My newest addition to the ranks of my NVA force is a recoilless rifle on the move. This one comes with another one deployed in the same pack. Figures are from Empress Miniatures from their indochine war range. Works for the American war, too.
Below are pictures of the 1st assistant gunner.
And the ammo bearer:
The gunner with the gun:
Here is another VC soldier with the traditional vietnamese “No’n La’ ” headgear. The head is from Empress as is the body of the figure.
As usual I used GW contrast paints
Below is a picture next to the original figure:
It is that time of the year again . Over on LAF forum the build something contest 2021 runs again like every year. And like every year I droped out already. So I can show you my project from start to finish here now.
The theme this year is difficult terrain and as my ovear all theme at the moment is Vietnam I build some difficult terrain for my Vietnam collection.
So how did I start. The idea was to build a swampy, elefantgrass overgrown, area, wich is infested with booby traps. The concept was to be able to swap traps with harmless terrain features so no one knows in advance what might happen when the troops walk through the area.
I Started by building 6 different terrain pieces with spaces wide enough to fit some MDF bases I had lying arround. On the MDF bases I would build the traps or other features to be able to swap them arround.
The bases:
Above you see the 6 bases I did. You can clearly sea the spaces were the traps would go. The elefant grass is artificial lawn cut in strips and glued to the board. Below are the finished bases without traps:
The last base was done a bit different. I tried to build a punji stake pit, which is not really possible without “sinking” the pit below street level. So I build the pit directly on the board rather then using the way I showed you above.
Now i had to build the traps. I used round MDF bases to base them on. These fit into the ” holes” I left on the boards.
In the picture above you see some of the traps. On the left there is a bent back bamboo with sharpened bamboo sticks affixt to it. If you release the trap the stick will move very quickly hitting everything in its way about knee hight. In the middle you see a C ration box and an abandoned pack. both might be booby traped or not. The third one holds a smoke grenade ( if you loook very closely you can see it. On the right is a stand of bamboo with a piece of ordonance nickt from somewere. Better don’t release the tripwire…..
Above are some more closeups of the traps. Below are the traps on the terrain pieces:
And the boards in action . A US Marine section moving through the area. Figures by Empress.
The M551 “Sheridan” AR/AAV (Armored Reconnaissance/Airborne Assault Vehicle) was a light tank developed by the United States and named after General Philip Sheridan, of American Civil War fame. The first combat deployment of the Sheridan was in Vietnam. it had several advantages: it did not get stuck in the mud as often as the 52-ton M48 Patton tank did, nor did it throw its track off as often. This was enough to win the tank crews’ love. The light weight and high mobility proved their worth, and the gun proved an effective anti-personnel weapon when used with either the M657 HE shell or the M625 canister round, which used thousands of flechettes as projectiles. The reliability of the engine system and gun of the tank was, however, not fully up to the task. So that many M551 had to be repaired quit often. A serious setback was the typ of Ammo for the main gun. it used a powder charge in bags so that projectile and charge had to be loaded after each other. This system made the tank very prone to explosions when hit with an RPG.
I got a 3D file of the tank through a kickstarter ( 3D printable US Vehicles of the Vietnam War). This was printed on my Anycubic photon resin printer and i must say the files are really worth every penny I paid!
The stowage is from the kickstarter too. The comander figure is from Empress.
Now on to painting of the vehicle…..
This is a figure with a head swap. The figure is a regular NVA RPG gunner . I changed the head against a head with a traditional hat to make him look more like a VC. The head and the figure are from Empress.
Here is the original miniature next to the one with the new head:
An angry “mama san” and her brother who lost his leg to a booby trap. They seem to be quite inocent.
But ever so often you find out, the hard way, that inocence is not very often to be found
They got a little present from up north , in the form of an old german MG.
She is on her way back home after a long day in the family rice paddys.
Or is she on her way to join the other VC of the village tonight?
Both miniatures together:
Here is the next vietnamese civillian figure. He is dressed in a bit better clothes . So I thought he might be the son of the village chief.
Or he might be a leader of a unit of Viet Cong:
Armed with a french gun with folding stock.
And both figures together:
This is another one of the VC in disguise by Empress Miniatures. A very nice sculpt, especially the face.
But if she gets disturbed, she runs to the hidden weapons and gets the gun out:
And both figures next to each other:
Here is the last Seal for my first team. Armed with a M16 grenade launcher combo.
Below is the complete team:
Next up some 3D printed goodies….
