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Dioramas
Do you love dioramas & vignettes? We sure do.
Hosted by Darren Baker, Mario Matijasic
A Perfect Gift For a Veitnam father veteran.
MATTTOMLIN
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Australian Capital Territory, Australia
Joined: June 01, 2003
KitMaker: 431 posts
Armorama: 388 posts
Posted: Saturday, April 10, 2004 - 12:11 AM UTC
Hey all, My father was a helicopter crewman at sea on the air craft carriers, he was the rescue diver and flew many many rescues, then when his service was up he decided to join the us army as a helicopter mechanic, he worked on all the types of helicopters that were used in vietnam especially , (yup you named it) the huey. his favourit model was the charlie ( gunship/ troop transport) so.................... for his birthday i am going to build a 1/35 huey ( charlie model) and give it to him to keep. i just thought you all might have liked this story thats all, wish me luck.............thats untile i finish my wirlbewind dio anyway.

and eagle, with a special request just this time can this topic please stay in dioramas as i know most you dio lovers all so well.

thnx

matt
Eagle
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Noord-Brabant, Netherlands
Joined: May 22, 2002
KitMaker: 4,082 posts
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Posted: Saturday, April 10, 2004 - 01:01 AM UTC
How can I refuse a special request ? I won't touch a button this time, although I still don't think that it belongs here, but hey....I'm in a good mood today
MATTTOMLIN
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Australian Capital Territory, Australia
Joined: June 01, 2003
KitMaker: 431 posts
Armorama: 388 posts
Posted: Saturday, April 10, 2004 - 03:00 AM UTC
hey eagle, i appreciate your decision, yes it doesnt belong here i feel that it should just this time, phantom major..............good idea, i will definatly do that, i know his outfit was based at kung thai, and some others i will hve to ask, i think another one started with bear. oh yeah and at one stage he involved at mekong delta. i have to research and ask morequestions to get specific and deffinit correct info,,,,,,,,,,, will update soon.

matt
ShermiesRule
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Michigan, United States
Joined: December 11, 2003
KitMaker: 5,409 posts
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Posted: Saturday, April 10, 2004 - 03:29 AM UTC
I think he shpuld be allowed to keep the thread here only if he keeps regular updates and posts pic for the rest of us :-)
Whiskey
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Texas, United States
Joined: May 30, 2002
KitMaker: 1,038 posts
Armorama: 377 posts
Posted: Saturday, April 10, 2004 - 06:22 AM UTC
Try this site. They have pictures of just about every Army aviation unit in Vietnam. The only problem is that not all of the pictures are of the actual helicopters. So you just have to search around, find out what unit your dad was in and go from there.

http://www.vhpamuseum.org/default.asp
MATTTOMLIN
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Australian Capital Territory, Australia
Joined: June 01, 2003
KitMaker: 431 posts
Armorama: 388 posts
Posted: Sunday, April 11, 2004 - 01:56 AM UTC
hey everybody, i have the updated and correct information, my dads favourite model was the delta not the charlie, the reason being is that the charlie was smaller and used a twin thrust engine that was alot harder to work on, and he said the delta model was more reliable mechanicaly. it wasnt kung tau, it was vung tau, and his out fit unfortunatly didnt have any significant colours and icons. the base vung tau was stationed next to an australain base, the irony is that i myself , i am an australian and my dad is american..................i am thinking of maybe not only a model of the delta huey, but a diorama, as a typical scence of what my dad can relate to........... just maybe..........


will update soon.

matt
TreadHead
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Colorado, United States
Joined: January 12, 2002
KitMaker: 5,000 posts
Armorama: 2,868 posts
Posted: Sunday, April 11, 2004 - 02:03 AM UTC

Quoted Text

I think he shpuld be allowed to keep the thread here only if he keeps regular updates and posts pic for the rest of us :-)


I agree with Shermies, as long as you post 'in-progress' shots for us all you're allowed to keep it here.
You sound like a good son. And building something like that for him, if he's been able to come to terms with his time there, should be a very special gesture. One I wish my own son might one day do for me.
Good on ya!

Tread.
TreadHead
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Colorado, United States
Joined: January 12, 2002
KitMaker: 5,000 posts
Armorama: 2,868 posts
Posted: Sunday, April 11, 2004 - 02:07 AM UTC



Geeeeeez.....just re-looked at my post.

Is it just me...or does anyone else think the "Qoute" font should be turned down a few notches? Say... to something less than a pica or font size of 1000!?!
Just a thought.
Whiskey
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Texas, United States
Joined: May 30, 2002
KitMaker: 1,038 posts
Armorama: 377 posts
Posted: Sunday, April 11, 2004 - 11:09 AM UTC

Quoted Text

Vung Tau was an R&R place for troops during the war for in country rest and relaxation. I was there several years ago, they have a large statue of Jesus there similar to Rio in brazil. There is also an old French fortification there that has large guns ( artillery cannons) pointing out too sea, incase of invasion.

if your old man worked on guns rather than slicks... you would be better too look up ARA on the vietnam helicopter pilots association website that whiskey supplied you with. you might be able to track down some of his old buddies there too! now that would be a nice surprise to add to the helicopter dio, if he could speak with someone he used to work with.

for that you will need to know specific info... unit he was with battalion, company and even platoon info as well as the time he was there...tour of duty dates as well as names of his friends....i have done this and it does take time but i did get a result for a friend of mine.

Phantom_Major


Bah you beat me to the punch of the Vung Tau info Phantom! Another way that you can find information is actually trying to look up things under your fathers name on search engines such as Google. I was just reading a article about a Korean War F-86 pilot that was shot down and captured earlier today. Apparently a day or two after he was captured a Chinese pilot came up to him and told him thank you because he was the one that shot him down. Well 50 years later the F-86 pilot's daughter-in-law looked up his name on Google and found a account of a Russian pilot that claimed that he was the one who shot down the pilot. The Russian had a pretty detailed description of what happened and so the F-86 pilot found out who really shot him down that day. All because of Google.com.
MATTTOMLIN
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Australian Capital Territory, Australia
Joined: June 01, 2003
KitMaker: 431 posts
Armorama: 388 posts
Posted: Sunday, April 11, 2004 - 03:09 PM UTC
hey all, thnx for your replys, i found out that my dad did alot of work on cobras, deffenders (little birds) the bells, and even at some stages chinooks. he is going to send me some pictures of himself ans his buddies around the helicopter, and also i can showyou some pics of earlier just beofre the war when he was a rescue diver for the helicopter crew on the uss enterprise and manyother ships, to name a few, the forrestal, entrped, kitty hawk, independence.

will update soon

matt
Lashed
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New South Wales, Australia
Joined: April 05, 2004
KitMaker: 17 posts
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Posted: Sunday, April 11, 2004 - 05:18 PM UTC
thats realy kind and thoughtful man!

Now I gotta find something for my old man on the 28th of July.. hmm..
Whiskey
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Texas, United States
Joined: May 30, 2002
KitMaker: 1,038 posts
Armorama: 377 posts
Posted: Monday, April 12, 2004 - 03:00 PM UTC

Quoted Text

hey all, thnx for your replys, i found out that my dad did alot of work on cobras, deffenders (little birds) the bells, and even at some stages chinooks. he is going to send me some pictures of himself ans his buddies around the helicopter, and also i can showyou some pics of earlier just beofre the war when he was a rescue diver for the helicopter crew on the uss enterprise and manyother ships, to name a few, the forrestal, entrped, kitty hawk, independence.

will update soon

matt


The little birds were not Hughes 500 "Defenders" back then. They were OH-6 LOH(Light Observation Helicopter), also known as a Loach. The only armament they carried were wither the door gunner or they had a mini-gun system on small pylons on the lower portion of the fuselage, just below the rear passenger area.
MATTTOMLIN
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Australian Capital Territory, Australia
Joined: June 01, 2003
KitMaker: 431 posts
Armorama: 388 posts
Posted: Monday, April 12, 2004 - 03:21 PM UTC
whisky i already knew that, i was just refering to them as little birds because thats what thier called today, incase know one knew what they were back then.

matt
Major_Goose
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Kikladhes, Greece / Ελλάδα
Joined: September 30, 2003
KitMaker: 6,871 posts
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Posted: Monday, April 12, 2004 - 05:34 PM UTC
i think that to keep this post in this forum , you should build indeed a small dio . Check out daddy's pictures, in case u find some base like service station for the choppers and u can represent it. Maybe also a figure of your dad!!!! should nt it be so difficult. just think of it ?
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