

Accurate boots. Who's shirt, I have no clue. 

You're really nailing this Pawel. I admire your patience.

glenn sandbags fsb1 by Glenn Hanson, on Flickr