Carlos' Vietnam Armour/ Amor?

[carlos marighela]

Some Vietnam tanks...

First up an ARVN M41.  Diecast 1/50 toy by Diapet, somewhat modified to lessen the toy-like qualities.           

[carlos marighela]

M41 and Empress M48 and M68 for scale.

[carlos marighela]

Empress M48, M67 Zippo and the Corgi diecast m48 for comparison.

Most photos I have seen of the M67A1/ A2 in Vietnam show vehicles without the Model B cupola riser. I happened to have a snaptite Revell  1/48 M48 A2 floating around so it donated its commanders cupola. The Revell Kit will now get converted to an M48A5 or more likely a Bundeswehr M48A2GA2.

[tomrommel1]

nice models indeed

[Blackwolf]

Nicely done! Interesting the size differences,I have an old Bandai Tiger II,whilst apparently 1/48 is probably closer to 1/40

[Paul @ Empress Miniatures]

Thats very interesting. The comparison between Empress 1/50 and Corgi 1/50 is something we realised when starting to design the Vietnam vehicles.

A customer sent us pictures of it against our figures and we were stunned at how big the Corgi one was. We never measured it but came to the conclusion it was at least 1/48, possibly bigger. Corgi scales are based upon pack size. ie what fits into a standard size box so not a surprise.

All the Empress ones are 1/50 so all the same size.

This scaling thing is a nightmare as wargames companies use scales as name tags and to find other industries doing it is a pain.

My FIC range has 1/56 vehicles, mainly from one particular manufacturer and they are all over the place in true scale terms. eg the jeep is the size of a dodgem car. My personal decision to go 1/56 was made years before Empress starting making these vehicles and they are really too small.  However I am not going to replace them as there is too much work gone into them. Therfore I am going to end up with two scales of the same vehicle across two related period. eg the Chaffee. 1/56th for FIC. In the future 1/50 ARVN Chaffee for Vietnam.   

Vehicles look good.

[carlos marighela]

Actually I think it’s the angle. Seen from the side there’s no noticeable difference in the height of the track guards. I shall take another shot tomorrow. The Corgi M48 has a deeper/ higher tunnel for the engine so the rear deck is slightly higher and the turret seems a bit higher but to be honest seen from a couple of feet away, they blend pretty well.

The Empress M48 is still a WIP. I ordered some 1/48 C ration and beer cartons but silly bugger me didn’t notice I had been sent 1/35 scale versions. Wish I had checked before assembling the first one.  Oh well, order some more and wait another six weeks I suppose.

The Empress M67 is based on a photo or photos of one that saw service at Hue. Looking at the photo I noticed there was an M1 carbine by the drivers hatch, so I raided the spares box for one. Having had the practice on the M48, I knocked out the shock absorbers pretty quickly this time around. The only faff was the gun cradle lock. As this one was based on a photo with sparse stowage this time I felt I couldn’t cheat so I knocked one up from plastic card, plastic tubing, rod and brass wire. Ain’t perfect but it does the job. Needs another tin hat on the turret. Maybe I should buy the Empress stowage pack?

[Ultravanillasmurf]

They look good.
Interesting M41.

In the future 1/50 ARVN Chaffee for Vietnam.   

Voting Machines!

[carlos marighela]

A 1/50 Chaffee will be most welcome. Like you, I have a divide on scales. WW2 is mostly 1/56 because of its availability. Post war I have largely gone for 1/50 or 1/48, albeit my French Indochina Chaffee is also 1/56.

The exceptions are my WW2 Australians cos the Tamiya Matildas are so much nicer than anything else out there and my Aden and Borneo era Brits, because of availability.

Actually, the Chaffee might be a bad idea, it might be all it needs to tip me over to doing the 1971 Indo-Pakistani conflict.

[carlos marighela]

Corgi v Empress, you be the judge.

[carlos marighela]

More bits