UVS: Vietnam - M48A3 WIP 04/09/2022

[tomrommel1]

Very nice indeed, one thing though , give the palm leaves a wash to tone the green down a bit.

[Ultravanillasmurf]

Thanks.

I hand varnished the trunk before applying a Citadel Agrax Earthshade wash, I am waiting for some better weather so I can spray varnish the fronds and then use one of the green shade washes.

I have two bags of them to varnish, wash and base.

[tomrommel1]

That will make a big difference!

[Ultravanillasmurf]

It has been a while.
What with one thing and the other, there has not been a great deal of enthusiasm in general, but the recent order for the Centurion, PT-76 and Otter from Empress has prompted me to build something.


There is a feed gate on the bow/nose of the vehicle  that is difficult to remove. I might go for some covering stowage if I can think of something suitable.

I could find little information on the decoration of the vehicle, so I used the USMC in-line numbers off two Rubicon Jeep decal sheets. In line on the nose, and one from a second sheet cut and stacked on the rear of the hull.


I assembled the hull first (without the propellor, it projects below the hull) then primed it and the tracks with (the last of my) Citadel Chaos black, then sprayed the hull with Humbrol 155 Olive Drab. US Marine vehicles are not that colour, but I did not have anything else available. The wheel hubs were then painted with Humbrol 155 Olive Drab acrylic.

The rolled tarpaulin on the roof in front of the roof hatch is really there to reinforce the ring mount, though if I build another, I will add some additional stowage behind the hatch.

[carlos marighela]

Nicely done!

[Paul @ Empress Miniatures]

Excellent job.

I love the Otter. Its a mix of cute, ugly and weird.

[tomrommel1]

well done !

[Ultravanillasmurf]

Thanks guys.

[Rich H]

as the wife described it: the bastard child of a canal boat, tank and truck

[Ultravanillasmurf]

as the wife described it: the bastard child of a canal boat, tank and truck

Would that be a water tank?

[Ultravanillasmurf]

Next in the queue is...


http://ultravanillasmurf.blogspot.com/2020/07/pt-76-soviet-amphibious-light-tank.html
Well that gives it away a bit...

[Ultravanillasmurf]

It has been a while since I last finished anything for Vietnam (June 2020!).

Looking at the new VC figures and playing around with Zona Alfa as a possible Vietnam Solo engine has prompted me to finally base all my current NVA figures.



Currently in Snot Womble Green undercoat.

They now have somewhere to live (having shuffled a number of figures around) - a two tray Figures In Comfort box.

The bottom two rows contain Empress Viet Minh - in a slightly more advanced state of painting.

The USMC are on the other tray.

Still plenty to do, but I think there are enough painted USMC for a Zona Alfa style game.

[Ultravanillasmurf]

I am working on a solo game using the Zona Alfa rules and the Empress Vietnam (and French Indochina) figures. The Point Of Interest system (ask Dentatus nicely) provides objectives and a degree of randomness suitable for Solo or cooperative play. The cards for Zona Alfa are fine for a post-apocalyptic environment, but lack the flavour of the Vietnam War setting.

Most of my cards are just "re-skins" of existing cards, but one of the scenes from Full Metal Jacket that stuck in my mind was the sniper. So there had to be a sniper figure (I will need a few more later).

Currently Empress do not do any sniper figures for NVA or VC, so I looked through the figures I had and selected the NVA kneeling figure with an SKS carbine. Now a carbine firing an intermediate cartridge is not really the right sort of weapon for a sniper, but needs must...

To make the sniper obvious, he needed a 'scope. The Anvil Industries Phase Rifle sprue used to come with a 'scope (now you would have to buy the weapon accessories sprue), so that was added to the SKS after removing the rear sight.

[tomrommel1]

Nice!

[Paul @ Empress Miniatures]

Clever stuff