That looks outstanding--your skills are really showing.

Thos suspenders above are twisted to show the stuff along the belt.  Flat, they'd look like this:

The hooks near the horizontal bit of the yoke are to attach a field pack (actually the "butt" pack on an adapter, which our man here is not using as he has a pack nearby.  Two hooks to left of above photo go eitehr to bet, or top eyes in a butt pack.  The "y" straps go to either side of the belt's buckle, then to either side (usually just past the ammo pouch).

As to packs, these are actual packs used in RVN:

I think the Verlinden sculpt is meant to be the pack in the front row above, furthest to the right.  This was known as an "ARVN ruck" as the design was taken from a locally produced pack.
Which has a very prominent "X" frame on the back:

Which is supposed to have a prominent cure in it to keep the back out of contact with the wearer's back.  These are the packs that are depicted on the Tamiya M-113 crew figures.

Pawel, These are all great solutions and superbly executed. This is going to be a really fantastic looking piece. Barrett

Hello Capn!

Thanks a lot for the reference pictures, they will be an inspiration for me as to the colours I should use, and they also make this thread so much more valuable to the readers!

It's a bit surprising for me to see how the suspender belts cross on the M-67, most of the figs have those H-shaped design of the M-56. It's actually a challenge to get figs that don't wear LBE like redlegs or anybody else doing the REMF stuff.

I've been working to refine some pointsmentioned above. First the Ice cooler - I had to repair the handle, I got mine broken out of the box:

I have also corrected the spoon issue, mentioned by Barett:

And here the claymore bag (containing maps or whatever) covers the grenade that shouldn't be there and the oversize M16. The out of reach dose was converted to empty (paper and super glue):

Please tell me what do you think about it, and I'm working on the face and the hands.

Thanks for reading and have a nice day

Paweł

Some more pics, then

This is M-67 LBE

This is M-56 gear, which pahased out in late 67/69, bbut parts were used for a long time.

That's a rooled poncho underneath.  Those are the oldest of the M-16 specific mag carriers.

Here are all the mag pouches used in that decade--the two short ones are the ones specific to the 20 round M-16 Magazine (top left to bottom right, chronologically)

"Jungle" boots stirs a pot.  There were 4 or 5 generations of the boots, with either 3 or 4 sole patterns.  "Panama" sole:

"Waffle" tread:

The color of the green nylon is a near match to NATO Meduim Green; the soles and leather looked more NATO Black in real life.  If you hold an unissued pair in your hand, as 18" the drains are a shiny brass; after use this fades to a bronze/brown color--note that the early pattern boots had drains on the outside ; the later generations are on the inside edge of the boots.

If you'e interested, I have a book that detyails the 706 that I can send to you.  I had a project on my hands converting the army version to one of the A.F. types I used to drive.  I hear that there is a conversion kit out for that but I cna't find it.

The H.B. kit is an enclusive kit.  It has parts for several versions up to the V-150 type.  I had to completely build the insides and just boxed up most of the original parts.  Even the seats were wrong, and the engine was a waste of plastic.  We used big Chrysler engines that were inside a walled area.  For some reason they provided a chain for the whinch instead of the cable we actually had.

I'd send some shsots of the detail  added to all the hatches, the inside gunport shields that moved at the same time as the outside ones. and so much more, but I still haven't done anything about the photobucket problem.

If you'd like th book, send me your address and I'll get it to you.

Hello everybody!

Thanks a lot for your great comments!

ikar01 - that's a great observation. Too bad I can't yet show that "wetness" in the painting of my dios - I have to work on that skill. And I'll definitely come back to you WHEN I get to building my Cadillac armored car.

As for Verlinden - he was definitely setting his priorities for cool looks, and in the pre-internet days he couldn't conduct his research as easy as we can nowadays. I'll try to research what I can, and I also get a kick out of it!

Capn - thanks a lot! Those photos you posted really help me. That's a great idea with the can. It would be enough to make an opened lid at the bottom to show this can as empty and discarded. The doggy could be sniffing at it! Then there's this grenade to take care of.

I understand you about that LBE. I don't quite know what could be done with it, though.

Midden - I had to check it up, but now I've learned a new word, so the day wasn't wasted! Thanks a lot!

That's very interesting about Steve1989 - I'll take a look.

Barrett - I don't know how much realism I can achieve, but the comments I had so far are themselves worth the research! Thanks for the heads up on the spoon, I'll remove it and probably put it in the Dude's hand, just have to figure out how to make something smaller here.

Glenn - thanks a lot for the photo! Now it's tempting to show the open can to contain apricots. But did you hear about that some units believed having apricots on you or near you brought bad luck to the whole unit or at least to the individual in question?

T.B. - thanks a lot for your kind words, they mean a lot to me!

I have primed the head and the hands of the figure and I'm going to paint the flesh now. I'll show you the pictures when I'm done. Thanks for reading and have a nice day

Paweł

Pawel :

 Like I have said . You are an awesome modeler , Guy . Very well done ! T.B.

Verlinden had a habit of not knowing what he was doing with dioramas.  H did one of a F-105 in a reventmant that had a number of problems.  There was a recip engine from some aircraft sitting in a back corner and he had the ground crew wearing T-Shirts with their job name on the back like you would see on a carrier.  Both wrong.  Only the aircraft would be in the reventment with some support equipment if they were being used.  If the aircraft was ready to leave teh equipment was rolled out of the way.  A lot of times the mechanics and weapons guys didn't even wear shirts let alone marked like that, because of the heat on the fligh line.

One time he did a resin kit of one of our M-706 armored cars and molded a large tarp over the parapit armor.  I can only guess that he either didn't know what the top of the vehicle looked like inside the armored walls or he just got lazy and figured nobody would know or care.  No 706 would be covered with a tarp because  it covered the gun mounts on all sides.  If it rained the reaction team would just close the blast doors and keep dry.  I know, I used to drive A.F. armored vehicles.

Pawel, If you're going for the level of realism some of these posts suggest, then I recommend that you remove that spoon and replace it with something smaller. The current one would be about the size of a ladle at full scale! Barrett

Pawel

So maybe I should paint my can really bright silver/stainless steel?

Yeah, that's an ice cooler.  Much like this one:

only using 60s technology.
The nice peopple at Coleman (smae folk who make laterns and cookstoves) painted theirs green and red.
Found an old igloo:

And a Covey:

(wonder what an eBay search will turn up)

Tin cor cake, and for crackers was about 1/3 as tall as a "regular" c-rat can. 

So, maybe the out of reach can could be empty--there are those somewhat discarded Coke bottles to maybe suggest the beginnings of a midden (although I cannot imagine a Sergeant allowing a midden ).

The "disappering" LBE really bugs me.  Your LBE is your life.  Your ammo, water, first-aid, compass and the like are all on there.  You do not let is casually sink in the mud or water or the like.  Sure, you doff it at first excuse, but, you do not just pitch it away like an empty beer can.

In case you need to know way too much about US (and others) combat meals, over on youtube is a channel by Steve1989, who collects--and eats--historic old rations.

You have to take into consideration that after while, especially during monsoon season, dry would start to seem like a un-natural state.  You're wet almost all the timeand sometimes after getting back into your hooch, all you want to do is dry off and sometimes crash.  We usually had bunkers or some such that we might be able to get out of the rain but sometimes you had no choice and just stayed out in the water.  At least it was nice and warm.  Sometimes after the solid wall of water went by, the wall of bugs showed up and decided to land on you for a few minutes   such fun.  At least I was on a base.  

Anyway, the point is that sometimes you were so tired it didn't matter, what was going to happen, you get wet?  Too late.

Hello everybody!

Griffin25 - thanks a lot for your kind words! I hoped that it would!

Barrett - thanks a lot! I'm going to prime the parts soon, so let's see.

Capn - it's always good to read your posts! You gave me something to think about with your last one.

Making the dude bare-footed is tempting. There even is a set that would let one pull this off quite easily - I mean this one:

Lots of bare feet to cannibalize (this word sounds kinda bad in this case).

But I have already made places for his heels in the "dirt", and I don't know how I would show empty, unlaced jungle boots, so I think I'm going to pass on this one - but I'll keep it in mind for my future projects!

Very interesting point on that cold food - but at the same time a good save. So let's agree we're talking fruit salad and pound cake. That can far away could be bad-luck-apricots - how about that?

I also thought about cutting that far-away can and the grenade and putting a claymore bag over them. What would you say to that?

Another thought would be to have a little dog getting curious about the opened can - which would be dumb if that can contained fruit salad, but then again it could explain the can being fed to the doggy and then it would contain Ham and MoFos while the Dude had something warm to eat.

The cans could always come from some kind of a trade, and not from the pack.

That is a funny thing about that Colt, there's that '45 there. But the actual web gear is not really to be seen - maybe it's under the jacket? Only some ammo pouches and compass/dressing pouches and canteens.

I also wanted to ask you for help - can you give me some more detail on that large round can? When I look for a mermite it's mostly that square, OD can with a lid. That round one is hard to find, but I have found this photo:

So maybe I should paint my can really bright silver/stainless steel?

Thanks again for your input and have a nice day

Paweł

Pawel, you have some serious skills.

I probably would have used a sandbag for being simpler to mould in.

VLS left you with another (minor) hiccup.

VN is a wet place, humid and dank.  Human feet are not well suited to such a place encased in shoes.  So, people concerned about their foot health would doff boots and socks to let toes and feet air out.  This is often seen in period photos.  Now, guys in firebases did this a little less--but, they had a hootch or quarters to go to and be dry within, rather than being out in the air.

Oh, the verlinden-itis still bugs me.

If you are enough in the rear with the gear to be around mermite cans or water coolers, you are not eating from (cold--there's no heat source nearby) c-ration cans.  If you are eating fruit salad or canned peaches, you would have dug out all the stuff in your pack to get to those prized possession, so the pack would not be so "plump."

The web (LBE) gear under/next to the BAR-length M16 is incredibly incomplete (and it looks like there is a holster for a 1911 in there--not at all common for leg infantry).  Oh, and since they couldn't figure what else to do, there's a random greande (greandes are very dangerous, you no not leave them about like apples) and a way-out-of-reach c-ration can.  Sigh.

I'm a member of a field gear group on facebook, and the farby on this is strong

So, it's a good thing you have the skills to carry this off.

Pawel, Really great work! Once you prime it, it will be really hard to see those alterations. I'm looking forward to watching you develop this. Barrett

Great job with the modification. That looks more realistic. 

Hello everybody!

I've got an update here - I've just filled the hole in the base using black Milliput. I have also bent the legs of the figure. Third thing I did was to reshape the crate a little - I've added some woodgrain on its sides. Here's how it looks right now:

I hope to be able to paint the base soon! Thanks for reading and have a nice day

Paweł

Hello!

TB, Gamera - thanks a lot for your kind words! Like I said, I'm happy about my cut and it needed some courage before I started!

But of course it was not all.

I had to make another, horizontal cut to free the legs:

As you can see I also have a crate from Academy's 1:35 acessories set - nice and cheap set - for the GI to sit on. The legs are also cleaned up from the remaining resin.

And here's how I plan to use the chunk of resin that I cut off and the crate:

Now I have to do some posing for the man to sit comfortably. The base will aso have get filled some - I think I'll take milliput for that. Thanks for looking and have a nice day

Paweł

Yeah, that's a great job there Pawel. I'd have pulled him out... in about seven pieces... 

Looking forward to seeing what you do with him now. 

Pawel ;

 Very good cut out . I knew you would do yourself proud .T.B.

Barrett - I don't mind the advice at all - even if I knew it there's always a chance somebody else reading this thread could use it.

goldhammer - I'm glad you like it, I thought people would, that's why I have shared it. Not only do we have a vet here who doesn't mind speaking about his war experience, he's got talent for that!

So after reading many times: positively no sitting directly on the ground! I had to make the cut. Glad I did it, too - it wasn't very hard.

Have a nice day

Paweł

Pawel - Thanks for the link on that article.  Fun read.  Totally amazed the wife and now my new lady with the "papa-san squat", squatting flat footed.  The couldn't believe I could get down that far without falling over backward.  Amazingly at age 65 can still do it, and stand up without touching the ground.

A little leftover from my time at Udorn, Thailand.

Pawel, Thank you for your kind reply. I figured you had experience with resin and figured you'd be cutting it. I have had resin pieces break in unusual ways while I was cutting through them. That was my concern for you. May I suggest that you make your cut in the front of the knee so you control where the seam will be rather than from the back of the knee. You may already have made that decision. My apologies if I'm telling you things you already planned for.

Barrett - thanks a lot! For repositioning the figure I don't usually bend them, but rather I do the repositioning by cutting. Of course in resin it's harder to do than in case of styrene.

That woodgrain is this way for painting. I'll try to tone it down a little.

Have a nice day

Paweł

Pawel, Really nice job on the cut! Careful with the legs. That resin likes to break in ways you don't want. Now that the soldier is out of the way, I noticed that the wood grain of the crates is way too exagerated. Those would have to be some really old crates for the grain to be raised that much. You may want to consider filling or sanding the grain down to something more realistic. Barrett

Hello!

Gentlemen - thanks again for your comments, they motivated me to get movin' on this one.

Glenn - thanks a lot for the clarification, and also big thanks for your photos from Nam - they are a great reference source. They are also good photos meant as a form of art, I like them a lot.

TB - Awright, you convinced me!

I've got together my man up pills, I've tightened my jigsaw and in less than half an hour I have made THE CUT:

As you see I didn't lose any meaningful detail yet. All was done wet to avoid the dust from getting airborne. Now I'll do the horizontal cut, glue the plug back into the hole and try to repose the legs to show the man sitting on another, third box.

Thanks for lookin' and have  a nice day

Paweł

Uh Oh !

 There's No Way I would set my Butt on the bare ground over there . Even if I had to sit on my folded poncho I had sumpin tween me and the bugs .The ones over there were Mean !

Glenn - mail! Yeah, I've been thinlking about it after reading how important this was to a soldier far away from home. How would the envelopes look like? And does Danger Forward have something to do with the Big Red One?

The envelopes would look like any other mail but usually a little more beat up by the time you got them. Danger Foward was a glossy magazine put out by the BRO monthly. Here's a mail call during a stand down.

mail call hootch by Glenn Hanson, on Flickr

Capn - Verlinden-itus, that's what it is! Nice to know about that can, but I think I'll leave it in place here. I'm more likely to saw the legs out to retain the rest of the base. I've got more than enough legs to substitute something good instead if the need arises.

GMorrison - luckily we don't have this much of a mess here. Lots of stuff but I wouldn't say overloaded. I think you're right about the radio.

BlackSheepTwoOneFour - Sure is!

Glenn - mail! Yeah, I've been thinlking about it after reading how important this was to a soldier far away from home. How would the envelopes look like? And does Danger Forward have something to do with the Big Red One?

Thanks a lot for your comments and have a nice day

Paweł