This is a subject I have written about previously in the email UPDATE, but I made a little progress this weekend and so I thought I would share. Actually, there were two projects that I have going related to my Ft. Thomas display and I made progress on both. In case you are not familiar with this project, it is two fold. First, I have been needing a firebase set for my VIETNAM STORY series. Patrols in the jungle are all well and good, but occasionally you have to show something else. Second, I figured that the firebase module could serve as a display piece in a Vietnam display for the Ft. Thomas show.

So far, it is just a lot of Styrofoam. The part on the left (pink insulation foam) was the part that I previously completed. It includes a section of trench, a mortar pit or fox hole, a bunker, which opens into a room in the back of the module and a second recessed area that will become a fake bunker. The second section is basically a gun pit for the 155 mm howitzer. Now that the basic landscape for the two modules is done, I will go back and fill in the seams between all the various sections of Styrofoam, then I will paint the entire diorama with some latex paint to sort of seal the foam before spray painting.

Once I have the latex primer on the foam, I will spray paint the entire diorama with a variety of spray paints, starting out with flat black and then going to a couple of different shades of brown. Finally, I found a paint at Joann's called Terra Cotta. There is a lot of clay in Vietnam and during the dry seasons the fire bases were often know for the fine red dust that got on everything. In the rainy season, it was red mud. The Terra Cotta does a nice job of simulating that dry clay soil. 
The finished diorama will have sandbags all across the little ridge that runs along the front of the diorama to build up the side of the trench and the gun pit. I figure probably two layers of bags along the pit and maybe as many as four in front of the gun pit. There will probably be sand bags in a few other spots as well, but along the front is where 90% of them will be.

105 mm and 155 mm howitzers seemed to be the main artillery pieces in Vietnam as far as I can determine. The 9th, which I model, had both. The 155 is one big gun and requires quite a bit of real estate in a module of this size, but I really like the gun and it was a great price thanks to Dr. Zorkon. The good Doctor also provided me with a World Peacekeepers Observation Tower. I had made a tower out of wood, but I really wanted the World Peacekeepers version because of its similarity to the tower I had been using in my background photos.

Right now that howitzer looks pretty exposed, but I think once the sandbags are in place, it should look pretty good. I plan to add a lot of detail to the entire scene. The bunker and the fake bunker will have blackout sheets across the entrances. The bunker with the room will feature a communications setup that I can use in my VIETNAM story. Since it will not be visible at Ft. Thomas, I have a different form of communications in mind. I am thinking about putting a recorder inside the bunker with recordings of Vietnam Radio from 1968 (there's a place online where you can get these recordings). Some of the other details will be fuel drums and gas cans, crates and ammo boxes, ammunition for the 155 mm, barbed wire, claymores, etc, etc. I have a ton to do to the diorama still, but at least we made some progress this weekend. 
The other project was some more 9th Infantry Grunts. My plan is to have two squads of 9th infantry, so that my Lt's platoon, well... looks a little more platoonish. I had five figures that I was working on this weekend and I "completed" four of them. The fifth guy is show in the diorama pictures above. He's got a little detailing to go obviously. Here are the other four.

So far we have the squad Sergeant with a shotgun, a Rifleman, an M-60 Gunner and a RTO. These figures aren't quite as detailed as my first squad (I used Dragon gear instead of Toy Soldier, but I really can't afford any more of the Toy Soldier stuff, plus it's hard to find). Anyway, the guys of second squad are my second stringers and they can be a little less detailed as a result. That said, they are still getting some upgrades on some of the gear, so they really don't look that shabby.


Well... that is what I did this weekend. I would be interested in hearing what everyone else did this weekend. Let's hear from you. Until next time, have a good one!