"House to House" May 1968 Vignette COMPLETED!

[Duke Maddog]

"Contact!" Tet Offensive Vignette

James, that is looking good. Here is a few things I thought as I looked at this.

Might I suggest doing a bit of an uneven brown wash over the walls. That will give it a more of a tan look. The Stucco I always put on buildings was a dark brown to tan-ish looking goop that dried to a dark tan.


The door looks okay; I like the dark panel lines on it. If you want more of a wood grain, try scoring some shallow lines in each panel on the door and then wash with another dark brown wash.

Once you get the whole thing done, airbrush some mud-colored brown with a very soft demarcation along the bottom of the wall and door. This will represent dirt that was kicked up on the wall during a rain and dried in place. You see that a lot on building in areas where rain falls a lot.

You should be able to do these types off effects with whatever you have on hand. I too make my own washes with Windsor Newton Oils and Mona Lisa Thinner. Pigments I get from weathering powders I either picked up a long time ago or received as raffle prizes. My enamel paints do the rest.

I hope some of this helps.

 

[JamesOLeary]

"Contact!" Tet Offensive Vignette

Thanks for the suggestions, Duke.

I will try scribing some woodgrain shapes on the wooden door and see how that works out. I am hesitant to darken the stucco as the buildings in this part of Ho Nai were either White, Light Yellow, or Light Blue in color. They also were not very old having been constructed in 1965 and 1966, so the building doesn't need to look too weathered. I will try that demarcation effect. I know what it needs to look like and was thinking about that a few days ago when I was looking at the dirt splatter along the bottom of some of our sheds where the rain caused dirt to splash up against the structures. It will be with a regular brush because my airbrush is in the middle of a packed CONNEX right now.

Again, thanks for the suggestions. They were very helpful. That is what I like about this forum over some of the others.

Cheers,
James

 

[Tankbuilder]

"Contact!" Tet Offensive Vignette

Thanks for the suggestions, Duke.

I will try scribing some woodgrain shapes on the wooden door and see how that works out. I am hesitant to darken the stucco as the buildings in this part of Ho Nai were either White, Light Yellow, or Light Blue in color. They also were not very old having been constructed in 1965 and 1966, so the building doesn't need to look too weathered. I will try that demarcation effect. I know what it needs to look like and was thinking about that a few days ago when I was looking at the dirt splatter along the bottom of some of our sheds where the rain caused dirt to splash up against the structures. It will be with a regular brush because my airbrush is in the middle of a packed CONNEX right now.

Again, thanks for the suggestions. They were very helpful. That is what I like about this forum over some of the others.

Cheers,
James

At a dollar store you can buy a small atomizer bottle. They work fantastically well for aplying dirt/mud spatters/splatters.

Cheers

 

[Duke Maddog]

"Contact!" Tet Offensive Vignette

You're welcome James. Glad to help.

 

[JamesOLeary]

"Contact!" Tet Offensive Vignette

Thanks for the suggestions, Duke.

I will try scribing some woodgrain shapes on the wooden door and see how that works out. I am hesitant to darken the stucco as the buildings in this part of Ho Nai were either White, Light Yellow, or Light Blue in color. They also were not very old having been constructed in 1965 and 1966, so the building doesn't need to look too weathered. I will try that demarcation effect. I know what it needs to look like and was thinking about that a few days ago when I was looking at the dirt splatter along the bottom of some of our sheds where the rain caused dirt to splash up against the structures. It will be with a regular brush because my airbrush is in the middle of a packed CONNEX right now.

Again, thanks for the suggestions. They were very helpful. That is what I like about this forum over some of the others.

Cheers,
James

At a dollar store you can buy a small atomizer bottle. They work fantastically well for aplying dirt/mud spatters/splatters.

Cheers

Thanks for the suggestion of the atomizer bottle. I will have to get one and give it a try.
Cheers,
James

 

[Steve Ski]

"Contact!" Tet Offensive Vignette

Beauty Bro, this is all starting to gel nicely James! Ruck On!

 

[JamesOLeary]

"Contact!" Tet Offensive Vignette

Thanks, Ski!

I added some wood grain to the door and dirt to the bottom of the building to replicate the dirt that splatters up when it rains.

Cheers,
James

 

[JamesOLeary]

"Contact!" Tet Offensive Vignette

The progress on the figures consists of the right sleeve being completed on the M79 grenadier figure...

and the addition of a bandoleer of M16 magazines hanging from the wounded Infantryman...

After looking at these photos, I saw some things I need to smooth out on the right sleeve. I will do that once I post this.

I also made some extra bandoleers that the guy getting shot will be dropping as well as this one that is empty and will be located somewhere on the ground...

Cheers,
James

 

[Tankbuilder]

"Contact!" Tet Offensive Vignette

WOW! This is getting better and BETTER all the time.

Cheers

 

[JamesOLeary]

"Contact!" Tet Offensive Vignette

Since this vignette is going to be part of a series of vignettes and dioramas that will be displayed during the 47th Infantry Regiment's reunion in April, I spoke with a couple of Veterans of Tet and Mini-Tet and decided that this project would be better suited to depict actions during Mini-Tet which occurred in May 1968. 2/47th Infantry (Mechanized) was involved in the fighting in District 8, or the Cholon District of Saigon. To capture the structural essence of that area, I was able to keep the current structure I was using and was able to just add one of the wall sections I was using for my original idea. While looking at the following photos of different figure position ideas please keep in mind that there will be debris of various kinds (bricks, chunks of stucco, wood, corrugated tin, 55-gallon drums, discarded equipment, etc.) and that the figures may be positioned a bit closer together or under better cover, but I am limited to how they will stand up on the bottle caps some of them are pinned to for painting.

In changing the location of where the vignette is depicting, I decided that the figure layout needed to be changed a bit. The following series of pictures are some of the ideas I am throwing around in my head.

The first series of ideas revolves about three particular figures - the Soldier firing his M16, the Soldier getting hit, and a Soldier arriving on scene with a LAW.

Then if I want to include the wounded Soldier who is laying prone, he could be positioned trying to take cover behind some debris...

And then with him closer to the building...

And here it is with a Soldier in the foreground leaving cover to lay down some fire...

And in this version, the guy in the foreground is looking towards the guy getting hit, the wounded guy is looking towards the guy in the foreground, the guy with the LAW is running towards the group, and the guy shooting is engaging the enemy that is out of view of the audience.

In this version, the figure in the foreground is changed...

Those are the ideas based on the three figures I mentioned above.

Cheers,
James

 

[JamesOLeary]

"Contact!" Tet Offensive Vignette

Although I think that any of the versions showing the Soldier getting hit behind the wall would be dramatic and could go together quite nicely, since this is going to be displayed at a reunion attended by Veterans of this battle, showing Soldiers getting hit may conjure up some bad memories, so I have come up with some alternative ideas that still convey the urgency of the fight, but do not show our guys getting hit. The main figures for this series of ideas are the Soldier shooting his M16, the guy running with the LAW, the grenadier loading his M79, and a guy calling for the guy with the LAW to come forward.

The first arrangement of the figures had the guy calling for the LAW near the wall and the M79 grenadier behind him:

Then I rearranged those two for a couple of reasons. One, the barrel of the M16 of the guy calling for the LAW was too close to the shooter, and two, the M79 grenadier should be more forward since he is engaging the enemy:

Here is is that figure arrangement with various figures in the foreground. First is the guy kneeling and peering from behind cover...

Soldier in the prone behind cover...

Guy laying down fire (the half drum is just to hold him up)...

Guy throwing a grenade...

Guy kneeling and firing...

Guy in the prone firing an M60...

Dead NVA soldier...

So those are the things I am looking at. Which version do you think would be best?

My Veteran friends are going to be viewing this thread to provide their input to me through email.

We'll just have to see which one wins and then I will move forward towards completion.

Thanks for looking and for your input.
Cheers,
James

 

[moon puppy]

"Contact!" Tet Offensive Vignette

Guy kneeling and firing...

Guy in the prone position would be firing through the 55 gal drum.

 

[JamesOLeary]

"Contact!" Tet Offensive Vignette

Thanks. If I did do one with a guy in the prone, the drum would be moved so he had a clear field of fire.

 

[SA Dave]

"Contact!" Tet Offensive Vignette

Maybe move the 2 drumms and have the guy lying on his back there Having an enemy so close to them will show the seriousness of the situation

 

[JamesOLeary]

"Contact!" Tet Offensive Vignette

Maybe move the 2 drumms and have the guy lying on his back there Having an enemy so close to them will show the seriousness of the situation

Since the drums are there mainly to represent debris and do not have to be in those locations or even be in the vignette, I can move the dead NVA closer to the group. Two of my friends who were there like the scene with the first dead NVA. I will post pics soon.

Thanks for the suggestion.
Cheers,
James

 

[jknaus]

"Contact!" Tet Offensive Vignette

Looking good James. You're a master at telling a story with figures and it isn't even finished yet
James

 

[JamesOLeary]

"Contact!" Tet Offensive Vignette

Looking good James. You're a master at telling a story with figures and it isn't even finished yet
James

Thanks, James.

That is an awesome compliment and is much appreciated. I am glad that you like my work.

Cheers,
James

 

[JamesOLeary]

"Contact!" Tet Offensive Vignette

Well, I played around with the positioning of the dead NVA figure and placed him more to the right of the scene as SA Dave suggested. It could work, but moving the figure to that location kind of leaves a void in the center front of the scene and to me it kind of makes things unbalanced. Once I have all of my debris figured out, then I will see about the positioning again.

After looking at these, I might try to have the dead NVA's head more in line with the corner and see if that works.

Another idea that may work is leaving the dead NVA in his original location and having the figure that was throwing the grenade have his arms changed out to replicate someone removing the weapon from the NVA and tossing it aside and perhaps having some documents in his other hand.

It looks like I still need to play with figure positioning a bit.

Thanks for looking.
Cheers,
James

 

[moon puppy]

"Contact!" Tet Offensive Vignette

 

[Duke Maddog]

"Contact!" Tet Offensive Vignette

I do like the idea of changing the grenade thrower to one searching the dead NVA. That sounds great.

Otherwise, you you have an M-60 gunner? You could position the NVA back to where SA Dave recommended and then place a prone or semi-prone M-60 gunner behind the one tipped-over barrel where the original NVA's position was.

Just a crazy thought.