After to talking to the Curator of the Museum we came to a conclusion that we should go back a few minutes before the actual grenade landed in the back of the truck. So I assembled some new figures for the Brutus crew and put them into position as per the after action report. Two of the crew members were working on the Mini Gun which had stopped working and were unaware that the enemy was about to throw the grenade and only Larry Dahl saw what was to come. He was not able to fire his weapon at the enemy and he fell onto the grenade. The new scene depicts the time just before the the grenade is thrown. I also put the Convoy Commander in the front cab of the Playboy as I just found out that he was riding in this truck during this convoy.

Animal....the Mad man!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Looking Great!!!!!!

impressive..... very impressive

It looks great! Nice job, animal! :-)

Good job, but consider what the viewing angle will be. In the first and third pictures, the .50 cal ammo box should be filled in.

The Ammo cans ahave a dimple on the bottom to allow stacking And the Ammo tray's have holes in them:

[quote]The Ammo cans ahave a dimple on the bottom to allow stacking And the Ammo tray's have holes in them:
Matt, take another look at the trays in the pictures, these are molding holes, not an attemt to replicate the original pattern.

What will happen to that amazing truck that is being blown up. Also, if this is just before the ambush/as the ambush is being sprung, why is there a soldier carrying another wounded soldier?

Holy crap! Some VC is gonna pay facing down a mini-gun!!!

Without going into the entire after action report (37 pages), the ambush had already quieted down and the gun trucks were called back to resume normal convoy duties when the Brutus had pulled over the side of the road and was turning around to head back to it's own convoy that was coming up the pass. While they were on the side of the road the NCOIC told the driver to stay put while he and Spc. Huser tried to repair the mini gun. This is when the enemy re-engaged the convoy and the hand grenade was thrown into the truck. The troop carrying the wounded soldier was from the initial ambush. This ambush was like no other ambush the US had encounter in Nam. Usually lasted about 10 to 25 minutes and it would be over. This one lasted for over an hour. There were three other tankers destroyed and the gun truck Creeper was hit by an RPG in the cab and killed the driver. the crew on the Creeper was able to continue fighting from their disabled vehicle. The Misfits and the Untouchable also responded to help.

awesome work ...and thanks for telling us the whole story

Thanks for pointing out the bottom of the ammo can holders on the 50's. I will fix them straight away.

its getting better and better all the time !!

same opinion here... It looks EVEN BETTER now! somehow, more dramatic!!!

Who is the wounded soldier being carried away?

Welcome to Armorama Inspector. He was the shot gun rider on the tanker that was hit. (tanker in another part of the Dio).

wow, besides it being pretty big, its flat out awsome, where are you gonna put that thing?!?! well, excellent diorama, i LOVE the guntrucks, get those V.C.!

very nice dio. it tells a great story. really portrays the action. keep up the good work.

Animal, great work as usual. You have me wanting to do a Nam dio. Cheers Kevin

Thanks for the kudo's the Dio is on its way to teh Transportaion Museum at Ft. Eustis tomorrow morning. I will be leaving a t 2 am to drive it and several other pieces fot a dedication and a veterans reunion this week.

Yeah, awesome dio Animal. That VC/NVA throwing the nade is a nice touch.