First armour attack by the NVA on US led forces

[Piet]

The Attack on the U.S. Special Forces Camp at Lang Vei, manned by Detachment A-101 of the 5th Special Forces Group and indigenous Civilian Irregular Defense Group (CIDG) forces. On 6 February 1968 , the 24th Regiment, again supported by the 198th Tank Battalion, launched their assault on Lang Vei. Despite air and artillery support, the U.S.-led forces conceded ground and the PAVN quickly dominated their positions. By the early hours of 7 February the command bunker was the only position still held by Allied forces. To rescue the American survivors inside the Lang Vei Camp, a counterattack was mounted, but the Laotian soldiers who formed the bulk of the attack formation refused to fight the PAVN. Later on, U.S. Special Forces personnel were able to escape from the camp, and were rescued by a U.S. Marine task force from Khe Sanh Combat Base.

Going to create this scene ,

PT-76 tank is from Trumpeter with some added scratch detail ,it got all it basic paint and chips still needs to be weatherd .
Concrete Tower is made from Plaster (you know ho i do this )
Barrels are resin copies that i have made ,
Blue foam wil be cover with Apoxie Sculpt sandbags .

That's it for now.

 

[Cheyenne]

Beautiful work Piet !!

 

[Rhino]

A dandy start! I look forward to your impressive process!!

 

[Iron Mike]

You have captured the essence of the scene, excellent start!

 

[Brokeneagle]

 

[Piet]

Made a start on the bunker, still need to add more !

 

[moon puppy]

Love it!

 

[paddy]

Great theme but you seem to have a lot of work with sand bags and barrels out of view under the tank, never to be seen again ? many could be salvaged and replaced by rocks and no one would ever know ?

 

[Piet]

Great theme but you seem to have a lot of work with sand bags and barrels out of view under the tank, never to be seen again ? many could be salvaged and replaced by rocks and no one would ever know ?

Paddy
No worries i got plenty of barrels ,i made moulds for them as long i have resin i can cast .
The same i have for ammo boxes .

 

[Iron Mike]

Use 'em if you've got 'em. Very realistic and interesting.

 

[paddy]

Oh thats fine, as long as you are not paying $15 for 6 barrels and a couple of jerry cans from Tamiya

 

[Rhino]

All those cool barrels and not one monkey in sight.
Does the story that goes with the picture say if the PT-76 is still in action?

 

[Piet]

No it doesn't say anything , the PT-76 in the painting isn't that accurate also especially in the rear (its simplified )
I think the painter never seen a real one / or a good photo of it .
And i cant find any period pics ,only aerial taken pics and one with the bunker completely destroyed.
All the other are from later in the war ,so i am using artistic licence with this one .

 

[Rhino]

So it isn't just me! Bravo Piet!
I find it ironic an amphibious Soviet-made APC "ran aground" on a big pile of sandbags & barrels in Vietnam.

 

[JamesOLeary]

At a loss of words, so all I can say is "OUTSTANDING!"

 

[Piet]

Added more sandbags ,it still needs a few more (For the overall look)

 

[Iron Mike]

Top!

 

[moon puppy]

Glad I went USAF, never filled a sand bag. Somebody somewhere filled a lot of sandbags.

 

[Piet]

More sandbags added ,i think this enough.

Also made a border around the Blue foam out of 1.5 mm plastic.

 

[Iron Mike]

Looking good!