Hello all!

After reading SOG: the secret wars of American commandos by John L. Plaster (excellent book!) , and playing COD: Black Ops I had a rare moment of inspiration to put 2 and 2 together and build a Vietnam dio involving an LSSC and either SEALS or SOG operatives.
Now bare with me, I have very little knowledge on the subject so I'd appreciate any photos, suggestions or tips along the way.
For this project I've gathered the quite old Dragon LSSC which i believe is the only kit on the market. I plan to add an M134 on the bow using the Legends sets. Again if anyone can point out inaccuracies/issues with it i'd be grateful!

In terms of figures I have the dragon Vietcong set (still not sure whether it will be used), and a couple of Dragon/Italeri SEALS sets. These guys will also receive nicer weapons from the excellent TANK models range.

So the basic idea involves an LSSC pulling up to a bank and a small team of operatives hopping onto the bank. The LSSC will be placed on a bend in the river with a gunner on the M134 and someone at the helm as the rest disembark.
Here are a few pics of some of the terrain/foliage/waterways i aim to replicate.








How I want to have some of the figures in the water:


Well as I mentioned this is my first foray into 'Nam, so any and all help would be greatly appreciated.

Also this project will start when the Uni term finishes so for the next 3 weeks this blog's there for me to rebound ideas off you guys.

All comments welcome, and I hope to have a small figure update by the end of the weekend!

Hello,

Nice idea. I also have a similar project going on (MACV-SOG). One thing I would recommend: have a look for the Verlinden Figure Conversion Set Vietnam (2146). The Dragon Vietnam Sets ( MACV-SOG, SEALS, LRRP, etc) are not the newest ones and so some replacement heads, some new packs, bags, grenades etc... could be quite useful. And the Verlinden set is not very expensive. Good Luck

Dennis

Anirudh,interesting idea.
Verlinden also makes LSSC (full and waterline with stowage)
https://www.verlindenonline.com/store/advanced_search_result.html?keywords=LSSC&search_in_description=1&inc_subcat=1

Also i can add that nearest time new BRAVO-6 35024 US Navy SEAL (part 3) will be available as addition for sets 35023 and 35034

Vladi

Cheers for the comments guys

@Dennis I am beginning to realise the dragon kits aren't that sharp since I started on one of the figures. So far I've replaced the arms and head with some from the spares box, and the pockets with ones from the Dragon sniper team set. I'll look into the Verlinden set. Is this the one you mean?

Good luck with your model as well, and I'd love to see your work.

@Vladimir Thanks but I've seen the Verlinden set and decided it wasn't really worth the price. Your figures on the other hand look amazing, and I'll see if I can get a few for the dio.

Hello.

Some years ago I made a diorama with a LSSC and seals too, all from Dragon. About the use of a minigun, I found no pictures with such armament on board (the classic weapons were m-60s, heavy 0,50 and grenade launcher).

I used the figures from Seal 2 de Dragon, with minor changes; good figures for such a low price, they just need a careful painting; of course, the Bravo-6 seals are the best option if they fit in your project (Vladimir is a wonderfull artist ¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡)

The "tovarich" Vladimir Demchenko made another dio with lssc and seals, just like you want to do, with a fantastica painting of the figures.

You can chechk both dios here

http://armorama.kitmaker.net//features/380

https://armorama.kitmaker.net//features/699

Good luck,

Santiago Tre

Hey Santiago

Thanks for the comment and the links. I saw both of these dios a few days ago and they are pretty much what i want to build. Really good work!

I haven't got any photos showing LSSC's with the M134 either, however the now defunct site warboats.org had a section on the LSSC where they made reference to a few 134'S being taken of Huey's and added to the boats instead. There was the one grainy photo showing the configuration, but sadly I didn't save it before the site disappeared.

This is a copy of that image at the best resolution I can find:
I hope someone can find a better photo, but till then I appear to be using some artistic licence about this.

Some more progress has been made on the figures but nothing major yet.

Hi Anirudh,
I've just read that book you mentioned & I have to agree that it is great. I'm reading his second book now & he also has a photo history of SOG. I'll get you all three titles if you want. I'm sure the photo history will be handy.
I'm hoping to do something similar about SOG operatives but I'm going to use a Huey UH-1C from the USAF 20th SOS & have the soldiers being extracted under fire as they so often were.
How did you find COD: Black Ops, by the way? I'm thinking of getting the game myself. Is it good?
To be honest, I think you could use any kind of Vietnam related figures as much of the kit was the same as regular infantry, except SOG/SEALS didn't wear helmets but you're going to change the heads anyway. You're also on the right track in getting the weapons from TANK. They are great, aren't they? I've got myself a whole load here, too. Plus Model do a Vietnam rucksack set that has some "Tropical Rucksacks" in that were popular with SOG/SEAL operatives. Use plenty of smoke grenades & WP grenades. Also, try to stay away from using the M16's/CAR 15's with the 30 round mag. They were quite rare in Vietnam & weren't really seen until very late in the war. I suppose it depends on when your scene will be set.
Good luck with the dio, mate. I'll be keeping an eye on this one.
Joe.

Hey Joe, glad to have you on board.

I have the titles of the other books, just haven't got round to getting them yet. Its good to know the photo history is included, that would be really useful.

I actually liked Black Ops more than MW2 since its something a bit different in terms of the setting etc. The gameplay for both single and multiplayer is pretty similar, as are the graphics. The story is well done, if a bit far-fetched, but what I really liked are some of the single player levels. The settings are incredible; Vietnamese jungles, Kowloon city, the Urals have all been made with amazing detail. So yeah I'd say its a good game and the extra things like the Zombies levels are quite fun too.

I have replaced the heads for ones without helmets, and am working on adding new gear to a few of the guys. The TANK weapons are actually amazing. Thanks for the tip about the 30 round mags, I'll leave those off!
I'm looking at the verlinden set that dennis mentioned, which has some rucksacks etc which I might get to finish the guys off, but I'll look into the plus models set as well.

Thanks for the tips!

Hey Anirudh,

thats exactly the set I meant. You can decide If it perhaps suits your ideas. But I could use some parts as replacements. Nice heads, weapons, etc...

Regards

Dennis

Ill like the Idea aswell.
I have a large photodata base about riverine boats in all sizes and models.
But sorry to say no LSSC with a m134

I think you have read it on this site and I think you mistaken by a lcpl.
As that boat has a turret up front
http://www.warboats.org/sthomas3.htm

As far as I know m134 where mouted on a
PBR mark 1

LCPL

MSSC or MST

HSSC

I think this ia a HSSC because of the 106 on top (migthy Mo)

My advise stick with the LSSC, but drop the m134.

some pictures to aid your diorama








if you need more help, let me know
good luck
chris

Thanks Dennis, the verlinden set seems like a good buy to help improve the figures.

The photos are a great help Chris, thanks a lot for posting them! The link to Warboats is also very useful. I guess I was mistaken when I thought the M134 was mounted on the LSSC, so I'll leave them off and use them somewhere else. I'll definitely Pm you if I need any more help.

As promised a small update on my progress. These are the Dragon SEAL team figures with arms from their sniper team set, and various details from Tamiya, Dragone etc. The priming has shown up flaws and gaps in the figures so I'll sort these out when I come back for christmas.








The last photos shows the TANK weapons alongside some of the dragon counterparts. Still not sure which ones Im going to be using though, any suggestions?
All comments welcome.

Hello Anirudh,

Nice to see some news. Looks good to me.

Primer is heartless, it will show everything. So you can see pretty well what you will have to do the next days.
One suggestion: if you like to try it, you could replace the security pin rings of the grenades. I don`t recall every set, but I remember that these are pretty massive in one or two of the sets. So if you feel so and have the equipment you could try to remove the pin, bore a little hole into the grenade, bend some small-diameter wire around a little rod and insert it into the hole. Looks pretty nice and you can easily get a new grenade from the spares if you mess it up. So small things like this are ideal to try and train and add some more detail.

Regards
Dennis

Hey Dennis, glad you like it. The primer does showing everything, but then I guess thats also a good thing. I'll practice adding the pins on a few of the spare grenades before doing it on the figures, but thats a really good tip!

I also took your advice and ordered the Verlinden conversion set to spruce up the SEALs a bit.

Sadly my weekend at home is over, so Im unlikely to have anything to show you guys till the 11th Dec. except some reference photos or the other parts that arrive.