Introduction

Black Dog has released a good mix of resin products since they came onto the modelling scene. The products offered are a mix of figures, diorama bases and stowage for vehicles in the two main scales. Recently Black Dog has released a nice vignette base titled ‘Tet (Vietnam 1968) Base’ in 1/35th scale.

Contents

This offering from Black Dog is packaged in the usual end opening card box with a sticky label showing the contents assembled and painted next to an unpainted example. The product itself only consists of three resin parts that are packed inside a single Ziploc plastic bag.

Review

This base can be considered a true vignette base due to its small surface area of roughly 2 ¼ inches for the Americans or just shy of 60mm square for the metric brigade. Examining the mouldings did not cause me any concerns as I found no obvious problems associated with resin products such as air bubbles.

Moving onto the base part I have observed something that I would rather not find, but that I cannot consider a fault. The underside of the base is flat, but it is not level; yes I know it is easily corrected by sanding the base, but it does create a messy task that is excessive compared with what I would expect. So I would like Black Dog to look into letting the resin parts set on a level surface. Littered on the base is a period appropriate backpack (thank you Gino), a hold/cold food container and some ammunition boxes.

The upright portion of this base is really nice and has a lot of great details that careful painting will really make stand out. The height of the back is 5 inches or 130mm if you prefer. The pour plug should be easy enough to remove with a saw for anyone; I managed without issue leaving a little sanding to be done to finish the area off. I particularly like the holes in the wall, one with sandbags placed. If a platform is placed on the rear side of the hole a machine gun nest with soldier could be created.

Once put together this offers a nice sixed vignette base, the height being a big plus for me. I have taken a look at the joint and while I cannot get a photograph to show it there is a gap that will need to be filled. There is an M60 machine gun supplied with this set, but in my sample it had got broken; I should say it is not beyond fixing and an image has been included. Black Dog has also produced a lot of other items that could be used with the base or indeed items from the spares box.

Conclusion

I really like this offering from Black Dog as I really like to have height in a display base. A good examination of the base does not present me with any issues that would be insurmountable to remedy, but levelling the base will take time and be a messy task that I could well do without. The broken M60 is a disappointment, but it is not something that affects my opinion of the product as a whole. Taken as a whole I would not hesitate to recommend this product to you all.