(COMMERCIAL) Empress Miniatures' NEW Vietnam Range

[Paul @ Empress Miniatures]

Ship via a port in West Africa and then on via Gioia Tauro in Italy or even Bulgaria is how the Colombians and Mexicans manage it. Let’s face it, no mule is going to swallow 30 condoms full of miniatures. You might end up paying VAT on the pallets of terracotta tiles or tins of tomatoes the figures come packed in though. 

 

[Paul @ Empress Miniatures]

We have the armed civilians & local VC.

These figures work for the French Indo China period as well as Vietnam.

Each pack of civilians links to an armed version of the same figure making for interesting scenario options.
This pack is DS10 has 4 armed figures.

Left to right;

Moisin Nagant bolt action rifle Soviet.
Model 1936 CR39 carbine French.
M1 carbine USA.
Lee Enfield No4 MK1 rifle British.

[carlos marighela]

I like those a lot!

[Sparrow]

Sweet!

[Mick_in_Switzerland]

I have just received the VC so I now have 8 civilians who can change to VC.
I am very pleased with the figures and the concept. 

[Paul @ Empress Miniatures]

Thanks guys. Glad you like the idea 

[commissarmoody]

Very Cool.

[Paul @ Empress Miniatures]

Cheers.

[Paul @ Empress Miniatures]

Question for the hive mind.

The trumpeter H-34 has a decal set with  a red wings transfer for the nose. See the illustration. Is the number in the middle, 91, a reference to a unit or is it the number for the helicopter so each one has a different number?

Just finishing three of the beasts and would like to know if I need to re number two of them. Hope so as its good for identifying the individual models on the table.

Cheers, Paul.

 

[Ash]

Three at the same time is impressive, I'm just painting one of the Italeri H-34 kits. Lots of swearing involved...

I'd have thought the tail markings would be to ID the squadron and then have a different number for each aircraft, so don't have them all as YS 22 and have a different long number as well, but that's a guess.

[Paul @ Empress Miniatures]

Trust me three of these is life changing. 

Its the big red number on the nose cone thats the intriguing one. If its the unit then thats great.

[carlos marighela]

The usual formula for Marine helicopter squadrons is a two letter tail code that identifies the squadron and a double digit number for the individual bird. You often see that on the tail and nose.

The illustration shows a bird from HMM-162, from the tail code YS. The identifying number of the bird is 22, marked high up on the tail, a common location and in this case above the cargo bay/ cabin. The red winged 91 is a mystery to me. A very similar scheme shows up in footage of UH-34s lifting marines into Santo Domingo in 1965 seen here:

https://www.criticalpast.com/video/65675033534_United-States-Marine-Corps_arrange-equipment_South-Vietnam_Da-Nang

The footage seems to suggest that the winged number matches the individual number of the bird.

More research needed. Might be specific to a wing or a squadron embarked on a given ship.

Now the bad news. First off, HMM -162 departed Vietnam in 1965. They were part of the batch of original marine helicopter squadrons sent to lift SVN troops (Operation Shufly). So  if you are looking for a squadron that operated later in the period to match your troops that isn’t the best choice. Secondly the available photos of HMM-162 in Vietnam don’t show the red wings on the nose. That’s backed up by a comment I read by a guy doing remarkably detailed illustrations of H-34s who suggests the scheme was in use stateside.

Less dramatic but if you want to use that set of decals, you could just omit the wings from the front. You’ll need to come up with variations of the individual aircraft numbers but I’m sure there’s something in the spare decal box.

Hope that helps.

[carlos marighela]

By the by what’s the Trumpter kit like? I’ve been eyeing one off locally. I know it’s a rebox but I’m hoping it’s a better build than the Italeri one which I need to repair and finish. I went a bit silly at a recent sale and now have a stash of Vietnam era aircraft, many of dubious usefulness awaiting construction, including an Air America Pilatus Porter and  a T-28 Trojan.

[carlos marighela]

Stateside at MCAS New River but looks like the number in the red wings is indeed an individual number within the squadron.

https://popasmoke.com/visions/displayimage.php?album=98&pid=5012#top_display_media

There’s also a couple of photos showing HMM-162 birds in Vietnam (no red wings)

[Paul @ Empress Miniatures]

Thats brilliant, but annoying  . Great piece of film.

Huge thanks for that. There are two other sets of markings so I had best check those out although they are not as funky. 

The Trumpeter model is VERY good and well detailed. The instructions are good although slightly misleading in parts as they do explain either or parts very well.

Two areas that I had issues with are the dash board and the engine.

Engine. Having taken two hours to make the engine Its not actually shown in the finished model so I do not bother with the other two. However that means that the exhaust does not poke through the hole in the nose cone. Thats can be sorted by using the second nose cone supplied which does not have the hole or simply gluing the exhaust on the onside so its looks right. 

Dashboard. I had a struggle with getting this to fit when the two halves of the body were put together so on two I 'made' it fit. On the third I got a fit but it pushed the cockpit assembly forward ever so slightly so the rear of the cockpit does not fit perfectly , by 2mm , within the housing. This is hidden when the canopy is fitted.  I found swearing helped a lot.

The cockpit seats are also set back a long way so a pilot crew figure sits a long way back and so his feet are a very long way from the pedals. I obviously used Empress crew figure and positioned them slightly forward to a middle position which works well when the canopy is fitted.

Despite this its a great model and worth getting. I just have to work out what the extra bits are all for that are left in the box. I suspect the instructions are not as complete as they were with the original.