discussion Vietnam Diorama - 1:35 - US troops/vehicles, etc

[pjgtech]

As I am taking part in the current US Icons GB, I may actually end up doing several vehicles, and I also have a few US Vietnam based figures, so I thought once they are all built they might look good in a diorama.
So I am thinking of some sort of Vietnam based dio, maybe a bit of jungle, (never done jungle before, Gulp!) maybe some water, maybe a hut or building, maybe a small jetty for a patrol boat. TBH, I really have not fully decided yet, as it will depend largely on what I build for the US GB, and I have several options, so whatever I end up building will go in this dio, so this is sort of a holding thread,

So far I have my ongoing build of a US M706 armoured car, used in Vietnam, also in other theatres.
I also have a US M113 ACAV that I may use?
I also have several US troops based in Vietnam, general soldiers, plus a couple of Vienamese, "Ladies" and their, erm, chaperone (eg: Pimp!) and a couple of MP's.
Now, as my M706 has a couple of MP decal schemes, I was thinking of some sort of MP based theme?
I also have US PBR patrol boat.....I have the makings of a jungle type hut.....

To be continued..... Cheers

 

[toto]

Bring it on .... popcorn at the ready.

Toto

 

[pjgtech]

Still not decided on what to build exactly, but was playing around with few base boards, laying out vehicles, etc, then I remembered I had a bamboo type hut from an old Airfix Frontier Checkpoint set. NB: I had previously used the little checkpoint hut and checkpoint barrier in my Poor Bloody Infantry (PBI) build last year. It would certainly be suitable for a jungle type scenario....
So this is a possible layout.....


If I use it, I may cut the supports down a bit as I think its too high? I may also distress it a bit as it looks in too good condition IMHO.
But its a possible option....

 

[pjgtech]

I did think about a larger dio, using several foam sheets and the US PBR boat, but laying it out on the base it is HUGE! The PBR alone takes up almost one whole A4 sheet of foam base board! so if I had one or two vehicles, plus a building or jungle hut checkpoint, plus few figures, plus water, etc, it would probably need to be at least x4 sheets of A4, so whats that? erm A2 size! Bit too large for me at the moment, so I'm almost certainly going to be scaling it down a bit to one, or possibly two sheets of A4 foam max.....

 

[John Race]

Sitting waiting Peter, looks interesting.

 

[pjgtech]

Ok, so decided to chop down the jungle watchtower, so its now a lot shorter. I think I'll use some of the off cut bamboos to add an extra vertical support to each side under the hut, in the middle of the two diagonal poles, which I think is how it would have been done.
It looks a bit better on the board now, not so large and overpowering/overbearing!
Also primed it up now ready for painting, and added some distressing, as it was far too pristine, so a few split bamboo poles, few holes, some bullet holes, etc.

 

[flyjoe180]

Great work on that tower Peter. It needs an M60 poking out

 

[toto]

Quick progress ..... you don't hang around. .... nice .....

 

[pjgtech]

Great work on that tower Peter. It needs an M60 poking out

Think I have a .50cal somewhere in the stash....

 

[pjgtech]

Last night I added the extra vertical supports to the base.
This morning I primed up the jungle hut/checkpoint, (AK Black primer) left it for few hours, then it got its first coat of brown (Tamiya red brown).
It will get several coats of various shades, slowly getting lighter, as I would assume it would turn a lighter shade over time with sun fading, etc.

 

[pjgtech]

Ordered some "jungle" plants a while back and they have now arrived, so did a quick dry fit to see how they look....
The pack has loads, I think about 50 separate items, so I picked out the ones that I think look most jungle like and/or suitable for a Vietnam scenario, so few ferns, bamboo type trees, large leaf shrubs, etc....


The first dry fit and it looked like this....
NB: I know they look plasticky, toy ish and not very real, but I intend to try to make them look more realistic by painting, adding a few extra bits, etc, plus I've done nothing to the base yet, as obviously that will be not dead flat and textured and weathered, etc.
My thought process after looking at a few photos is that real jungle is very overcrowded with plants, basically not a spare space anywhere, so I do intend to really load up the base with plants and try to pack them in, apart from where the road/track would have been cleared...

 

[pjgtech]

Latest update, so I have now glued the blue foam base to a thin sheet of ply with PVA, weighted down overnight to set. Hopefully that will stop any warping of the base, which I've had in other dioramas?


Then moved on to giving the jungle hut /checkpoint a lighter coat to simulate a wood/bamboo finish, so far its had black primer, red wood and now a lighter brown, its final coat will be a very light beige/sand, which which hopefully give it it sun faded look.

 

[toto]

Very convincing ....

 

[pjgtech]

The hut/checkpoint has now had its final lighter coat, so it looks a bit more sun faded hopefully...

I also have a nice mossy wash, so may add a coat of that to the hut later, as it would be presumably a very wet area, being a jungle, etc...


A spotlight and .50Cal MG now also installed in the checkpoint...


Never really want a flat base, so I decided the hut could be on a raised area, so adapted the base... I will add more of a sloped surface where the lower/upper foam meets so its a more natural slope.


I quick dry fit to see how we are looking so far....