Finished diorama-Battle of Le Loi street, Hue, Tet 1968 (1 Viewer)

EPGallagher

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Here is the completed Tet Diorama, one of 3 VN themed that I'm taking to the Chicago show next month-Finally got to do one on "my war", even if its Marine themed (I'm retired army). The detail and painting of these new K&C figures as I said in my last post is first rate, so had to up my game in detail, although still adding small bits and pieces to it every day and probably will up to the day of the show. Dio is 18" x 48", and contains 30+ Marines and NVA, although I'm adding to them all the time. All buildings are scratch built except for the Buddhist temple, which are conversions of 2 old Verlinden plaster buildings. I've added many small details so that you find something new each time you look at it........come to the show and I'll point them out to you....:salute:: Sorry about the picture quality.... I'll be adding better ones in the future
Pat

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It's all in the detail and you have nailed it. You can be proud of your efforts and this will certainly attract a lot of interest at the show, a real head turner. Have a great time. Robin.
 
Brilliant diorama Pat, I'm looking forward to seeing it in the flesh next month.

Tom
 
Beautiful work on that diorama! The buildings especially look very authentic.
 
Pat mate you have out done yourself what a freaking beauty well done done mate.
I like the corpses as well nice touch,sooooooooooooooooooo what are the plans for it will some lucky person get to buy it,or is it a keeper (Be my choice) or is it someones project you did ?
Either way mate it is a classic and should drive K&C viet figures through the roof^&grin
 
Beautiful diorama have you make.😁👍
Thanks for sharing. it's always nice to see how collectors are busy with their hobby. I am also working on a Hue diorama and have some nice ideas after seeing this one!
Have a nice weekend


Harry😎
 
Awesome diorama Pat.
I like all the Oriental details. Can you take some close up photos of the details and post on the forum please.
The burnt out vehicles look great. I think with your memory of the place as you saw it, you've really caught the atmosphere.

Well done :salute:::salute:::salute::

I will be taking some ideas from this to adapt to my own little scenes.

Steve
 
Thanks guys for the kind words. Will try and take better pictures of the details. A lot of it was just thinking thru the details of what a battle field would look like-spent hours in front of the TV cutting brass wire into tiny pieces to represent shell casings that surround the M-60 gunner (Have not put them in yet as still placing figures for best viewing angles); finding newspaper front pages from the net, scaling them then weathering and scattering, placing all the crap found on river banks like tires, broken pallets, ect; broken glass everywhere.... Urban battles are never clean. I have a lot of small details that are still in paint stage that will be adding. More than happy to answer any questions-love sharing ideas as do you all-that's why I love this forum

The temple was an old Verlinden kit I modified. The wall was sculpted out of wood and clay: I pressed some old chines stamps my wife had into the clay, then cast multiple versions out of Ducal plaster. NVA posters found on line. The gate is from Hobby Bunker with a chinese plastic thingee I got at a garage sale for $0.25 cents. Converted Dead oxen is from my son's 6th grade science project diorama WE built together 15 years ago (never know what will come in handy down the road....:D)
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Debris is kitty litter: Soda machine is 1/24 scale found on ebay and rusted (VN is tropical and humid-everything rusts) Vallejo has a great rust and stain paint set for $25 on Amazon. Posters and signs found on the net in pictures, then scaled, mounted on card or plastic sheets and weathered. Everything had drilled bullet holes as every battle field has. Old modelers Tip for rusting stuff-after priming, paint on rust colors (Dark brown for old, reddish brown and orange for newer), then spray with hair spray....after dry, paint on actual color, let dry, then using water and windex mix, rub off top paint with paint brush or tooth pick until the rust shows thru.
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Budda is from Hobby Bunker; plants found online at Amazon and eBay, then painted
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I made the road out of cork. The shell hole is gouged out of the foam base, then ripped up coak and kitty litter placed inside and painted. The toy jeep as gutted, and seats replaced with solder wire and bits of metal shavings. Tires were all cut in half, then flattened with AB putty.

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Pat

A while back I also cut up brass wire to simulate the empty cartridge cases.

My tip is glue them down, which I didn't do and regretted.

Steve
 
Excellent work on the dio. Love all the details and descriptions of what you did during the build. Well done.
 
Pat, it’s just awesome! Incredible detail and recreation! It has action, it’s almost as you see movement in it! That coke bottle machine is the cherry on top of the ice cream!
 
Wow, great diorama, full of detail, the way I like it
Guy:smile2:
 
I don't know what happened to those attachments-a senior moment perhaps?? Vietnam stress syndrom?? lets try again-here are more detailed photos of the diorama for the Chicago show

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More detail
Made the ripped and shredded awning out of lead foil and plastic sprue-signs off pictures on the net. Metal grating got on ebay (cheap) and chipped painting of the grating using the hair spray method and touch up with Vallejo rust paint set
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Burned out jeep from EBay, then stripped of all interior, roughed up, added solder wire seats and bits of metal shavings from drilling bullet holes in metal jeep-used different shades of black and rust washed to get effect-used AB sculpt to flatten tires
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There is nothing clean on the battle field-rust washes on everything, especially in VN, bullet holes everywhere. Most pictures of the battle of hue had poncho covered dead Marines-made my own sculpts for the effect, with one showing a bit of face as wind blows back poncho cover-
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More detail on telephone tower and lines-tower and building receiver made from evergreen sprue,the rusted with vallejo rust paints
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Roof detail-lots of flotsum and jetsum on every roof in a battle area. bits and pieces of construction projects, battle damage, etc strewn about
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Sorry about the treads below that i some how had screwed up. These seem to be working-More detail on the diorama

Welcome to Hue.....
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NVA Covering the Le loi bridge before its destruction
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Street fighting was vicious and house to house, building to building
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I made the building facades of foam board covered with cork facing then painted with acrylic paint samples with sand mixed in. Signs were pulled off the net, then reproduced in decals on plastic backing. All doors, windows, etc made from plastic card or strips from evergreen
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During construction, constantly put together elements for visual perspective to see how it all fit in, got the visual lines right, etc. Found my self often just staring at the scene for long moments visualizing the battle scene....equivalent of a toy soldier zen moment I think.......
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