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Let me be the first to call this spectacular !! You know as an old grunt I love stuff like this,specially when you can actually depict the real dudes. Having lived on 113s for the first 10 years in the Army this all brings back memories for me,albeit a bit later than this. I never had a gas powered track,that's for sure. Given that those composite metal hulls would actually burn I suppose gasoline was not wise for a power system ?
All the touches of home are in this little gem. Great job Sir ! I wish I hadn't thrown away my Plt Sgt notebook I kept on all my guys' stats. I hardly remember any names at this point. Heheheh,grape coolaid. Ya know what they say about guys that drink grape coolaid doncha'?
This is great work and a nice tribute.
J

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Thanks, Jerry. It means alot coming from you. I tried to put as much of the "touches of home" into this project as possible. It helped that Bill provided some great information and advice. I know what you mean about hardly being able to remember some of the names. I remember the faces and things about all of the Marines and Soldiers I have led and served with, but some of the names escape me no matter how hard I try to remember. The multiple head injuries and getting older probably has a lot to do with it

Cheers,
James

Thanks, Gary. That means alot coming from someone who has spent their time around M113s. I had alot of help from my Friend Bill Rambow, who was one of the crew members of this track, on some of the details such as the beer and soda cases. I was planning on having a bunch of smoke grenades around, but I ran out of time before the show and just haven't gotten around to it yet.

I think the main differences between the gas and diesel tracks are the headlight guards on the exterior and the shape of the fuel tank and the engine access doors on the interior.

I just recently completed a vignette for an upcoming show of a Grunt from the same unit after the first day of fighting during Tet '68. So as to not take away from the figure, I used the "wedgie" technique made famous by Chris Mrosko to convey that the Grunt is a Mechanized Infantryman. Once I get the title plate on and take some better pictures of it, I will be posting it soon.

Thanks for your service in Vietnam.

Cheers,
James

Ken and Hans,
I am glad you like it.

Gary,
It's not visible in the pictures I posted, and I'll have to look for one as I took in-progress photos throughout this project, but the seat covers are pulled back and you can see inside the boxes. The right side has the .50 and 7.62 ammo boxes in it. The left side box has frags and smoke grenades still in their black cardboard cylinder containers, 5.56 ammo boxes, pop flares, claymores, and the radio antenna accessory bags. My friend Bill Rambow sent me a sketch of their load plan SOP and I tried to get things situated the best I could. Originally, this model was going to be of the company commander's track "The Kingdom," but in the middle of the project, I made a change with the figures so I also changed my mind about which track to depict as Bill served on both.

Yeah, the thing about Vietnam is that everyone's experience there was different. My dad was in the 9th Infantry Division at Bearcat when the division first arrived starting in December 1966 (he was part of the advanced party). He came back for a second tour and got sent to Qui Nhon right in time for Tet. He said that there was such a difference between how things were in 1967 in III and IV Corps and what it was like in the Qui Nhon area in 1968. It is kind of like the differences depending where and when one was in Iraq and Afghanistan. All of my tours to those two countries were totally different from the others. The only thing that seemed to be the same was the sand that got into everything.

Cheers,
James

Remember James, you keep raising the bar with every build, you set the standard on Nam figs and dios. Ya pulled me thru a lot. Cudos Ma Brotha from anotha Motha!