Grasshoppers and Elephants
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About the Project
This project is my way of trying to compile and complete my growing collection of models from Vietnams resistance war against America era miniatures, rather than having a box of dusty lead it will be rather cool to have a box of painted miniatures. This project has been ongoing on and off for a few years now. It started off as a collection of books on my Kindle about the vietnam war then i got into 15mm with battlefronts tour of duty that i first tried playing at a demo game at the grumpy gamers convention at wayland games. Then i started collecting 20 mm vietnam miniatures for use in FNG, force on force ambush valley and the lard's charlie don't surf rule set. i found the 20 mm miniatures by chance wandering round salute i came across the grubby tanks stall they have a huge range of us and NVA and VC in metal as well as a very swish resin firebase and resin huts, This project will cover mainly my 28mm collection and maybe dip into my 15mm and 20mm collections at some point. I plan to collect and paint as many of the Gringo 40s range of figures that i can for both the Vietnamese and Free world forces. Im going to use the painting guide from the flames of war tour of duty book as much as possible as i am colour blind and brown and green can be awkward to work out. This can lead two some interesting colour choices.
Related Genre: Historical
This Project is Active
M113 from Parkfield miniatures
This is a resin M113 from parkfield miniatures with added resin stowage from eBay.
The vehicle is painted vallejo russian uniform and dirtied up with streaks of Vallejo umber wash of differing consistency mixed with lahmium medium.
I did use some weathering powders on the tracks and other gubbins but it does not show up too well think i need to be a bit heavier with it next time.
These pictures were taken at the war and peace show and are used by a reenactment group who set up a living display of a firebase in vietnam.
Thought i would paint up a couple of disembarked crew maybe for use as objective markers.NVA
These are some of my favourite models in the range so far. They are very detailed even down to the soles of the boots and sandals having tread on them.
The models have a mix of weapons including AK-47, type 56 RPD, the pps 43 being held by the dude with the bugle and the RPG-2
They were painted with vallejo and Games workshop paints and washes.
All the pictures i could find of Peoples Army of Vietnam uniforms were all in different shades of green from dark to a light khaki so i chose to go with russian uniform green highlighted with a mix of green and vallejo buff, with watered down agrax earth shade in the folds of the fabric.
male and female members of the national liberation front of south vietnam also known as the vietcong from the gringo40s range.
This is a picture of my vietcong collection so far. some more female vc have just been released so will be adding to these when i can. The models come equipped with a selection of weapons from the Mosin-Nagant Rifle, Mat 49 sag and the chinese made type 56 assault rifle.
These are some of the gringo40s vietcong models in early civilian dress.
Here are a few of the female vc figures, i tried out contrast paint for the black clothing. The black templar paint makes painting black a lot simpler it did have a bit of a shiny finish which looked a bit odd on the clothing so i went over it with some vallejo german grey to remove some of the shine.
A group of vc fighters wearing rice hats known as non la in vietnamStarting with the Mule
The first model that bought for this project was the USAFV01 U.S. Military M274 Truck, Platform, 106 Recoilless Rifle and 3 Crew also known as a Mule.
This is a fantastic all metal model produced by Gringo40s.
The model is very detailed and the sculpts are very crisp and full of character.
Its kind of like a mini diorama as well as a tabletop miniature.
I picked this model up at the colours show held at newbury race course.
The Mule was used to transport infantry and supplies and could have weapons mounted to them in this case a Recoilless rifle.
The finished model
Setting the scene
The base was covered in miliput and the mules wheels were rolled in it to create track marks.Sand and gravel was then added. The base was painted with a mix of Martin iron earth, brown acrylic and jungle earth weathering powders.
I then glued on various tufts and made some bushes from an old chopped up door mat.
The model was undercoated with black primer then painted vallejo brown violate. The Mule was then highlighted with a mix of brown violate and vallejo russian uniform. The whole thing was then dipped into a 50/50 mix of agarx earth shade and nuln oil any excess was removed with a cotton bud to stop pooling.
The crew were then painted separately from the model, the trousers and flack jackets are painted with Vallejo russian uniform and highlighted with a mix of russian uniform and vallejo buff.
These pictures are of a mule that was used by reenactors that were at the ware and peace show.
