WIP US Marines in Hue during the 1968 TET Offensive

[Steve Zuleski]

Ya Dennis, pretty gutsy painting them eyes, Stellar performance Brother! I actually like your color combo on the uniform and vest better than mine, more spot on, accurate. Keep er rollin, this is getting too good to put down!!

Cheers, Ski.

[wbill76]

Looking good Dennis, making nice progress on all fronts AND you survived the wedding, a two-fer!

[dennis]

Hello all, let me apologise for the pause in posting but circumstances have needed me elsewhere worst luck. Thank you all for your encouragement fellows it is much appreciated.
I have started to prepare the Bravo 6 Marine M60 Gunner, I have included a couple of shots showing the parts. Not much flash on this one but a lot of mold slippage, you know where the mold halves appear to slip this only has happened on his lower half and his boots.
But that said the figure is a beauty; the gunners cheek is indented to take the M60 body, and when you dry fit the right arm holding the M60 the gunners eye line up with the sight.
The sculptor is has done his research in as much as he has cast the knife behind the pistol holster as M60 Marine gunners sometimes wore them. I will be using the photo etched bipod legs for the M60 (from Bravo 6) and making a helmet chin strap for this guy otherwise it is a straight OOB build.
I will post some updates as soon as I can, thanks for popping in see you all soon.
Dennis

[Leon]

Nice start on the M60 gunner Dennis.I just got the U.S. Marines Nam tank crew and they look great.

[Steve Zuleski]

Another beauty on the way!

Cheers, Ski.

[kaytermarram]

Yep, the figure looks way cool! Top details, sure, but the face is amazing to me!

Frank

[Deleted]

Looking really good!

Some tips if I may?

Those green utilities faded to a tan-yellow if they lasted long enough (mine did anyway). The flak jacket looks spot on. Remember the collar area will be grimy and dark. You could go even lighter on the toes of the boots. Mine were nearly white after a bit. Everything else is fantastic and brings back many memories.

G

[dennis]

Hi G just came across your post, I will act upon your operational experience. I am going to start mounting the figures onto the base shortly so I will darken up the collar areas and lighten the boot toe areas. Thank you for taking the time to pass on your opex mate.
Dennis

[dennis]

Hello all, I am afraid that my return to work has interrupted my painting, so my production rate has slowed down a lot. In my last post I showed this guy in his unpainted state, well at last I have got him painted. I still have to complete his helmet and put it on his head, so his hair is just blocked in as it doesn’t really show under his helmet when it is in place.
This guy is sculpted wearing a hooded rain parka, now I did some research on these garments, the US Navy ones were of a grey shade and the US Army ones were more of a green shade, my research also threw up the fact that the Marines sometimes wore non issue rain jackets. I decided that my guy would be wearing an Army jacket my reason behind this was to keep the figure from being too grey, as he will be featuring in the centre of the diorama. It was a challenge to show a sheen of a waterproof finish on the jacket.
I had to assemble the figure completely before painting and I regret not spraying some black undercoat on the hard to reach areas of the figure, i.e. underneath the head arms area and the neck area.
I scratch built a carry handle for the M60 and replaced the resin bipods with a photo etched bipod from Bravo 6. As he was assembled before painting he was somewhat of a challenge to paint, but a very enjoyable challenge. Sorry for the delay in posting but I hope you enjoy the latest Street Fighting Man!
Dennis

[Steve Zuleski]

Ah, looks good and in the swing of things. Shadows and highlights are spot on, face is great as always. Standing by for more.

Cheers, Ski.

[kaytermarram]

Well done as always, face extraordinaire as usual, a grim looking dude! One question: What is the colour you used on the trousers?? A Vallejo paint or a mix of several paints??

Frank

[deafpanzer]

Another fantastic update... you are very talented for sure!

[nicusi]

Lovelly, you've done an excellent job! Good luck with the next steps!

[vlpbruce]

Fantastic painting Dennis!!

[captfue]

Can't wait to see the completed piece

[dennis]

Thanks lads, your support is always appreciated. I too cannot wait to see the finished piece. But now I have to be patient I do not want to mess up the important last stages, as I still have the Assistant Gunner and an M79 man to complete.
Frank, for the trousers I use a base colour of Andrea AC NAC-04 Field Grey with the highlights of the Base Colour + Vallejo AV 087 Medium Grey, layered on, by this I mean that it takes me 2 or 3 layers to finally get the right highlight. You can add more Medium Grey to the mix for the last highlight. For the Shadow it is Base Colour + Vallejo AV950 Black again layered in over 2 or 3 times. If you vary your highlight colour i.e. use grey or ochre you Will get a different effect. For this diorama I am trying not to stray to far from the Base Colour for any of the figures so as to give an impression of continuity for the figures.
I hope this helps, after a days work in the garden yesterday I managed to start this guys helmet so I should be able to post this completed M60 Gunner later today.
Cheers
Dennis

[kaytermarram]

Thanks a lot, Dennis! That helped indeed; I thought this greenish grey hue is to perfect to be fresh from the bottle, it has to be mixed. Top!

Frank

[dennis]

Hello all, thank you everyone for your support. Frank I am glad it was helpful to you, what I might do at the end of this project is to go through my painting notebook and record on a post some of the paint mixes I used for these Marines.
Here are a couple of pictures of the Gunner wearing his helmet. Bravo 6 give a good selection of helmets with their Marine figures, some have no clutter on their helmets, some have oil bottles, cigarette packets etc, the Assistant gunners helmet has a large tear on the crown of his so the steel shows through.
I have made helmet chin straps for all my helmets and I have constructed the chin strap buckles out of photo etched mesh from Eduard, the buckles are not an exact copy but give the impression of the real thing. I have painted this guys watch as a gold expanding bracelet type with a white face and the time set at 1230 or 1800ish. The brown top to the green box on his hip is a chipboard (cardboard) box of 100rds of link sticking out of the M4 Bandoleer, I may be wrong on the designation.
Again thanks for your support lads and as soon as I make any progress on the Assistant gunner I will post some more pictures. I have a feeling the resin ammo belts are going to be a challenge.
Dennis

[kaytermarram]

Besides the fact that the figure is top notch like the other dudes I love the idea of a post from you with detailed painting/mixing ratios! The ever difficult to paint olive drab is really worth it to get discussed in a detailed way! There are ammunition belts done in resin inclueded? Lovely to handle, indeed!... Good luck!!

Frank

[deafpanzer]

Man, looking great... loving it!

[dennis]

Hi Gents, I have constructed the Assistant Gunner and have taken a couple of photographs to show how the M60 pair go together. As you can see the Assistant Gunner is crouching down to the Gunners left rear. The sculptor has cleverly made an indent in the Assistant Gunners right forearm which fits the gunners back, so joining the gun team together as it were. The Assistants right arm is the one holding up the ammunition belt (feeding the pig).
It is important with this figure to ensure that both knees, both boot toe caps and the left had are all touching the ground, I had to re-position the figures left boot to ensure 3 points of contact with the ground. I will post more on this chap as I complete him. I must say that this gun team make a very dynamic pair giving this viewer a sense of urgency I look forward to seeing them both finished.
Again thanks lads for your support it is most appreciated.
Dennis

[nicusi]

Great, great, just watching and waiting for the next steps!

[bullardino]

I can't stop watching the shades you put on the figures, what a great work

[deafpanzer]

I echo Luigi's comment... just amazing!

[dennis]

Hi Gents, I have found a bit of time in my wifes busy schedule to put some paint on my M60 Assistant Gunner. I still have to paint his helmet and the Ammo belts that he is holding up to the M60 and that will go around his body. so to give you an idea of my progress I have posted a couple of pictures, please enjoy.
Dennis








As soon as I can I will post a picture of the M60 team together

[kaytermarram]

Great as usual. I love the stance of the figure and guess, it will make a good compagnon to the second one. The Face is extraordinaire, perfect paint job. Cool for me that the face itself on the first picture reminds me on the Governor from THE WALKING DEAD. Unbelievable!

Frank

[deafpanzer]

Love his facial expression! Amazing details on his boots especially the soles too...

[Steve Zuleski]

Excellent work Dennis, flowing nicely!

Cheers, Ski.

[dennis]

Hi Gents, thanks for your support you have given me in this project it is appreciated. I have taken a pause from painting my Marines and have started to position the figures on the diorama base. I am working from the right to left as you look at the base. So the first figure I positioned was the dead VC and his SKS Carbine, I then positioned the Marine firing over the wall, he will be the one nearest to the factory/shop wall. I have added a light colouring of pastel chalk to parts of both the Marine and the VC guy, to give a look of being in the field, both figures have the same chalk colour dusting as they both are operating in the same areas. You will notice that the floor has a violet colour added to it, this is to represent an area that has had a M18 Smoke grenade explode on it. This will leave a triangular shaped residue the same colour as the smoke grenade. The M18 Grenade body will be added later. I have added some cut brass wire at the Marines feet to represent used M16 cartridges. There is still a lot of work to be done but I am getting there. I apologise for the poor photographs.
Thanks for taking a look
Dennis

[Leon]

WOw!!!! Awesome start on the dio base Dennis .This is going to looks fantastic when done.