https://www.matthias-schmeier.de/fotos/us-botschaft-saigon-1975/

What do you think about my work?

The incredible amount of figures in this dio is impressive, to say the least. From what I see, you've pretty much nailed this historical scene to a "T", as in spot on! Taking your pics outside in natural lighting has really brought out the intensity of the situation. The Nam happens to be one of my favorite eras and doesn't get as much attention as I would like to see personally.

Great work Durruti!



Cheers, Ski.

You have perfectly captured the chaos & confusion of that time in this scene. And taking photos outdoors, thereby allowing natural shadows of the figures & objects to play across the scene, was a brilliant decision. Superbly done all around!!!

Matthias where have you been hiding?! I know, in your workshop. You have an excellent website and a truly superb collection of dioramas, I’ll be spending several hours unravelling the complexities of each one and deciding which one I like best. Meanwhile could you describe how you construct the figures – are they all made of existing manufacturers' components in an infinite variety of combinations? Or if you make some of your own what materials do you use?

My other question is – how many figures have you have painted since 1988? (An estimate is OK)

Very , very cool !!

Outstanding work!! Mind. Blown.

That is sooo toll!!! I'd like to see more close ups. To see the little scenes in their own right.

have a good friend who was a Marine Palace Guard (embassy), and also one of the very last guys out. Spent much of his time up on the roof top (chopper pad). He said there were constant gun battles going on in the street below, and not with the NVA.
gary

@Gary - You just reminded me of something. The 1SGT on my first tour in Iraq was just a boot and involved in both the evacuation of Saigon and the Mayaguez rescue, OIF was his swan song in the Corps. He was the only guy older than me in the company...

believe it or not, but Kent is several years younger than me. Maybe five or six. He remembers the Navy's dog & pony show buzzing Saigon with Tom Cats, and those are his exact words.
Up north we always felt the country would fall from Saigon outwards. Never been to Saigon, and never really wanted to. I-Corp was just too pretty to leave for that dump ! But they had warm places to sleep and real mattresses. I'd been scared to death being around all those people acting in a bad manner.
I used to work with a guy named Tom who was the first Marine to step foot on the Mayaguez. Guy was a dead ringer for Doogie Houser! Guess it was really chaotic, and the right hand didn't know what the left was doing! Still to this day, Tom just doesn't look the part of a Marine.

And while on the subject of the crotch! I was looking for a chopper flight to Chu Lai, and was sorta stuck on Hawk Hill out in the middle of nowhere. There was this stack of crates and C-rats on the pad, and being nosey I had a good look see. You could have started WWIII with what was piled up there. Then this King Kong sized marine came over and asked if I was the guy headed to Chu Lai. Yep! He said that if I'd help unload the chopper it was headed strait to Chu Lai. Like a fool I said sure. The guys were Marine Force Recon (I didn't know what that even was) working on a long narrow island a little east of Tam Key. Well we load the slick to what was probably an over load. Barely room for the three of us an a door gunner wearing starch (I swear he broke starch in I-Corp). OK we got about forty miles of road as the crow flies. On the way the big says just push every thing out the door as fast as you can. We'll get it as it hits the ground. OK with me. We come up on the island, and there's no place to set down! Then all of a sudden we come into a clearing maybe a hundred yards square. They put the ship on the ground and the crew is in a panic mode, we we got about forty crates of stuff. we're outta there in about five minutes, and everything's gone that we pushed out. Then the door gunner starts shoot to the north side of the clearing, and says there must be three hundred NVA over there (probably fifty to sixty as three hundred was everybody's favorite phrase). Never knew what happened to them, and have thought about them many times as they were tough. Not many folks that far east were what we called tough.
gary