I need to do a diorama of the Vietnam Wall. What i need is the size reduced to 1/35. Was just looking on the internet, and had a hard time. Got a few Friends listed.

1stsgt

From what I found, the Vietnam Memorial is 246' 9'' long for each wall.. Its 10' 3'' at is tallest.
The scale calculator I found on the net was only good for 1/36 so the scale would be close.

The walls would have to be 82.25 inches long and the total height at the peak would be 3.41 inches.. there are measurements for each panel as well. I have included the link for you...I hope this helps

Dave
Vietnam Memorial

Thank you very much. Will start after Veterans Day and will try to have done before Next Veterans Day.

Hey 1stsgt, really curious on how youre are going to do this please inform us. How will you do the names. I have thought of this but did not have a clue how to start. Wonderful idea

I always find it easier to convert to mertic and multiply by .028 to get measurements. The height would be 8.92 cm and the lenght would be 210.6 cm.

Keep me posted as you build,
Although i'm british "The Wall" for me is, well, Im not really sure, It's some where i've been longing to go to since i was old enough to realise what it was, im 29 now, so i suppose for me it would be a pilgrimage of sorts. I think the admiration of the troops that were there and the history of that entire period had most of the influence in me joining the army over here. So i think thats a great idea for a model and would be very keen to see your progress.
best regards martin

The only hard part so far is the "Wall" itself. I am leaning toward ceramic/plaster of paris/porcelain. As far as the name the writing will be very small. I was thinking of using a needle in my dremel and just put a line, that means some 58,000 + lines but that will be easy due to size. I will have to get a book on the Wall so i have the correct number of lines on each panel. As far as figures that a given, just need civilians. Helments, boots, and other items that are left at the wall. I am going to have a kid on someone shoulders trying to rub a name. Size so far is roughly 8 foot in lenght and 4 foot wide. I am in the planning stage by drawing everything out first. Start date November 11, 2003 target date November 11, 2004 which will be my 30 year anniversary. Got a lot of support for this from my differnet veterans org.

1stsgt,
I wish you the best of luck with this project! It is certainly an admirable undertaking.

I QUIT
i when to Charleston for the burial of the Hunley crew. Got home late Sunday. I had been working on my project on my front porch. after days and night craving the styrofoam to slope just right, after all i did. IT IS GONE. WIll restart but will reduce to 1/72 scale due to hard to find "Civilians".

An interesting idea would maybe to find figures to portray the statue of the three soldiers that is off to the side.

Hei 1stsgt I hope you continue with the project. For me the Vietnam Wall epitomizes the fact that they are No Good Wars Just Good Soldiers so I really hope you continue.
If your having trouble with the slope why don't you use balsa and then you can top that with plaster or whatever you plan to use. In fact if your'e inclined (no pun intended), balsa can be smoothened by sandpaper and varnish with a thick coat of clear wood varnish to make it smooth. Slap some black acrylic and you have black marble which is what I believe the wall is made of (can anybody confirm this?).
Over here at the hardware store you can buy a polyfilla-like material sold in tins that gives a stone-like finish when painted on. Sorry I can't remember the name but I've come across one that gives a beautiful black marble like finish. Last I checked Verlinden makes quite a number of civvies including kids. I'm in the process of converting some of my green berets into sleazy drug runners by sanding and tissue paper. Don't know how it will turn out though? You might consider getting some small minature plastic flowers too for placement against the wall or make a wreath from tea leaves coating a thin wire frame and paint them with various bright colors.

1SGT, I got an idea for your sloping problem....I use insulating foam.The big pink sometimes blue sheets that they insulate house walls with. Some call it marine foam. You can grab a 4x8 sheet for about $10-12 at Lowes, Home Depot etc. It can be cut really easily, and if you have a hot wire cutter, it carves like a hot knife through butter. Light weight to boot. Just a thought to help you get back into the groove. Also check out some figures at Walthers Hobbys. There is a link to them somewhere on here, I will see if I can drop it here for you as well. They have literally tons of figures on their web site. They are primarily a train place, but the amount of figures they had was impressive. "Q"
Brother of a Vietnam Vet and damn proud of him. He gave me the motivation to do almost 22 years in the Army. He has more buddies on that wall than I care to think about.

Here is the link to Walthers... http://www.walthers.com/exec/productinfo/590-72519

Hopefully this will help you out. "Q"

I saw a great 'wall' diorama in Great Scale Modelling 2004. It had just one grieving civillian in the corner with a section of wall, and behind the wall was a scene from the vietnam war itself, with i think 3 US soldiers closing in on a bamboo patch or something.
Hope this helps!