Just thought I'd share these images of my latest Vietnam figures with you.







All figures are converted Bravo 6 with Hornet Heads, TANK helmets & weapons, D Models rucksacks Plus Model rifle slings, Mec Models helmet grafitti & Arms Corps Models M-18 smoke grenade decals.

Joe.

Look really good, great paint work. slight nit pick, th carabiner ring and playing card appear much to large for 1/35th scale. Just my 2 cents.

I love it, as I loved the pair you posted earlier as well. I agree that the playing card may be a tad over-size but I think that the carabiner looks great; they do come in all sizes after-all and while one that large might be unusual, it can't be entirely unheard of.

Can you share with us how you made the carabiner or where you got it?

Hi Joe;

Build One For Me---- Wearing Boonie Hat & Carrying a M-79

M.Garofolo 1st Combined Action Group, Quang Nai Provence,RVN
68-69 USMC


SEMPER FI; MIKE.

Thanks for your messages!
I thought the carabiner & the card do look a little too big aswell. Although when I was putting the figures together it didn't.
I took the "Ace of Spades" image from a Mec Models set & then cut some plasticard round it...looking at it now I see its slightly oversized, but hey...

Simon, I made the carabiner out of 4.5mm brass rod. I just bent it round a steel dowell. It was trial & error, to be honest. Oh, & a lot of "f" words!
I have to say, it didn't look too big before I took these photos. You can really see up close when photographing your work like this.

Mike, a boonie hat guy is in the pipeline. Watch this space!

Joe.

I love the heavy packs and general 'weighed down' look of these guys. Whats with the guys legs on the left though- below the knees they seem to get very thin and spindly? Was that the way the figure was sculpted? Could just be the angle we're looking at it from though.

Hi Karl,
Thanks for your message.
The guy with the "spindly" legs is taken from the Bravo 6 US Army Sniper Team, Vietnam, #35022.
Thats just how he came in the set. I think he is supposed to be wearing some kind of garter around his legs.
Looking at period photo evidence shows many GI's wearing either a type of garter or their boot laces tied up to knee height. Particularly in swampy areas. I guess its to stop the leeches getting up into those places you dont want them to reach! Know what I mean?

Joe.

Joe, All in all a real great job on all your figures. I have had good luck making the carbiners by using the links from oval shaped chain such as used in model ship building, or model railroading.

Walley, that sounds like a great idea!
I think I'm going to try that.
What size chain would you recommend?

Joe.

Joe, I really do not have a size, I just eyeballed it from the different chains I have in my inventory, no longer in their original packaging. Sorry.

No worries Walley. Ive got a stash somewhere with various size chain. I'll find some that fits the bill. Damn good idea, though!
Thanks!

Joe.

A couple of shots from behind (well, almost) showing the D Models tropical ruck & Playboy mag!





Joe.

now these guys look great! Could add a couple more M60 belts to each one, and I don't see any canteens. Water was a must have.
gary

Hi Gary,
I wanted to add more ammo belts to all my figures but they all kept breaking! This resin stuff can be very brittle & easy to break. Especially the ammo belts!
As to canteens, you need to see somebody about your eyes, big guy! Both GI's have 4 canteens each!!!!
2 on their combat load & 2 on their rucks! Check back & you'll see, buddy!

Joe.

these are some of the best VN figures I have seen! really great job!!

Those are the best, I've seen.

These are probably the best painted figures I have seen. The shading on the forearms is particularly convincing. I'm glad you don't subscribe to the rather garish Verlinden way of painting.
The spindly legs? Reminds me of half the nineteen year old soldiers I knew, including my son. You need to be a senior NCO to get a good set of hams.
When I squint, I could think I'm looking at actual photographs. Of course, even then, that 'biner kinda pops out at you. Enough already said on that one. I like the idea of trying a chain link.

your gis are great,very well done.

Joe- I forgot about the ever present threat of the leeches, garters certainly do make sense, especially to keep them away from certain areas !

Hey Robert- the NCO comment made me laugh, the privileges of rank I guess!

Hi Joe,

great work at these two grunts and fantastic conversion of the Original Bravo-6 Figures. They come out really nice and the painting looks also very smooth. Great use of Decals for the M-18 smoke grenades and Uniforms.Vladi from Bravo-6 will bring out an big canteen set together with some carabiner. So it will be less trouble shooting to make your own. I have one of this in the latest MACV-SOG set. They are fine done. The addition of Playboy Magazine adds realism to these "front pigs" ;-).

Great work at all

bye, bye

Stefan

told you I have old eyeballs more than once! That rolled up Playboy mag was probably the one with De De Lind in the centerfold! I think everybody had a crush on her.

Back to the canteens. In mid 1968 the Army (probably Marines to) made a switch to a clear plastic jug that held about a litre of water. The advantage was that it collapsed as it emptied. But even in early 69 you still saw a lot of the older OD green ones. There was a much larger one issued, but nobody would carry it. These would be handed off from a slick along with rations.

If you decide sometime on down the road to do some more figures, you ought to do one of the 101st Airborne when they first put their boot on the ground. The copied a lot of tradition from WWII, and had mohawk hair cuts and hatchets on their sides. There are a few photos of these guys out there, and they are very unique.

By the way I liked the "slicky boy" with the Honda bike! We used to see them all the time with young girls riding on the back. Dragon or somebody needs to do the small bus and the three wheeled Vespas that were so common.
gary

I decided to run these photos through photo-shop or something similar & came up with these.
Hope you like them!





































Hope you've enjoyed looking at the new photos!

Joe.

excellent work !!

Really nice.