Very cool Paul. I am sure you have your hands full with that build...especially the Trumpeter half. Just FYI alot of the pictures I have seen of these Balkan vehicles, they are sporting the ole' M-2 .50 cal. That's what's going on my -34 cupola.


Best wishes, Ian

here's all the characters involved

Left to right is Master Box's "Head for the Huey", Academy's Huey crew that comes with the kits, Dragons Marine recon, Dragons Helo Crew. Weapons are a mix of spares and kit
One more

Paul, its lookin' pretty sweet already!

Alex Z, Im impressed with undertaking the painting of all those Figs. The payoff will be huge!

FINALLY!!! Tracks on and i can finish the barrel and it wont take too much after that.



Gary

Got the T-34 assembled. Going to start on figures and then start weathering.

Gary, Coming along great. How many times have you knocked the main gun spotlight off? I actually knocked it off mine yesterday while moving the model on the shelf.

Alex Z, That's a lot of figures. How are you planning to show your Huey? On the ground? Landing? Also wondering how you are going to do the rotor blades. Are you going to try to simulate them spinning?

Hey Alex, from looking at images of UH-1 the one thing that i notice is that there is next to no prop blur. So no work needed. With regards to the helo's the UH-1D will be on the ground or just about to touch down, while the UH-1B will be in the air providing top cover for the extraction. The dio and its layout are most likely going to be the toughest part of this build

Alex Z, It's a very ambitious diorama. I've seen several attempts to replicate spinning rotors. I'm always on the lookout for different ones. Are you going to have rotor blast blowing vegetation aside? Good luck.

From what I've read (I'm not really concerned with Viet Nam much so I haven't done much reading!), on occasions Helos were unable to land as the Viet Kong would plant large bamboo spikes in fields to protect them from American landing attempts. Just something to think about Alex 'Youngun'.

Thats going to be one of the biggest issues, the rotor was and just ground work in general. That and having the other chopper suspended to simulate flight.

LOL...not yet Alex, but i cant guarantee it wont happen. I scribed into the area to deepen it before i glued into place...strong so far.

Gary

Alex Z, I think you'll have your hands full, but I'm interested in seeing you pull this off. I don't build many of them, but I like the whirly-birds. If you're comfortable working with water, you could make the LZ a rice paddy. That could cut down on your vegetation. That could make for a very dramatic scene.

Gary, After I took the campaign gallery pictures I added a strip of scrap PE fret to the back of the spotlight bracket to give it a third point of contact. It definitely helped.

@ Paul Frankie & the stein is looking very cool, can you see much of the T55 interior thru that Hellcat turret??

Gary & the Alex's!! Gentleman were the hell did you get the pixie dust to get all that work done all ready??

I will have to ask the little red round man to get me some go go gadget arms & legs to even get close to you guys!!

Cheers Mike

Thanks guys, but this is going to be a good fight.
Now to Mikes question:



Oh sh&" I never thought of that. You can see a damned
good deal as the M18 turret has no turret floor.
Man I could bite my own a$$ because I didn´t think of that. Well time to find some interior pics of a T55. Or has anyone anything here?
Paul

Mike, The kit really should get the bulk of the credit. It goes together really well. I made the best of a free weekend and was able to get a really good start. To be honest, I probably pushed it a little harder because I have two campaigns starting today. And that's just the start of a very busy campaign workload ahead for me.

The week was spent doing small steps like mounting the tracks. I like individual tracks and for me, these were a real treat. Conversely, I didn't get squat done this weekend. I basically got some of the parts for the figures collected. Try finding Soviet tanker heads that look African.

Gary nice build you have going there so far. Are those kit supplied tracks or aftermarket? I’m surprised I still haven’t gotten an ASU yet, I have the covered mantle from accurate armour that I got by mistake.

Alex that is a lot of figures you have there to work on. I thought I had a lot to paint up. Can’t wait to see the rest.

Well I have completed the build and ready to start applying some paint. The suspension parts were a bit more of a pain than I thought it would be. I had to leave off the shock absorbers on the middle and rear. With the wishbones attached, the shocks could not be squeezed into place. Either way they won’t be seen much with the wheels in place.

We have our first wounded soldier of the campaign, my knife slipped and i put a nice 2 and a half in long gash in the side of my finger. Gotta a bandage on it but it hurts like a

Just walk it off and you'll be alright.

By the way, you are current on your Tetanus shot, right?











~ Jeff

Jeff not to worry, went to the hospital and were all good. Should have a lovely scar for the ladies

Hey Chris, The tracks are kit tracks. Im very happy with them - they were a breeze to put together. DUDE, you got to get this kit! Im really enjoying this build, other than the Barrel... Your KICKIN" SOME A$$ buddy, she looks great!

Well fellas, i spent this evening scratching up some headlight guards from brass hobby wire and copper wire. And i finally got the barrel to a point im happy with it and its glued in place.



More tomorrow!

Hey Alex Z., I hear it will heal real nice if you soak your finger in cid-er.....

Gary

Medic!! Medic!! We got'a man down!!!

@ Alex Younggun with war wounds I bet you had the nurse's going!! You should be having words with that LRRP army of yours for not keeping the Co safe!!

@ Gary looking myyytee fine on that Kremlin killing machine!!

@ Chris loving what you are doing sir!! Still reckon that Idea you had on the flag rocks!!

@ Paul I know their is a build in the russian/ soviet forum were Karkov ( Matt) has done a stunning job on a T55 interior their maybe something that could help you in their??

Cheers Mike

Alex, I know this campaign reflects the cold brutality of Civil War but you really don't have to add your own blood. Glad you are alright....and chicks will dig the scar.



Regards, Ian

What kind of girls do you talk to that would be impressed by that paper cut?

Haha I knew this tread would rock! Nice build guys...Wish I had a proxy kit at hand... Gary, always a clean build bro

Christopher, keep it up it is great so far.
Alex please stop juggling x-acto, it ain`t safe mate
(hope you get well soon)

Phil.

So after yesterday's nice fiasco, today the mail man had a wonderful surprise for me.


Why a German Huey you may ask? Because its cheaper for me to buy the crew, decals and kit then it is to buy the UH-1D Vietnam version. The kits are identical, in every respect so i saved myself a few bucks.

Alex Z, Nasty place to get a deep cut. Aren't the Panda UH-1 and Dragon UH-1 basically the same kit? I've built the Panda UH-1. It's a bit simplified but not bad.

Now that the X-Acto has tasted blood you have to put it down. At least change out the blade.

Gary, The brass light guards look great, much better than the kit ones.

Hi Mike, thanks for the tip, but this has thrown more questions into my build.
The T55 has a revolving turret floor, when they swapped those turrets did they add something or not?
If they didn´t this would be extremly dangerous, as a crew member could get caught up on a torsion bar, and in the worst case when the turret is traversing. Very painful if not leathal.
If they did add something,which I presume, then what did they do?
Was a simple floor added to the hull to cover the torsion bars or did they weld / bolt a floor to the turret?

What do you guys think?
I guess a floor to the turret, I don´t think any army would
expect a loader to stand with the next round in his arms on the hull floor and then start to walk around this when the gunner decides to go for another target.

I´ll wait for some answers before I continue.

@ Alex: at least it´s the pointer and not the middle finger

All those figures still look good even though you have had an accident.
@ Gary: I thought I saw a drop of glue on the ventilation etch on the roof there . But that can´t be your kits are
held together with "thought power". Lovely clean build dude
I wish mine looked like that.
@Christopher: your Saladin is sure looking the part now.

Paul