Gunbirds Tour of Duty - Nam '68 Project (17/8 Buddah's done after 18 months)

[Gunbird]

Taking some downtime on the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. project, took a week off to have more time with the kids and getting my bearings back.

So, brought my 15mm Vietnam boxes out of the attic and have planned to build all of the Sarissa 15mm huts I have (6) this week, and I just finished the first.



I've given it a tinned roof as it will pull double duty with my AK-47 collection. I will do the same for the other planked ones, and will give the others a woven roof....as soon as I figure out how.

[BeneathALeadMountain]

Ooooh! Exciting…. I like the corrugated iron roof effect (perfect for ‘68 and AK47 - can’t beat some multi purpose terrain). I’m excited about owning Nam’68 - not sure I’ll manage to get it to the table but I’m enjoying planning 

What range are you using for troops?

Andrew
BeneathALeadMountain

[Gunbird]

That will be mostly Battlefronts NAM range (as that tanked harder than the Tirpitz here so picked up a lot at 40% or more off) with additions from Peter Pig and some resin prints.

Fortunately, plenty of miscasts from Battlefront that I can convert up into other poses. Still not sure the amount of miscasts is just being sloppy or a business strategy, but hey, who doesnt love a mouldline running through a blokes face, with enough bonus metal on the side to make Gothmog look like the winner of a Mister Universe contest in comparison...

Oops, <sarcasm not working>

Anyway, they are/were cheap and not as bad as Old Glory, so there is that. And I always liked converting.

Oh, I did look at getting some Pendraken but after getting hit in the face by Dutch Customs with my last 3 orders from the UK my wallet is losing the will to live....so maybe next year.

[BeneathALeadMountain]

Fortunately, plenty of miscasts from Battlefront that I can convert up into other poses. Still not sure the amount of miscasts is just being sloppy or a business strategy, but hey, who doesnt love a mouldline running through a blokes face, with enough bonus metal on the side to make Gothmog look like the winner of a Mister Universe contest in comparison...

Oops, <sarcasm not working>

  Exactly why I asked - I also picked up some discounted Battlefront Nam chaps (although not enough) and I’m currently in the process of working out where in my lead mountain they are - I had a sneaking suspicion I’d been annoyed with the poses/casting before and that’s why they’d been overlooked. I love Peter Pig but find the US of the Vietnam range to look quite old compared to the recent WW2 or modern Africa chaps - if they were resculpted I’d snap them up……. Maybe a mix of the more acceptable PP and FoW with PP re-heading will do.

Looking forwards to seeing how you get on.

Andrew
BeneathALeadMountain

[CapnJim]

That hooch should look good, when it's done.

And I'm looking forward to seeing how your Tour of Duty goes, particularly compared to how mine goes...

[Gunbird]

3 buildings built, I'll spare you the bare looks. Had a online painting group tonight so did a single one in 2 hours 30 minutes from primer to finished. Wasn't fast, I was stumbling around to get a decent look to the walls, but it is finished now. I plan/hope to have the other 2 finished tomorrow. And I seem to have misplaced the stairs that come with 2 of them.















The model is a Sarissa Precision K506 Low Small Village House.

[CapnJim]

Looks good.  I like the tin roof, rusted...

[Hu Rhu]

Wonderful work on those tin roofs.

[Ultravanillasmurf]

Very nice.
I like the roofs.

[carlos marighela]

Easy method for woven fibre roofs?  Japanese textured paper. Cut to size and glue in place. Good for neatly thatched roofs and a change from the inevitable teddy bear fur.

https://www.deansart.com.au/paper-weave-a4-pw039-zori-brown-260gsm

They also do a range of other textured papers suitable for dressing the walls and floors of MDF kits.

https://www.deansart.com.au/paper-weave-a4-pw620-bali-light-brown-320gsm

https://www.deansart.com.au/paper-weave-a4-pw048-cotton-natural-240gsm

Presumably there are local retailers that sell the same items.

[Gunbird]

Thx! I've spent some time looking for it, with name variations etc. The only thing I could find was very expensive wallpaper, or stupidly coloured paper what the sellers here call Japanese (but really isn't)

[carlos marighela]

If you don't have any joy locally and still want some, I'm happy to pop down and pick some up for you. There's a Dean's Arts about a two minute drive from me. Let me know.

[Gunbird]

If you don't have any joy locally and still want some, I'm happy to pop down and pick some up for you. There's a Dean's Arts about a two minute drive from me. Let me know.

Gracias, appreciated. For now I'll hold off as I want to get troops, trees and other stuff done for the village, but I may get back to you on this.

3 huts done, now to take another small break and make  a list of stuff that I should make that fit the village (feel free to contibute!)









lots more pics on my Blog >> https://20mmandthensome.blogspot.com/2024/12/three-huts-make-village.html

[carlos marighela]

Bits every village needs.

1) A village well. In quite a few villages favoured by the French this would be a concrete construction.

2) Family bunkers, often under the house so invisible but as often next to them slightly raised bit of earth with an entrance.

3) Animal enclosures. Also quite common would be a fish pond.

4) A slightly posher headman's house.

5) A village cemetary

6) Villages were were often strung out, made up of connected collections of smaller hamlets of a few buildings. So a central path connecting each end of the village with its neighbours is worth modelling.

7) Fish drying racks and mats. Not limited to but especially prevalent in coastal regions. Fish sauce is a staple condiment/ingredient used in the preparation of most meals.

A selection of fruit trees. Mangoes, bananas, papaya.

9) Individual and collective cultivated plots. Apart from rice a key staple is cassava and in addition you will have vegetables and herbs, especially so-called Vietnamese mint ( a form of basil in reality) growing everywhere. This are mostly ground cover type crops so pretty easy to simulate in miniature.

10) An ox cart just to conform to trope but also quite common as the means to get stuff to market like rice, charcoal and bulk goods.

In more prosperous/larger villages a meeting place cum school cum market. The French built one at Binh Ba is iconic and well photographed but you can also think the school in Apocalypse Now.

While the popular gaming trope is shacks constructed of woven bamboo and thatched with palm fronds/ grass. It's worth remembering that many villages in the south were of stouter construction, rendered buildings with tiled roofs. Again Binh Ba provides a wealth of photographs to model from. Might even be that the village headman gets a tiled roof. If you google Binh Ba or go to the AWM site you get to see plenty of photos before and after being perforated by 20 pounder HE rounds.

[Gunbird]

Highly appreciated Carlos, I can work with this