Thanks for the positive comments, Mike and Jerry.

I want people to remember the sacrifice that our Soldiers, Airmen, Sailors, and Marines made in Vietnam.

Jerry, I have a bunch of this gear and uniforms at the house and it really helps to get the "look" right.

I attended the IPMS Scalefest 2014 show and this piece did not place. I did win two second places and two third places. The work of the modelers at the show was superb and competition was of high caliber. I was impressed with the work that I saw there.

Cheers,
James

Don't get me started on contest judging. Your piece here is absolutely top notch by any standard.
IPMS shows usually don't have a clue about this kind of thing. There are competent judges but for the most part the guys are recruited right from the show to judge and usually don't know what they are looking at or how difficult it was to build,etc. Level of research or accuracy are not considered. IPMS basically is about glue spots,allignment,overspray,etc.
Plus they have the antiquated system of first second and third place. More progressive shows now use the open contest rules.
I think we all know here how good your stuff is brother. I wouldn't bother with contests,but that's just me.
J

Hey Jerry,

I do prefer the shows with the open judging system like you find at the figure shows. I really don't care all that much about winning stuff as I prefer to just show my work and have people enjoy what they see. It means the most to me to have a veteran come up to me and comment about my work. I was just surprised that the vignette that I just threw together from figures that I had made for something else was the one that the judges chose (my "The NVA sketch we found marked this spot as a CP" vignette) over this one which was better painted and constructed, plus I feel the story is more moving than the other. However, the main thing is that people seem to like this piece and the comments mean more than any award.

Cheers,
James