well it took close to a year to finish, but its done (apart from a few paint toutch ups)
figures are from various bits and pieces from different companys, centurion was from Hobbycraft ( many parts where scratchbuilt though) and the Bushranger gunship is Pandas UH-1D but with scratchbuilt weapons.
story goes like this.
An Australian Centurion Mk.5, callsign "Animal" (heres to you dave
)and a rifle section (aussie unit of 10 men, 3 of these make up a platoon) are moving along a road somewhere in the phouc tuy province, South Vietnam, when up ahead they notice what seems to be a slight lump in the earth, and some "freshly-dug" mud...the corporal shouts to the tank commader sitting on his copula " Oi mate, hold up weve got somethin suspicious up front"
the centurion comes to a halt, the troops arange themselves around the tank....the scout moves up ahead with a rifleman to check things out, they notice a cord running from the "lump" into the shrub, thats it, its gotta be a mine, they tell the corporal, the corporal then tells 2 riflemen to move into the shrub, check it out, as they are making there way through the elephant grass they notice a small clearing...and what do we have here, its a gook, they take him back to the cent..."blind him and bound him" the cpl orders, they put a blindfold over his eyes and bound his hands, one of the riflemen stays put to make sure he doesnt try any funny buisness.
Now back to the mine, the scout and the rifleman have now cut the cable and disarmed it, and are busying themselves by checking out there latest find.
mean while the M60 gunner and his assistant are fixing there packs, after a fews K's those metal clips really dig into ya back!
the last rifleman feels the need for a smoke, so he wips out the zippo and pops a ciggy in his mouth. The tank commander is taking this oppertunity to has a drink from his flask, unlike the foot sloggers, he isnt on water discipline!
while all this is going on the corporal has been on the horn to Nuit Dat HQ. They are sending out a slick with an armed escort...the bushranger, as it flys over the corporal looks up in awe......
and thats where the picture ends.
I hope you can forgive me for the quality of the pics, this was the frist time i used oils paints to actually "paint" the faces, and it wouldve been nice to show you guys the results, but oh well. a few things the pics wont show is the hole drilled in the, well, hole of the tank commanders flask, the string boudning the VC's hands, the little flame in the zippo lighter of the rifleman, and the ciggy in his mouth.
some of the colors went a bit dodgy when i put the pics in photoshop ( the tank commanders skin appears to be a bit yellow"
the bloke who seems to be "bending over" in the elephant grass is actually pushing some of the blades aside with his hand so he can make his way through easier.
another thing to note is the assistant fixing the M60 gunners pack, the rifleman at the mine getting his bayonet to have a bit of a poke around the mine, and also the cable going from the centurion infantry phone box to the phone itself.
Anyway for those who didnt read my two posts on the bushranger and the centurion, the scratchbuilt parts on them are...for the bushranger..the rocket pods and mounts (and all the amrkings on it) and for the centurion...side hull stowage bins, front glacis plate and spare wheel mounts, fume extractor on barrel, rear 100 gal fuel tank, tow cables, antenna mounts and antennas, loaders hatch (next to commanders copula) 30 cal mount, 20 cal ammo rack, turret basket, and the spotlight in the left section of the turret basket. oh and the covers on the drivers periscopes.
ok now that you have heard me crap on about it have a look at what ive been rambling on about :-)
again id like to thank everyone for there help with this project, and especially Bob (Faust) and Mr John Loughman, cheers guys
more pics in my gallery
https://armorama.kitmaker.net/photos/showgallery.php?cat=500&ppuser=1549
