For some time now I've been gathering resources, searching through lots (and I mean lots) of pics and experimenting with techniques while I thought this project through. I was approached to do this by someone it's really hard to say no to, given my personal history with the subject I was very reluctant to take it on. In the end I decided to do it, and in doing so paying honor to the memory of my 11 Brothers 1/25 Marines lost during our tour there in 2006.

My tour in Fallujah lasted all of two months before I found myself being medevaced after we got hit near a line on the map we called Fran, a little over a year later I was retired.

Thus far I've gathered a bunch of figures, searching high and low for appropriate civilian figures (having watched Adamskii's build I know how difficult they are to find) and Marines wearing the MARPAT uniforms. Buildings are going to be made from scratch, lord knows I have enough pictures. For vehicles I'm looking at M1114's to represent part of a Mobile Assault Platoon and an M1123 with MAK. The story line centers on one we encountered on occasion -- a kid comes up and tells a dismounted patrol about a bunch of Ali Babas which mushrooms into something a whole lot bigger.

Best of luck and will be following this.

Thanks Doc. Semper Fi.

I'm following this and have subscribed to it.

Following and subscribed. I was there in '04 with 3AABN so will be watching with interest.

Semper Fi

Hello there Doc, I am also looking forward to this project and will follow closely as I am also attempting to re-create a diorama in Mosul, Iraq. Thanks for sharing your skills and hard work with us.

JGphins

hello
good luck for your projet
bye

Hi John,

This sounds like a great build project - I'll be watching too
Cheers
Nick

Sounds great John,
You now have a following.
Looking forward to your progress.

Tom

Sounds like a plan! Include me in with your subscribers/followers!

—mike

Guys, thanks for your interest in this. My concern with this project is doing it up right, as it progresses I will intro you to the 11 this project will honor as we hit the date they were lost. I shot a few pics of the first three buildings, they'll be going up in the morning. Guess we're Oscar Mike!

Semper Fi Doc!!!

Looking forward to your project John.

I'm following with great interest.

Best wishes,

Paul

John,
I too spent some time in Fallujah and a lot of time in Baghdad from 2003-04 and have a ton of pics, too. If there's anything you need referenced in particular, please let me know. you can send me a message here, email me at [email protected], or hit me up on FB. I would love to be a helping hand in your project in any way I can.

Dan

Doc,
PM with your wishlist. I've got a stack of stuff that fits your timeline and I'll never build. Let's chat off line.

Bear out.

As promised, we have pics of the rough cut of three of the buildings. The first pic actually shows two buildings one above the other; the lower one will be the bomb factory which was being run as a car repair shop; the upper one will be a generic shop, haven't settled on what it's going to be selling yet.

]

The second photo is a convenience store; immediately beside it is a former business whose owner never returned after Operation Al Fajr in 2004 and the apartment above the abandoned shop has been taken over by the insurgents to overwatch the street and provide security for the IED factory.




The third is one of the many bits I will be adding to this as it progresses.

Looks really good John.
Will keep watching.
I've used those carpets before and they're great.
Wanted some for my North Africa dio,but all the items I wanted from Monroe Perdu was out stock.
Did you order from them or someone else?

Tom

The only real problem I've had cutting the buildings out is the insulation board, it's not as easy to work with as the pink or blue and can tear when you're cutting across the grain. Thankfully I've only got about half a panel left then I can go back to the pink board. I'm three buildings down with one, possibly two to go depending on which way I decide to lay out the base. I found the mats on eBay for a great price. They are pretty nice, no pour plug to remove which is a plus.

Good start so far will be following closely and all the best the Civil guys can be a pain to find online, but it'll turn out good

Best Regards,

Igor

Hi John, looking good. I'm working with the rigid pink foam on a build now too - but, not the other material. That said, none of it is all that easy to work with. I find myself replacing xacto blades pretty frequently to avoid tearing. In any case, easier, lighter and less of a mess than plaster!

I'm sure you've got some product you like for touch up/patch work etc. For what it's worth, I have had very good luck with DAP Patch-n-Paint lightweight spackle - nothing exotic, and it works very well with foam board.

Looking forward to the next post -
Cheers
Nick

Thank you to everyone who has offered me assistance with this project, this is why I'm running this blog on here, we have really great people on this site! Given the weather forecast of some sort of cataclysmic blizzard starting this afternoon I should have plenty of time to work on buildings and get the base laid out between snow blowing (so long as we don't lose power) over the next couple of days. I began the rough cut of building four yesterday, with two floors worth of sides cut out. Also added lintels to some of the previous buildings. Like yesterday, pics later as I have to make sure I have enough gas for the snowblower -- got to keep the beasty fed.

Sounds like you guys are gonna' get hammered. You need to hire this guy!

Monster Winther Snowblower

—mike

Had a slight mishap in the shop today, which is why I haven't put up new pics. Knife decided it wanted to taste my thumb. It's going to be a few days before I'm cutting buildings, but I can work on other aspects since I'm right handed. Shapeways came through, I bought a set of spine boards created by Matt Leese, they're outstanding. Anybody needing some should definitely get them!

Hi John,

sorry to hear about your mishap m8!! Wish you a prompt improvement enabling you to work halfway normally!!!

Sounds like your project is going to be fairly big, so I seem to be in good company!!

Anyway, I'm eager to see more!!

Best of luck with it!!

Cheers

Romain

Yikes! My xacto hates me too.
Thank you for your service sir!

Hi John - sorry to hear about the xacto incident! A couple builds ago, I did a real number on one of my fingers too! Ouch!! You'll be relieved to know, a few of our armorama brothers "thoughtfully" suggested an easy solution: lots of CA glue, an ample amount of Tamiya yellow tape, and of course, a bandage!! This did keep blood off my model, but not much for the pain! Time is better!
Hope the injury is behind you soon! I might stick with the conventional solution: a bandage...haha

Cheers
Nick