Empress USMC at Hue

I slowly make progress through my Empress Miniatures USMC at Hue collection.

This is the Captain Christmas figure from NAM-12.

He is actually painted up as a generic officer rather than a representation of the historical figure.

 I painted the uniform a slightly darker shade of green (over the traditional Citadel Snotwomble Green spray).

Leading from the front

Empress Cadillac Gage V100 Commando

The Cadillac Gage Commando V100/XM706 was a armoured car/wheeled armoured personnel carrier that was used  in Vietnam by the Army of the Republic of Vietnam (South Vietnam), the US Military Police and the US Airforce. Armed with a twin machine gun turret, it provided security and convoy escort throughout South Vietnam.

Empress released their 1/50 scale model as part of their Vietnam range.

 I modelled an example with an 0.50 heavy machine gun and a 0.30" medium machine gun.

I used two sets of Rubicon DCUA007 Willys MB decals (for the Military Police labels) and theoretically one Rubicon DCUS002 M4 Tank decal sheet (I ended up needing two as I messed up one of the US Army decals and its associated serial number).

 The US recognition stars in front of the side doors use the Rubicon 8mm decals, the ones on the rear half of the upper hull are the 5mm ones - all from the DCUS002 sheet. I added a jerry can from the Empress stowage set. A shovel from the same set together with a piece of plastic rod make up the pioneer tools on the rear of the vehicle.

A US Marine advances supported by an XM706 belonging to the US Army Military Police.

The  Marine takes cover while the XM706 engages targets.

Empress USMC at Hue - detail 2

Looking like a Minmay doll tucked in the strap at the back of the helmet.

I do need to redo the helmet band.

Empress USMC at Hue - detail

Someone on Lead Adventures asked what was on the back of the Marines' helmet, it turns out it is a knitted doll.

I will be revisiting this (after I have dusted it off).

Another building for Vietnam

As previously posted, I have been building the Sarissa Precision North Africa/Colonial buildings for Vietnam.

This is another N109 Small House, this time with an additional air-conditioner (from Crooked Dice).

Both N109 buildings.

Heroics and Eos revisited - Jackal

Heroics and Ros have been in the 6mm - 1/300 scale market for many years (I have an extensive collection from over thirty years ago). I recently bought a few new items at Colours, mainly modern British vehicles.

Here is my first painted item, A Jackal MWIK.

The Supacat Jackal was developed under an MOD Urgent Operational Requirement for a more survivable vehicle to provide reconnaissance and fire support.

Though originally deployed as part of Operation Herrick, the Jackal has been deployed with UK forces as part of the NATO defence of the Baltic states.

This vehicle is 18mm x 10mm by 8mm.

More buildings for Vietnam

At Salute I bought one of Sarissa's Colonial buildings for use for games in Vietnam. At Colours I ordered three more. One of them was another N109 Small House, another was the large three bay variant and the final one was the N110 Destroyed Small House.

The kit comes shrink wrapped and is fairly robust.

 The front sheet has the instructions on the back.
There is a sheet of greyboard with the interior wall details.

Two sheets of MDF make up the body of the building.

The kit went together without any problems. Unlike the complete building, I glued the interior sheets in place before painting. The damaged wall edges were detailed with some Milliput, and the corners smoothed off. There was some damaged render added.

The floor was filled with offcuts of MDF to make it look like a damaged building. Woodlands Scenics ballast was sprinkled between the debris.

Some additional damage was added to the walls.

The building was sprayed with Rustoleum Rust effect spray to give some texture to the walls (the first floor floorboards were masked before spraying). The building was then sprayed with Halfords White paint.

The exposed brick/stone work was painted with Vallejo Red Leather mixed with Vallejo Black Grey.

The mortar was painted with Citadel Karak Stone.

A Crokked Dice Aircon unit was pinned to the front, hanging from its wires.

View showing the interior.

Empress US Marines occupy the building.