Nico: I say if the figures fit then leave them as is. And too much mud in Vietnam? Surely you jest

Stephen: There are several AM solutions for that fiddly soft mantlet cover if you don't want to keep fighting it. I personally don't like vinyl pieces that the kits came with.

Scott: Awesome site, thanks for sharing! The barrels fit better in at least some of the resin AM mantlet covers, I always felt the kit design was a bit fiddly as well. I've tried superglue before to help in such situations, but I ended up having better luck with A+B putty. And yes, there are quite a few racy decal sets in that kit. Not exactly family or relationship friendly.

Check out the Australian War Memorial Site mate they have lots of pics.

I ended up using a box of Dragon's Marines and Seals as they were pretty close to our lads gear.

I sometimes wonder how the blokes achieved anything much less the accolades they did end up getting in Vietnam.

The uniforms were rubbish, they fell apart and torn really easily, I know from my own experience they rarely lasted more than a week or 2 on Ops.

The Cents themselves ended up with a hodge podge of gear, the radios didn't work the intercoms didn't work the drivers usually wore an M1 Steel helmet etc.
You can see on mine I have a PRC-77 radio on the back, it is to talk to the infantry as the infantry phone on the fuel tank at the rear had cardboard speaker membranes which lasted about 4.2 seconds in the tropics.

The Owen was used in the early days when they were still trying to fight the PNG campaign again, generally it was given to forward scouts, radio operators and in some cases officers. It was replaced in those roles by the F1 which was pretty much a waste of resources, a Stirling with the magazine on top more or less. Eventually the M16 was introduced and gained much wider appeal.

More pics:



The '68 winter snow falls in South Vietnam caught everyone by surprise, but not 1 Armd



I think the tracks are still a bit shiny but, next up is a coat of future then some decals then some weathering.

My M50a1 Ontos for the campaign









I will post more once i have the base for it complete

cheers

keith

Nice work Keith

Nice Ontos. I assume that is the Academy kit?

Yes it's the academy kit with voyager photo etch and verlinden interior

Keith

Stellar work as always Keith! Did you end up using the aluminum barrel set for it?

No I used the plastic kit ones the metal ones in the voyager set are way to much hassle with the photo etch that needs to be added

Keith

Keith: great looking build? I'll be pleased if mine looks even a third as good as yours. What colors did you end up using for the exterior? Thanks.

Happy Modelling, -zon

Hi Zon

I used lifecolor UA236 Italian bianco from their axis tank interiors set as it was a nice off White colour for the interior and Olive Khaki Drab from the lifecolor olive drab boxed set

Hth

Keith

Hi all.
Scott:Your Centurions looking great. I would really like to build one of these in Braille scale but the only kit available is the old Airfix one which would be a lot of work! Great website link by the way, will come in handy if I have a go at that airfix kit.
Kieth: Nice work on the Ontos, looks great.
Cheers,
Tim

Some more progress shots of the FSV.
The completed chassis.There was a seam line down the middle of the whole track asembly that had to be removed, and the drive sprockets are poorly moulded.The wheels are really quiet poor and the track work doesn't look right either so i'll be liberal with the pigment in this area during painting!


Australian M113's had additional belly and sponson armour added so I have added some plastic card at the front and back to represent the belly armour. I did not add it along the whole belly as the inner side road wheels are a smaller diameter than the outer wheels and are off centre so it didn't really seem worthwhile. In this scale the road clearance is minimal so you wont be able to see under there anyway.

Jeremy: Thanks for mentioning the .30cals. Having another look at them I realised I had the rooftop .30cal in the wrong position in the middle of the hatch, so moved this over to the outer side. And I drilled a couple of small holes in the side of the coaxial .30 cal to get that cooling jacket look that .30cals have. Would have been better with some brass MG's but they would have cost as much as the kit!
Cheers,
Tim

Hi,

Keith, your Ontos is looking very great, congrats !

nico

Keith: Thanks for the info!!

Happy Modelling, -zon

hi all

my completed entry for the campaign

Titled "Respite" -

res-pite - A short period of rest or relief from something difficult or unpleasant

A Marine Crew of a m50a1 Ontos take a well deserved break during the 1968 Tet Offensive in Hue City.









Thanks for looking

cheers

keith

Nice work! Were the crew figures stock or modified? And also, how did you make the plam tree?

Very nice Keith!!

Happy Modelling, -zon

Most excellent Keith, what did you use for the fern and palm leaves?

Looks great Keith!
Cheers,
Tim

Hi Guys sorry for the late reply but have been at the UK nationals this weekend and have just got back.

The figures are by Evolution miniatures with one having a new Hornet head with the AFV head gear.

The palm tree is a cut down Verlinden item I had with KAMIZUKURI palm leaves added (these are Japanese paper plants) painted with acrylic inks in different green shades sprayed over the paper. they are quite fragile but very effective that doesn't really show in my poor photography.

the ferns are again paper plants, fragile to build and quite expensive but they really do give a nice colour edge to the scene.

cheers

Keith

They look fantastic! I've been very hesitant to try paper foliage, but it's hard to ignore results like that. I'm still not sure if I would want to mess with them with the humidity we have around the Gulf area down here.

hi i will joint campaign with a diorama: " Hue 1968 tet offensive"
I will build a diorama from this photo



I start with 1/35 M48a5 Academy , i will convert it to m48a3 vietnam war


and some us marrine figures


Welcome all comments

i build the hull , this is the plan conver from m48a5's hull to m48 a3 's hull

That's going to be an interesting Dio PPT, looking forward to seeing what you come up with.