DIORAMAS/DISPLAYS - UPDATE ON COOPER

Well... This weekend I have worked on my Vietnam display for the Ft. Thomas show. First, let me update you on the Cooper Firebase diorama. On Saturday I was able to get the holes and seams filled with some joint compound. I didn't use very much, just enough to fill cracks and seems. I really didn't want to increase the weight of the modules if I could help it.

Today, I was able to get a coat of latex paint on the modules, this is how the diorama currently looks. This took quite a while as I used some paint we already had and brushed it on by hand.

Here are the two modules from a slightly different angle. The bunker seems huge, but I really think it is going to be just right once everything is in the diorama. The addition of the tower and the howitzer do a nice job of balancing out the various parts of the scenery. I am planning to spray paint the diorama tomorrow night with a variety of different colors; black, dark brown, medium brown,  and a couple of different shades of a reddish tan. I like to overspray in such a way that all the various layer show up to some degree as I feel it creates a sense of depth (well sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't). Mrs. Point Man started working on sandbags this weekend too. She did the first five of a whole score of what will eventually be needed. This is what they look like. Try to imagine them building up the wall of the trench and gun pit as that is what they will eventually do.

This is perhaps not the most detailed picture, but she has found a material that has a nice scaled appearance of burlap. They have real sand in them and they stack and lay really nice. It is going to be very cool when they are all completed, They will probably make the overall diorama.


I ALSO WORKED ON THE 1:1 PART...
...of my display this weekend. Creating a lot of the paper items that I want to be part of the display.

My research of the various paper cards and documents held by average infantry soldiers during the Vietnam War began quite a while ago as I attempted to find suitable artwork for my 1:6th Projects. I only recently decided that I wanted to have these items in 1:1 scale and determined that I wanted to create authentic reproductions rather than spending the money that would be required to get my hands on originals. The result has been a rather fun and rewarding project that I will be able to show off in my display.

My Ace of Spades Death Card is based on an actual card used in Vietnam, but it is not an exact reproduction. I could have copied the art exactly, but I decided that I wanted a slightly unique look all my own and so I used a more contemporary looking Scull and Cross Bones. The death warning on the back of the card is also in French, rather than Vietnamese. By the way, that helmet band in the picture is made with actual material from the Vietnam War.

RATION PACK ACCESSORIES... to the best of my knowledge, these items are as correct as I can make them. I have had to scale them out from a Cigarette pattern found online. This is a ration pack flip top box of cigarettes containing just 4 cigarettes. It looks incredibly small to me, but all the pictures seem to bear out that this is the correct size. The other items were relatively scaled off of the book of matches. The copy is all correct.

Pocket and Wallet sized cards and pamphlets seemed to be one of the ways that the Army got important information into the hands of the Vietnam Infantryman. Here are four such items, the larges being a little four paged booklet called READY REFERENCE FACTS. There was also the two-sided card called, NINE RULES (of Conduct), another folding card called, THE ENEMY IN YOUR HANDS, which gave rules for prisoner treatment. And finally in this group another folding card which featured tips on Booby Traps. All of these examples were put out by MACV.

Three examples of Wallet sized cards. On the left, a Geneva Convention Card, In the center, a Meal Card and on the right, a Liberty Pass; the meal card is the only two sided card in the group.

The outside of the 4 fold MACV Ration Card and a Business Card for a local Taxi Driver in Bangkok; this was an actual card. Again, you can get the relative size by the book of matches. Everything has been weather to create the illusion of aged and wallet beaten items.


Well, that is what I worked on this weekend. I will be eager to hear what everyone else has been doing. Catch you later,
Have a good one!